Chapter 42
Forty-Two
Rose
Rose couldn't help but find amusement in the way these two men argued with each other. Magnus and Gunnar didn't stop their jabs even while she and Gunnar bathed.
She listened from behind the screen Gunnar had set up, because gods forbid Magnus see her in any state of undress.
He simply would not have it, and she found that so amusing.
And reassuring. Thankfully, she didn't even have to worry about what a man would see or think. Gunnar did all that worrying for her.
The security she felt in her life now that she had him around was a massive change. Now she could relax. She could feel as though there was someone looking out for her and that he was going to keep her safe.
So she bathed quietly, listening to them insult each other back and forth.
"She is my troll wife now, Magnus. Just because you were competing for her attention does not mean you get to have time with her still."
"Oh, I'm supposed to ask your permission to see her?"
"You need to ask one of us, damn it."
"I'm the prince! I can do whatever I want."
Back and forth. On and on. The two men were like siblings who had never gotten along.
Biting her lips so she didn't laugh, Rose made quick work of her bath and then came out from behind the curtain with her clothing slightly damp, but feeling much better.
She hadn't realized how dirty they had made each other. At least, until now.
The two men were still arguing. Gunnar was somehow nude yet again, and completely uncaring that Magnus could see him.
She thought there was a bit of bravery in that.
Gunnar was always so certain that he was safe where he was, and didn't care who was looking at him.
How the man had gotten like that, she would never understand.
Rose cleared her throat, and both of them stopped arguing to look at her.
"Weren't we going to have a serious conversation, boys?" She looked them both over one last time before pointing to the door. "I'm going to get Astrid."
"We don't need Astrid," Magnus said.
"Oh, we do. She knew the princess better than I did, and likely had to deal with her on many occasions.
In fact, I think I should get Maia as well.
She knows a lot about the castle itself and probably would be able to give us an idea of what the townsfolk will think about all of it.
" Rose smiled at him prettily, knowing that he couldn't argue with her reasoning.
And then off she went.
It was very easy to gather up her sister and Maia, especially once she said that the princess was working on something suspicious and the prince would like their opinions. Of course, that meant their husbands came as well.
For all that she found those men a little uncomfortable to be around, she also knew damn well that they were very good tacticians and were capable of far more than most gave them credit for.
Ragnar had a brilliant mind and knew how to survey a battlefield.
He also knew what to expect in terms of damage when it came to bodies and all sorts of other details.
He would be someone who would be able to know what would happen if someone, anyone, attacked certain places. They needed to prepare for injuries.
Bjorn knew how the minds of those in charge worked.
He knew the ugly underbelly of this world, almost as well as she did.
And he would be the only one who was capable of protecting them as well.
The berserker in him was likely going to need to be called upon, as much as they all hated that as a truth.
She knew, without a doubt, they were going to have to figure this out together.
Not to mention Maia and Astrid were intelligent women with significant knowledge and magic all on their own. If anyone would be able to figure out how to put the princess back in her place, it was these two women.
She refused to talk about anything that continued this fight without the two of them.
Which led the lot of them to a hidden room in the castle where Magnus led them.
The prince was more than a little disgruntled that more people had been added to his plan.
She didn't understand the why of it, but she figured they'd get there.
The prince was, as usual, surly and rude to newcomers. But Rose had expected that as well.
The room was particularly small, so they were all crammed in a little too close to each other.
There were at least some chairs. Chairs that were given to the women, all of the men growling at each other as though they were angry that another man had the thought to give his wife a seat before the others.
The stone walls were lit only by wisp light, and even those were bleary and a little dim, as though they weren't quite awake yet and weren't entirely sure what the trolls were doing here. Each troll posted up behind his wife, with Gunnar's hands coming down on her shoulders.
Rose couldn't see him, and a small bit of tension rose inside her until he pressed the tips of his claws down on her skin. Not hard. Not enough to hurt or even prick her skin. Just enough to remind her that he wasn't holding her in place, and that it was just him.
She had no reason to be afraid, not of him. Never of him.
Breathing out a sigh of relief, she looked over at Magnus, who was standing right across from her. He was leaning against the wall, dressed completely in black, and looking far more like a rake than a prince of these people.
He was... well, a prince who didn't want to be one, she supposed. All of what he looked like matched exactly what she knew of him.
"All right," she said, since no one else seemed to want to speak first. "Magnus, you were going to tell us more about this princess and your concerns."
He glared at her. "The plan was to work with you and Gunnar only, Rose. Now there's a room full of people and I find myself not as inclined to speak."
"You're pouting. Just get on with it."
Astrid stared at her like she'd lost her mind. And maybe she had again. Talking to a prince like this was perhaps putting a rope around her neck and waiting for the gallows floor to drop out from under her. But also... She found she didn't care.
The prince needed their help. Rose was providing that, even if it wasn't in the way he had expected.
Magnus blew out a breath and stared up at the ceiling.
"The princess is gathering armed forces.
Why? We assume to avenge her father. The only problem is we don't know why she would feel confident enough to do so, considering everyone is spread out all across this kingdom and a majority of her generals have fled. "
A snort from Bjorn echoed through the room. "So we have nothing to worry about."
"We have everything to worry about because our scouts have stated that she is very, very confident in her attack.
She seems to think she has a secret weapon that will damage the troll kingdom even worse than an army.
" Magnus looked down and stared directly at Rose.
Almost as though he was trying to send a thought to her.
"I am concerned about who that might be. "
Why was he looking at her like that? She was trying to understand what he wanted from her, but honestly, it was a little hard to read the mind of a man she didn't know that well.
A ghost meandered into the room, walking right through the wall as if it wasn't there.
