Interlude – King Magnus Aaberg, The White Bear, Protector of Winter’s Realm
Interlude
KING MAGNUS AABERG, THE WHITE BEAR, PROTECTOR OF WINTER’S REALM
The King of Winter dismounted his gryphon, bones aching, magic depleted to practically nothing.
At least he was not alone in his weakness. At present, Warden Roar could not shift. His Clawsguard had no access to magic.
And yet, aching though his body may be, the king had rarely felt so invigorated in his soul.
I will strengthen in time. I will become stronger than ever before.
Stablehands took care of the gryphons, and the king and Roar strode into Frostveil Castle. Fae stared, for no matter that the two currently worked together, the Lisika warden and the Aaberg monarch were an unlikely pair.
“I require a concubine on my cock, and my belly filled with roast boar,” the king said to a servant who waited at the door with two goblets of steaming mulled wine.
The king took one golden goblet, the warden the other.
“See that the concubine comes to my room immediately. Send the food a half hour later.”
The servant walked away.
Alone again with the warden, the king’s voice lowered. “Once I’m done with her, I shall call a meeting. Be prepared.”
“I will, Majesty,” Roar replied, no judgment in his tone, though the slight curl of his lips indicated distaste. Lord Roar did not approve of Magnus’s harem. It was one reason the king flaunted it when the Warden of the West was around.
They parted, the king veering to his rooms. However, when Magnus arrived at his quarters, he found not a concubine waiting for him, but the Lady of Silks, Nalaea Qiren.
King Magnus smirked. “Here to revisit old times, Nalaea?”
Her black eyebrows pulled tight over piercing green eyes. In the corridor’s torchlight, Nalaea’s ebony skin gleamed like the fine silks her family sold all around Isila.
Even Magnus, a purveyor of the most beautiful fae in the kingdom, did not deny that the Lady of Silks was stunning.
His physical attraction to her, as much as his need for her cunning mind, was why their affair had lasted so long.
He sometimes thought that had he been a male to marry for love, he might have wed Nalaea.
Although there was no doubt Inga had proved far more useful than a mare ever would have been.
“You think I’m here to bed you?” Nalaea snorted, not bothering to be embarrassed around the Clawsguards who followed the king, their golden cloaks fluttering behind them like ghosts.
The knights sworn to his bloodline knew about the affair.
Many did. Initially, some had dared to claim that the Lady of Silks bedded him to get ahead.
They lost their tongues for the insult—and not by the king’s orders.
The Qiren family was small compared to the other Sacred Eight, but they held great power. The king’s High Councilor was a Qiren, and Nalaea was the Lady of Silks. She did not need to bed the king for any reason other than she wanted to.
“Magnus darling, you’re filthy and smell like unwashed gryphon.” Her nose wrinkled. “Your whores can have you.”
Magnus let himself into his rooms. The Lady of Silks swept in after him, her face stoney. “Why are you here then, if not to ride my cock?”
“Your daughter is gone. One of my spies saw her entering the Warmsnap and then leaving—disguised—with the spymaster.”
His spine straightened. “With Riis?”
“You have another spymaster?”
“I’m already tiring of this attitude.”
“Then keep up.” She sat in a chair by the cold hearth.
“They’ve been gone for days now. Of course, others have noticed that the princess is not in the castle.
Your wife, however, says that Princess Saga is simply not feeling herself.
” Nalaea’s eyebrows rose. “Though that can be said for your heir, I assure you that the princess is no longer at court.”
He gripped his goblet tighter. “What’s wrong with Rhistel?”
“I cannot be certain. My daughter, Thalia, tried to flirt with him, but he did not respond.”
“Is that so odd?”
“Thalia is a great beauty. And her skin and scent are like love potions to those she wishes to affect, so yes.”
Perhaps the latter would affect Rhistel, but not the former. His heir enjoyed beauty, but he did not let it sway him. Not like Vale.
“What will you do about Princess Saga?”
“That’s not your concern.”
“I’m your best ally, Magnus.”
“As you say. Now, unless you have more bad news to dispatch, leave me.”
Scowling, she left, and the king took that time to drink the goblet of mulled wine and then a second.
Once he washed down the wine, he scrubbed his hands and face.
The concubine arrived and though Magnus’s cock was rock hard at the sight of the dryad’s large breasts and full lips, he knew he had to see if the Lady of Silks was right.
