Chapter Twenty-Seven
Three days later, Selina and Magnus returned to the palace.
Their time together at the lodge had been blissful, filled with all that the countryside of Thrudheim had to offer: forest rides, waterfall showers, craft and farmers markets…
although, it was the hours of lovemaking that Selina had enjoyed the most.
However, as soon as they had returned, Magnus had been immediately inundated with hundreds of questions about the coronation and royal business.
So Selina hadn’t seen him since their arrival yesterday afternoon, except for dinner and their usual evening ritual.
She didn’t mind. She had her own never-ending list of commitments, fittings, speech practice, as well as all the preparations for the precoronation ball to organise.
Now that she was more familiar with the workings and traditions of Thrudheim, she took great delight in managing her own royal duties.
Many of them she enjoyed immensely, like today’s meeting with the ladies of the merchant guild and discussing their charity work—now heavily funded by the court ladies—to Selina’s amusement.
The merchant guild ladies were lively and a breath of fresh air compared to the rest of the aristocracy. She was grateful for Sonja’s suggestion to meet with them and was confident she would become close friends with many of them.
Selina had invited Sonja and been quite insistent she come—and to her relief she had. But Sonja seemed to be avoiding conversation with her on purpose and kept to the shadows, allowing the other women to dominate the discussions.
When the soirée came to an end, Selina sidled up to Sonja and took her arm. ‘I will walk with you to the carriages. My next appointment is in the grand hall, and I had hoped to have a quiet word with you…’ The other ladies curtsied and hurried forward to give them privacy.
Sonja blinked at their linked arms but nodded in agreement. ‘As you wish, Your Serene Highness.’
‘Let us go this way. I want to show you something,’ said Selina, steering her down towards the gallery.
She pointedly stopped in front of the new painting that replaced the family portrait with Magnus’s severe father.
She’d put that one permanently in storage, not wanting it to trouble Magnus ever again.
Sonja’s head tilted up to the painting, her eyes widening with awe.
The canvas depicted the three siblings. Helga sat in a chair with a bouquet of purple flowers in her hand.
Hans stood behind her, his hand on her shoulder.
Magnus was slightly to the side of him in his princely state clothes, a hand resting on the hilt of his sword.
‘I have never seen this portrait,’ Sonja said, her voice hushed, and her bottom lip trembling. ‘It must have been painted before she left. She’s carrying irises and… violets.’
Selina blinked in surprise at the odd hesitation, and then looked back at the painting thoughtfully. ‘My Aunt Mary loves violets.’
‘They match Helga’s eyes.’
Selina wasn’t sure if that were true, but she nodded anyway.
‘I found it in Helga’s chamber. I thought it rather lovely.
The three siblings together, all grown-up.
’ Selina frowned as she stared up at it.
‘Perhaps that was a mistake… It is quite a stern portrait, don’t you think?
They all look so frightfully serious and unhappy. Even Hans…’
Sonja’s expression sank a little, but she nodded in agreement, her eyes soaking up the picture and filling with unshed tears. ‘I miss her,’ she whispered.
‘She is a lovely woman. We have started writing to one another.’
Sonja spun towards her. ‘You have? How is she?’
Selina frowned. ‘You do not know?’
‘My family no longer allow me to manage my own correspondence.’
That surprised Selina, but she pretended to nod thoughtfully.
‘I see, a pity considering you were so close… I have only received one letter from her so far. I believe Princess Helga is well. She mentioned a malady that troubled her for a few months after her marriage, but she feels her strength returning. She also believes the dates of her babe were calculated wrong, and so the physician is cautious and has put her on bedrest.’
Sonja continued to stare up at the portrait with a pained expression.
‘She seems quite content now,’ added Selina, hoping to comfort Sonja, but if anything, the woman bristled.
‘Content? She married a man thirty years her senior! How could she be content?’
Selina shrugged. ‘In her letter she mentioned that her husband was kind and that they had a good understanding between them. I know you mentioned the trouble between Magnus and Helga, but I do not think you understand the situation fully. Helga’s reply to me was full of warmth and affection for both of her brothers. She wished them well and hoped to—’
‘Princess Helga is an angel!’ snapped Sonja. ‘She would never blame anyone for long—even if they deserved it.’ Her jaw tightened. ‘Shall we continue, Your Serene Highness? I would hate for you to be late to your next appointment.’
