Then I moved back to my chair and grabbed the handkerchief I’d purloined from a trunk with one of Phobin’s scarves. I rolled Broderick to his back and he groaned in pain as I did it. Then I quickly shoved the handkerchief in his mouth and secured it by tying the scarf tight around his head.
Then I wasted precious time and I did this not for Frey, not for our child, my father, mother or Lunwyn.
I did it for me.
I took the knife from my teeth, got in Broderick’s face and I whispered, “You know, cousin, it pained me to do that,” I jerked my head at the now dead body of Phobin. “You know me; it pained me to do that. But you see, I could not fight you both and bind you both so one of you had to be neutralized. Hopefully, you will not bleed out before someone knows aught is amiss.” Then I got closer and my voice dropped lower as I held his eyes and whispered, “Thank you for uniting Lunwyn for the child of Frey’s I already carry inside me. He will be most appreciative.”
Then I pushed away from him and hurried to the door, hoping there were only two guards. One was one too many, two, God only knew. I’d probably fall at the first hurdle.
But I wasn’t going to give up.
I was three feet away when I heard grunts, steel clashing and then bodies thudding on stone.
I blinked at the door.
Oh shit.
I quickly put both hands behind my back.
The door flew open and I stared at two, big, brawny, exceedingly handsome men.
And they stared at me.
Then both their eyes flicked to the room behind me then back to me.
Then, to my shock, they smiled, one turned to the other and, to my shocked delight, stated, “Lund appears to be a good teacher.”
They were Frey’s.
“You are Frey’s,” I whispered.
“Balthazar,” the dark one said.
“Quincy,” the fair one said.
I’d heard of both though never met them.
“Hey, I’m Finnie.” I was still whispering.
“We know,” Quincy said while still smiling.
I smiled back.
“So, Finnie, you think we could rescue you rather than loiter chatting in a wounded king’s room with his murdered lover still bleeding on the carpet?” Balthazar asked.
“That’s probably a good idea,” I answered then thought quickly and told them, “But before we do the whole, um… rescue thing there are a couple other things we need to do.”
They looked at each other.
Then they looked at me.
Then my heart flew to the sky when Oleg stomped through the door and grunted, “Yup, and I know one of them.”
“Oleg!” I cried, never in my life thinking I’d feel complete and utter joy at the sight of Oleg but I did in that moment, I totally did but Oleg, being Oleg, didn’t even look at me.
He walked by me. Unsheathing the sword from his back, he walked to Broderick, stood over him and right in front of my eyes, he ran Broderick through with his sword, straight through the belly, yanking up.
Broderick’s body jerked what I had to admit was sadly on the floor as his cries of pain were muffled by his gag and Oleg pulled out his sword, sheathed it and walked to me, stopping in front of me and meeting my wide eyes.
“Raider rule, my princess, do not leave a job undone,” he grunted then grunted again, “Lunwyn.”
“Lunwyn,” I whispered then felt a hand on my arm and that hand was pulling me to the door.
“Let’s go,” Balthazar, who had hold of me, said and we went.
But at the door, I turned back and saw the carnage, Phobin motionless and dead at my hand, Broderick’s head turned, his face pale and awful in his pain, eyes on me.
And I knew in that moment I would remember that scene, the blood, the gore of exposed wounds, the look on Broderick’s face, and I would do it until the day I died.
But for the life of me, I couldn’t find it in me to care.
Then I hurried out with my men and whispered, “Okay boys, somewhere close, there are two women…”
Chapter Thirty-One
Dragons
One month later…
“Finnie, Apollo requests your attendance.”
I looked from cleaning the wound to Lund and nodded. “Let me finish here, Lund, and I’ll go directly to him.”
Lund looked at the man I was working on then at me, his eyes soft as all Frey’s men’s eyes were soft when they encountered the shadow of mourning drifting steady and unrelenting in mine and he nodded.
Then he left.
I looked at the man in the cot. “Am I hurting you?”
