Chapter 3 Freija
Freija
He was… mesmerizing. From the silver sheen of his hair and beard, to the broad set of his shoulders and the way his uniform hugged him almost too tightly. Halvar was a man of great power and enviable looks. And the rumors were correct: those hands did appear capable of crushing a man.
Someone cleared their throat and I shook myself from the trance as he moved to the chair across from me.
“Please be seated,” Father said from the head of the table.
I swallowed hard and took my spot, my heart galloping in my chest.
“Tonight, we have reindeer stew for supper,” Father announced and murmurs of contentment fluttered around the room. “Please enjoy!”
Wringing my hands in my lap, I avoided meeting anyones’ gaze and focused on the cooks ladling our meal into bowls set before us. They started with Father beside me, then worked their way down either side of the table toward where Mother sat at the other end.
“This looks delicious, sir.” Halvar’s voice was as rugged as the stone walls around us. I chanced a look at him.
He was in Nora’s usual spot, directly opposite me.
If she weren’t in the Alps on a sojourn fully authorized by my parents, then she’d be sat there tipping a goblet of wine to her lips, her round cheeks flushed and eyes vacant, wishing she were somewhere less boring.
She may have had a point about the alcohol, as a glass of wine might help ease the unwelcome feeling sweeping through me, but it wouldn’t keep my head clear.
I pushed aside the thought and served myself some water instead.
My skin pebbled and my cheeks heated again as I poured the liquid and brought the glass to my lips. My eyes clashed with those of the man across from me as I swallowed a mouthful of water. Did he watch everyone this closely? And why did his stare make me feel like I’d been struck by lightning?
He looked away, allowing me to breathe once more, and I returned my glass to the table, drops of water sloshing over the side.
Pull yourself together, Freija. He’s just a man.
I took a bite of my stew and focused on the conversation around me.
“How was your journey?” Mother asked the table.
A soldier with twin scars across his brow responded, “Long but good. There were a few blizzards that hampered our initial progress, but we made up for the lost time once we got south of the Svartisen glaciers.”
“Halvar,” a soldier to my right started. “I mean, Head Guard—”
Halvar raised his hand, stopping the bumbling speech from beside me. “Head Guard is fine.”
He could use either General or Head Guard. Interesting that he should choose the latter, when everything about him screamed the former.
The soldier nodded. “Head Guard Haraldson was able to locate a faster route that skirted the coast and made use of other mountain tunnels. That helped us recover the lost time.”
“I’m glad to hear the people of other ranges were open to your movement through their homes,” Father said between bites of stew. While the Fjell Fae seat of power was here in Skolvik, other mountains throughout the Nordic lands were inhabited by us fae too.
“They were most welcoming,” the soldier replied.
Agreeable conversation continued and I focused on my meal and participating in small talk. Every time my gaze rose, I did my darnedest not to stare at the man across the table. But there was something about his mere presence that drew me in like a flower to the sun.
“We didn’t locate any of the threats on our way down either,” Halvar said, his voice smooth and low.
Wait one moment. What did he say? “What threats?” I asked.
Halvar’s brow furrowed as he looked to me, then to Father. “She doesn’t know?”
“Know what?” Had I missed something? I’d attended all the King’s Council meetings and taken meticulous notes. Not once had there been any threats other than some murmurs a few months ago that were dismissed and not elaborated on.
Dinner guests squirmed in their seats and an uncomfortable silence hung over the room. My knees bounced beneath the table, and I slammed my hands down on them as beads of sweat settled at my nape.
“What threats?” I asked again.
Father cleared his throat, and his eyes flicked to my mother before returning to me. He set his clasped hands atop the table. “There have been a few threats on your life. Bounties of gold and tools requested to stop a kidnapping attempt.”
My heart stuttered, chest tightening. A brush of warmth like a gentle caress swept over my face as the blood in my veins chilled.
I swallowed thickly. “When?”
Another glance toward Mother.
“When?” I reiterated before biting down on my bottom lip to hold my tongue.
Father turned back to me. “Four months ago.”
