Authors: Amanda Hocking
“Perhaps it’s best if we don’t discuss business over dinner,” Mikko said. I wasn’t sure if he was coming to the aid of his wife, or if he also disapproved of Kennet’s statement. It was impossible to tell since Mikko’s face was an unreadable mask.
“I’ve always found that to be the best policy,” Kennet agreed amiably.
Looking at Kennet and Mikko staring at each other across the table was a bit like a funhouse mirror. They looked so much alike, even though Kennet was younger and slimmer. But Kennet was very expressive, often grinning and raising his eyebrows, while Mikko rarely seemed to emote at all. Not to mention that Kennet was talkative and flirtatious, and Mikko barely said a word.
The waitstaff began to clear the first course before bringing in a massive salad of arugula, pressed melon, and goat cheese. While they exchanged our dishes, nobody spoke, and the only sound was the clearing of silverware and the setting down of plates.
“There are so many other things we have to talk about,” Linnea said, since no one else seemed eager to pick up the conversation. “I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to see either of you more today.”
“Tomorrow you should make time for a little fun, Bryn,” Kennet said. “You must take a break and have lunch with me.”
I paused, trying to find a polite way out of it, until I came up with the perfect solution. “If you insist, then Kasper and I would be happy to join you.”
But Kennet would not be appeased. “Unless of course Kasper has more pressing business to attend to?” He raised an eyebrow at Kasper.
“Kennet, you’ve met beautiful girls before,” Lisbet said in exasperation. “Certainly you know how to contain yourself around them.”
For once, Kennet didn’t have a snappy comeback, and I just kept my head bowed, focusing on the salad before me. Even though I wasn’t the one putting on the display, I still felt the maddening urge to blush, but I suppressed it as best I could.
“What is on your agenda for tomorrow?” Linnea asked, doing her best to keep the conversation flowing.
“I believe Bayle has a few more things he’d like to show us,” Kasper said. “We haven’t seen the towers yet.”
“How exciting! The towers are my
favorite
part of the palace,” Linnea enthused.
“When do you think you’ll be ready to brief me on the changes you’d like to make?” Mikko asked, surprising me by showing an actual interest in what we were talking about.
“A few more days, I think,” I said.
He nodded. “Let me know when you’re ready, and we’ll get something on the books.”
“We’re all excited to hear what recommendations you have,” Linnea said.
“We’ll certainly be honored to share them with you,” Kasper said.
“Queen Linnea, how are you finding being back in the palace?” I asked her.
Since we’d gotten back, I’d had hardly a moment to check in with her, and I was curious to find out if she still felt out of sorts. I’d have preferred to ask her when we were alone in hopes of getting a more honest answer, but since I wasn’t sure when that would be I thought now was better than never.
“I couldn’t be happier to be home. I’m a bit embarrassed for all the trouble I caused for disappearing like I did. That strange man spooked me, I suppose, but I’m glad that you brought me back where I belong.” She reached over and squeezed Mikko’s hand on the table, looking up at him in adoration, but he barely glanced at her.
“We have already tried to make a few changes to keep her safe,” Mikko said, lifting his eyes briefly to look at me. “Her personal guard was sent away and replaced with a new one.”
“I graciously offered her the use of Cyrano until they find a more permanent solution,” Kennet said. “I am a very generous man. In every aspect of my life,” he added, winking at me.
“I do already feel safer,” Linnea said, turning the conversation back and smiled brightly at me. “But it does help knowing that you and Kasper are here.”
I wanted to reassure her that she was indeed safer with us, but honestly, I wasn’t sure who exactly she needed protection from, so I remained quiet.
With the icy wind blowing through my hair, I leaned farther out the window than I knew I should have, but I couldn’t help myself. We were in the highest room in the tallest tower of the castle, and the lake had to be at least a hundred meters below us.
“I think that’s far enough, Bryn,” Kasper said, doing his best not to sound nervous.
“He’s right,” Bayle Lundeen agreed, and that’s when I reluctantly pulled myself back inside.
