Chapter XIX Slimy
XIX Slimy
“We were supposed to travel to a well-fortified castle that’s an hour away from here,” Raduna explains, turning into a narrow street lined by handsome two-story houses.
“But Magnar is determined to get to the bottom of the intrigue, so we’re staying.
Once the town hall is cleared, the soldiers will camp there. ”
We stop in front of a wide building with the door and window shutters painted in cheerful colors, pink and red flowers spilling from baskets hanging above the windows. It looks charming. Arvi throws the doors open and strides in, pounding with both fists on the counter in the entrance hall.
“Royal order! Empty all rooms immediately! King Magnar requests the inn for his personal use.”
He repeats the message in the Agnidari language. I gasp in dismay as a few Agnidari come rushing from a side room, their eyes widening with fear when they see Arvi, who’s twirling a dagger between his fingers in a nonchalant, yet utterly threatening manner.
“It’s necessary,” Raduna says, cradling me more tightly to his chest. “There are spies in this town, my queen. It’s better to empty the building and guard it against entrance than risk a neighbor slipping into your room at night.”
“But where will they stay?” I ask as guests start coming down the stairs, grumbling and asking what’s wrong.
“There’s another inn on the other side of town.”
The guests surround Arvi, complaining and demanding an explanation. He grins, the dagger in his hand flashing. In less time than it takes to blink, he grabs the loudest complainer, a chubby Agnidari man, and presses the knife to his throat.
The crowd falls silent, someone hiccupping from fear. Arvi repeats his message in both languages, adding that the guests have five minutes to take their belongings and go. He smiles, pats the cheek of the trembling, whimpering man, and pushes him away.
“Now!” he shouts.
The guests launch into a stampede up the stairs, pushing and shoving in an effort to get as far away from him as possible.
Arvi grins and saunters back to us, twirling that knife between long, flexible fingers.
Suddenly, he throws it high up, then snatches it out of the air as it falls, his eyes on my face the entire time.
I shake my head to clear it after that display. It’s scary. Impressive. “But was that really necessary?”
He snorts. “You wouldn’t ask that if you had any experience dealing with Agnidari townspeople. They are hard to reason with and would quarrel with me until dawn if I gave them a chance. We need the inn cleared for the most important person in the country. It’s not a huge sacrifice.”
“The most important person in the country?” I ask, wrinkling my nose in disbelief until I realize my mistake. “Oh. You mean Magnar.”
Arvi snorts and twirls the knife right in front of my face until my eyes cross from watching the spinning blade. He stops the knife an inch from my nose and bops me gently with the handle.
“I meant you. The war is over thanks to you. Magnar will secure beneficial trade treaties, again, thanks to you. That wealthy man who was quarreling because he’s too lazy to move will grow even richer—because of you, laruna. Try to keep up.”
Raduna growls, pulling me to his wide chest. “Watch it, Arvi.”
Arvi’s face is suddenly right in front of mine, his eyes dancing as he bares all of his white fangs in the widest grin I’ve ever seen. I stop breathing, transfixed, scared, and inexplicably hot.
“You can handle me, can’t you, sweet?”
He laughs and pulls away without waiting for my reply, which is perfect, because I don’t think I can speak. My heart is in my throat, and cold and hot tingles race down my spine. Raduna sighs, shaking his head.
“Forgive him. Arvi is the youngest of us,” he says when the bald-headed knight steps back into the inn to shout some more at the guests trundling down the stairs with their luggage.
“He’s twenty-five, and Magnar knighted him four years ago.
Arvi served in the army since he was fifteen.
He lied about his age to get in. He’s loyal to the bone. ”
That gives me pause since I expected all knights to be more or less the same age. I forgot how ageless most of the Agnidari look, their faces unlined by wrinkles even well past their prime.
“How old are you, then, and how long have you been Magnar’s knight?”
Raduna smiles sheepishly, his fingers kneading my thigh where he holds me.
“Thirty-nine, my queen, and I’ve served Magnar for six years.
I saved Khay’s life on the battlefield, and Magnar knighted me on the spot.
Khay’s been with him the longest, ever since Magnar was crowned ten years ago.
He’s thirty-three, and Magnar’s thirty-five.