With one last look at the portrait, they walked away in silence.
* * *
The next day, Selina was surprised when one of the footmen informed her that the prince had requested her immediate presence in his study.
There were even a few beads of sweat beneath the man’s powdered wig, and she quickened her step to follow him, as the man seemed determined to deliver her to Magnus as quickly as possible.
Selina was out of breath as they approached Magnus’s study.
She could hear him arguing with Hans but couldn’t understand what they were saying.
However, she heard Miss Sonja’s name several times, as well as Helvarsen, who was one of the balding politicians who had bored her senseless during an awkward dance at her first ball in Thrudheim, a man she hadn’t particularly enjoyed spending time with, but not the kind of person that should warrant a full-on war between two brothers.
The footman hurried even faster down the long corridor as if he were rushing with a leaky bucket to put out a fire.
‘Perhaps I should call on His Serene Highness later?’ she asked.
The footman shook his head. ‘He was quite insistent, Your Serene Highness. I am sure he will feel better after speaking with you.’
Selina frowned at the odd reply but was too distracted by the doors of the study being flung open and a furious Hans storming out of them.
‘What has happened?’ asked Selina, horrified by his reddened eyes filled with fury.
‘Forgive me, sister,’ he said, his chest heaving with emotion. ‘You have married a monster!’
Selina flinched at the word—she had heard it before from Sonja.
She entered the study. Magnus stood with his back to her, looking out of the arched windows.
Everything in the room including Magnus was still, but there was a strange hum of tension in the air.
Perhaps it was the tightness of his shoulders, the tight clasp of his hands behind his back?
Nothing moved, and yet it felt as if lightning were about to strike.
‘Leave us,’ commanded Magnus, and she glanced around wondering for a moment if he wanted her gone too. She almost hoped he did.
But as the servants filtered out of the room, followed by a hushed click of the doors, she knew there was no avoiding the trouble to follow.
‘What has happened with Hans?’ she asked.
‘You were wrong. Hans cannot be trusted. It is better that I manage all things from now on…for the good of everyone.’
‘What?’
‘I have written your speech for the coronation. It is on the desk. I have kept it short so it should not take you long to learn it by tomorrow. We can practise it tonight if you wish.’
Selina’s head spun from the sudden change in conversation. ‘But I told you… I have written and learned my speech already.’
‘There has been a change of plan.’ His hands were clenching and unclenching in a pulsing rhythm, his voice frighteningly cold.
She glanced at the papers on the desk. There were several scrunched-up sheets suggesting he’d drafted it many times.
None of this made any sense. Since their return, things had been exactly as they were at the lodge.
Why the sudden change in him? ‘I do not understand. What has happened for you to lose your faith in me?’
‘For once, Selina, do as I ask!’ he roared, turning to face her finally, raw pain and anger twisting his features.
‘What has happened with Hans?’
‘Your friend, Sonja!’ he hissed, as if that explained all.
Selina sighed. ‘But she has already told me she has no desire to claim your brother’s affections—’
‘Of course she did!’ Magnus bellowed and threw up his hands in exasperation.
‘I am sure she used every device at her disposal to worm her way into your good graces. Wasn’t she at the palace yesterday—despite my requests not to form a friendship with her?
She wants your support for her plans—to paint me as the villain in all of this, even while she defies her family and ruler! ’
‘I do not believe that is her intention. She says they are simply friends, and she seemed most sincere. I am beginning to wonder at the identity of Helga’s beau. Perhaps Hans wants to help Sonja for another reason—’
Magnus interrupted with a shout like the crack of a whip. ‘Selina, do not be so stupid!’
Anger and pain lashed through her. ‘I am not stupid!’ she snapped, but she felt as if she were shouting into the sea, as she had done for many years in her father’s absence.
Did Magnus not care for her after all? Had he only liked her until he had become tired of her? He looked tired now, exhausted even.
There was a brief moment of regret in his expression before his jaw clenched and he looked back out of the window.