Interlude
LORD VIDAR VIRTORIS, HEIR TO THE HOUSE OF THE SEA SERPENT
Vidar pressed his palms into the driftwood table and stared down at the map of Virtoris Island, the land on which they stood. His family home. His people. His legacy.
All safe, at least for the time being.
“It’s only a matter of time before King Magnus comes for us, Mother.
” Exhaustion clung to his voice, his every motion, even his bones, but rest would have to wait.
“We should have our defenses ready. Scouts on the Shivering Sea at all times and sailors on call, if not with their boots on the decks. Preferably I want ships waiting in this area.” His brown finger drifted west and south of Leire, to a cove where fifty large vessels could easily hide and wait.
Outside the arched windows, gray, churning waters crashed upon the rocks at the base of their castle. Even four stories up, he tasted the salt of the sea in the air.
His mother nodded at his suggestion, offered no other.
The king’s ships might not be as fast or as good as the vessels House Virtoris commanded, but numbers mattered.
In addition to the king’s own vessels, the loyal royalists of House Qiren and House Ithamai commanded fleets too.
Combined, the three great houses possessed a force that could cause Fayeth Virtoris’s armada great damage.
All that was not taking magical prowess into account. Vidar despised the king, but he could not deny that the White Bear was among the most powerful fae in the realm. If not the most powerful.
Or perhaps that is Neve now. The king seems scared of her rise . . .
Vidar didn’t know who wielded the stronger magic, only that Neve had been revealed as a Falk princess and that family line had been known to be very powerful indeed. If only he could ask the lost princess himself.
The Lady of Ships broke her tense silence. “Once, House Virtoris ruled this island with an armada four times the size of the one we have now. Then, no one would have dared to come at us on the water.”
To be fair, attacks were still rare. However, in the thousands of turns since House Virtoris bent the knee to Queen Sassa Falk and subsequently, King Magnus, their fleet dwindled.
Ship by ship. First, they’d lost ships in the Shadow Fae War, then in other battles with other kingdoms. Most recently, the Mage Court had sent two of their ships to the depths of the sea, where only mermaids and selkies and other water creatures could roam the decks.
It was far easier to destroy a ship than to rebuild one.
Particularly in the Kingdom of Winter, where trees did not grow as fast or as tall as trees in the south.
High Lady Fayeth had ruled her lands well, but she, like her predecessors, had neglected to rebuild most of their lost ships.
Now she would be the one in her family to pay the price.
And the cost was high.
“The king will remain distracted by Neve for a long while. At least until he captures and kills her, but after that, you’re right.
We’ll be a priority. A problem.” The Lady of Ships locked eyes with her son and heir.
“Sayyida disobeyed Magnus by disappearing from court. She made him look like a powerless fool.” Though the high lady claimed to be furious with her eldest daughter, the corner of her lips curled in the slightest of smug smiles.
“If only breaking my betrothal with Saga had been enough for our families to be at peace.”
It wasn’t that Vidar had not loved Saga.
He had loved her—as a friend—almost like a sister.
Still, he’d never met someone else he’d rather be engaged to, so he’d gone along with the betrothal.
To become heir to House Virtoris and husband to a princess of the realm was a great honor, after all.
And with Saga’s strong winter magic, it was practically guaranteed their children would have possessed a good deal of the very magic that kept the kingdom in balance.
His mother snorted. “Of course not. He tried to tie Njal to yet another inlander! The king is a lunatic, and I fear he’ll stop at nothing short of ending our lives to soothe his ego. Perhaps he’ll keep Amine alive. She’s still young and unwell. Easier to control.”
Vidar wasn’t so sure. Yes, his youngest sister had been a victim of the blight and was routinely ill, but if the king killed them all save for Amine, she would not take that lying down.
One day, his youngest sister would make him pay.
She would be quieter about getting revenge, but Amine was much like Sayyida, with the fury and power of a tempest in her heart.
