Chapter 16 – Isolde
ISOLDE
Icast a sidelong glance at my sister, savoring the moment before we walked into the grand hall, and Lord Tadgh Balik swore his allegiance to us.
To witness the event were the wealthiest merchants in Myrr and their families, the High Staretess of the city, and three lesser lords of the south, all of them banner houses to House Balik. Each pivotal voices in their community, and powerful in their own ways.
“Do you feel guilty?” I whispered to my sister, though there was no one else around to hear. Everyone, including our friends, family, and mates, were inside, waiting. “Keeping our secret?”
“Yes, and I don’t even care about this family like you do.”
I chuckled at the remark because it was just so Thyra. “Hopefully soon we’ll make headway. Then we can tell him.”
Practicing today had been mixed. After hours of work, we’d both been able to call forth shadowy tendrils, but we had little control over what they did. One of Thyra’s tendrils had floated out the window, threatening to expose us. The shadow only dissipated when my sister locked down her power.
“I hope so,” Thyra agreed with a small smile. “You look nice, by the way.”
“You too.”
The Balik sisters had lent us dresses. Mine was an amethyst gown with a plunging neckline. I wore a sword belt with Sassa’s Blade hanging off it.
Thyra’s dress was black with two slits creeping up her thighs. Thyra had left the Fr?r Crown under Astril’s watch, while Livia and Freyia attended the ceremony.
I was about to peek into the chamber again when Aleksander poked his head out the door. His gaze scanned over us both, and a proud smile graced his lips. “We’re ready for you, my princesses.”
“Sisters to you,” I corrected him, and he beamed.
“Sisters.”
Aleksander slipped back into the room. We gave him a moment to find his spot before entering, side by side.
A crowd of fifty parted down the middle, displaying Lord Balik in his high seat at the end of the aisle. His wife stood at his side, and his children watched from behind. The three banner lords waited at the foot of the dais, ready to witness their lord’s oath.
Thyra and I strode together in lockstep, and I could not help but marvel at how in sync we had been lately. We still had issues to overcome, but each day, my twin and I grew closer. More like how we might have been if the White Bear’s Rebellion had never happened.
If Inga had never complied with Magnus’s wishes. I couldn’t help but find Lord Riis in the crowd. Even among his sons, all red of hair except for Vale, Leyv stood out. He was a large faerie, in body and spirit.
The spymaster caught me looking and offered a small smile. I glanced away.
I hadn’t spoken directly to Lord Riis since the day he’d told me the truth of Queen Inga’s crimes against my family.
If I hadn’t put so much trust in the male, if he hadn’t sworn to keep Vale and me safe, I might have forgiven him with greater ease.
But he’d gotten me to trust him, all the while knowing the truth: My father had never been mad.
That the Cruel King’s actions were spurred on by a whisperer, and my family had died for nothing.
Unfortunately, the people I cherished most loved the queen and the spider—shared their blood and many memories with the pair. I could not bring myself to hurt Vale, Saga, or the Riis brothers for my own revenge.
We reached the bottom of the dais. Vale and Thantrel positioned themselves just to our sides. As mates, rejected or no, they were important witnesses to the occasion.
Lord Balik descended the steps and came to a stop in front of us. His shoulders rolled back and down as he addressed the room at large.
“I thank you for journeying to my hall today to witness the sacred oath that House Balik intends to make. A promise of fealty and friendship to a royal house many thought long dead.” He inclined his head. “To Princess Isolde Falk and Princess Thyra Falk.”
He fell to a knee, and everyone in the room who called Tadgh Balik their lord or their father followed suit.
The motion stirred something inside me, something not even Lord Riis’s solemn promise back at Valrun Castle had managed.
I couldn’t put a name to the feeling, only that it made my chest swell as I took Sassa’s Blade in my hand.
I touched the edge of the legendary sword to Lord Balik’s shoulder, then the next, before removing the zuprian steel.
“By blood and bone, by frigid wind and winter’s touch, I bind my fate to those of House Falk.
” Lord Balik articulated the same vow that Lord Riis had spoken.
The ancient words of loyalty and devotion to the Crown of Winter’s Realm.
The same oath that every new ruler of House Falk had required upon their ascension to the throne.
“Whatever you may need from me is yours. May the dead gods bear witness, and may Winter’s Realm reject me should I break this oath,” Lord Balik finished, the moment gone so quickly.