The secret slapped me across the face and truths slipped through my mind, one after the other. “Four months?” My voice sounded wobblier than a minute-old faun, but suspicion clawed at my thoughts.
He nodded.
Four months ago we’d made the initial requests to move soldiers from the north.
Four months ago was when the first arguments over resources in the southern mountain ranges and coastline had commenced, plus a spate of robberies from harbor towns.
This was all too coincidental, unless the two events were related.
“Is that the true reason why, specifically, General Haraldson and his soldiers were called in from the north?”
“It is.”
My gaze flicked across the table and met an icy stare. Halvar’s features didn’t move, didn’t suggest any thoughts that might be on his mind. It was as if the man were made from stone.
Father cleared his throat again, and tension pulsed through the room.
A server drifted over and trembled as he poured Halvar more wine.
The red liquid sloshed over the side of the glass and onto Halvar’s hand, and the server gasped, their eyes going wide.
The General wiped it off on his napkin and turned to the server.
“It’s nothing to worry about.” He bowed his head slightly. “Thank you.”
The shaking server apologized and scampered from the room.
So, the great Halvar Haraldson is kind to people.
That was not what I’d heard—clearly, not what the server had expected either.
What an interesting man. Yet, why did Father want him if threats were being made toward me?
What could he do to nullify them that another solider couldn’t? Did he know something we didn’t?
Halvar’s eyes met my assessing stare and he cocked his head.
He’d been brought back from the north for reasons I needed to obtain.
“Thank you all for coming,” Father said and rose from his seat, drawing me from my racing thoughts.
He peered over the gathering with a gentle smile.
“We are glad you have returned to Skolvik and our mountain. Now, Halvar, Freija, will you please join me in my chambers? There is something I’d like to discuss with you. ”
“Of course, sir.”
My pulse quickened, and I swallowed hard as an ominous feeling settled over me. But, I did as I was told, Halvar following closely behind and shutting the thick wooden door.
Father’s chamber was filled with historic artifacts, like Viking swords and a bronze age axe head, and dark pieces of furniture.
Embers glowed within the large fireplace and at the rear of the room, just past the circular table set, were wall-to-ceiling bookshelves that looked like they might fall over if another tome was added to them.
I clasped my hands and took a steadying breath. “What is it you wished to discuss Father?”
He spun in the center of the room and pursed his lips. Meanwhile, a warm presence settled at my back like a ray of sunshine on a cold winter’s day.
“As was mentioned at dinner,” Father started, “there have been some threats to kidnap you. I obviously take them seriously and felt it right to bring down some of our soldiers from the North to bolster our forces here at home.”
“And Halvar among them,” I said.
The man himself remained silent—a looming presence at the back of the room.
“Yes,” Father replied. “I have decided to assign Halvar as your bodyguard.”
Air lodged in my throat.
Halvar finally moved and stepped within my peripheral vision. “Sir?”
“You heard me.” Father glanced between me and Halvar. “There is no one better to ensure my daughter’s safety. No one else I’d entrust her to.”
“But, sir—”
“That is an order, Head Guard. Protect the future of the Fjell Fae throne.”
Blood rushed to my cheeks and I sucked in a desperate breath, hoping it might relieve the lightheadedness.
I was almost two hundred years old. I’d been trained, extensively, in self-defense and battle strategies for years. In what world would I ever require a bodyguard?
The desire to yell and shout, to act like an infant whose freedoms were being taken from them, zipped through me.
But I could not and would not. If I were to have any chance at sneaking out and getting the information my proposal required, I had to proceed with care.
I had to act with the decorum my parents and the Council expected. Had to be the perfect daughter.
“When does the assignment begin,” I asked, voice trembling like that server had been.
“Immediately.”
“Very well,” Halvar bit out.
That left me with no time to make any unauthorized journeys, and gave me a constant shadow that would no doubt report back to my parents and the Council any time I stepped out of line.
This would chain me to this mountain before my magic did when I eventually became queen.
I would be stuck here for the rest of my life.
I plopped into a vacant seat at Father’s round table and stared at his bookshelves. What just happened?