Chapter 16 Freija
Freija
Hans had arrived this morning and I’d sent a note requesting that we take our first meeting outside the mountain and go for a stroll. It would be an opportunity to talk without too many eyes on us, and I always felt a sense of peace walking in these woods.
So, Halvar and I gathered at the mountain’s main entrance, just outside the rocky facade that Father’s magic had miraged into place.
It was a clever and useful bit of power.
When operating at full strength, the magic would reject any who had not received royal permission to enter, and appeared to be a piece of the mountain to any onlookers.
So, the odds of any humans randomly wandering inside were near zero.
The magic was truly beautiful, though. Moss clung to slate-colored stones while little tufts of grass jutted out of crevasses and waved in the gentle breeze.
A ripple appeared in the middle of the wall and a man stumbled out of the mountain.
My breath caught, and I wrung my hands beneath my cloak.
Hans was here.
With long brown hair that curled around his temples, dark eyes, and the countenance of a man who spent more time inside a fjell than he did in the woods, Hans Fredrickson was as bland as the paper that had held his information.
My shoulders slumped. There was no spark.
No warming in my chest at the sight of him.
I’d hoped something might ignite upon seeing him again, but…
no such luck. Wasn’t that what one should look for?
Shouldn’t I be excited to see this person who might be mine?
But, feelings could grow, right? I could at least be kind and make an attempt. See if something came of it.
He beamed at the sight of me, and I pulled on my most diplomatic mask.
“Hans, how lovely to see you again.”
“Crown Princess Freija, it truly was an honor to receive your missive.” He stepped forward to touch me and Halvar cleared his throat, stopping the man’s advance. He turned to face Halvar as if he hadn’t noticed the brooding beast standing there and flinched.
Halvar didn’t move. Just glared at the man like a glacier.
“I’m not going to hurt her.” But Hans clearly thought better of touching me. Instead he extended a trembling hand to my shadow. “You must be Halvar.”
Halvar took his hand and shook, hard, before crossing his arms and looking around. “Where is your guard?”
“He said he was feeling unwell.”
“Oh dear,” I said. “Perhaps we could have a healer sent to him?”
“I don’t think that will be necessary. He implied it might have been something he ate,” Hans replied with a grimace.
Halvar narrowed his eyes but remained silent.
“Will you be joining us instead, then?” I asked Halvar.
His head whipped in my direction.
“I think we will do just fine without a guard,” Hans chimed in with a little bounce on his toes. “We won’t go too far and I can take care of the princess.”
Halvar looked like he doubted that, and part of me agreed. It wasn’t that Hans didn’t have the stature to defend me—he had height on his side—but he seemed rather uncoordinated. Which didn’t help in self-defense.
“I am well-equipped to defend us.” I patted my hip where the dagger Halvar had given me rested in its sheath.
He seemed to consider it, looking us both over. “I will follow at a distance to give you privacy but I cannot let you go off alone considering the circumstances.”
I should have known he wouldn’t let me go anywhere without him. But he wouldn’t be by our sides, so perhaps he trusted me now that I’d shown him what I could do after all that training?
“Quite all right.” Hans crooked his arm in my direction. “Shall we?”
I gave him a smile and hooked my hand around his forearm. “Let’s go.”
A tickle ran across my spine as we meandered away from the mountain, Halvar no doubt watching us as we went. I didn’t dare turn around to confirm my suspicions. I needed to focus on the man at my side.
A few minutes down the trail, I removed my grip from Hans.
It wasn’t because I wanted to, but more for self-preservation.
I needed my hands free for balance. With every step we took, I wondered if he might trip and fall over his cloak or a log.
Not because he was distracted by me or the beauty of our surroundings, but because he feared what lurked there.
“Do you have a lot of wildlife in these woods?” he asked, eyes darting around uneasily.
“As much as any other.”
“Bears? Wolves? Snakes?”
“Sometimes, yes, and yes.”
He shuddered.
“I’d be more concerned with the moose, as the wolves don’t tend to come this far west. I imagine you have more sightings of the latter over in Almstad?”
“We do.” He nodded, still not taking his eyes off the woodland. “Some are real wolves, others are Forest Fae shifters.”
“The Forest Fae packs settled around that area recently, didn’t they?”
“Some of them did, yes.”
Little did he know, I’d heard all about it from Ragnhild.
