Chapter Eighteen
Sven
Sven sat across the table from Lars. Several other guards occupied chairs around the chamber, but he only had eyes for the piece of parchment that he held.
“How was this delivered?”
“A little girl gave it to the guard at the gate.” Lars shrugged. “She said that she was on her way home from the market when some man gave it to her close to the castle and told her to give it to the guard. She had no idea who he was.”
“What does Magnus want?”
“I don’t know. There have been no demands. It appears that he just wanted you to know.”
Erik will rot in the dungeon where he belongs.
One simple sentence on Magnus’ letterhead, complete with his embossed crest. While it answered the question of what had happened to his brother, the words created a whole new list of questions in Sven’s mind.
He pushed his chair back and paced back and forth.
“I want extra security at all gates. If any more notes are passed, I want to be notified immediately. And no one is to go outside the walls of this castle without plenty of security. My mother. My grandmother.” He glanced at Lars.
“And especially Bryn. Whatever Magnus is up to, we don’t need to give him more ammunition to use against us. ”
Once the guards were dismissed with their orders, Lars turned to Sven. “What is the end game? If your brother is a pawn in whatever this is, what does Magnus hope to accomplish?”
Sven shook his head. “I have no idea. But I hope this can put to rest the suspicion of Erik’s extended absence. I have no idea where he was, but it apparently wasn’t anything to do with our enemy.”
“I’ll agree with that, but we still need to be on our toes. If he truly is a prisoner with the Skelvarns, there’s a reason that Magnus let Erik call the castle and then followed it up with a note. None of this makes any sense, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Sven sank down into his chair and rubbed his chest. “I’m completely healed now thanks to Bryn, so I certainly don’t want a repeat.” His eyes met those of his head guard. “She is my true mate. I think I always knew that, but it’s a cast-in-stone fact now.”
It had been less than a day since he and Bryn emerged from the mating chamber, hand in hand and as of one heart. While a pregnancy took time to reveal itself, he already knew in his heart that an heir had been produced.
“Does she know about your dragon?”
He nodded. “She does, and she wasn’t even surprised.
She has dragon fire in her that has been untapped and unknown all her life.
” He told Lars about the ring. “She went right to it, before I even had a chance to mention it. There’s something in her past that she doesn’t know about but we need to figure it out.
She’s going to see Martin so he can begin tests.
Willingly,” he added to stress his point.
Lars didn’t comment on the implication. “And in the meantime?”
“I’m going to train her as you do the guards. Not as in depth, but enough to be able to defend herself should the need arise. I would bet my life that she’s pregnant, but it’ll be a few weeks before we know for sure, so I want to use that time wisely.”
“So the Rite of Kaelitheris has finally given us an heir,” Lars commented as he extended his hand. “Congratulations, my friend.”
Sven shook the outstretched hand. “Thanks, but keep it quiet until we can make an official proclamation. Not to mention, I’d rather give Bryn some time to adjust to her new lifestyle before she has the whole town bowing at her feet.”
“Understood. Should I assign a permanent guard to her?”
“No, she wouldn’t like that. She’s still going to act as my grandmother’s personal assistant. We just need to make sure that she doesn’t go traipsing around town without security. She can be a bit independent, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Lars' face lit up. “Of course I’ve noticed. Our new queen can be a tad feisty.”
“Just keep surveillance on the down-low for her until I can make her understand the situation.” He stood and headed for the door but snapped his fingers. “Oh, and she’ll be moving into my chambers on a permanent basis.”
“Does she know about that?”
He ignored Lars’ teasing comment. Truth was, they hadn’t discussed it yet but he couldn’t see Bryn being against the idea.
Unfortunately, he was wrong.
“Absolutely not,” Bryn exclaimed when he ran the idea past her. “I am not moving into your room. We are not shacking up together when you are the king. What will people say? What will they think about me?”
“I don’t care what they think.” To Sven, it was the most common sense idea he’d had in a long time.
“You may not care, but I do. We have spent one night together, mister, and if you think that means that we are instantly tied at the hip, you might want to think again.”
Her petulance was punctuated when she slammed the bedroom door in his face. He decided to retreat before he made the situation worse. As the king, which he did not like the way she had spat the word out, he was used to people doing what he wanted with no questions asked. Except for Lars possibly.
He put his hand on the door. “I’m going down to the gym to do some training. I would like it if you would join me to learn some basic self defense skills. I’ll leave that decision up to you.”
As he walked to the gym, Sven thought about her words.
He sighed as he realized she was right. For so long he had been focused on the actual ritual, and when no heir was conceived, it was just a waiting game until the next time.
The mother of the heir would automatically be his mate, but he had never contemplated falling in love with his true mate, heir or not.
Marriage.
The word stopped him in his tracks. Bryn was going to want to get married. He knew her well enough to know that she would want to be married because they wanted to, not because they had to because she was pregnant. She would not want Stagholt to think that she was queen because she got knocked up.
Which meant that they needed to marry within a few weeks before her pregnancy was known. The Visionary Trust Council knew about the mating ceremony, but the town didn’t. All the people had seen them together at the party, so they had seen the love.
He just needed to convince Bryn to marry him. And soon.
When he reached the gym, he strapped on some boxing gloves and attacked the bag. He couldn’t decide if his heart felt lighter that he had a tentative plan to marry Bryn, or if his heart felt heavier because he had to convince her that it was the best option.
You fool. The best option is that she willingly marries you because she loves you.
The longer he punched the bag, the more he became convinced that she loved him enough to marry quickly. He almost grinned as his arms ached from throwing punches.
