Fantasyland 01 Wildest Dreams (47 page)

God, what a nice thing to say.

And, incidentally, yes, I was
so totally
in love with this
man.

Then he finished, “But I fear Skylar will be
a challenge, even for you.”

“You’ll help me,” I guessed.

“I will, my winter bride, but he was gravely
mishandled and the way he was, those wounds run deep in very dark
places even your light might not penetrate.”

“Can it hurt to try?” I asked.

“Absolutely not,” I answered.

Oh yeah. I loved my husband.

Therefore I melted into him and declared,
“So tomorrow, Operation Skylar commences.”

His arms convulsed and he laughed straight
out. Then he bent in to kiss my forehead.

He left his lips there when he murmured,
“I’ll see about food.”

He kissed me again then slid away but he
pulled the velvet and hides over me until I was cocooned in warmth.
In the dark, I heard him dress and then he lit the lantern by the
door before I watched him pass through it.

And it felt wrong, his leaving the bed after
what we’d shared and me not whispering “I love you” and also Frey
not returning the sentiment.

I pulled a pillow to my front and held on
tight.

Then I tilted my head to look out the window
at the back of the ship and sighed deeply.

Then I forced my thoughts to food and
Skylar.

There would be a time to discuss what I
wanted to discuss but that time wasn’t right before Frey intended
to enter a country in secret, penetrate the prince’s lover’s home
and steal a priceless, ancient relic.

But there would be a time and it would be
the right time.

And I’d find it.

King to Princess

Five days later…

I sat curled in the corner of the bench in
front of the window and studied Skylar, who looked very small
sitting behind Frey’s desk.

The tip of Skylar’s tongue was poking out of
the side of his mouth as he concentrated on some addition and
subtraction questions I’d written on a piece of paper.

He looked cute, very boyish and even younger
than his eleven (I’d learned) years.

I was giving him distance and time so he
could concentrate.

I was also trying not to think of my husband
and his men off on their adventure, something I didn’t even try to
talk Frey into allowing me to participate in. I was okay on a horse
and now wasn’t a total amateur with a bow and knife but I’d had not
that first lesson in being stealthy or participating in a raid and
was in no way experienced enough with the limited skills I had to
try them out on a mission as important as this.

So, three nights ago we set anchor and
without delay, under the moonlight, the men lowered a boat into the
water and rowed ashore.

Frey said the operation, if it went well,
would take five or six days. One would be spent on travel, three or
four would be spent on gathering updated intel and reconnaissance,
then they’d do the deed (hopefully) and it would take a day to come
back.

Then we were again away, back to Lunwyn so
that Frey could meet with Ruben to hear his report on how his
business went. And after that, Frey gave me the choice of seeing
his lodge, his chalet, his fishing cottage, travelling to one of
his foreign properties or returning to his hunting cabin.

I was still considering this choice and
about every other minute I settled on a different location.

But I had time to think about it.

And hopefully I would have a lifetime to
experience them all.

Before he left, Frey had decided how I would
work through Skylar’s discomfort and I thought his decision was
excellent.

That was for me to teach Skylar reading and
math.

Kell had taken an interest in the boy but
Kell, being Kell, had not devoted his days to these endeavors.
Therefore, whenever the fancy struck him, he would work with
Skylar.

I had learned in short order after Frey
called Skylar to his cabin and told him he would begin tutorials
with me that the fancy hadn’t struck Kell often. I also learned
that if Skylar was uncomfortable around me normally, the thought of
me teaching him anything terrified him and, even though he fought
to hide it, especially in front of Frey, he didn’t succeed. Lastly,
upon gently instigating some simple exercises, I found his skills
were rudimentary at best. But at least we weren’t starting from the
drawing board.

The first two tutorials began with Frey in
attendance but he didn’t stay long, leaving the boy with me after
Skylar’s attention was turned from his fear to his work. The
ensuing days without Frey it took me longer to settle him in. But
today he was settled and I was giving him space to work through his
assignment without me hovering.

And I was thinking about Frey, where he was,
what he was doing, if he was safe and lastly, the two days we
shared before he and his men rowed away.

To say the adela tea heightened our
awareness of each other was a vast understatement.

And it didn’t only succeed in this sexually
but in every way.

In our short time together, I’d attuned to
Frey’s moods, tones and learned his expressions. Now I read him
easily just with a glance at the line of his frame, the set of his
jaw or the look in his eye.

And there was something so superbly intimate
about this it was hard to take in, the immense beauty of it, the
intense feeling of connection with the man you loved. Not only
being so attuned to Frey but knowing he was just that attuned to
me. It did not make me feel exposed, it made me feel safe,
protected, like I belonged somewhere and to someone and, since my
parents died, throughout all my roaming, I had not felt either.

It was a beautiful thing to have back, a
treasure, the best gift I’d ever received.

For Frey, post-adela tea meant something
more. He was the kind of man who was not afraid of showing
gentleness and affection but he was also the kind of man who had
things to do and he did them. But after our afternoon in his cabin,
more often than not he wanted to do these things with me close.

Therefore, his last day aboard, as we stood
behind the wheel on the bridge deck, his hands on the spiked
handles, me in front of him, we sailed the emerald waters of the
Green Sea, our eyes on the horizon. As we did, Frey often bent to
speak to me, his mouth at my ear, or, if I had something to say, I
turned to him, my mouth at his and we whispered to each other for
hours.

It was magnificent, not what we said so much
as how we did it.

And I’d learned why he received his salutes
from men of fist to chin and from women of chin to neck. The fist
to chin was the salute of The Drakkar, a manly salute. The chin to
neck was the salute of The Frey, considered a feminine salute.
These were his due, as if he was king, and if anyone caught his
eye, they were obligated to give it to him.

