Chapter Twenty-Six
Selina squeezed Magnus’s arm. ‘You did the right thing.’
‘I hope so,’ he grumbled, appearing unconvinced.
‘You did,’ she replied firmly, as they entered the fair.
The people were startled by their appearance at first but seemed to relax and get used to their presence as they casually stopped at stalls and admired the crafts, produce, and entertainments on offer.
There was a ring toss, an archery competition, apple bobbing and even an egg-and-spoon race.
Musicians played cheerful tunes as dancers skipped hand in hand around the brightly coloured pole.
Two giant circular garlands were hung beneath a triangular shape at the top, and the entire pole was wrapped in greenery and flowers, with ribbons rippling in the breeze.
The crowd below in their traditional dress was as colourful as a meadow.
‘You must try one of these,’ said Magnus ushering her over to a woman with a tray of sweet treats.
‘It’s a krumkake, a crisp and thin pastry cone, stuffed with whipped cream and berries.
’ Magnus handed the smiling baker a couple of coins.
‘One for you,’ he said giving Selina her treat, ‘and one for me.’
She chuckled at the delight on her husband’s face. ‘I take it you like these a lot.’
Magnus nodded, taking such a large bite that he halved the long cone in one bite.
Selina took a bite herself, trying her best not to squirt berries and cream all over her salmon-pink dress. The soft fluffy texture of the sweetened cream, sharp summer berries and crisp waffle cone cracked in her mouth, and she moaned with pleasure at the delicious combination.
Magnus’s eyes immediately snapped to her face, and she blushed.
Shoving the rest of his own pastry in his mouth to free up his hands, he reached over and brushed his thumb against her bottom lip, releasing a hundred butterflies in her stomach.
His thumb came away from her with a tiny dollop of cream, and with a grin he licked it clean.
Selina’s body flooded with hot desire, as she remembered how he had licked her body yesterday in the hot house, and her cheeks burned with embarrassment at her sinfully delicious thoughts.
He took her arm and guided her to the next stall, and she was relieved to have a distraction. ‘How about I buy you some new yarn for your knitting?’
Dizzied by the sudden change of thought, she gathered her wits and focused on the stall. ‘Oh, that would be nice.’
In the end, they left the stall with a large bag of yarn that was immediately handed to a servant behind them.
They carried on, leaving the yarn-seller delighted with his full purse.
He wasn’t the only vendor to be pleased by the royal couple’s patronage that afternoon.
They stopped at nearly every market stall, and Magnus insisted she try a new food or buy some trinket.
The servants were constantly ferrying their gifts back to the storage carts, and she was beginning to wonder if the horses would make it back up the mountain with so many gifts—they might have to make two trips!
As they approached the final stall, the seller’s eyes gleamed with anticipation, only to dim with disappointment as Magnus hurried her along.
‘Wait!’ Selina said, stopping to admire the display. The seller’s eyes filled with hope, and he lifted one of his precious books up for her perusal. ‘I also have English books, Your Serene Highness!’
Biting her lip, she asked ‘Do you have any English translations of Thrudheim sagas or myths, something appropriate for children?’
The man grinned and nodded eagerly before pushing a beautiful gilt and leather-bound book forward.
‘I have just the thing. I brought my entire collection of English-language books hoping Your Serene Highness might attend. We heard you had come to the royal lodge and were hopeful you would come today.’
Selina gave an appreciative nod. ‘How wise of you!’ She turned to a bewildered Magnus. ‘I am afraid I do not have any money, but I would like to buy you this as a gift. If I may?’
Magnus quickly withdrew enough money to pay the man, and the bookseller began to wrap the book in pretty paper and string. ‘As it’s a gift, Your Serene Highness, allow me to wrap it properly for you.’
When she was handed the parcel a short time later, she thanked the vendor, and they walked a few feet away before she handed the gift to Magnus. ‘It feels a little foolish giving this to you when you paid for it.’
‘That is my fault. I did not think to offer you any money. I shall rectify that immediately with a cash allowance. But know that you can always buy anything you wish in future.’
She laughed. ‘You should add within reason.’
He chuckled. ‘Within reason, then.’ He stared down at the wrapped gift as if he weren’t exactly sure what to do with it. ‘Why did you buy me this?’
Her heart filled almost to bursting, and she whispered, ‘I want you to read it to me. I want you to enjoy some of the bedtime stories you should have had as a child…and perhaps one day when we have children of our own, you can read it to them as well.’
His eyes crinkled at the edges and glistened in the sunlight with unshed tears, and he pulled her close in one rough motion crushing her body to his in a fierce embrace. ‘Thank you,’ he whispered gruffly, kissing the top of her head. ‘I love it.’
After enjoying everything the Midsummer festival had to offer, they sat down to a delicious feast in a banqueting tent.
Roasted meats and vegetables from the nearby campfires were brought in and served on silver platters.
Delicious and aromatic schnapps was served alongside their meal, so sharp it stole the breath from her lungs and warmed the pit of her stomach with a golden fire.
Selina was flushed with happiness and a heavy dose of alcohol as she listened to Hans regaling them with stories of his youth on this side of the island, a far more idyllic childhood than Magnus had endured.
Gustav the miner and Hans’s friends were all gathered with them around the heavy oak table that had been borrowed from one of the farms. They were the same friends Hans had met with today, boys he’d met at school here.
‘Mother insisted I meet other children as Magnus and Helga were so much older than me, so she put me in the boarding school on this side of the mountain. I loved every minute of it.’
