Chapter Thirteen #2
She shook her head and clutched her stomach. ‘I’ll be sick if I do that!’ she called back. He and the other men beside him laughed.
‘Water is steady!’ cried Captain Jensen in defence of the sea.
She gave him a severe and disbelieving look, and the men chuckled again as she passed them on her eleventh lap.
Magnus and Hans were working with the crew as usual and were currently pulling on some chains—she had no idea why but supposed there was some reason for it.
She’d seen them do everything from steer the ship to climb the rigging.
Magnus often wearing only his shirt and trousers to do so—Hans too, although, she noticed him less.
She had to admit watching Magnus had made her days far more pleasant than her nights.
Which was why she liked to walk the deck to pass the time, not only because it eased her seasickness and boredom but because she liked to watch him, especially when he was preoccupied by a task.
That way she could stare openly at him to her heart’s content.
Her new husband was certainly dashing and handsome, if not the friendliest of men. However, she was beginning to realise there was more to Magnus than met the eye.
She pulled her shawl closer around her shoulders.
Despite her pelisse and bonnet the wind still cut a chill through her bones, which was why she had her shawl on as well.
She could only imagine that Magnus’s constant activity kept him warm, which was why she’d set herself the task of walking the entire deck as many times as possible.
She would have walked more, but some of the sailors had started giving her funny looks.
Travelling with Magnus was certainly lonely.
The fact he and Hans worked alongside the common sailors during the day was unusual for royalty.
But even more surprising was that the men didn’t seem bothered by his presence—they were more curious about hers, if she were honest. Which was why she always smiled and tried to be friendly, even though they were like Captain Jensen and didn’t speak English very well.
At least when she arrived in Thrudheim she would have other ladies to talk to. A full court of them apparently. The idea was slightly unsettling and a complete reversal of her previous life when she’d been the companion.
It would be freeing, she decided. Now that she was married, there would be no need to guard her reputation, so she could largely do as she liked, and she was looking forward to that most of all.
Country walks, balls and dinners with whomever she pleased, whenever she pleased, not beholden to the whims of Lady Anne or the disapproval of her aunt or father.
It was one of the few positives she’d decided to focus on.
A new life is better born without witnesses from the old.
Magnus’s words on their wedding day had appeared rather dreary at first. But she’d had time to consider them on her continual laps of the ship, and she’d realised that there was some wisdom to them.
She could make new friends and acquaintances without being burdened by the past, leaving the uncertainty and embarrassment of previous failures firmly behind her.
Nobody in Thrudheim would know of her or Lady Anne or Selina’s admiration of the lascivious Mr Chadwick.
No one would have seen her drop her punch at the sight of Magnus or tear his shirt off, and even if news of their unusual courtship reached Thrudheim’s ears, she doubted anyone would pay any attention to a foreign gossip column about their most beloved and honourable prince.
Although, the idea of making a speech still filled her with dread.
She always struggled to read large blocks of text, and a quick flick through the weighty tome of Thrudheim’s brief history was enough for her to firmly close it again.
It currently sat on her nightstand taunting her each night before bed.
She suspected Magnus kept moving it around the room in an effort to tempt her to read it.
One time she’d even found it on her pillow.
She’d tried to read a page or two of it, but the thick sections had been overwhelming, and she’d clear forgotten the start of the sentence by the time she’d reached its end.
Such long passages usually did this to her, and there was no Aunt Mary or Louisa to read aloud to her, so she quickly gave up.
The leather bookmark remained firmly slotted at page five.
Her stomach churned when she thought of her limitations, as her father called them, but how on this good green earth was she going to write a speech? It was one thing to disappoint her father with her lack of education, quite another to humiliate herself by showing it in public!
A plan slowly built in her mind. She could write with a bit of concentration, and then ask the ladies to repeat each line to her over and over, until she learned the words by ear. That way she wouldn’t have to try and read it on the day of the coronation.
Would they think her odd if she did that? Could she pretend she was merely practising the inflections and the delivery? That was plausible.
However, first she needed to know what was expected of her, and so far Magnus had given her no clue other than to read The Brief History of Thrudheim and to listen to him drone on about important families or the variety of precious metals Thrudheim mined—last night’s dinner conversation.
The one before that had been about trade agreements and exports, and even Captain Jensen and his lieutenants had practically run from the room after dinner.
Hans was quiet and pensive. She couldn’t blame him after that first night.
She understood how hard it was to be at the mercy of others, and it seemed as if Magnus planned every moment of his brother’s life.
Which made her a little nervous that he would do the same to her.
But the only plans Magnus had informed her of were the immediate ones, required by any new sovereign princess.
Their second wedding would take place before the coronation and would be a much smaller ceremony. A lot like their first wedding, small, intimate and presumably held within the royal palace.
The palace: she would be living in a palace! Selina shook her head in disbelief. She still couldn’t believe how drastically her life had changed in such a short time!
But she was getting distracted again. She tried to focus on what Magnus had said about their arrival in Thrudheim.
Oh, yes! The wedding would take place within a couple of days of their arrival.
They’d been preparing for it since he’d left for England, so this time their wedding wasn’t a surprise—although, the name of the bride wouldn’t have been known until she arrived.
A wedding feast would follow, which would be much like the ball at Elms Park, according to Magnus.
Then the coronation would happen a month after. Apparently, that was the tradition with the consorts of Thrudheim so that the wedding would not be overshadowed by the more public coronation.
She swallowed nervously and stopped to stare out at the sea, clutching the polished and painted wood of the gunwales.
One step at a time, she reminded herself. There was no point worrying about what was to come until she faced it.
At least a wedding ceremony she’d done before, so there was no need to be nervous about that—except, this time they would definitely have their wedding night.
Magnus had said as much, telling her that she would be moved from the guest suite to the consort’s suite straight after the official ceremony. He had a strange way of delivering news, telling her only logistical details, and leaving the rest to her wild imagination.
Which had become significantly wilder since their first and only kiss.
How could such an uptight and meticulous man kiss like that?
He was handsome, to be sure, and always sent her heart fluttering whenever she looked at him, but she’d always imagined he’d kiss much like how he spoke, with deliberate control and thought…
not, as if he were overflowing with romantic poetry and passion!
The change in him had been startling…but also breathtaking. Of course, she was still nervous about her wedding night, but after that kiss…she was a little excited by the prospect too.
Magnus was obviously a complicated man, like a ball of tangled wool, with a difficult and messy relationship with his immediate family. Selina might not be a patient student, but she was a diligent crafter, she’d untangle all of his knots eventually.
Shouts around the deck grabbed her attention, and she prayed she hadn’t walked into some dangerous spot. But when she glanced around her, she realised that the sailors were all smiling and pointing at something in the distance. She made her way up to the poop deck to get a better look herself.
It didn’t take her long to see it, even without the eagle eyes of the crew.
Land.
More specifically, the island of Thrudheim.