“Your affinity is growing nicely,” my grandmother says once we’re in the King’s car.
“Thank you, I’ve been practising a lot with Eliza. She’s a great instructor,” I say, not sure how I feel about being alone with the two of them. I look around and shut the divider. Instantly, I feel the King’s mood shift.
“Are you okay, Darling?” she smiles, probably thinking that I’m going through something with what happened back there. “If I talk to you guys about something private, it’ll stay between us, right? No one is listening in here?”
“No one, the King is the one who answers. I let out a heavy sigh and sit on the empty seat across from them. Neither of us wanted to face one another when we got in. “What’s going on, Sophia?”
“I don’t even know where to begin. I think that maybe there’s something wrong with me. It just happens, and I can barely hold back, I feel a little better simply admitting that.
What is it?” my grandmother asks, switching over to sit by me and take my hand.
Every time I’m around someone who is scared, I get-” I pause, not knowing how to even describe what I feel. It’s the King who nods as if he understands.
I see,” he says. “Why are you nervous about talking about that? It’s natural.”
What?” I shake my head.
You take after your grandmother on that,” he smiles fondly. “It’s why she’s in the position she’s in. She’s worried about her bloodlust.”
Oh,” my grandmother says, letting out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, it is normal. And easy to control. It’s why I always have snacks.
I thought you always had snacks because you’re a grandma,” I sit back, feeling better about that.
I take offence to that. I’m not even old,” she rolls her eyes. The two of them laugh, and the King averts his gaze so he’s not ooking at her.
I think you should tell her,” I say before I can stop myself. His eyes snap back to me and turn dark. “No, no. Don’t get mad reach for his hand. “Listen, please. You’re a really good King and clearly a really good person.
“You know, your sons struggle so much with tradition, but they do it because they know they’re making you happy. They want you to know that even when you step down, everything will still run as smoothly as if you were the one doing everything for your people.
But even you must admit that some of these laws are insane. You’ve given everyone so much, and all you w thing. I’m sure there’s another way to take care of everything without anyone dying”
What is she talking about now, Baldr?” my grandmother asks. I sit back and turn to her while she glares at him I glance is This direction to see him turning over what I said in his head, paying her no mind.
“Grandma, this applies to you as well. Maybe this is the reason why he acts the way he does the aft sis of how you be going to react to things that are important to him. It’s the start of our therapy all over again.”
“What?” she asks, looking between us.
“You’re an antazing Major General. You served your King by the rules that bound you to hum. But that all over now. Yu have to stop thinking about what you are when you speak to one another. You guys have been best friend your entire lives have to stop thinking about what you are when you speak
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and lately, you can’t even look one another.
“You’re not the only ones who feel that. Okay? The guys walk on eggshells around the two of you every time the five of us are together. The armadas saw it, and they seem to be just as worried because everyone knows that if you guys can’t keep it together, there might not be hope for the rest of us.”
“I think you’re putting a lot of pressure on our team. We aren’t in the military anymore,” my grandmother shakes her head.
“That’s not what it looked like to me when you showed up with a fucking army of Lycan Generals to take on the Alpha King, and don’t say that’s not what it was intended for because even his majesty knows you’re lying,” I point at him.
“I appreciate where this is coming from, Sophia,” he sits back. “Your soft side is showing because you’re newly mated, but that’s not how things work on the outside.”
“You’re going to sit there and tell me you can’t admit the truth after everything you’ve done together?” I ask him. He looks up at me. “Do you know why I’m in love with your son? He’s courageous and a little unpredictable at times, but he does everything in his power to make things right.
“Ragnar can admit when he’s wrong, even if it burns like hot lava running down his throat. And he really likes spicy foods. I think that’s perfect because I hate spicy food. It makes my stomach hurt, and he puts hot stuff on everything. Even his candy.