The difference was that Sayyida allowed that tempest to guide her, then struck fast and true and hard with the help of the storm at her back.
Amine favored patience and was far more calculating.
The door to the room slammed open, and Vidar turned to find the elder storm-born sister marching toward them.
With each pounding step, Sayyida’s black curls bounced around her.
Though lighter in complexion than their mother’s deep brown skin, Vidar often imagined that at Sayyida’s age, she and their mother would look identical.
Both with the same curls, sharp cheekbones, skin that was regularly dusted with salt, and eyes that looked like the waters of the Shivering Sea.
“I got a letter from Saga.” Sayyida tossed a weathered sheet of paper on the table. The page, curled from days of being contained in a tube, rocked a bit before settling.
Neither Vidar nor his mother picked it up.
“You should be on the opposite side of the island.” The Lady of Ship’s jaw tightened. “Hiding.”
Sayyida snorted. “I’m not scared of the king.”
She should be. King Magnus was not the king because of his bloodline. No matter that he was illegitimate and bore the name Aaberg, not Falk like the fae who sired him, Magnus was powerful and still had many supporters.
“Read the letter, Mother,” Sayyida demanded.
“How did Saga learn where you were?”
“She knows all my hideouts.” Sayyida shrugged a single shoulder.
Lady Fayeth Virtoris rubbed her temple, but picked up the paper and scanned the message before setting it down with a flat, tense palm burying it into the table. Her blue-gray stare burned through her daughter. “What do you want me to do about the princess fleeing Avaldenn?”
“Saga left?” Vidar’s body tensed.
“With Lord Riis at the behest of the queen,” Sayyida said. “They’re going south, heading for Myrr. Judging by the date, they’ll be there in less than a week.”
“And?” The Lady of Ships spoke as if she intuited what her daughter wanted, and she probably did. Their mother knew her children well.
“I want to go with a small fleet.”
“Why?”
“They’re searching for Vale and Neve and, I bet you anything, Saga intends to stand with her brother as they fight the king!” Sayyida tossed her hands in the air.
She was fire on the sea, but her words did not warm Vidar. Rather, a trench-deep cold spread through him.
“You wish to go against the king and side with a Falk in an open rebellion?” Lady Virtoris asked with a carefully measured tone.
“In case you didn’t notice, I’ve already gone against King Magnus.”
A fist slammed on the table, making both Vidar and Sayyida jump and the letter roll off the edge, to the ground.
“Why do you think your brother and I are here?! We’re trying to work out a way to defend the island when the king comes, because he will come, and he’ll want revenge for my children defying him. ”
Sayyida’s chin jutted out. “I’m proud of Njal for standing up for himself and saying he didn’t want to marry that lady. It’s not our way. We belong by the sea.”
“Mother isn’t denying that.” Vidar cut in before things got ugly. “But Sayyida, we’re sending ships out to protect the people of our island. And now you want to leave? They respect you and will want you at their side.”
Three heartbeats passed in which his sister looked chastened, but when she met his gaze again, she nodded. “I do wish to go. And I’m aware that it’s selfish, but don’t you two see? This could be the start of something new! Something better!”
“The Falk princess posed as a commoner her entire time at court.” Their mother pressed her lips together before continuing. “Lies were told. How can you trust her?”
“She’s with Vale,” Vidar said, surprising himself. “I’d trust Vale with my life.” His mother didn’t know, but he had already done so more than once.
“And I know Neve better than you think, Mother,” his sister added.
“Isolde. Her name is Isolde Falk,” the Lady of Ships spat out the name as if she had not just been using Neve herself.
“She’s the daughter of the Cold King, a ruthless ruler if there ever was one.
You can’t recall the end of his reign, my loves, but I do, and it was horrendous.
That same blood that needlessly tormented and killed so many fae runs in her veins. ”
“That’s the name she was born with,” Sayyida said softly but not meekly. “That’s the family she was born to. But that is not who Neve—Isolde—whatever you want to call her is. You may not know that, but I do.”