He shook his head then lied through his teeth (literally because he was clenching them), “No, my Winter Princess.”
I smiled at him. I knew it was a sad rather than reassuring smile but I had to try and I didn’t have any smiles that weren’t. He didn’t smile back mostly because he was clenching his teeth and I decided to finish quickly so he could relax. I tipped my head and readdressed his thigh, cleaning it with spirits, biting back the impulse to blow away the burn as I heard him suck in breath then I dabbed it with clean cotton, spread a healing salve on it and redressed it.
Once done, I curled my fingers around his ankle, gave him a squeeze and caught his eyes. “It’s beginning to heal, Joshua,” I said softly. “I shouldn’t have to do this again for awhile.” To that, he nodded and I finally saw relief on his face.
I gave him another small smile, got up from the edge of his cot and looked to Lavinia and Valentine who were both seeing to other wounded. I caught their eyes, indicated the flaps to the tent, waited for their nods and walked out.
To get you up to date – Lunwyn was at war and if that wasn’t bad enough, one faction was at war with itself.
With the fall of Broderick, the conspirators, which did indeed include the heads of Houses of both nations, were fighting amongst themselves as to who would take the throne of the united land at the same time fighting against my men who were intent to regain control of the throne in order to keep it and Lunwyn safe until Frey and my child could assume his rule.
My notable Houses included Ravenscroft, Lazarus, Sinclair, Drakkar and Ulfr. The outside faction’s of note included Njord, Roar, Andreas and Viggo. These were of Lunwyn and didn’t include the Middlelandian crew, all of the heads I had met at the Gales (and all of them had feigned respect and friendliness while they were plotting my and/or my husband’s deaths) and all of whom felt their head should now assume the “throne of the united Lunwyn”.
The good news was, with Baldur still in Korwahk with a good deal of the country’s soldiers, the Middleland Houses were weak and the Lunwyn Houses were not the most powerful of the northern land. The other good news was, the infighting was causing disarray and skirmishes against my men were diminishing as they skirmished against each other. The further good news was, when rescued and taken from the highly fortified castle of the House of Roar that Broderick had chosen as his stronghold in Lunwyn, Lavinia and Valentine had regained their magic which they were using for healing as well as protection, cloaking of our troops and gathering (or “sensing”) information about our enemy. And the last good news was Oleg, Lund, Ruben, Max and Skylar had emerged unscathed from the attack on Frey’s lodge. Stephan was wounded superficially and had already recovered enough to join the rest of us. And Bess and Jocelyn had also not been wounded.
The bad news was Orion, Gunner, Annar and Thad had all taken arrows as had Esther and Alyssa. In rating the news, Orion, Gunner, Annar and Esther also had relatively superficial wounds and it was reported they would eventually recover, though it would take longer than Stephan so I was considering this good-ish news. The definitely bad news was that Alyssa had sustained critical injuries and, I was informed, Thad had moved to protect Jocelyn (and succeeded in this) and also sustained multiple injuries of which not one but two were critical. When Stephan arrived, he explained that Bess and Jocelyn were staying behind to assist the physicians, healers and witches i
n Kellshorn who were seeing to them as well as taking care of Skylar but it did not look good for either Thad or Alyssa.
Further, Ruben informed me, unbeknownst to me but another indication my husband would do all he could for my safety, Frey had hired a woman named Agnes, the witch I met the first night I arrived, and charged her with protecting me with her magic. This failed and the attack on Frey’s lodge could go ahead because Broderick’s men found her and killed her thus her protection magic died with her. Therefore the woman with the cranberry cloak who could jump from the second story of a building and had a face lined in a way where I knew she laughed much through her life was also no longer of this world.
Although my mind often moved to what occurred in the prince’s quarters and the blood on my hands and my heart turned over at the memories as my mouth filled with saliva when these memories reminded me I was a woman capable of those actions, receiving all this news made this phenomenon much less distressing.