I looked at Thyra. She gave a single nod, and I stepped forward.
“We accept House Balik as our banner house,” I stated proudly.
Thyra joined me. “And should others wish to make their oaths, we will hear them now. Rise, Lord Balik.”
The Warden of the South rose, but others remained kneeling. Lord Balik’s banner fae, and merchants who, though they had no army, wished to state their loyalty before those present.
“Thank you, Lord Balik.” A smile softened my lips. “Please sit while we accept the other oaths.”
The High Lord of the Southlands took his great, horned seat, and his banner fae knelt before us, began the words.
And so it went through the room, over and over and over.
Belly and heart full, I sipped my wine at the Balik’s table, content to revel in the victory. The possibilities.
After Lord Balik took his vow, three influential lesser houses in the south swore their allegiance to Thyra and me. Many wealthy and well-connected merchants in Myrr promised to support us as well.
Thyra and I had come so far from the day we’d first seen one another at the Royal Theater. The day she’d almost shot an arrow through my heart.
“Oh, to be a frostfly on the wall when King Magnus learns of what happened today.” Thantrel had indulged in much wine, and red stained his cheeks.
“You’ll have to settle for seeing his disbelief when we trounce him on the battlefield!” Prince Thordur’s fist pounded the table, his tone loud and merry. Apparently, too much wine had been drunk all around.
“I can’t wait for that. Or to see Frostveil,” Princess Bavirra said from where she sat by her brother, clad in a gown of gold that she borrowed from Baenna and had altered.
As royals, we were sitting around one side of the high lord’s table.
Thantrel had invited himself up, and Lord Balik hadn’t denied him. Nor had Thyra.
From the amused expression the Warden of the South was giving Thantrel, I had to wonder if Tadgh Balik even really wanted Sian to wed my sister.
“If Father lets you near the battle for Avaldenn,” Thordur corrected his sister.
The dwarven princess narrowed her eyes. “Why wouldn’t he?”
The Heir Prince of Dergia scoffed. “You’re not supposed to be here at all, Bav. You snuck into the army to save Nev—I mean, Isolde and her friends. He should have sent you back to Dergia.”
“As if I haven’t been training for such a thing for turns.”
The two swept into bickering, so I turned to Vale, sitting at my side. He had a certain look about him.
I cocked my head. “What are you thinking about?”
He grinned, and the effect was as devastating as it always was, sending chills through me. Would I ever tire of looking at this male? I doubted it. Even when our skin wrinkled and his hair took on gray, I’d still find Vale as handsome as the day I’d first seen him.
“I was thinking about how proud I am of you. For today, but for all the days that I’ve known you.
For those before I met you, too.” A subtle, serious shift rippled across his face as it so often did when he was considering my past in the Blood Court, but a mischievous glint in his eyes quickly replaced the seriousness.
“And then I was thinking I wish to celebrate with you.” He leaned closer and whispered in my ear, “Alone.”
My toes curled at his tone. The promise.
“Well.” I took in our closest dinner companions.
Everyone seemed to be happily talking with those next to them.
“Now might be a perfect time to slip away. It is getting late, after all. And you had such a long day showing the rebels to their new home—you must be ready to lie down.” Beneath the table, my hand landed on his upper thigh, strayed close to his malehood.
“Isolde,” he growled. “If you plan on teasing me like that, we won’t be able to leave any time soon.”
I laughed and stood. I expected others to notice, and for Vale and me to pretend that we could not wait to fall asleep. What I didn’t expect was for everyone at the table, with the exception of Thyra, Lord Balik, and Lady Balik, to stand.
“Oh.” My tone sounded so mouse-like as others stopped their conversations to watch. “Vale and I are retiring for the evening. No need to . . . do whatever you’re doing.”
Thyra sniggered, but Lady Balik gave an understanding smile.
“They’re showing their leader respect,” the High Lady of the Southlands explained. “Only those of equal standing or your hosts remain sitting on such an occasion.”
Just when I dared to think I understood royal etiquette well enough, a few oaths changed things.
“Thank you,” I said. “Please, continue to enjoy dessert.”
The dinner party sat, and as quickly as we could, Vale and I left the room. The moment we were alone, he loosed a low laugh.
“The look on your face. Priceless!”
I punched him. “The rebels didn’t do that! Nor Lord Riis after he swore to us.”
“Well, my father stood today. Things are different now.”