Their mother leaned back against the table. “Tell me then. Convince me to give you my ships and allow them to sail south when they’re needed here to defend my land from my children’s choices. Convince me to lend the might of our house to a princess I do not trust.”
Vidar trained his attention on his sister.
“She was born here, but Neve grew up in the Vampire Kingdom. A blood slave.”
“That’s common knowledge now,” their mother said.
“I’m not done.” Sayyida scowled but continued on to spin a tale of horrors and fear at the hands of the vampires.
She told them of Neve’s time in the Winter Court since, and how the female was not one to abuse power.
Sayyida wasn’t sure she wanted power, but one thing was certain: The lost Falk princess always stood up for those who needed her to.
“From what she’s told me and what I witnessed during our mutual time at court,” Sayyida continued, “I consider Neve a dear friend, Mother. House Virtoris may sway with the sea, but we do not abandon our friends in its cold and deadly waters.” Sayyida pinned her mother with a stare as cold as a mage’s touch.
“I’ll consider it,” the Lady of Ships conceded. “Until you hear my decision from my own lips, do not even think about taking a ship. Now, leave, Sayyida. Your brother and I have much to discuss.”
Sayyida’s mouth dropped open. “Mother! I—”
“Leave us.” The tone was final, the tone of a high lady.
Sayyida spun and stormed from the room. Vidar watched her go, and when the door slammed shut, he exhaled.
“You don’t approve?” His mother was staring at him now.
“I like Neve and love Vale like family.”
“You cannot imagine what would happen if we brought our people into a battle that I’m not even sure this lost princess wants, only for Isolde Falk to take the throne and then turn out like her father.”
He didn’t speak. The only sound in the room was the constant crashing of waves against the rocks below the castle. But then Vidar drew in a breath as he scrubbed the back of his neck.
“You’re right. I was young during the Cold King’s final turns. You and Father shielded me well from that talk. Talk that younglings need not worry about. However, I agree with Sayyida. Neve is not her father. And Saga wouldn’t be going south if she thought otherwise.”
“You can’t say exactly why Saga left the capital.”
“No, but she wouldn’t be going to Myrr in the hopes of finding Vale and Neve if she didn’t believe in them.
On that matter, Mother, I believe in them too.
I trust them. And if I were the head of House Virtoris, and war erupted between Neve and Vale and King Magnus, I’d send my ships to fight for my friends. ”
“I made a poor decision once, Vidar.” She crossed her arms over her chest as if trying to sink in on herself.
“Two decades ago, backing King Magnus seemed the right thing to do. However, since then, he has not proven worthy of the throne, and I must admit, I cannot bear to make another wrong choice. Not one this important.”
It wouldn’t be only their families affected. The choice of House Virtoris would affect every lesser lord and lady still sworn to them. Every fisherfae. Every sailor and fighter. And every fae left on their island while their loved ones went to fight.
Considering all of that, they could never bend the knee to King Magnus again, and he did not believe Neve was anything like the stories he’d heard of the Cold King.
The heir to House Virtoris lifted his chin and went to his mother. He took her hand, weathered, like his, and squeezed.
“You may hold on to the fear of the past, but I fear a future under King Magnus’s continued rule. So I ask you to trust Sayyida and me. Allow us to go south and see what they plan. We need not take the entire fleet, just a small one, just in case.”
“I understand you sticking behind Vale, and Sayyida siding with Saga, but how can you be sure about Isolde?”
In truth, he didn’t know, but Vidar had a feeling that this wasn’t all happening by chance. That Isolde had arrived back in Winter’s Realm right when she was needed most. When things needed changing the most. He would follow that nudge.
“I just am, Mother. Vale is another brother, and his wife is a friend, one I’ve come to care for in a short period of time. And you have always taught us to stick with those we really love, and to fight for them. For the life we all deserve.”