The other bad news was that Aurora remained captive in the stronghold of Njord and the witch that wielded the sacred relics and magical implements had not been found by soldiers or through Lavinia trying to sense her. Although now that they were no longer in Broderick’s clutch and she no longer had hold over Lavinia and Valentine, her being at large was not a good thing for my side or the other who, spies informed us, were also scurrying to find her so they could attempt to control her.
And last, the wildcard news was that Kell had disappeared. No one knew where he was, no word, no sighting. He had gone to Sudvic to prepare for Frey’s fleet to leave but he had not been seen or heard from since the rebellion started and Balthazar and Quincy had both ridden to Sudvic and various other places in search of him. Balthazar had returned two days ago with zero information and Quincy just that morning with the same.
Valentine, with her magic back in her control, could have returned home but surprisingly she didn’t. She also didn’t share why she didn’t and, although she worked with me, Lavinia, the physicians and healers who saw to our wounded and she did this with her usual calm, cool composure that bordered on indifference, I knew she felt remorse for meddling between Frey and me.
I would need to discuss this with her and let her off the hook. I just had not had the time and on the infrequent occasion I did, she was not exactly approachable.
She shouldn’t have done what she did, this was true but it was me who said the things I said so that was on me. It was on me that the final words Frey heard from me were shrieked accusations and the absolute last thing he ever heard from my mouth was me telling him he didn’t love me.
That was on me.
All of it on me.
These were my thoughts as I walked through the busy camp of tents staked into the melting snow and men moved passed me, dipping their chins or giving me a shallow bow, horses rode passed and I lifted my chin to others standing by fires or exiting tents.
I made my way thus to Apollo’s tent and entered it.
Inside I saw all the heads of my noted Houses including Eirik, Frey’s father who was flanked by his two surviving sons, Calder and Garik, both men I had met, both men who looked too much like Frey (though not nearly as handsome) therefore setting eyes on them even for a moment wounded my soul and therefore both men I avoided. Because of this, I did not know them very well but what I did know was they were not repugnant like their father, malicious like their mother or wicked like their cousin. But even so, since they were Drakkars, I remained wary.
My eyes went directly to Apollo and my feet went to him too for he dipped his head to a chair indicating I should sit.
In that tent, the only one I completely trusted was Apollo. This was because I knew Frey had trusted him because Frey had told me about him, he told me he liked his cousin, he respected him and I’d learned since from Apollo that sentiment was returned. Also, I knew, if I birthed a daughter, the rest of them would easily be at each other’s throats to control Lunwyn just as our enemy was but I understood innately, rather than Apollo telling me, that if Frey and I had boy or girl, Apollo would always have my back.
And I also trusted Apollo because he looked at me with a look that I knew was mirrored in my eyes. Frey had told me he had lost his wife but, the minute I met Apollo, I read in his eyes that he had loved her, he had not recovered and I knew, reading the look in his eyes, he never would.
Ever.
I nodded to him as I moved across the tent, sat in the chair and looked around.
Calder, Frey’s brother, spoke first. “My Winter Princess, Apollo tells us you are still keen that we engage in a rescue effort to recover Queen Aurora.”
“I am,” I answered and I wasn’t the only one. Norfolk Ravenscroft and Olwen Lazarus, my mother’s cousin and brother respectively, I knew felt the same.
“Would it not be a better use of our resources to focus our energy on crushing the rebellion?” Eirik Drakkar asked as he would. I had learned Frey’s father didn’t mind sending his men into battle although he himself got nowhere near it.
“I am no general,” I answered, schooling my tone to sound respectful. “I simply expressed my wishes to Apollo. I leave the war business to you.”
At this point, Walter Sinclair put in, “Our scouts have not found the witch and I will repeat, I feel we should prioritize this mission. If she has the power to bind our Lavinia and Lavinia tells me her foreign companion’s magic rivals her own, we would be remiss not to seize this witch and claim her instruments for our own.”
