future king. And that is to be headstrong and do whatever she can to get her own way, when, of course, she doesn’t naturally expect her own way. These, my love, are not traits of a girl. These are most assuredly the traits of a boy.”
“Aurora –” Atticus started, color rising in his face as his anger did the same but Drakkar was done.
“Does your conversation, at this point, have any meaning?” he asked and his king and queen turned eyes to him. “Princess Sjofn has done it and in so doing she betrayed her parents, which means she betrayed her king, queen and country, the House of Wilde and she betrayed me. I’m sure we’re all agreed that this action is unforgiveable.”
Both king and queen stared at him and Drakkar was surprised to see the flash of pain in his king’s eyes was mirrored, though hidden far more quickly, in his queen’s.
They loved their daughter. Although everyone knew this to be true of Atticus, that flash in Aurora’s eyes and the fact she had not been able to hide it meant she, too, cared deeply for her girl.
Atticus lifted his chin to Drakkar in assent. Aurora’s eyes drifted to the floor, her way to show she, too, agreed.
Drakkar went on. “There is more.”
Aurora’s eyes moved back to him. Atticus moved closer to his wife and stood beside her in front of his desk. Once there, he leaned into a hand.
“More?” Atticus prompted.
Drakkar nodded. “I have had a message from the elves.”
Both husband and wife’s gazes grew sharper and the tension in the room, already wound tight, stretched taut.
“I assume they are even less happy you’ve wed a Sjofn from another world,” Atticus guessed wrongly and Drakkar knew his king was concerned about the elves being troubled or, worse, angered by this occurrence. This could mean another century of retreat.
And they most definitely did not want the elves, again, to retreat.
Not now.
Not with a Frey and The Drakkar both embodied in one man and what that occurrence might mean for Lunwyn.
Atticus knew, for Drakkar had used it on numerous occasions to refuse the arranged marriage with Atticus’s daughter, that the elves were against the match. And he was not wrong to assume they would be violently opposed to his union to a soul from another world.
“On the contrary,” Drakkar stated, “they are well-pleased.”
Atticus blinked. Aurora’s gaze grew even more intense.
“Well-pleased?” she asked quietly.
“The elves told me the Sjofn upstairs is my true Ice Bride. They were against the match to your daughter but they are delighted I am bound to her twin. Apparently, Keer’s wishes for me have come true through my Finnie. She is my destiny.”
“By the gods, man, how can that be?” Atticus asked incredulously. “She isn’t even of our world.”
“She carries the blood of the elves, as do I,” Drakkar informed him. “They are the elves of her world but she inherits her eyes and hair from those of that realm. Because of this, we will mate, create a child and fulfill Keer’s demands that the blood of the elves and the blood of the dragon unite and sit yet again on Lunwyn’s throne throughout eternity.”
“This is… this is… shocking,” Atticus breathed.
“This is destiny,” Drakkar returned.
“So, clearly, it was destiny for our Sjofn to make her decision and then take her action,” Aurora put in smoothly, as she often did in an attempt to soften the circumstances her daughter’s actions caused and Drakkar looked to her.
“She had no idea her leaving would be to the will of the gods,” Drakkar retorted. “She had no thought for anyone but herself. She also did not explain to my Finnie why she was leaving or what Finnie would be facing the very moment of her arrival. As I told you, the switch was accomplished right before she left this Palace to ride to the Dwelling of the Gods to be bound to me. Sjofn orchestrated it that way, throwing my Finnie into what I know was a frightening situation for, not knowing who she was, I behaved in ways that terrified her but Sjofn would take as a matter of course. I know this because Finnie admitted this to me.”
Aurora pressed her lips together and Atticus was smart enough not to speak at all.
“The gods will has been done but it is not Sjofn of the House of Wilde who assisted in seeing destiny fulfilled,” Drakkar stated firmly and Aurora pulled in a delicate breath. Drakkar continued, “And it is partly for that reason that I’ve commanded the elves to bind my Finnie to this world which, in turn, binds your Sjofn to the other. Neither will return to their home world, not again. And this command is everlasting.”
Aurora shifted, her arms uncrossing so she could lay her hand palm flat on the desk, a casual stance that many would misread as thus but Drakkar did not. There was nothing casual about it. She did it to hold herself up in her sudden grief for her lost daughter.
Atticus did not hide his reaction. He flinched and his face paled.
Drakkar felt for them but he did not feel much. This was because Sjofn’s actions were, indeed, reprehensible as treason always is. This was also because Sjofn was what they created as any child always is. And lastly, this was because he was still enraged at what their daughter had done to Finnie.
“Everlasting?” Atticus whispered.
“The elves explained that to bind Finnie here, Sjofn would need to remain there, never to come back and Finnie never to go home. This is my decision; it is made to fulfill my destiny and that of Lunwyn. It is also made to punish Sjofn for her treachery,” Drakkar declared.
“We’ll never see her again?” Atticus asked quietly.
“Never again,” Drakkar confirmed.
Husband and wife glanced at each other then they looked to The Drakkar. This time, both were smart enough to stay silent on the subject for the decision of a Frey which led to his command of the elves was never questioned.
But Aurora did speak.
“Your Finnie,” she said softly, “she pleases you?”
“Indeed,” Drakkar again confirmed.
Atticus looked to the ceiling then to The Drakkar before he asked quietly, “What is…” he hesitated, “your Finnie like?”
“Nothing like your daughter,” Drakkar replied, Atticus winced and Aurora pressed her lips together. Drakkar carried on. “She is soft. She is sweet. She smiles often, talks more and never has anything to say that isn’t interesting. She teases and she jokes and she is good at both. She is an excellent cook and has a strong spirit. People fall easily into her life and like being there. And she enjoys living, immensely, and does not hide it.”
“You care for her already,” Atticus observed.
“It would be difficult not to but I wouldn’t know for I have not tried,” Drakkar replied.
Atticus’s lips twitched and his eyes lit but Aurora’s expression stayed closed.
“I am The Drakkar and you both know what that means,” Drakkar said quietly. “But I cannot command your emotions. However, I urge you to find it in your hearts, even as you grieve the deeds and the loss of your daughter, to open them to Finnie. Sjofn escaped this world for selfish reasons. Finnie sought it for entirely different ones.”
“And will you share those?” Aurora asked instantly.
Drakkar answered just as instantly. “Her parents, your twins in her world, died when she was young.”
“Gods,” Atticus breathed, his torso rocking back and even Aurora’s back straightened slightly.
Drakkar nodded. “She grieves them still. She misses them. The elves told me she paid great treasure and we all know she took grave risks simply in order to see them or…” he paused then stressed, “you again.”
This moved them both. Drakkar knew it because Aurora turned her face away to hide her expression and Atticus dropped his eyes to look at his boots in an effort to do the same.
Drakkar kept talking. “She enjoyed her time with me at my hunting cabin and would have been happy to stay there, this I know. But upon offering the opportunity to spend time with you, she was eager to leave a place she
