Chapter Twenty-One #2
Miss Sonja looked genuinely horrified by the offer. ‘Oh, there is no need, and besides, it would be a detour for you, as my house is in the opposite direction of the palace.’
Lady Nora was also unimpressed by the suggestion. ‘I can always arrange for one of our carriages to take her home. We have several.’
For once, Selina wasn’t going to be cowed by another person’s opinion.
Miss Sonja had shown her a great kindness today by intervening with Lady Nora, and so she would return the favour.
‘That would be a waste of time and effort. No, I insist on taking you home, Miss Sonja. Besides, it will be nice to see more of Thrudheim. You can point out the best sights along the way.’
Thankfully, with little fuss they said their goodbyes and were soon rolling away from Lady Nora’s lilac family home in the fashionable centre of Thrudheim towards Sonja’s home in the Old Town.
Selina wasn’t sure if she dared take a risk with Miss Sonja, as Magnus had warned her against becoming friends with her. However, she wasn’t particularly keen on making friends with Lady Nora or any of the other young ladies she’d met today.
They’d been nice enough, but had all seemed as bland as stale bread despite all their fashionable lace and froth. Not to mention the fact they were all under the alabaster thumb of Lady Nora, who thought herself very important and beyond reproach.
Sinking the back of her head against the plush upholstery, she let out a deep and cleansing sigh, forgetting for a moment that someone sat across from her. ‘Forgive me, I am very tired.’
Her guest gave her a sympathetic smile. ‘Nora’s soirées can have that effect on a person.’
Selina laughed, and for the first time in the last hour it wasn’t brittle. ‘I hope she doesn’t have another for a very long time…or ever again…for me at least.’
‘If she does, then refuse, Your Serene Highness. The princess of Thrudheim is not at the beck and call of the Solberg family.’ Miss Sonja said this with a defiant tilt of her jaw.
‘Really? I have heard they are vital to the rule and commerce of Thrudheim.’
Her eyes narrowed into a shrewd look. ‘May I speak plainly, Your Serene Highness?’
Selina threw up her hands with delight. ‘Why not? It would make a nice change.’
‘The Solberg family is important. But there are many people within the Solberg family, and not all of them are of consequence. In fact, I would say the vast majority think of themselves far more highly than is justified.’
‘Is Lady Nora of consequence?’
Miss Sonja gave her a firm look. ‘Her father is…but Lady Nora had the misfortune of being born a girl, and therefore she is only good for the marriage mart, in her father’s eyes.’
‘Oh, but I thought women could be heirs? Isn’t that Thrudheim’s way?’
Sonja shook her head. ‘That is the royal family’s way.
The rest of Thrudheim does not follow their lead in this one matter, unfortunately, and that is due to the House of Solberg’s influence.
They owe their titles and wealth to their connection to the throne.
If Thrudheim had followed similar laws to English royalty, the current ruler of Thrudheim would be a Solberg…
not a Kristiansen. A male heir would have ruled regardless of an older sister… do you see?’
Selina nodded thoughtfully. ‘I do. But…why, then, is Lady Nora not yet married? Did her father have somebody in mind for her perhaps?’
A slow look of understanding passed between them. ‘He did.’
‘My husband?’
Miss Sonja nodded. ‘Even though it was made clear to him several times that Magnus must look to build a political match with Britain. Solberg has now set his sights on Hans, although, I believe Lady Nora is not best pleased with the idea.’
‘It must be hard to switch your heart’s desire so quickly.’
Miss Sonja shrugged. ‘If one has a heart, I imagine it would be.’
Selina felt like clapping in agreement. Miss Sonja was indeed a viper, but she wasn’t striking her fangs at Selina—not yet, at least. ‘As we are speaking plainly, may I ask what did Lady Nora mean by that comment regarding my husband’s tastes and his reckless youth?’
Miss Sonja looked flustered for the first time. ‘I-I couldn’t say, Your Serene Highness.’
‘Ahh, that bad,’ said Selina with a grimace, noting Sonja’s return to formality. ‘I had hoped we could be friends… I have so few here, and when someone makes a comment like that, implying something I have no knowledge of… Well, I am already at a disadvantage.’
Miss Sonja bit her lip and appeared thoughtful for a moment, then she gave a brisk nod as if deciding the matter in her mind. She leaned forward, and Selina did the same. ‘Thrudheim, despite being a country in its own right, is rather small.’
‘I imagine so…’
‘His Serene Highness is…well regarded as a calm and logically decisive man. He is very particular in his life, controls his schedule with precision and leaves little room for frivolity.’
‘Yes,’ Selina agreed. Nothing so far had sounded incorrect.
Miss Sonja shifted uncomfortably in her seat. ‘He was trained to do so. It was not always in his nature to be like this. The last prince, his father, was a severe…some might say brutal man.’
‘Yes…’ Selina’s stomach churned at the word brutal, but surely that didn’t mean he’d hurt his children? However, she remembered the riding crop clenched in the late prince’s fist in the portrait, and her heart sank. ‘I imagine he was quite strict and expected a lot from Magnus?’
Miss Sonja gave a bitter laugh, her eyes narrowing with a fury that surprised her.
‘The man was a bully! He was cruel and vicious. He beat Magnus and Helga into submission with both word and fist. Helga barely survived him, only for Magnus to turn on her and become just as bad as their father! I, for one, preferred the reckless youth, as at least he had a heart! The man Magnus has become is a monster, unrecognisable to either myself or his sister.’
Selina’s mouth fell open, and Miss Sonja banged the side of the coach with a thump of her fist. ‘Let me out here!’ she shouted loudly to the coachman, and the carriage came to a halt.
She leaned forward looking Selina dead in the eyes without an ounce of repentance.
‘I say this so you are no longer ignorant of his tastes. It is said by his previous mistresses that he was wild in the bedroom, but as cold as a dead fish out of it. It is said that he scheduled and timed his visits accordingly, allowing his past self free rein for one hour before returning to the palace. Nothing perverted or violent, as far as I am aware, but those vixens like to snigger about it behind their hands, despite the fact they are prim little virgins who will never know true love or passion in their lifetime. I wish you no ill will, Your Serene Highness. In fact, I pity you being married to such a man, so broken that he allows himself no emotion except for a scheduled release in a lover’s bed.
Knowing what I know about him, I am afraid we can never be friends—he would never allow it.
He already despises me for remaining friends with Hans and seeks to break him as he broke Helga.
’ Sonja gathered up her reticule as the carriage door opened.
Before she left, she added, ‘Speak to some of the young ladies whose fathers are in the merchants and crafters guild. They will make better companions for you than I. I beg you, do not seek me out, and tell Hans to do the same—for both our sakes.’
Miss Sonja stepped out of the carriage and walked briskly away. Striding down the cobbled street in those sturdy boots Lady Nora had so openly mocked.
Selina spent the rest of the journey in utter confusion. She knew even less now about her husband than she had before. What had happened with Helga? And before that, with his father? How had his past shaped him into the man he was today?
She could not believe that the man who had kissed her fingers and sworn to never abandon her this morning was the same man that Sonja had called a monster…
But Sonja’s words rang true in her mind. Hadn’t Magnus said himself that Helga hated him? And was Magnus treating her at night no better than he had treated his mistresses?
Did she mean nothing to him?