“You could send Balthazar and Quincy,” I suggested. “They are both returned and my husband…” I faltered because, suddenly and against my will, my throat filled making my voice husky then I forced myself to rally, recover and I finished swiftly, “told me they are very skilled.”
“They are,” Apollo added, his voice soft. “Frey told me the same.”
“Then dispatch them instantly,” Eirik ordered pompously.
“You forget, Father, that we still skirmish,” Garik stated. “We need every blade we can get and these men of Frey’s are not only skilled at finding things, they are equally skilled with steel.”
“Yes, this is true, Garik,” Olwen Lazarus agreed. “But if we had these instruments and two extremely powerful witches, it might be they could use them to crush the rebellion with no more blood shed on either side.”
“No more blood, yes, no more loss of life, no,” Apollo stated quietly, everyone looked to him and I braced.
Apollo of the House of Ulfr was exceedingly gentle with me in a way that hurt since it reminded me of Frey. He was also exceedingly handsome in a way that also reminded me of Frey with his thick dark hair, big, muscular body and commanding presence (although his eyes were a stunning, pure, jade green).
However, in sitting in these meetings, which Apollo demanded I be included in, I had learned he might be gentle with me but he was not a gentle man.
Not at all.
“Apollo,” Norfolk Ravenscroft said low and Apollo leveled his eyes on the older man.
“They hang, all of them,” he declared.
“These are heads of Houses,” Eirik put in. “Their actions were to unite Lunwyn and we should –”
Apollo turned suddenly burning eyes on Frey’s father and his deep voice was terse when he clipped, “They plotted to murder your daughter-in-law, kidnapped and imprisoned her. They killed your king. They hold your queen captive. And sir, might I remind you, they murdered your son.”
I tried to fight it but, at his words, I couldn’t stop myself from dipping my chin and staring at the rough carpets covering the snow under the tent.
Apollo went on, “He was Our Frey. He was Our Drakkar. The adelas are charred. The elves will never return. The dragons cannot aid us in our plight and will not wake unless Finnie births A Drakkar from Frey’s seed and even if she does, this will take years. And I hope I do not have to remind you of the lives already lost. The heads of those Houses are responsible for this, all of it, and they… will… swing.”
/> Olwen Lazarus and Norfolk Ravenscroft immediately nodded. It took Walter Sinclair three seconds to agree (I counted). But Eirik Drakkar, who, with every encounter I disliked more and who had lost more than anyone in that tent except me, glared at Apollo for long moments before he finally jerked up his chin.
But what surprised me was when Calder Drakkar muttered, “I claim hangman.”
Then I was again surprised when Garik returned on his own mutter, “No, brother, I kick the lever.”
“There will be enough that you both can share,” Apollo declared then he ordered them, “Go to Balthazar and Quincy. Dispatch them to find the witch, scout the situation and give them leave to commence with capture if they feel it is safe or return if we need to send an outfit.” He turned his eyes to Ravenscroft. “The number of Frey’s Raiders is diminished and those left will remain here for the princess’s protection but you have skilled Raiders amongst your troops. Chose those most stealthy to go forth and secure our queen. She, like our princess, grieves and it is our duty to see to it she grieves amongst those who can offer her comfort, not alone and captive in an enemy camp.”
“Hear, hear,” Olwen Lazarus murmured, my eyes moved to him, I smiled and upon receiving it, my (kind of) uncle smiled back.
Apollo swept his eyes through the group and stated quietly, “Let us not delay,” which I was learning was his way of suggesting people do what he said when he said it and telling them he was not pleased when they didn’t.
Something else that reminded me of Frey.
Therefore the men in the tent didn’t hesitate further but filed out, Garik and Calder doing so after nodding to me and I smiled at them, pleased at their show of loyalty for their brother and Lunwyn and saddened he’d never know they’d shown it. Eirik, as usual, didn’t look at me which didn’t bother me, I didn’t like his eyes on me anyway. Ravenscroft, Sinclair and Lazarus stopped to mutter polite words to me before taking their leave.
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