43. The Nightmare Prince
Chapter 43
While Mira recruited the whole of the palace—Skadi included—in plotting against my father and his reluctance for revels, I spent much of the morning in town. Alone, but not truly. The prickle of eyes followed me through the market square, down alleys and through arcades.
More proof the guards of the Black Palace were as sly as the thieves who ruled there. Since our return from Natthaven, they were on edge and watching with more ferocity. Always waiting for a new elven attack.
When I made my way back to where I’d kept my horse before the noon toll, I tipped my chin to one man standing in an arched alley, a hood pulled low, a hand on a black steel seax.
“They’re waiting for you, Prince.”
“They? This afternoon was only supposed to be the princess and me.”
From this angle, I could only make out the smirk on the guard’s face under his cowl. “What else do you expect? We’re all watching your back, Jonas.”
With a groan, I settled over my gelding and made quick work returning to the palace.
On the front drive was a line of more horses packed with satchels of jerky and Ylva’s brown rolls.
Skadi was surrounded by my fellow heirs and a few other faces. Hair pulled high and tight, blue satin ribbons tied around her tresses. More glimmer powders on her cheeks, no mistake thanks to Mira.
“What are you lot doing?”
Skadi peeked around the neck of Mira’s pale horse. It wasn’t only Mira with the aggravating idea of interrupting an afternoon alone with me and my wife. Von, Frigg, Sander, Aleksi, and even Tait were preparing their own charges.
“You really think your parents want you wandering the wood alone?” Aleksi kicked a leg over a black mare. He looked too Rave, too warrior—sword on his hip, and a dagger sheathed on the small of his back.
“I thought I would get an afternoon introducing my wife to Felstad before we’re bombarded by the hordes Mira will bring.”
“Dramatic, Jonas.” Mira tossed her long hair over her shoulder. “I invited a reasonable amount of folk. And don’t be sour. You can bed Skadi in the trees later. We don’t want anything to happen to you. How awful it is that you have folk who care.”
I narrowed my eyes, but led the gelding to where Skadi waited. She leaned into me when I slid off the furs on the horse.
“Mira has a point,” she said, kissing the hinge of my jaw. “You were gone long enough, I had all manner of dreary thoughts running through my head.”
“I was properly surrounded by blades, Fire. No need to worry. What I am more concerned about are all my salacious plans will now need to wait for tonight.”
She tugged on my belt, grinning. “I’ve no doubt you’ll make up for it.”
“Best prepare yourself, Wife.”
“Jonas Eriksson!” Mira shouted. “If you wish to go, we must leave now or we will be late for the revel.”
I helped Skadi onto the horse, glancing at Tait who nervously handled his own charge. “Heartwalker, you’ve been talked into joining, I see.”
There were no horses in the Ever Kingdom, rather strange, horse-like creatures that handled the tides as well as the land.
He glared our way. “I must, seeing as I am the damn escort for her. These beasts are horrendous, by the way.”
Mira turned over her shoulder. “The offer to share a horse still stands, Hearttalker. You seem to be struggling.”
He glowered. “I’ll manage.”
Sander kept watch on Tait while I positioned behind Skadi. “I hope you’ll be more willing to share a horse, Princess.”
“So long as you promise to behave those hands.”
I leveraged behind her, my arms caging her between them when I took the reins. I kissed her shoulder. “Never.”
“You should.”
“I refuse.”
“What if I say so?”
“I’ll refrain.” I paused. “Until I change your mind.”
“Doubtful.”
A grin spread over my lips. “Trying to get the last word, Fire?”
Skadi hesitated. “Perhaps.”
I nudged the horse into a slow trot, laughing. “I wish you luck.”
Skadi reached her hands overhead, running her fingers through drapes of willow limbs that opened to a corridor of thick aspens and evergreens. “This place reminds me of the wood back home.”
“Jagged Grove is where vagabonds once lived during wars.”
“The Kryv?”
I nodded. “Borders have changed since the earth realms united, but this place is where my mother and father first became a king and queen of thieves.”
A few paces ahead of us, Frigg and Sander sang an old folk song, laughing when they went off tune. Von took in the quiet of the grove, occasionally glancing to the west side of the trees with Aleksi.
Mira had grown somber since Heartwalker’s charge seemed content to walk alongside hers. It was strange to see these trees as a mere wood. Too many ghosts of fae wars lived here, each with a tale that impacted each one of us.
I wanted Skadi to be part of it now too.
