Chapter 23
Mikael
Mikael was already exhausted by the time the call came, though exhaustion no longer felt like a simple physical thing anymore so much as a constant pressure grinding beneath his skin.
The confrontation with Dag earlier still echoed unpleasantly through his thoughts while he stood alone in his chamber, one hand braced against the tall castle windows.
His phone vibrated sharply against the table. The sound cut through the heavy silence like a blade. Mikael grabbed it immediately. “Report.”
The guard captain’s voice came through strained and breathless. “Your Majesty, there’s been an incident near the outskirts of the village.”
Every muscle in Mikael’s body tightened instantly. “What kind of incident?”
The guard paused before answering. “An attempted abduction. They tried to get Beckett, sire.”
The fear in his chest exploded. “Were they successful?”
“No, Sire. And it wasn’t the boy’s father that we were watching.”
“Was anyone hurt?” Mikael ran a hand through his hair. I should have been there.
“No, sire. The boy is shaken badly, but unharmed. Princess Malaya and Lyra fought off the attackers before they could get him into the vehicle.”
Vehicle. Plural attackers. This was now organized, not out of desperation, but planned. Mikael’s jaw clenched so hard pain shot through his skull while the dragon roared inside him with murderous fury.
Protect them.
“Why were the guards not there to help?”
The guard cleared his throat. “They waited until Lyra was just outside the village. Malaya stayed back to talk to the guard in that quadrant and… well…”
“He was distracted.” Mikael couldn’t really put the blame on the guards. He had told them one specific person who had left the area. “What do we know about the attackers?”
“One man was injured badly during the struggle when Malaya broke his arm and another because Lyra sank her elbow into his throat, but they escaped before villagers could surround them. Witnesses have never seen the men or the vehicle before.”
“Boden’s people,” Mikael growled even as pride blossomed for the women protecting their own.
“We believe so.”
Mikael shoved the table hard enough to splinter the thick wood as it crashed into the wall. “Then find every person connected to him.”
“Yes, your Majesty.”
“I want his associates detained immediately,” Mikael snapped. “Question anyone housing him, funding him, transporting him, or communicating with him. Search every property he’s touched within the last month.”
A noise in the doorway caught his attention. Several of his senior advisors stood near the chamber entrance with alarmed looks.
“I’ll call you back.” Mikael ended the call and tossed his phone down. “What can I do for you?”
“Sire,” one older councilman began cautiously, “that scale of response without formal warrants could create public unrest. There are procedures without overstepping the power of the crown.”
Mikael turned toward him slowly and the man visibly paled.
“Public unrest?” Mikael repeated softly.
“A child was nearly dragged into a waiting vehicle by armed men while my sister fought them off in the snow.” Heat rolled off him and the councilmen retreated a step.
“Tell me why exactly I should care whether frightened criminals feel inconvenienced by my response.”
The senior advisor swallowed hard. “That is not what I meant.”
“No,” Mikael said coldly, “it rarely is.”
Another advisor stepped forward carefully, trying a gentler approach. “Your Majesty, people are already frightened after the poisoning attempt. If word spreads that mass detainments are beginning, then…”
“Let them be frightened.”
The room fell silent.
“No one touches Lyra or Beckett again,” Mikael said quietly. “I don’t care what laws I need to bend to ensure that.”
No one argued further after that, not because they agreed but because they were afraid. Without another word, they turned and left him alone.
Mikael stood motionless staring at the destroyed table while the dragon still paced violently beneath his skin, furious and possessive. Fear was not something he had ever wanted to rule by, and now it drifted endlessly throughout his own castle.
His own fear ran strong for Lyra and Beckett. If men were now bold enough to attempt taking the boy directly off the road in broad daylight, then the situation had already escalated beyond simple stalking or intimidation.
This was becoming war.
The moment the doors shut behind them, Mikael grabbed his phone again and called his guard back.
“Recall the others,” he ordered. “I want Princess Malaya, Lyra, and Beckett escorted here under full protection.”
The captain hesitated noticeably this time. “Your Majesty… respectfully, are you certain the castle is safer?”
Mikael stared out the darkened windows toward the snowy mountains beyond. “I don’t know, but the village has already been breached. Bring them here as quickly as possible.”
He wandered the castle just for something to do, and started to hear the whispers.
“The poison damaged him.”
“He’s becoming unstable.”
“He’s not the same.”
Servants fell silent the moment they noticed him approaching.
Guards avoided eye contact.
Fear spread quickly through castles.
By evening several senior advisors formally requested a private audience, this time in the council chamber. The moment he entered, none of them looked entirely comfortable confronting him as he took a seat.
One older advisor cleared his throat carefully. “Your Majesty… we called you here out of concern.”
Mikael leaned back in his chair slowly. “How reassuring.”
The man winced slightly. “There are rumors spreading through the court regarding your health.”
“My health,” Mikael repeated flatly.
“The poison,” another advisor added quickly. “Combined with recent events and your… emotional responses…”
“So you’re more concerned about my emotions than you are in finding out who poisoned me in the first place.”
“We have opened an investigation.”
“How touching. And how is that going? Or have you spent too much time listening to gossip?”
All of the advisors denied that at the same time. “We are capable of doing both.”