The king told the dryad to wait in the bed for his return and went in search of his heir or his wife.
His cloak, the same one he’d worn on the journey south, fluttered around his ankles. Though it was hot, Magnus did not take off the cloak. Not until he had a safe place for the item inside his pocket.
As luck would have it, Magnus found not only his wife or his son, but both in the same place, the queen’s chambers. It took him only one glance to determine that Nalaea had been correct. Rhistel’s eyes were glazed.
Unlike the Lady of Silks, the king knew why. Magnus shut the door to his wife’s chambers and cast a shield of air at the door so that the Clawsguard outside—his and hers—would not overhear.
“What are you doing to him?” he spat at his wife.
“That is how you greet your wife after disappearing to the west?”
“It’s how I greet a wife who is whispering our son. Do as I say, Inga.”
“I cannot.”
“Will not, you mean.” Frost formed at his fingertips.
Inga noticed the flex of power, but did not budge.
Her ability to alter his mind if she so wanted, the chance that she might make him do as she wished, had always infuriated him.
It was why Magnus often kept a distance from his wife and never missed his dose of Mind Rond potion.
He called off his magic, already exhausted by that small show that did nothing whatsoever to sway Inga.
When my new magics strengthen, she’ll defer. He could not wait for the day when he might try out the new powers unleashed inside him. Magic lost to this world. Dark magic that his bloodline had hidden for so very long.
“He threatened our daughter, Magnus.”
The king drew back. “Rhistel said he’d hurt his sister?”
His heir was the most unpredictable of his children—or at least that had been the case before that Falk whore arrived at court and stole Vale’s mind. Over the turns, the family had needed to clean up many of Rhistel’s messes, and as of late, his heir had been violent towards his own twin.
Still, never in a million turns would the king have thought Rhistel capable of hurting Saga. She was the jewel of the family. The best of them. Pure and innocent and loved by all. Winter’s delight.
Inga’s chin lifted in challenge. “He did. Lord Riis was present at the threat and said he could take her away. Keep her safe.”
“Until when?”
“Until I deem that our son is no longer a threat.”
For the first time, his wife sounded uncertain. Was she lying?
Inga, like Rhistel, like all whisperers, possessed the power to lie. Even if his wife’s magic was responsible for their positions today, which made her arguably stronger than him, Magnus did not think his queen lied to him often. But he could never be completely certain either.
“Did you succeed in your quest?” Inga asked.
“I did.”
“And do you plan to use it?”
“How did you—?”
“I’m in Rhistel’s head all day. Holding him, trying to reason with him. I see much.”
Of course. The king was sure his heir would not have told his secret, not if given a real chance.
“You cannot keep him like this,” Magnus said. “The Lady of Silks has noticed he’s acting oddly.”
“Why hasn’t she left court?”
“I have not dismissed her.”
Inga’s lips pursed; the obvious disbelief written across her face.
“That didn’t stop the Armenils. Nor the Baliks, or those of the House of the Sea Serpent.
” Bright blue eyes snapped up to meet his.
“Then again, I suppose when you say that you’ll see Lord Roar fed to your bear and then give your daughter’s hand to him when he actually reappears, the high lords and ladies don’t believe they need your permission to leave court, do they? ”
She was calling him weak. His word worthless.
“Watch yourself,” the king seethed. “They’ll see soon enough that they should have remained where I told them.
I have a plan. One that will see the end to the rebellion, and any lack of loyalty in the great houses from here on out.
Soon there will no longer be a Falk whore running about.
Just bastards who have no greater claim than I to the throne. ”
“And what of Vale?” Inga asked. “Will your plan harm him?”
Magnus swallowed. He’d told his allies not to harm his son, but would they follow through?
“I’ve done all I can to secure his well-being. From this point forward, his fate is in his own hands.” The king nodded to Rhistel. “As for that one, at the very least loosen your hold. We cannot have him harming Saga, but others cannot notice the state he is in, either.”
She turned away, dismissing him. Annoyance and frustration warring inside him, the king left the queen’s chambers, wishing that he could return to his chambers and take pleasure in his concubine. But Inga, for all her flaws, always had a way of clarifying his priorities.
The king left, and his Clawsguard followed behind, quiet and loyal, just as Magnus preferred. When the king reached his next destination, however, he turned to the soldier.
“I require a moment alone.”
“Yes, Majesty.”