Frey halted beside Kell, bowed shallow and swift, not bothering to wait for his command to rise. I got close to him, putting my hands on his chest, I pressed in as hard as I could and tipped my head back.
Then I rasped, deeper and far more harshly, “Husband, it is my duty to attend a king when called upon to do so.”
Frey’s brows shot together and his head jerked down to look at me the instant the first word came out of my throat.
“You get that medicine you were after, master?” Kell asked casually and Frey tore his eyes from me to look at Kell.
Then, cottoning on quickly, as was his way, he clipped, “No. I heard word the king’s men were at shore and, hearing that, I was certain he would call on my bride so I abandoned the search and returned instantly.” His eyes moved to Baldur as his arm moved to circle my waist and he pulled my front close to his. “And I was not wrong, the king called upon my bride.”
“Of course,” Baldur stated. “She is my niece which means you are now my nephew and the moment I heard your ship was anchored offshore, we rode to extend familial greetings.”
Frey’s jaw went hard.
Then he returned, “That is kind, your grace, but if we were in Middleland for an official visit, rather than to run a swift errand, we would have sent word and come to you to extend our familial greetings. Now my wife, who should be abed, is out in the cold.” He looked at Kell. “Did you not inform his grace that Finnie was ill?”
“Finnie?” Broderick whispered but Kell spoke over him.
“Sure did, master,” Kell answered and I pressed my lips together to stop myself from laughing. “He said he’d send men aboard to attend her but she wasn’t hearin’ none of it. Said it was her duty and so on.” He flipped out a hand which eloquently (or as eloquent as Kell could be) said what he felt about royal duty. “So she dragged her carcass outta bed, got all tarted up and here we are.”
At that, I had to press my lips together harder. I caught a look at Thad as he was standing at Frey’s back right and I saw his jaw clench. It made him look annoyed but my guess was Thad thought Kell was pretty amusing too.
“My wife informed you she was ill and you sent word you intended to disturb her in her rest by sending men to my ship if she didn’t attend you?” Frey asked, his voice low and rumbling and unmistakably infuriated.
“It didn’t happen exactly like that, Drakkar,” Baldur stated.
“Then maybe you’ll explain exactly how it happened,” Frey mock-suggested. That was to say, it wasn’t a suggestion at all.
“It hardly takes two days to seek medicine, which is at least the amount of time you’ve been anchored off Middlelandian shore,” Baldur shot back and I tensed as he shared this information.
“Perhaps you don’t know your niece very well, your grace, she dislikes being ill, refused to admit she was and has an aversion to being tended. It took me that long to convince her I should go,” Frey totally lied.
“This is true, Father, Sjofn has always been a poor patient, as you know when she caught flu during that visit when she was sixteen,” Broderick put in smoothly then smiled at me. “Remember, cousin, I had to resort to sneaking medicine in your tea.”
“I remember,” I rasped softly on a returned smile, thinking I quite liked Broderick. He seemed very sweet.
Baldur puffed his chest up and ignored our exchange. “Well then, seeing your proximity to our shore, you were here two days, you should have sent a missive. It is, as you well know, my due as king.”
“My apologies, your grace, and I hope you don’t find it offensive when I remind you we did not expect to be at your shore this long and I was dealing with a headstrong, unwell bride. My attention was taken by her, not sending a meaningless message, the effort of which would be a ridiculous waste of time for one of my men,” Frey returned.
“See here,” Baldur said quietly, now his voice was rumbling, “I’ll remind you again whose soil your boots rest on.”
“And I’ll remind you that my wife is clearly not well and the curiosity and mistrust, the latter of which is unearned, I will add,” Frey impressively lied through his teeth, “that were the true reasons you are here with tents and thrones,” he said this with disgust, “has delayed me on the errand of seeing to her health.”
“Careful, Drakkar, you don’t have leave to speak to this king the way you do my brother. The elves don’t leave the snow and you can’t call the dragons from this far,” Baldur retorted.
“Care to test that?” Frey returned.
Ho boy.
Time to intervene.
Pronto.
“Oh dear,” I whispered on my rasp and lifted a hand to my head, turning in the circle of Frey’s arm toward Sjofn’s uncle. “Do you, in all these tents, have someplace I can lie down, uncle? I’m feeling lightheaded.”
At my words, I was instantly swept up in Frey’s arms and held close to his chest.
“You’ll rest in our cabin,” Frey gritted then his eyes snapped to Baldur. “If I may have your leave to see to my wife?”
“Of course,” Broderick answered for his father. “And to save you the trouble, I’ll send to my personal physician for some medicine. It may take until morning but we’ll message you the moment it arrives so you can send a boat to retrieve it. That way, you can attend your…” he hesitated, his eyes came to me and they were warm because he clearly mistook the reason Frey had used the name he called me, and liked it, before he finished, “Finnie.”
“My thanks, Broderick, but do not go to that trouble. We’ll be on our way,” Frey stated, jerked his head at Baldur, turned on his boot and stalked out of the tent.
For my part, I’d wrapped my arms around Frey’s shoulders and I looked over the right one and smiled regally (I hoped) at father and son, seeing the king looked fit to be tied but Broderick was smiling so big he looked like he was trying hard not to laugh.
Yeah, I definitely liked Broderick.
Then I saw them no more as we were out of the tent, I was on a horse, Frey swung up behind me, leaned into me, dug his heels into the horse’s flanks and barked, “Yah!” and we were galloping away.
After a few minutes, I felt it was safe to speak.
So I did, starting with, “Frey –”
I was wrong about it being safe to speak.
I knew this when Frey growled, “Quiet, Finnie, we’ll wait until I have you and Kell sitting down so you can explain to me which one of you had the spectacularly stupid idea to go it alone with minimal guard, only two of whom are trained, and without me, to attend a man who might want you dead.”
Ho boy.
I got quiet as ordered, thinking it was my best bet at that juncture and watched the sea, Frey’s beautiful galleon drifting on it with the sun setting behind it, coming closer.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Marriage Is Marriage
“Please tell me you’re not back early ‘cause that sorry excuse for a king set up his throne in a bloody tent of all places.”
Kell chose this perhaps not very wise opener to our conversation as he strode into Frey’s cabin looking more than his usual grumpy.
We were all around the table, Frey seated at the head by his desk, me to his left, Thad to his right and Orion, Max, Lund, Oleg, Annar, Gunner and Stephan rounded out the mix with Oleg standing behind the empty chair at the foot, beefy legs planted apart, arms crossed on his chest. Orion and Stephan were also standing because we didn’t have enough chairs and I made a mental note to visit the galleon furniture store the next time I