Mikael folded his hands together and leaned forward. “Who specifically has been encouraging these rumors?”
Silence answered him.
“And before you answer, you should know that there is only one person in this castle who I have had a disagreement with.”
The way they averted their eyes said everything he needed to know. Of course it was Dag.
He wouldn’t go around making direct accusations because Dag was far too intelligent for something that crude, but careful suggestions planted through conversations in hallways and training yards until doubt spread naturally on its own.
The king is changing. The poison affected his judgment. Mikael almost admired the strategy if it had not been aimed directly at undermining him.
“We are done here,” Mikael said quietly. “You may leave.”
The advisors exchanged uncertain glances. “Sire—”
“Now.”
They obeyed immediately and headed toward the door. Mikael snapped his fingers to get their attention before they left. “And I would advise you to spend less time on someone trying to start trouble and more time on the fact that there is immediate trouble within these castle walls.”
After they left, he remained standing there for several long minutes wrestling with the growing certainty that nowhere was truly safe anymore. A sharp knock interrupted him.
Before Mikael could answer, another guard entered quickly. “Your Majesty, King Sven of Stagholt requests immediate communication via video.”
Mikael frowned and accepted the laptop from the guard. He waited until he was alone before he sat down and accepted the call.
King Sven appeared on screen looking exhausted with dark circles beneath his eyes.
“You look awful,” Mikael greeted bluntly.
Sven snorted. “Wait until you have a baby with croup.:
“Fair enough,” Mikael laughed. “What can I do for you?”
“I spoke with Dr. Martin who wanted me to relay this information immediately.”
Mikael straightened immediately. “What did he find?”
Sven’s expression darkened. “He tested your blood sample that he brought back. The toxin used against you is an exact match to the poison used in my assassination attempt.”
“He’s positive?”
“Exact compound profile,” Sven confirmed grimly. “Martin is certain.”
Cold realization settled sharply into Mikael’s chest. “That means…” he paused, not wanting to speak about the implications of a terrorist organization being involved.
“Skelvarns,” Sven finished for him. “This wasn’t some random poisoning. We thought the Skelvarn cells fractured. Apparently we were wrong.” He leaned closer toward the screen. “You need to start considering the possibility that someone inside your own court is working with them.”
Mikael’s jaw tightened painfully because two things had just added up. “I already am.” Before Sven could respond, the chamber doors suddenly slammed open hard enough to rattle the walls.
Dag stormed inside, visibly furious. “What the hell is this nonsense about bringing Lyra to the castle?”
Mikael immediately ended the call. He could apologize to Sven later but didn’t want Dag to know of the call. Dag barely seemed to notice.
“You’re compromising security for a village girl,” he snapped.
Mikael rose slowly from behind the desk. “There was another attack.”
“I know there was, and I don’t appreciate you ordering the guards around behind my back.”
“I’ll remind you that I’m your king, not the other way around. And if you know about the attack, then you understand why she’s coming here.”
Dag laughed sharply without humor. “No, Mikael, what I understand is that you’ve become irrationally obsessed with someone who has never mattered in the first place.”
The dragon stirred instantly. Mikael kept his voice cold. “Watch your tongue.”
Dag ignored the warning entirely. “You’re risking the stability of the throne for her.”
“She and Beckett were targeted.”
“And?” Dag demanded. “People get targeted every day.”
The sheer cruelty in the statement stunned Mikael briefly.
Dag stepped closer, voice lowering now. “You’re blinded by guilt and lust and whatever twisted savior fantasy you’ve built around her.”
Mikael’s hands curled slowly into fists. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh, I know exactly what I’m talking about,” Dag shot back. “And I’ll never forget what she did to my brother.”
The words froze the room.
Mikael blinked once. “Your brother?”
Dag went completely still and it was easy to see that he regretted his outburst.
“You said he died when we were children,” Mikael said carefully.
For one brief moment something almost like panic flickered across Dag’s face before hardening again.
“I misspoke.”
“No,” Mikael replied quietly. “You didn’t.”
Dag looked away first, which frightened Mikael more than shouting would have.
“What did Lyra do?” Mikael asked.
“It doesn’t matter.”
“It clearly matters to you.”
Dag’s jaw tightened visibly. “Drop it.”
Mikael stared at him carefully now while old memories twisted through his mind. “I was there when you mourned beside a small gravesite after your brother’s river accident. I went to the funeral. What are you talking about?”
Had all of it been a lie? Dag stood silent.
“What happened?” Mikael pressed.
Dag stepped backward instead and rebuilt his composure piece by piece. “You’re losing perspective,” he said coldly. “And if you drag that girl into this castle, you’re going to regret it.”
Then he turned and left before Mikael could stop him.
Mikael remained motionless beside the windows long after the doors shut, staring out over the snow-covered castle grounds while unease twisted deeper and deeper through his chest. Every answer he uncovered only revealed more lies beneath it.
Lyra was coming here, into a court poisoned by fear, manipulation, terrorists, and secrets buried deep enough that even Dag’s past no longer made sense.
The dragon inside Mikael still insisted bringing her closer was the only way to keep her safe.
But standing alone in the darkened chamber, Mikael found himself wondering whether he had just brought the greatest danger directly to her.