The Fae Guardian (Nordic Fae Stories #1)

Chapter 1 Freija

Freija

I’m going to die in that mountain without ever having lived.

I snipped dead branches from the berry bush before me like they were members of the King’s Council that kept me caged and coddled.

Because why should the Crown Princess of the Fjell Fae have any agency in her own life?

No, even at almost two-hundred years of age, I was destined to be treated like a child and subjected to their every ridiculous whim until the day I joined my ancestors.

“What did that plant ever do to you?”

The amused voice came from my best friend Ragnhild, Crown Princess of the Forest Fae who cared for the woods around my people’s mountain.

She often met me up here in my cliff-top garden, one of the few places I was allowed to be alone because it was considered an appropriate hobby for a future queen, even if my fascination with plants confused a lot of my fellow stone magic-wielding Fjell Fae.

“Just came from a Council meeting,” I grumbled, continuing my vicious pruning. The bush looked a lot smaller than it had when I’d started, and waved gently in the breeze that rustled through the dense pine forest below us.

“Ah.” Ragnhild was all too familiar with my struggles. “What did they do this time?”

I sat back on my haunches. “Remember the proposal I told you I was drafting?”

“The one about better managing your food resources in light of the recent influx of humans?”

“Yes.” We Fae kept ourselves hidden from the humans, so sustaining our needs while preserving our secret existence as the human population grew was complex.

There was growing unrest among our people as access to food resources became more and more restricted by the humans’ activity.

“They denied my request for a research team.”

Ragnhild’s eyebrows rose toward the golden braid encircling her head. “But they won’t let you leave Skolvik fjord. How are you supposed to determine the deer and fish populations of all the other mountains in the north and Norway?”

I flung the secateurs onto the mossy ground and stood, hands landing on my hips.

“Exactly. Getting clear and credible reports from every mountain in our domain would be impossible. It’s another way for the Council to undermine me, to prevent me from proving that I deserve a place at the table.

” I dragged the backs of my fingers across my forehead, probably leaving behind smudges of dirt.

A queen always has a clean face, my mother’s voice echoed in the back of my mind.

“And if they don’t consider my opinion worth anything now, how are they going to treat me when I’m queen? ”

Ragnhild snorted and kicked a pebble off the sheer cliff edge she’d been looming over. “When you’re queen, you can dismiss them all. Or have them killed. I heard it was all the rage in England a few centuries ago.”

“I am not going to kill the Council.” However much I currently felt like it. Poor berry bush. I probably had pruned him a bit too much.

My shoulders drooped and I stared out over the treetops and down to the glittering fjord below.

The setting sun brushed across the rippling water lending the whole scene a magical glow.

How could I overturn everything my ancestors had created when Father had gone along with it all the centuries of his rule?

No, I needed to find a way to make the Council respect me.

If I could just get this proposal perfect, all factors fully researched and my unprecedented suggestions supported by evidence from other mountains of the Fjell Fae, as well as potential studies done by the other fae factions of Fire, Fjord, and Forest, they wouldn’t have a choice but to accept it and see me as a critical player in the kingdom’s survival.

They might even let me travel abroad for research and further education so I didn’t die without ever having seen anything of the world beyond the ancestors-cursed stone walls of my own bedroom.

Huffing out a sigh, I turned to Ragnhild. “You don’t by chance happen to have updated numbers on harvests from the southern part of Norway?”

She shook her head then cocked it. “But now that I think about it, I have an old friend who might be helpful. Has extensive knowledge of plants etcetera.”

“Plants?” Now she really had my attention.

“I could find a way to get you down there. Sneak you out if necessary without the Council’s knowledge, have you back before anyone noticed.”

I huffed. “You know people would notice if either one of us went missing.”

“Maybe,” she grumbled and kicked another pebble off the cliff’s edge. “Let me contact my friend and see what I can do.”

“What if it doesn’t work and it only angers the Council?” I crossed my arms and twitched my nose. “What if they—”

She raised a hand, cutting me off. “What if it gets you exactly what you need and gains you immeasurable respect from the Council, the Fjell Fae, and your parents?”

The prospect sparked something within my chest that felt eerily like hope. Perhaps her idea wasn’t that bad? “It might be worth a try…”

She clapped her hands and rubbed them together. “That’s more like it.”