They grew up together. Khay’s the son of a minor courtier who served in late king Hrognar’s court. ”
“Oh.” I don’t say anything else, surprised by all the basic information I failed to learn during our travels. I should have asked long ago, I realize with shame. But then—I wasn’t with them out of my own free will.
I am now.
“I hope my queen doesn’t consider me too old to serve her in any way she requires,” Raduna murmurs, his eyes cast down, cheeks covered by a purple blush. “For I am determined to do everything in my might to be your trustworthy knight and a man you can rely on.”
I gasp softly, realizing Raduna took my silence for dismay at learning his age. He is sixteen years my senior, but then, he’s not that much older than Magnar.
“Oh, I don’t doubt you,” I say, cupping his cheek in reassurance. “I’ve seen first hand how vigorous you are when fighting enemies. I feel quite safe with you.”
His warm eyes focus on my face, something deep and meaningful in his gaze. “And I will serve my queen vigorously when the time comes,” he says, his voice deepening, full lips soft.
My face heats, my fingers spasming against his cheek. I don’t fully know his meaning, but my body seems to understand what my mind is too bashful to comprehend. Raduna turns his head and closes his eyes, sighing as he presses a kiss to the middle of my raised palm.
The moment shatters when the sullen, unhappy Agnidari fill out through the inn’s doors, shooting me and Raduna resentful looks.
Arvi seems to have enlisted the help of Magnar’s soldiers, who now direct the people to move away as they form a secure perimeter around the inn.
When the final guest leaves, Arvi motions two men to follow him inside.
“They’ll sweep the inn from top to bottom to make sure it’s safe.”
Silence falls in the early night around us, broken only by the beating of moth wings against the glass of an oil lamp burning above the inn’s door.
Raduna’s breathing is even and deep as he holds me in his arms, seemingly untiring.
I bite the inside of my lip, realizing the consequences of the choice I made tonight.
I am Magnar’s wife and the Agnidari queen. I was forced into this marriage, but I chose it willingly tonight. I have no excuses. I chose this queendom, and so, I must be as good a queen as I can.
And queens have duties as well as privileges. Loyalty must be rewarded.
“Can I ask you a question?” I say, my throat tightening with nerves.
Raduna looks down at me with a serious expression. “Always, my queen.”
“Did… How… Um, what I mean is… The former Agnidari queens. Did they… What did they do… On their wedding nights?”
Raduna nods once, understanding the fear behind my fumbling question.
“I imagine they lay with their husbands, and sometimes with their knights. Our history annals rarely report the goings on in the royal bedchambers, my queen, and you shouldn’t let the past weigh too heavily on your decisions.
Whatever you choose will be respected. The wedding night isn’t the end all, be all.
The relationship between the queen and her knights can grow with time. ”
I sigh with frustration, because that’s not helpful at all. Raduna’s lips quirk in a smile.
“It’s just that I don’t know anything,” I complain.
“Everything I was told before you conquered us was a lie. I don’t know the simplest words in your language or your customs, what’s a polite topic of conversation at the table, what my duties are…
I’d love a manual to read. One thick book to explain it all. ”
He chuckles under his breath as Arvi appears in the doorway, motioning us in.
“There are books in the keep, but they are written in our language. I suggest you ask, my queen. We believe that if someone asks a question, they are ready to hear the answer.”
I nod glumly. Yes, that’s what Khay told me, too.
“I’ll try,” I promise. “It’s difficult, because I was punished for asking questions. I was also punished for not knowing things I wasn’t allowed to ask about. I always thought it was funny in a ridiculous sort of way.”
We go up the stairs, Arvi leading the way. When I finish speaking, he looks over his shoulder, eyes hard.
“One day soon, you’ll give me a list of all the people who put you in that cellar,” he says in a light voice, “and I’ll go there personally and whip them raw after hanging them upside down from a chandelier. That’s exactly the sort of ridiculous fun they should appreciate.”
Raduna groans, and I gasp, staring at Arvi’s backside as he walks sinuously up ahead. We reach the landing, and I stop him.
“Wait! How did… How did you know? About the cellar?”
Arvi’s shoulders stiffen, and he turns slowly, a comically aghast expression on his face.
“Might as well explain now,” Raduna mutters, rocking me from side to side as if I’m a baby in need of soothing.