He was dressed like one of the king's helpers.
A man immaculately presented in a suit that was far too fine for this day and age.
It was pressed to perfection, with woven golden strands that came all the way down the lapels.
Were they roses? No, she looked a little closer and noticed they were embroidered to look like stones. Gemstones.
He had been a pretty blue color when he was alive, and even now, was still very vibrant. Though he had the tiniest of tips to his ears, he didn't appear to have too much animal in him, until she peered a little closer and noticed that there was a fine dusting of bright blue feathers down his arms.
He looked at her, clearly bored. "He hasn't changed much since he was a child."
Rose glanced around to make sure that everyone was still talking among themselves, speculating what the princess could have as her trick.
"Why do you say that?" she murmured, trying very hard not to let anyone know she was talking to someone who was dead.
But Gunnar squeezed his hands on her shoulders. As though to tell her he knew what she was doing. And then he started talking loudly, interrupting and getting Bjorn and Ragnar fighting with each other.
"You know, Ragnar, I don't think that you should discount Bjorn's experience," he bellowed. "Bjorn was in that labyrinth longer than you. He probably knows more than you do."
And the egos started to yell.
She placed her hand over his, pressing down to thank him as she turned her attention entirely to the spirit who had crouched down in front of her.
"He never wants to tell people what he needs. Magnus's greatest downfall was always that he expected people to anticipate what he needed from them."
Rose smiled. "Yes, that sounds like him."
"It's never changed, apparently, but I can't say I'm surprised by that." The man reached out and placed his hand on her knee. "You have to do the work for him, I think. Unfortunately, he has never learned to be better about this."
"What does he need?"
"The girl. The one he fell in love with as a boy, who has haunted him his entire life. She had a unique power, one that would have worked with his magic almost perfectly."
She furrowed her brow. "A power? What could possibly... Oh. Oh."
"Exactly. The power he fears is the one that could shake this earth. He is part of the story, but she? She is his other half. Dangerous. The two of them could end the world if they wanted to."
She swallowed hard as the spirit faded away. And then she spoke up, everyone stilling as they heard her quiet voice breaking through the argument of the two largest men in the room.
"What was her magic?" she asked, and everyone froze.
Magnus stared her down, not a muscle twitching on his form.
"Magnus," she said. "You have to tell us. If you're concerned it's the girl from your past, then what are we going up against?"
A strange rumble moved through the room.
Stones grinding against each other, the ceiling suddenly rained down dust. The one and only time Rose had heard of this happening in Trollveggen was an attack from the humans.
They had used trebuchets to attack the mountain itself, hoping they might find an opening that would be revealed in the destruction afterward.
But there was no attack now. Just him. Gods, she could almost feel the magic. The rumble, the anger of the mountain itself, but it came from him.
Magnus hadn't moved at all. He was still staring at her while everyone else in the room braced for cover, but somehow she knew that he wasn't going to let anything happen to them.
Gunnar swore and lunged over her, covering her entire form with his body as a massive chunk from the ceiling broke free.
Ragnar grabbed Maia and pinned her against the wall, his body a shield between her and the inevitable death that would crush them all.
And Bjorn did the same, hiding his wife with his body.
The stone hovered in the air, frozen just above their heads, as Magnus spoke.
"My father and all his fathers before him wanted to create a new being.
Dark elves. Better than the ones who came before.
What he did not anticipate is that in creating us, he would also create more power than any of us know what to do with.
So careful what you ask to know, Rose. I'm not sure you'll like the answer. "
Through it all, Rose held the prince's gaze. "I know the elves," she said. "I have met them, talked with them, learned from them. I know their language, Magnus, and I know their history more than anyone alive because I can speak to them."
"Then you should know their greatest fear." He opened his arms wide. "That someone like me could exist."
"I don't think they feared the trolls creating their own power. I think some of them were even excited by that possibility." Her brows furrowed. "But I think you're diverting this conversation because you don't want to tell me what she is capable of. Why is that?"
He glanced above them at the hovering stone and she watched as it lifted back up, slowly knitting itself back to the ceiling.
And then the other trolls in the room released their wives, looking like they wanted to pummel Magnus into the ground for threatening their women, but also afraid to take that step because he was clearly capable of killing them all with a blink of an eye.
"She is like me," Magnus finally admitted. "If it is her. She's just..."
Rose leaned forward in her chair as far as Gunnar's arm would allow her. "Say it, Magnus."
"Elemental," he ground out. "I can control the earth.
The mountain herself. I can knit stone and I can use the earth to destroy anyone I wish.
But her? She's air, Rose. The last time I saw her, when she was ten years old, she sucked all the air out of an entire building.
Everyone inside suffocated before they could reach the doors.
She killed them all, and it didn't even make her tired.
I'm not entirely sure what she can do now that she's twenty years older. "
All the blood drained out of Rose's face. She leaned back in the chair, both for comfort and because she didn't think she could sit up straight.
"Elemental?" Ragnar asked. "As in you can control all aspects of the element?"
"Anything that has to do with the earth. Stone, plants, dirt. I could make a sinkhole open up beneath your feet, stick Bjorn in quicksand, and entomb Gunnar all with a snap of my fingers. I've done worse," Magnus muttered.
Astrid sucked in a breath. "So that means she can control the weather."
"Among... many other things."
They all stared at each other, stunned with this realization because the implications were disastrous.
"Well," Gunnar replied as he tightened his grip on Rose. "I guess we’d better find this woman. What did you say her name was?"
"I didn't," Magnus replied.
Rose held her breath. It seemed like everyone else in the room did as well, because this moment felt important. Incredibly, horrifically important.
"Morgana. Her name is Morgana."