Page 6 of Made

“I’ve not heard this. Obviously, I disagree. Strongly. Are you certain?”

“Yes. I was told by a confidante from the House of Guivre.”

Vidar was a loner and felt out of place in a world where people talk in terms of “confidantes”, but he understood enough to know that people were always plotting and scheming as they vied for positions of greater status and power.What a waste of time!he thought. Still, if it was a bother to Ilmr, he cared about her feelings.

“And this is a reliable person whom you trust?”

“I do.”

“So, what about this has called you to withhold the beauty of your smile from the world?”

“Well. I suppose it’s… You know. No one wants to be last.”

Vidar looked away, toward the window. From the chair where he sat nothing was visible but sky. It was cloudy, and looked like snow was imminent. The fire popped and hissed.Green wood, he thought.

“I see,” he said, seemingly transfixed by the sight of gray sky. At length, his gaze moved back to Ilmr. “It’s news to me that queens are ranked. I had no idea. So, tell me. What would make you happy?”

Ilmr’s arms circled her middle as she hugged herself and chuckled silently. She was surprisingly thrilled by the simple query.What would make her happy?She doubted that she’deverbeen asked.

“Vidar. You are surprisingly and utterly charming. I don’t think I’ve ever been asked that question. I’m not sure I’ve ever asked that question of myself!”

“No? Well, it seems to me that’s a good place to start. For instance, would you be happy to simply not be last?”

Ilmr considered that. “I think perhaps I would be happy to not be last.”

“Alright. What’s the most expedient way to improve your status in this contest? I ask the question because I respect your wishes and want you to be happy. But I wouldn’t be respecting myself if I didn’t declare that I also find the entire thing ridiculous.”

That made her laugh again. The sound was magical to her ears. The feeling was magical to her body. These were Vidar’s gifts to her. She was quickly deciding that the man sitting across from her was a rare treasure she’d been ignoring as if he were nothing more than a common pebble peeking through the snow on the pathway to her garden.

Perhaps it was ridiculous. Somehow, he managed to say so without making her feel ridiculous as well.

“Ridiculous it might be, but it has robbed me of joy for a very long time. Your question, regarding how one’s star might rise, is both on point and out of my reach. If I knew how to change it, I daresay I would’ve done so by now. I honestly don’t know. But it seems to me that the mystical law governing such thingssuggests that, if one person in a ranking rises, another must fall?”

“That logic is precisely what I meant when I mentioned expediency. You are right. In order for a person in last place to rise, someone else must take that place.”

“Yes. Someone else must be last.”

“Again, in the interest of expediency, the quickest thing would be to target the person considered first and manipulate an outcome that causes them to be last.” She looked at Vidar anew, as if she hadn’t seen the person she’d asked to lunch and practically invited into her bed. “So, I could be most useful to you by facilitating such a result?”

“My dear, Vidar, it seems you have a shockingly good grasp. However, your proposal is fatally flawed.”

“How so?”

“The person in first place is Maeve.”

“The Irish queen.”

“Yes. Her status as preeminent among fae queens has been established for long enough to be thought permanent. She’s essentially enshrined.”

“Enshrined,” he repeated.

“Vidar.” Her tone sounded conspiratorial. “You look like you have a secret.”

“Do I? Hmm. Well. I’m hiding no secret, but I’ll say this. The divine world keeps busy looking for ways to ruin each other and elevate themselves. In the long ago, I sought my own company in the far north rather than play their games. I imagine that is why I was given the assignment overseeing the northern hunt.”

“I admit to wondering how you’re able to spend so much time here. At court. Not that I’m objecting you understand.”

“At this point, things pretty much run on their own. If anything goes out of whack while I’m away, I’ll be found and advised by one of the fates.”