I wasn’t sure what it was about being here, but the power of the Skojare in my blood seemed to be stronger. The water seemed to call to me more than it normally did, and when I’d been in the sapphire room yesterday, I’d felt an uncharacteristic moment of greed.
Maybe it was being around Skojare people that amplified something inside me. Or it could simply have been the room we were in, since it was full of magic.
The tower rooms themselves weren’t overly spectacular. They were somewhat small, cylindrical spaces at the top of about a thousand stairs. (There were actually several landings along the way with couches, water fountains, and restrooms, since you’d inevitably have to take a break getting up there.)
The walls were iridescent, reminding me of the inside of clam shells, and there were two windows: one facing the shore in front, and one facing the lake to the back. Both windows opened outward, with no screen. Kasper pointed out that it seemed dangerous, but Bayle assured us there’d never been any accidents and only three suicides over the past century.
A bed curved along the wall, covered in soft blankets and plush pillows. To one side of the room was what appeared to be a large white armoire, but when Bayle showed us the inside, it contained a small toilet and pedestal sink.
Across from it was a desk made of marble, also built to curve right against the wall. Ornate designs were carved into the legs and edges, and rising from the desk was a tall bookcase, lined with all kinds of books ranging from tomes dating back hundreds of years to the latest novel by George R. R. Martin. It was a small yet varied library.
This room was a self-contained little unit meant to house the tower guards.
“So this is how you keep the palace hidden?” I asked, admiring the room around me.
Bayle nodded. “We used to have a guard in each of the five towers, but with the cloaking abilities dwindling, we don’t want to run the risk of burning out the guards we have, so we only have three on duty at all times. Since this is the tallest tower, it’s the least used.”
That made sense. If I had the choice of walking up several hundred stairs instead of a thousand to go to work, I would gladly choose the smaller tower. But Bayle had wanted to show us the full breadth of the kingdom, and we weren’t disturbing anyone by checking out this one.
The tower guards were more like trackers than they were like the H
ö
gdragen. The Skojare might not have had changelings, but like trackers, the tower guards had special abilities that were specifically nurtured in their bloodlines.
Most of the Skojare lacked psychokinesis. Like all the tribes, our abilities had begun to wane over time. The royalty tended to blame this on diluting bloodlines. I suspected there was truth to that, but I also wondered if declining use and losing touch with our heritage impacted it.
Regardless, there were still some Skojare who possessed the ability of cloaking. They couldn’t make themselves invisible, only objects and places. The power didn’t seem to work as well on trolls as it did on humans, meaning a troll could see their tricks while a human would be fooled into seeing nothing.
But that was really who they needed it for. It was how they kept humans from spotting their massive palace on the lake, and it was how they kept Lake Isolera hidden.
Unlike the palace, though, which required upkeep from tower guards, Lake Isolera had been placed under a spell long ago by one of the first Skojare queens. Her power had to have been incredibly strong, since her enchantment was the only thing that kept it cloaked. Eventually, the spell would fade, and Isolera would become an ordinary lake in the Canadian wilderness.
From what I understood, the tower guards would sit in the room and project the idea of a force field—thinking of an invisible wall that would hide everything behind it, and pushing out with their mind the way I would push against a boulder with my hands. It was a very taxing job, one that could burn people out quickly, so the guards worked in shifts and took frequent breaks lying down or reading a book.
It was necessary work, if the Skojare didn’t want to be discovered by humans, and I couldn’t imagine that discovery would go for well them.
“Since this tower isn’t used for anything else, you could have two guards up here, watching the perimeter for enemies,” Kasper said, motioning to the windows on either sides of the room. “I know the tower guards are too busy to be able to do that, but regular guards would work.”
“We could, but that seems unnecessary,” Bayle said. “The tower guards are protecting us from outsiders.”
“What about Konstantin Black?” I asked, and he stiffened.
Bayle cleared his throat. “He was an exception, and I doubt he’ll be coming back.”
“You can say that, and you may be right,” I allowed. “But do you know why he was here? How he got in? What he was hoping to achieve? Or why he warned the Queen to get out?”
“Of course not,” Bayle replied icily. “We don’t know that any better than you do.”
