Chapter 42 #3
The three exchange a quick glance before Fen answers. "Power. Influence. And the restoration of the sirens' central role in match-making."
"Before the breaking of the soul-mate magick," Frigga explains, "the sirens were matchmakers and peacekeepers. People would seek their blessing to find their destined mates. When that magick was broken, so was much of their purpose and power."
"So I'm what—a means to restore siren influence?"
"You're far more than that," Frigga says gently.
"But yes, to Nimue, you and Fen likely represent a path back to the old ways.
Ways that favored her people and elevated them.
The magick has been sorely missed, though.
We have had significantly less unions and many less children born across the realms since losing it. "
"Why?" I ask, surprised.
"People depended on the matching. They're fearful without the certainty that came with it," Frigga explains with a sigh. "Without the sirens' guidance, many never find their soul-match and they tend to doubt the matches they do make. That hesitation, that uncertainty... it affects everything."
I find myself absently touching the mating mark on my neck. I can't quite describe the feeling and the connection, but it is constant and comforting. The wolf inside me stirs in response to even the thought of him.
"I understand," I say softly. "This connection is unlike anything I've ever known." I search for words to explain. "There is a certainty to it that makes everything else seem... clearer somehow. Like finding a compass when you've been lost your whole life."
I glance at Fen, our eyes meeting briefly.
Something shifts in his gaze, a flash of amber-gold that tells me his wolf is looking out at mine.
My own wolf stirs in response, a warmth unfurling beneath my skin like stretching after a long sleep.
It's strange how natural this feels now, this muted conversation between our other selves.
"The idea of having this and then losing it..." My throat tightens unexpectedly, the intensity of our connection hitting me anew. "Or worse, never knowing it existed at all? I can see why people would be afraid to commit without it."
Frigga's lips curve upward, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. Instead, they hold centuries of witnessed longing and loss, a deep-seated sadness that makes her beauty somehow more profound. Her fingers trace the edge of her goblet with a wistfulness that speaks of personal memory.
"Precisely, my dear," she says, her voice whispy.
The conversation turns to preparations for Avalon, and soon we're saying our goodbyes. Fen and I leave the grand dining hall. The hallways are quieter now, most of the court retired for the evening.
"That was... intense," I say once we're alone. "I have about a thousand more questions now."
Fen chuckles. "Only a thousand? You're showing remarkable restraint."
"I'm prioritizing," I quip. "Starting with the Knights. How does that work exactly?"
His pace slows. "Yggdrasil chooses. It calls us by name."
"The world tree from Norse mythology?" I raise an eyebrow. "That Yggdrasil? It’s what… sentient?"
"The very same," he confirms. "Yggdrasil connects all eight realms, and its magick runs through everything. It gives life to the universe and is sentient in a way. It doesn’t speak directly to anyone, at least I’ve never heard stories of that happening. When a Knight is needed, a name appears on a chair in Camelot’s tower where the round table resides. "
"Just... appears? Like magical graffiti?"
He smiles at that. "Something like that. Sometimes names are replaced on existing chairs. Sometimes new chairs grow and are added to the table. The names themselves appear etched into the wood back of the chair. We are called to serve, regardless of our previous station or plans."
"So you didn't volunteer," I say, realizing the implication. "You were... conscripted by a tree."
He chuckles. “Yggdrasil is so much more than that. Being called to be a Knight is the highest honor in the universe. Yggdrasil is sacred. It gives us life. Magick. It is what connects all of mankind together.”
We turn down another corridor, this one lined with beautiful landscape paintings. I don’t remember passing these last time. He must be leading me down a different route. "And what exactly are you serving? What's the Knights' purpose?" I ask.
"Originally? To maintain balance between the realms. To serve as emissaries and protectors." His expression darkens. "But five centuries ago, that purpose was interrupted."
"What happened five centuries ago?"
Fen takes a deep breath. "There was an evil queen?"
"Let me guess… Another myth I know as a story?"
“Perhaps. She was the reason the Spanish Inquisition started. The reason—”
“The reason GUIDE exists,” I finish for him.