“He’s a huge fan of keeping things that others can use against him to himself, because he would rather be the King than admit he’s a man first. He loves violence, but he knows that violence isn’t the only answer to every problem. He’s fun, but not too fun, so people won’t think he’s slacking off on his duties. He’s patient and tries his best to understand, even when he can’t relate, because he’s stupidly empathetic and won’t admit it.
“But my favorite part of him is that he’s gentle and fun when we’re finally alone. He likes to talk. Like a lot and it’s crazy because I rarely ever see him have any conversations with anyone who isn’t Ivar. All those things, he gets from you. You taught him to be the person that he is, and it really hurts to see that you would rather throw all of that away over a technicality.”
“Sophia,” he shakes his head and pinches the bridge of his nose.
“None of this is your fault,” I reach out, offering the coolness of my affinity when the glass beside him starts to fog up. He looks up at me with the kind of sadness that looked back at me in the mirror after the rejection. “But it was you who paid for
all of it.
“A King should laugh louder than the others. He should be arrogant and selfish because it us who belong to him. A King should always have what he wants because it is the King who ensures that the rest of us prosper. And I don’t know about you, sir, but I think the Lycan race is the strongest it’s ever been because you’re itş King. You shouldn’t be asking for permission.”
The two of us stare at one another. When I sit back, so does he. He takes a deep breath and looks at my grandmother. His eyes glow red, and his skin gets a little flushed, I feel like I’m imposing on a monumental moment for the two of them.
I lied,” he says. I glance over at my grandmother. “The night I marked Helen, I was heavily sedated, and I thought it was you in the room with me. It was the only time I ever touched her, and I’ve regretted it since.”
“She’s pregnant,” my grandmother shakes her head.
“I had to remove her from the public’s eye, Zara. She’s my son’s mother, and he loves her. They both do tear is a sensitive boy, and with everything going on, the last thing he needs is to be is mourning the loss of this woman. I don’t know how things got this way.”
“Why didn’t you tell me from the beginning?” she growls
“Because I knew that if you had known that, you would have killed her
2/4
“She’s Ivar’s mother, she scoffs. “How did you let this happen? Regardless of the lack of intimacy, she broke her oath as a mate and Queen, Baldr.”
“I told her to,” he shrugs. “I can’t even-” he stops. “Not even when she’s in heat. I care about her, but that’s the extent of it. I don’t care what she does.”
That last part is a little lie, but I get why he’s saying it. The relief on his face when he sits back makes me smile because he’s been carrying that for a very long time. When he breathes out, a puff of smoke fills the cabin. He rolls down the window to let it out and looks back at my grandmother.
“She’s just like you when we started all of this,” he says with a small tug on his lips. “She’s so full of life, and despite how unfair life has been, she still manages to pull people to her with a smile.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to fix this,” my grandmother says. “I don’t know if we can, Baldr. But I can say this. The Alpha King has taken too much from us. They have been trying to keep us complacent and calling it accidental casualties for too Long.
“We’ve been trying to keep the peace for so long that we’ve overlooked the evidence. This is a war in the making. You’ve known that from the moment Soph brought back those files. You’ve known that from the start. There are five of us now. Sever. if you count Ana and Santi.”
Why would we count Ana and Santi?” he growls.
I like them,” she says a matter of factly. “I’ve always felt that it was stupid of us to keep Faustus away. He was crazy, but in times like this, crazy is exactly what we need. Before we can do anything about ourselves, we need to fix this. This is our fuck up, and when it’s over, and the kids take over, we’ll revisit all of this again.”
What about the baby?” I ask. The look my grandmother gives me is more than enough answer. She can care less about that baby and the Queen. The two of them look down at their feet at the same time. I clear my throat, understanding that they’ve made a choice and it’s not going to be the happy ending I wanted for the three of them. “I forgot I was talking to you two. Killing isn’t the answer to everything.”
“She bears his mark,” my grandmother says. “This one is on him.”
3/4
Sara Lili is a daring romance writer who turns icy landscapes into scenes of fiery passion. She loves crafting hot love stories while embracing the chill of Iceland’s breathtaking cold.