“Then how can you possibly know that he or someone else like him won’t strike again?” I asked.
Bayle inhaled sharply through his nose. “I suppose I don’t.” Then he lowered his dark blue eyes to gaze at me. “But from what I gather, Konstantin Black is Kanin, and he was
your
problem first. Whatever he was doing here, it was your people that brought him upon us, and it was you who lost him.”
“I wouldn’t have lost him if you’d been doing your job!” I snapped. “If you had even a halfway decent guard set up, he never would’ve gotten inside the palace in the first place.”
“I work with the guard that I am given!” Bayle shouted. “You think I wouldn’t want a guard as well trained and dedicated as the H
ö
gdragen? Of course I would! But that’s not what King Rune designed.”
King Rune was Mikko and Kennet’s father, who had apparently decided to tie the purse strings much tighter than they needed to be.
“King Mikko refuses to undo his father’s changes, which means we have no money, no training, nothing for any of that,” Bayle continued in frustration.
“And that’s why we’re here!” Kasper spoke loudly in order to be heard, but there was no anger in his voice. He stepped between Bayle and me, holding his hands palm out toward each of us. “We’re here to help, and to make sure that somebody like Konstantin Black can never get in here again. We’re on the same page here.”
Bayle huffed, but he seemed to relax a bit. He smoothed the satin of his uniform. He looked much more like a leader in it, and he even carried himself better. Kasper had definitely been right about the effect clothing had on the psyche.
“Kasper is right,” I said. “I’m sorry.”
Bayle nodded, and I suspected that was as close to an apology as I would get.
“It has been a great shame that the Queen went missing on my watch,” he said finally. “I’ve tried to pinpoint how exactly Konstantin got in here, but the truth is that there are too many holes in our fence for me to know for sure.”
“The Queen had begun to fear for her safety before Konstantin even arrived,” I said. “There’s a chance someone on the inside was working with him.”
Bayle lowered his eyes. “I have considered this.”
“And do you have any idea who it could have been?” Kasper pressed when Bayle didn’t go on.
“No.” He shook his head. “I simply don’t know how any of the guards could benefit from the disappearance of Queen Linnea. She’s kind and fair to everyone. The kingdom has a policy that doesn’t allow us to pay ransom, and I doubt King Mikko would go against the rules of his ancestors, so no one could profit from her kidnapping.”
“What if she had been killed?” I asked. “Would anything have changed?”
“I can’t see how,” Bayle said. “The crown follows the Bi
â
else bloodline. There would be no transfer of power, since Queen Linnea only has the title by marriage.”
My thoughts circled back to where they’d started—the only person who could benefit from Linnea being gone was the one who didn’t appear happy to be married to her.
“As the head guard, who are your official bosses?” I asked.
“The King has final say in all matters of the kingdom, but to a lesser extent, I am sworn to obey the entire royal family, including the Queen, the Prince, and Marksinna Lisbet as the Queen Grandmother,” Bayle answered.
“What would you do if any of them asked you to commit murder?” I asked, and both Bayle and Kasper stiffened. It was a taboo topic among guards.
“In times of war, I am to defend the kingdom and fight our enemies,” Bayle said, practically reciting the answer from a textbook. “In times of peace, I am to protect the King at all costs. It is my duty to kill if necessary, but never to murder. Taking a life must only be done in preservation of the kingdom.”
“I know what you’re supposed to do, but I’m asking you what you would personally do,” I said.
“I would follow the tenets of my position, and I would not murder anyone,” he said, but his eyes darted just slightly when he spoke.
“Would you tell the person you’d been instructed to kill?” I pressed. “Because if you turned down the King, I’m sure he could keep asking until eventually he found a guard who would do as he asked.”
“I…” Bayle stopped for a moment, thinking, and when he spoke again, his shoulders had sagged. “I would like to believe that I would do the right thing.”
Later, when we were walking down the spiral stairs to the main floor, Bayle had gotten quite the lead on Kasper and me, and he was well out of earshot. Just the same, Kasper slowed his steps and lowered his voice.