Hans gripped a tree branch and offered his hand to help me down a rocky incline. I placed my fingers in his. Clammy. Damp. Oh dear, he must have been nervous.
Safely back on level terrain, I pulled my hand back and motioned for us to continue left. He nodded and settled in beside me once more, our discussion of local wildlife concluded.
We strode down the mountainside in relative silence toward the new hamlet taking shape at the end of the fjord.
Skolvik was minuscule, but progress was being made both on residences and the little harbor.
And more and more boats arrived every month, conveying supplies and new residents.
I was sure the human-owned Langholm farm east of here would appreciate more mouths to sell food to as well.
As we neared the edge of the tree line, we both instinctively pressed a hand to our left shoulder and willed our magic to comply, miraging the pointed tips of our ears with rounded ones.
It was a technique the Nordic Fae had been gifted by the ancestors and developed in the past few hundred years, which helped us stay hidden from the growing human population.
“I don’t think we should get close, though, Princess,” Hans said.
“How come?”
“You never know what they could do to us. Better to keep our distance and observe them.”
Like animals? We’d already miraged our ears. What did he expect the humans to do to us? They were harmless and more focused on their own well-being than ours.
I gave him a tight-lipped smile. “If that would make you more comfortable…”
“I just want to keep you safe, Princess.” He puffed up his chest, looking more like a child than a brave man ready to protect my honor. If only Halvar were closer. He’d get a good laugh out of this.
“How about we head east, deeper into the forest?” I needed a new plan and something to make this reunion run smoother. “There is a beautiful waterfall in that direction.”
He beamed like I had suggested spending the day in the library. “That would be perfect.”
“Follow me.”
We traipsed along the barely-there trail, skirting Skolvik entirely to keep Hans appeased. Little did he know we would run into my best friend before we ever hit the waterfall. If there was anyone who could save me from this misery…
“Well, well, well, what is this wandering through my woods?” a familiar feminine voice said and I grinned. Looked like someone else was already following too.
Ragnhild dropped from a tree and landed behind us. We both spun, Hans reaching out and putting himself between me and the threat.
“Stand back,” he yelled.
Ragnhild snorted and took a step forward, her green and brown ensemble blending seamlessly with our surroundings, the short cape fluttering from her jump. “This one’s precious.”
“I said, stand back,” Hans replied.
“So big, so strong.” She shook her knees. “I’m quaking in my boots.”
Tapping Hans’s shoulder, I announced, “May I introduce my dear friend, Crown Princess Ragnhild of the Forest Fae. Daughter of Thorleif Ragnarson and Helga Henriksdatter.”
Hans was on bended knee before I finished.
I rolled my eyes. This was exactly why I hadn’t wanted to go husband-hunting. I was all for decorum and rules, but this, like so many of my courting experiences, felt like appeasing the crown, not the person.
Ragnhild gave us a toothy grin.
At least one of us is having fun.
“You may stand,” she said, playing along with this foolery. Then again, that was what I had hoped for. A reprieve from him breathing down my neck and hoping I might see him as a powerful partner worthy of bedding. Just the thought of taking Hans to bed sent a grotesque shiver down my spine.
“Your Highness… P-please forgive my rudeness. I only meant to protect the princess from harm.”
“Freija has nothing to fear in these woods. Not with me in them.”
True. But I would always take a moment to consider the risks of wandering alone at night. It wasn’t fae I worried about. There were animals around here that needed to be given a wide berth. Then again, with the threats on my life, I should be more cautious.
I shook off the thought and focused on my friend. “We were just taking a stroll, getting to know each other. Weren’t we, Hans?”
He turned to me while Ragnhild’s eyes widened behind him. She shook her head and mouthed, “Hans?”
I hid a smile behind my hand.
“We were indeed.” He rotated back to Ragnhild. “We are headed to the waterfall over yonder. Would you care to join us, Your Highness?”
“Yes, Ragnhild,” I said, my voice lightly pitched, my stare begging her not to leave me alone with this man a moment longer. “Do join us.”
Her brows rose in conspicuous fashion. “I would be delighted.”
Oh, I’m sure she would.
We wandered deeper into the forest, heading toward the waterfall south east of Skolvik.
The slope steepened and we pressed on, up and up and up.
While my breaths were more labored from the incline, now seemed as good a time as any to broach further conversation with the man I was supposed to court—this time, not about animals which he didn’t seem to like.