Selina reached for Magnus’s hand beneath the table. She couldn’t help but compare how bitterly different their childhoods would have been.
Thankfully, Magnus didn’t seem to mind; he smiled and asked the young men questions about their lives and seemed pleased with their answers. Many of them had aspirations for further study or intended to begin careers in law or in their family’s trade.
‘What about you?’ Magnus asked Hans casually. ‘Any thoughts on your future?’
Hans stared at his older brother for a moment as if trying to decide Magnus’s intention, but eventually he answered. ‘I want to study geology. I want to run the mines one day…alongside Gustav, of course.’
Magnus blinked, took a sip of his schnapps, and then said, ‘I think that a fine idea. What do you say, Gustav? You’ve worked with Hans recently.’
Gustav laughed, his nose red from the drink and his eyes weathered with laughter lines. ‘I would welcome His Highness with open arms. Besides, I won’t be able to mine forever.’
Hans took a deep breath, squaring his shoulders. ‘But I want to study it here, in Thrudheim. Our university is as good as Oxford, and at least then my studies would be relevant to our unique landscape.’
Magnus face became unreadable as he considered his brother’s proposal. ‘I will think on it,’ he said, and at the slump in Hans’s shoulders, he added, ‘But I do not see why not. As long as you concentrate on your studies, and later…consider an English wife?’
The men in the room glanced between the two brothers with their breath held tight. Eventually, Hans replied curtly, ‘I will consider it.’
Magnus’s brow smoothed, and he said, ‘Perhaps you should return to Skadisberg a few days earlier than us. You could speak with Thrudheim University and check the final arrangements for Selina’s coronation. What do you say? If you prefer to remain at the lodge, that is also fine…’
Hans’s expression brightened. ‘I will return to Skadisberg and do as you suggest.’
Everyone in the room released a collective sigh of relief and gladly moved on in conversation.
Selina squeezed Magnus’s hand under the table again and gave what she hoped was an encouraging smile.
Magnus had openly trusted Hans to make an independent choice, and she was sure he wouldn’t let him down.
After their meal, Selina and Magnus strolled away from the revelry of Hans with his friends and made their way to the burial mounds.
The sun was setting, falling much later at this time of year than it would have in London. The horizon was ablaze with the last burning light of day, the clouds rippling like flame across the sea, and the stars beginning to emerge in the indigo darkness high above.
‘In Thrudheim, our winters are dark and cold. But in contrast, our summers are full of long pleasant days,’ said Magnus as he dismissed the servants taking two lanterns from them before they left. ‘I suppose that is the price we pay for sunsets like this.’
They stepped through the stone gap, and Selina could have sworn the wind had kissed her cheeks in a loving welcome.
‘It is truly beautiful.’
‘I hope you do not mind me taking you away from the party. I thought I should light the bonfires as I am here. It shows a respect for my ancestors…that I have sorely failed to provide in previous years.’
‘I am sure they will not mind. A few years is nothing to them.’ Selina pulled her shawl closer and lifted her lantern high so she could see the uneven ground in the fading light.
The distant cheers and shouts of merrymaking from the festival behind them seemed like an echo from another world, especially in the tranquillity of the stone circle.
Only the long dead kings and queens of Thrudheim were with them, sleeping peacefully in their buried ships, with treasure and weapons placed at their feet.
Magnus approached the unlit bonfire that awaited them at the edge of the cliff.
He placed the basket he carried on the ground.
‘Are you sure you wish to stay with me? At the fair they will light a bigger bonfire than this. They will dance around it and sing songs. There will be lots to entertain you, while all I can offer you here will be boring silence… I do not wish for you to be uncomfortable.’
Selina reached down and pulled the square blanket from the picnic basket. ‘That’s kind of you to worry about me. But honestly, I would rather spend the rest of this evening here with you.’ She shook out the blanket and placed it on the ground a few yards away from the bonfire.
Magnus placed the basket on the blanket, and she sat down beside it.
She then handed him a bottle of schnapps and a parcel of honey cakes, which he, with a smile, took from her and then walked to the bonfire.
He poured the alcohol on the twigs and logs, then placed the cakes amongst the twigs.
‘It’s a silly superstition,’ he said, but his movements were reverently slow and careful, despite the dismissive nature of his words.
‘Thrudheim loves tradition,’ Selina joked, pouring them each a glass of schnapps from the second bottle in the basket.
Magnus’s mouth twitched, and he lit a piece of kindling with his lamp and then moved away as the flames took hold of the dry wood. As he sat down beside her, the orange flames rose up like a miniature sunrise to banish the darkness above.
But like the changing of the seasons, there was no way of stopping the sun, and the real one slipped beneath the grey waters of the sea, quickly covering the island in darkness.
They toasted with their glasses. ‘Happy Midsummer,’ said Magnus, his eyes burning with the reflection of the bonfire. ‘Thank you for keeping me company.’
Selina’s heart melted into a pool of liquid gold.
She was sure that she glowed from head to toe with happiness.
‘I am beginning to realise that entertainments and busy ballrooms do not stop you from being sad. I have felt far lonelier beside Lady Anne and a hundred friends than I am now…alone with you.’
Magnus’s expression warmed, and he pressed closer draping an arm around her shoulders. ‘To new beginnings! May you never fear empty rooms or loneliness ever again, and live a long and happy life, my utterly lovely princess,’ he said, before stealing a kiss and her heart.