He turned to a lower bag and practiced some roundhouse kicks. He and Erik had always worshipped Chuck Norris and had strived to reach his level of martial arts.
Thoughts of Erik turned his mood to the darker side. The bag became Magnus’ face and kick after kick landed right on his nose.
A soft sound pulled him from his spiral into anger.
Sweat dripped off his hair as he spun to find Bryn standing behind him.
She wore leggings and a cropped top over a tank, obviously ready to exercise.
The tight outfit accentuated her curves.
Her eyes searched his face and her browns furled together.
“What’s wrong?”
Sven swallowed hard. She always knew so he didn’t mince words. “Erik is being held prisoner.”
Her hand rose to her mouth but quickly dropped to her side as her shoulders stiffened. “Who has your brother?”
“Magnus. And probably Alitta, if she is indeed with him.” He told her about the note.
“What’s the plan?”
He wiped his face with a towel. “What do you mean?”
A spark of steel in her eyes shone as she stepped closer. “If we’re going to get him back, we need a plan.”
He leaned down and kissed her. “Okay, my little warrior, let’s get this straight. I have an entire army to get him back. I don’t need you getting involved and getting hurt.”
“Like you have a choice.” She pointed to the bag. “Teach me how to kick like you were.”
The next couple of hours passed quickly as he corrected her grip, adjusted her stance, and guided her with steady hands and legs.
Every touch sent sparks through his blood, but he forced himself to focus.
She needed skills to keep her, and hopefully their unborn child, alive, and despite his best efforts, he knew he couldn’t be everywhere at once.
Sweat dripped off both of them but Sven had to quietly admire her dedication to learning without one complaint.
“One more demonstration and then we’ll call it a day.” He stood behind her. “I’m going to grab you and you show me how you’d try to free yourself.”
Several times he took her to the ground when she failed to get loose. He could feel her anger grow, but he didn’t let up. He explained in detail the moves she needed to accomplish to gain her freedom.
“If someone gets you to the ground, you’re done. You have to make sure you stay on your feet.”
“If they get me to the ground,” she growled, “they’d better hope I don’t get up.”
He pointed at her. “That’s the whole point, Bryn. You won’t get back up. Now try again.”
The anger built in her face and he could see her body tense. “I’m not helpless.”
“Dealing with some of the bad guys out there, you could be totally helpless.”
“I’ll show you.”
Before he could move, she reached out and struck him. Sparks flew from her hands and he flew backwards as her fingers slammed into his chest. Heat surrounded him and his dragon instantly reacted. He fought to steady himself and keep from shifting all at the same time.
“I’m sorry. I am so sorry.”
Soft hands rubbed his shoulders where he stood with his hands on his knees while his lungs screamed for oxygen. His dragon roared in his head, but Sven focused on her touch. Finally, he stood.
“What the hell was that?” Her whispered question calmed the dragon. She stood staring at her outstretched hands.
He grabbed her and pulled her to him. “It’s okay. We’ll figure it out together.”
He didn’t want her scared or hyperfocused on the situation, so he walked her through another round of kicks on the bag without giving her time to think.
Finally, she collapsed flat on her back on the mat. “Okay. I can’t feel my legs anymore.”
He sat next to her. “Are you okay?”
She grinned at him. “I’m going to be sore tomorrow, but I feel like I could kick someone’s ass now.”
“As long as it’s not mine.”
She threw her arms out to her sides. “Not right now. But I reserve the right to kick it if necessary.” She was quiet for a minute. “What happened? How did I almost kill you?”
“You didn’t almost kill me,” he chuckled. “For one, I’m a dragon. I don’t get hurt that easily. And I think time will tell us more about your background, or your family history, and we’ll get some answers. I believe you just experienced your first dragon fire.”
“It just felt like I couldn’t control my anger and when you pointed at me, something just…snapped.”
He rubbed her arm. “We’ll figure it out.”
“Hopefully sooner than later.”
“I think we should get married.” The words blurted out before he even realized he had spoken.
For a moment, she didn’t move. Finally she turned her head to look up at him. “Excuse me?”
He closed his eyes. He was ass-deep in it now, he might as well bring it home. “Married. We should get married. Isn’t that what people do when they’re mated?”
She rolled to her side and propped herself on her elbow. “I know I’m not much up on my royal families and the rules they live by, but I’m pretty sure that even a king has a proper way to propose to a girl. That proposal sucked.”
Relief flooded through him that she didn’t seem opposed to the idea.
“I know. It royally sucked. But I’ve been thinking about it and it makes sense.
” He didn’t want to say too much, but also didn’t want to say too little.
“If it turns out you’re with child, I figured you’d want the townspeople to know you were my wife first. Not because you… because we…”
“Had to?” She sat up and straddled his lap. “I love you for even thinking about how I’d feel in front of the town as the hussy that got knocked up just so you were forced to marry me.”
He kissed her nose. “You love me?”
She bit her lip before she shrugged. “I guess.”
He threw his head back and laughed. “If I have a shitty way of proposing, that was absolutely the shittiest I love you I’ve ever heard.”
She pulled him into a tight hug. “I’ll work on it while you work on that proposal.”
“Do I need to ask your father’s permission?”
“Oh, hell no. We don’t have to be that proper.” She pulled away and rose. “And no offense, but let’s work on it later because we both stink.”
He stood and put his arm across her shoulders. “One shower or two?”
She rolled her eyes. “Two. I want to get clean, not dirty all over again.”
“Your loss.” He pushed her shoulder. “Beat you to the locker room.”
Her laughter made her heart soar as she chased after him.