“You are far too dangerous for your own good.”

She snickered. “I’ll get back to you when I hear from her. Then we can plan how to get you out of Skolvik.”

I shook my head and let out another sigh. “Speaking of which, how’s that cut you got during sparring the other day?”

She pulled back her sleeve and revealed clear skin. “Healed up nicely. Thank you for stitching me up. It was the perfect way to stop any bones popping out while I ran to our healer’s hut.”

“I’m glad you’re in one piece again. Just be more careful in future.”

She scoffed. “Where is the fun in that?”

“The fun is living long enough to become queens for our people.”

“Why do you always have to be right?”

I held back a smile. Because it brings me great joy.

A snort ripped from her and she waved her pointer finger at me. “Don’t answer that. I know exactly what kind of perfectionist statement just went through your head.”

“You know me far too well.”

“I think that will be a good thing for our people.” She chuckled and gave me a brief hug. “Let the Fae of the Fjell and Forest know that we will be forging a long-lasting alliance as soon as our rears touch those thrones.”

“The Forest Fae don’t even have a throne.”

“That you know of.”

I brushed my hands across my skirt, dirt skittering across the wool fabric. “If you did, you would have shown me already.”

Her eyes rolled as her signature smile swept across her face—a look that promised amusing adventures and a healthy dose of danger. “You’re right, though. I would have shown you.”

I knew it.

“Do you think the other two fae factions have thrones?” I asked.

Ragnhild snorted. “The Fire Fae definitely do. Can you imagine King Veigar’s up in Iceland? It’s likely made of lava. Would incinerate anyone else who tried to sit on it.”

I bit my bottom lip to refrain from laughing as I could picture the scene far too clearly. Especially my best friend trying to sit on said throne in jest and getting hurt. “I imagine the Fjord Fae have one too,” I said.

She nodded. “Made of water?”

“King Balder has always struck me as a man who’d prefer a captain’s chair. Something fine and ornately carved with creatures of the deep adorning the back.”

With a snap of her fingers Ragnhild said, “I bet that’s exactly what it is. Shame we can’t hold our breath long enough to swim to the bottom of the fjord and find—”

A crunching noise sounded from beneath the cliff’s edge and we both stilled, eyes narrowing at each other. Ragnhild raised a finger and leaned over the edge, peering into the dense wood below. Her head moved slowly, scanning the expanse like a bird hunting for prey.

“Anything?” I whispered.

She whipped back into a seated position and shook her head. “Sounded like a horse and carriage or one of those carts they have in the village for moving barrels of ale, but it was just a pair of does.”

Thank goodness. I wasn’t in the mood for miraging my pointed ears and lying to humans today.

I peered at my friend and pressed my hand over my heart. “I, Freija, the future Queen of the Fjell Fae, swear that we will secure a long-lasting alliance between our factions. You have my word.”

Her eyes glittered as she stood and proffered her hand, just as she did whenever we had this conversation. “And you have mine.”

I took her palm in mine and shook it. I would always have her back and knew, without a doubt, she had mine.

I withdrew my hand and cleared my throat. “Now, do you want to discuss what actually brought you all the way up here today?”

Her mouth popped open and she brought her fingers to the top of her chest. “Me? Have an ulterior motive?”

“Wouldn’t be the first time, Ragnhild.”

“True,” she conceded. “No motives from me, but I did hear some news while searching for you in the tunnels. Two pieces in fact.”

“Do tell.”

Her eyes shimmered with excitement. “The Fjell soldiers have finally returned from the North.”

“I already know they were set to return soon.” I’d heard as much in today’s Council meeting. There had been murmurings of disquiet in some of the mountain ranges to our south and out near the coast, so Father had called back some of our forces. Just in case. “This is barely news.”

Ragnhild scoffed as if I were spoiling her fun and gossip.

“Go on, then,” I said. “What have you heard?”

“He returned with them.”

My brows furrowed. “He who?”

“Halvar Haraldson.”

Air caught in my throat. That was news. I didn’t recall ever meeting the general, but rumor had it he’d served in the Fjell Fae army for centuries, fighting the mountain’s battles both at home and abroad. What would bring him back to Skolvik?

“Are you certain?” I asked.