He nods. "No one really knows exactly what started it or who she is, only that she had more power than any Fae has ever had, and she started killing humans by the thousands.
The realms acted swiftly. The Fae left Earth, took Camelot, created the pocket universe of Avalon, and the doorway to Earth was closed and locked. "
"And then what did they do? How did you stop her?"
"Something desperate. Something that had never been attempted before." His voice lowers. "Each of the Knights donated a piece of their soul to craft a key—a sword called Excaliber—infused with soul magick that could lock her away in a cell beyond the reach of any realm."
I stare at him. "You gave up pieces of your souls? Voluntarily?"
"We did what was necessary," he says simply. "But the consequences were... unexpected. The sword broke when the cell was sealed. Our soul shards were scattered and lost."
I struggle to wrap my mind around the implications. "And Earth? How did it get cut off from the other realms?"
"In the aftermath, fear gripped the realms. A self-appointed council usurped the Knights and Yggdrasil’s authority and decided that Earth should be sealed off to prevent another such threat. The door was locked and Earth was abandoned."
"And the Knights? You?"
Fen's jaw tightens. "We began to experience... symptoms. A growing darkness, loss of control, a sickness that worsened over centuries."
"So how did you figure out that finding your mates would help?" I ask as Fen stops in front of his suite doors, ornately carved beautiful dark wood bearing his family's wolf sigil.
He pushes it open with a slight creak and holds it for me, the firelight from within casting his face in warm gold shadows.
"We didn't—not for centuries. Then Hawke's mate appeared.
Melinda. She was from Earth, like you." His eyes meet mine, warm with memory as I step past him into the warmth of the room.
"We discovered she carried his soul shard inside her.
Hawke became whole again after they bonded. "
"You said I had a piece of your soul inside me," I say, pausing in front of him. The heat from the hearth wraps around us, a welcome contrast to the chillier corridor.
He pushes it open with a slight creak and holds it for me, the firelight from within casting his face in warm gold shadows.
"We didn't—not for centuries. Then Hawke's mate appeared.
Melinda. She was from Earth, like you." His eyes meet mine, warm with memory as I step past him into the warmth of the room.
"We discovered she carried his soul shard inside her.
Hawke became whole again after they bonded. "
"You said I had a piece of your soul inside me," I say, pausing in front of him. The heat from the hearth wraps around us, a welcome contrast to the cool corridors.
My fingers drift unconsciously to my chest, as if I might still feel some physical trace of where his soul shard had been. The concept should sound absurd. Souls aren't physical things you can break apart and distribute like puzzle pieces. Yet after everything I've seen, I can't dismiss it either.
"You did. When we bonded, it returned to me." His smile is tender as he reaches out to touch the spot my fingers rest over, the warmth of his hand seeping through the silver-gray fabric of my gown.
I move deeper into the room, running my fingers along the back of a plush armchair upholstered in deep blue velvet. "And the other Knights?"
Fen shrugs out of his formal jacket, draping it over a carved wooden coat rack near the door.
"All searching for their mates. All suffering from the same darkness, the same emptiness and lost of control over their magick.
We believe all the mates will be found on Earth—perhaps the Yggdrasil's way of forcing reconnection between the realms." He closes the door behind us with a soft click, sealing us away from the politics of the dinner table.
I didn’t really take time to look around when we were getting dressed earlier, but the main room is really nice.
Spacious yet intimate with high ceilings and walls lined with bookshelves.
Thick rugs cover portions of the stone floor, their patterns reminding me of constellations.
A fire burns in the massive hearth, shadows dancing across comfortable-looking furniture arranged for conversation rather than formality.
I kick off the slippers Frigga provided earlier, curling my toes into the plush rug with a small sigh of relief. "So that's why Nimue is so invested. If all the Knights find their mates, it proves the connection between Earth and the other realms can't remain severed?"
"Exactly." Fen moves to a sideboard and pours amber liquid from a crystal decanter into two glasses. "And it suggests the possibility of restoring the soul-mate magick that was broken when the queen was imprisoned." He hands me one of the glasses, his fingers brushing mine deliberately.