Tall, jagged walls of dark stone broke through the branches. Overgrown with tangles of vines and spindly trees, the ruins had few intact floors and towers, but enough the levels would not crumble should we enter.
“We’re here.” I kicked a leg over the horse and took hold of Skadi’s waist, guiding her down.
I drew her close, planting a heavy kiss on her mouth. She grinned against my lips, arms around my neck, fingers in my hair.
I didn’t understand how it was possible, but I was convinced I would never tire of her touch.
“Is this how it’s going to be with you two the rest of my life?” Sander frowned.
“It is not my fault,” I said. “It is a compulsion to touch her at this point.”
Aleksi clambered up on a broken pillar, looking back in the direction of the Black Palace. “If borders were still the same, I think I was found somewhere in that direction. Daj told me it was in a briar shrub.”
Skadi’s eyes widened. “You were found?”
Aleksi winked. “Abandoned during the wars that won Kase and Malin their crown. I have two fathers, Princess, so no natural littles for them. But the Norns knew what they were doing that day. They took me home to the North, gave me a crown, sort of like your story.”
Skadi’s eyes brightened and she stared in the same direction, perhaps finding another thread of connection to the folk who mattered most to me, to this place.
This was exactly what I wanted, for her to know she belonged with us.
The others took their own way into the familiar ruins; I led Skadi through an arched doorway that was still intact. “This is Felstad. The first palace, we call it.”
A small forest had taken root in the main courtyard of the ruins. Dark walls speared through ferns and trees in levels, like broken teeth of open jaws.
“Your folk lived here?”
“It was the Kryv’s haven even before my mother and father were reunited.” I helped her over a ledge into the main courtyard. “Daj was taken captive for his mesmer as a boy. They were apart for turns before Maj found him again. Now it’s damn near impossible to separate them.”
Skadi smiled. “I think it’s romantic, never tiring of your lover.”
I paused for half a breath, overtaken with the truth—Skadi was the first thought of my mornings and the last of my nights. For the first time, I could see the desire for one heart lasting long after the gods took me to the Otherworld.
I guided us up a set of spiral steps. The staircase opened to a floor overlooking the whole of the ruins. I leveraged onto the edge, letting my legs dangle over the side, Skadi did the same.
Through the cracked and empty corridors voices of the others filtered through the ruins. They would all converge here eventually.
“Felstad wasn’t always a joyful place,” I admitted. “During the war that earned my parents the throne, their enemies trapped littles here. Von was one of the captives. It was the first time sea fae and earth fae collided, actually.”
Tait stood close, inspecting one of the old archways. “Wait, what did you say? This was where he . . .”
I nodded, knowing what he was asking. “The reason the sea fae came to our shores was because Bloodsinger was captured as a tiny boy. He was tortured here.”
“Dammit.” Tait took in the walls with a new horrible reverence. “I didn’t know it was still standing. Has Erik ever returned here?”
“No.” I lowered my chin, ashamed for the pain that corrupted the walls of this place. “I think it’s why the Ever King avoids our kingdom more than others.”
“I didn’t know that story,” Skadi whispered.
I took hold of her hand. “It is more proof that enemies can become something more, Fire. Bloodsinger once despised us for the pains of his past, but sea fae are found in every kingdom now. They do not hold the past against us, the way we do not hold it against them. I hope you know it is the same for elven folk.”
Skadi scooted a little closer, seeming to understand my underlying reasons for bringing her here.
“Speak for yourself, Prince.” Heartwalker drew another one of his smokes, but never lit the end. “I still hold everything against you lot.”
Skadi snickered. “Yes. Especially Mira.”
Tait blanched, and I nearly toppled off the damn ledge from laughing at his back when he stormed away.
“This was a place of pain, and love, and strength. I wanted you to see it because I want you to know, you are part of Klockglas and this clan. Your heart was betrayed, and I want to spill blood for it.” I gingerly took one of her hands between mine. “This place is where outcasts became family. If you feel like you have no place, you do with me. You will belong with me, Skadi.”
She took my face between her palms, eyes glassy. With her lips over mine, Skadi whispered, “You are the one I would have beside me on the battlefield, Nightmare.”
My blood heated. I kissed her slowly. “I love you too, Wife.”
We would not be broken, not by games of the elven. Bonds fastened the day I vowed to this woman were too fierce, too rooted in something stronger than any alliance, to ever be torn free. I believed it to my soul.