I’d also learned that he didn’t get these
salutes from the people of Houllebec because the first adela tree,
the most sacred one in all of Lunwyn, was in the forest close to
the village and thus why he had his hunting cabin there and often
where he met with the elves. He was there regularly, if not often.
Because of this, most of his men had cottages there. And he had
long since communicated to the villagers that they did not have to
salute. This was something he found tedious for if they saluted,
he’d have to return a nod and he did not enjoy walking through the
village or having a horn of ale at a pub and constantly needing to
meet eyes and tip his chin.

I could totally see that. At the Winter
Palace practically everyone bobbed a curtsy to me. I was cool with
smiling and saying “hi” but those curtsies felt weird, seeing as I
was not born a princess and did not grow up being entitled to them.
And acknowledging required more effort than a smile or a passing
“hello”. It didn’t actually require it, but it seemed to and I
guessed (and shared this with Frey, who concurred) that it was the
constant reminder of my responsibilities as princess and the fact
that their show of respect was required, not earned, that made it
so.

During our talk Frey had asked (and I’d
answered) about what Princess Sjofn had shared with me in her
letter. We’d also discussed why she did not relate the information
that he was The Frey or The Drakkar or various other tidbits that
would have been extremely helpful to know such as, say, someone had
tried to assassinate her.

Although we discussed this (at length)
neither of us came up with an answer and eventually I gently closed
the conversation. This was because it was clear Sjofn was not
Frey’s favorite person. It was not that he wasn’t pleased with the
outcome of her play but because he was seriously displeased that in
making it, she committed what was considered an act of treason
against the realm
and
he was not a
big fan of how and when she’d maneuvered my entry into their
world.

Although it wasn’t for Sjofn, I took this as
good news that Frey, Atticus and Aurora all considered Sjofn’s
actions an act of treason. First, knowing this, she wouldn’t want
to return (for the punishment for treason was hanging which,
obviously, anyone would wish to avoid) and second, for this reason,
Atticus and Aurora would not want her return. And if she faced
that, what it would mean for Lunwyn as a whole for, if hung by the
neck until dead, obviously, she could not bear a child who would
sit on the throne and assure peace for the land but, instead,
political maneuvering (already unpleasant, to say the least, what
with daggers and poison involved) would careen out-of-control.

So I took this as good news (for me)
because, with all of that, they all would be less likely to want me
to go home and more likely to wish me to stay.

Discussing Sjofn led me to thinking (and
sharing with Frey) that there were a number of questions and
contradictions about her behavior. There were things she did that
were thoughtless and selfish and others that were neither. I
couldn’t help but think that Frey was wrong about her and this was
because she had the devotion of all her maidservants. It was clear
Sjofn didn’t think like Frey did about the different classes. They
were not her maidservants, they were her friends, her confidants
and she was theirs. And I couldn’t imagine my girls caring for a
woman who did not deserve their emotion.

I also couldn’t imagine carrying the burden
of Sjofn’s responsibility to her country which forced her to hide
her sexuality, something innate and so crucial to not only who she
was but her happiness.

I could not say I agreed with everything she
did but I was not her. I’d never had to hide who I was so didn’t
understand these feelings and how she had to be torn between
happiness and duty. And not knowing, I could not make a
judgment.

When I quietly shared this with Frey, he
disagreed. It was clear he felt quite comfortable making a judgment
and he did. I left him to his thoughts for, obviously, he was
entitled to them.

But I couldn’t help but think, hopefully, in
the end, both Sjofn and I would find ourselves high on Valentine’s
line of happiness in our different adventures.

“I’m finished, milady,” Skylar called, my
thoughts moved back into the room and I turned my head his way.

Then I smiled, uncurled from my corner and
walked slowly to him. As I did, Skylar shrank slightly back in the
big chair and didn’t quite meet my eyes, something he did normally
but something I noticed intensified when he had completed his work
and it was time for me to look over it. Therefore, when I arrived,
I reached in carefully, took hold of the corner of the paper and
moved slowly away, again giving him space.

Then my eyes scanned the paper. In the
twenty questions, he’d crossed out two answers but in the end, got
them right. In fact, he got all the answers right.

I took another small step back because I
intended to speak to him and he seemed more comfortable with
distance when I did.

“Not a single mistake, Skylar,” I said
gently, “you’re learning this extremely quickly. Tomorrow, I’ll
have to make them a bit more difficult.”

I had hoped he would blossom under the quiet
praise but the mention of the questions becoming more difficult
made a flash of fear fire in his eyes.

Therefore, I rushed to assure him, “Not that
much more difficult, honey. We’ll take it slow. No worries.”

He bit his lip and nodded, looking no less
worried.

I pulled in a breath. Frey had advised me
not to give into my instinct to protect him by responding to his
uneasiness and fear by releasing him from the cause, namely me.
Frey had said that Skylar couldn’t get used to me if I let him
scurry away but that I would need to be around for him actually to
get used to me.

This was, of course, wise.

It was also really hard.

So instead of seeing that fear in his eyes,
his teeth sinking into his lip anxiously and giving into my
instinct of cutting our lesson short and letting him off the hook,
I decided to move forward and work with him on his letters.

“All right, Skylar,” I said softly, taking a
step toward him, “we’re going to move on. You’ve got the alphabet
down pat so now we’ll work on putting it together to make some
–”

I stopped speaking when the door opened
suddenly.

Skylar’s eyes shot to it and so did
mine.

And when they did, I saw Kell barging
in.

He looked to Skylar at Frey’s desk then me
then he announced in his gruff voice, “We got a problem.”

My heart skipped.

He didn’t look happy, as in, way more than
his usual unhappy when he was looking at me so I was thinking this
problem was a
problem.