14
ASTRA
“ T his is not at all what I expected,” Astra said, her eyes wide as they drove over the drawbridge and past the twin stone towers, guards in uniforms of dark green and black saluting sharply as they passed by.
When Des said ‘castle’, for some reason she’d envisioned the stereotypical fantasy castles with circular towers and tall spires piercing the sky, colorful pennants snapping in the wind, marble halls, and paintings of dour-looking royals in gold-encrusted frames lining the walls.
She’d expected roving packs of lords and ladies in fancy outfits fawning over their king and gossiping about who was cheating on whom while servants dressed in black moved quietly in the background.
She shouldn’t have been surprised when Castle Ulfmar and those who lived and worked there turned out to be nothing like that.
The castle itself looked more like the pictures she’d seen in a book about Scotland.
Constructed out of stone hewn from the cliffs into which it was built, the castle was originally a fortress that shielded the entire population during a season of devastating invasions by a kingdom that no longer existed.
These days, its thick outer walls protected a sprawling, multi-story complex from which the entire government was run.
As Gunnar steered the fusion-powered cart around the grounds, Des played tour guide, pointing out various wings and outbuildings and their purposes.
“And that’s the stables,” he said, directing her attention towards a long, pristine building with a black roof.
“Spent an entire summer there mucking out stalls as punishment for accidentally flooding the treasury.”
Gunnar coughed and shot Des a look over his shoulder.
“And don’t you look at me like that, Gunnar,” Des leaned forward and nudged Gunnar’s shoulder.
“You were there. Depths, you were involved.”
“Of course, sire,” Gunnar said, flashing Astra a wink.
“It’s just that your memory of the event seems to be a bit faulty. The flooding wasn’t so much an accident as payback for your father taking your brother hunting and not inviting you along.”
“Aw,” Astra said, patting Des’s hand.
“Did they leave you out?”
He nodded, faking a sulk, a thick wave of dark green hair slipping over his left eye.
“My poor Des. Bless your little heart.”
His head popped up, his eyes narrowing.
“When you say ‘bless your heart’, it sounds like a sympathetic expression, but your inflection tells me it’s not.” He cocked his head.
“Explain, please.”
“You’re so smart, you know that?” she said, her heart squeezing.
It wasn’t only that he was intelligent that drew her to him like a moth to a flame.
It was that he could read people.
He was really good with them.
Sure, he was their king, but she’d watched how people responded in town the other day and saw how he interacted with everyone at the celebration.
His people didn’t just respect him, they liked him.
But he ducked his head at her compliment, his dimple flashing as he pressed his lips together.
It was as if he wasn’t used to genuine praise.
She made a mental note to compliment him often and tell him how amazing he was.
If anyone deserved to know it, he did.
He might be a powerful king, but he was also a caring male who wore his heart on his sleeve.
A lifetime of scarcity from a hardscrabble existence had made her pragmatic and, in him, she’d found her perfect foil.
And he needed someone like her around, an impenetrable shield of caution to guard that bright positivity and idealism of his.
“My turn to give a lesson, huh?” she said, giving him a slow smile.
“Well, ‘bless your heart’ is a colloquialism from the southern United States. Sometimes, it’s used to express sympathy, but it can also be used in a snarky way, like I’m pretending to be understanding, when in reality, I’m rolling my eyes at you.”
“So, you were being sniffy then,” he said.
“But couching it in fake sympathy.”
“Sniffy?” She huffed out a laugh.
“I suppose you could put it that way.”
“Huh. I’ll have to try that expression out on the council some day.” His eyes grew distant for a moment.
“Wonder how it will go over.”
“It’ll be fine until they figure out what you really mean,” she said, playfully bumping her shoulder against his.
He gave her a gentle nudge back.
Gunnar parked the cart next to a nondescript wooden door that immediately opened and spit out a sulky-looking teenager dressed in the same uniform as the guards at the front gate.
“Sire,” he said with an abbreviated bow before hopping in the cart and driving it away.
She cocked her head, watching the teen as he turned a corner.
“What?” Des held open the door for her.
“Only… it’s not how I expected royalty to be treated, especially on the castle grounds.” she said with a shrugged.
Gunnar snorted, the sound echoing off the stone walls of the narrow hall.
“As you may have realized, love, I’m not one for formalities,” Des said.
“More like my mother in that way. All that bowing and scraping makes me itchy.” He shuddered and offered her his hand.
Without a second thought, she took it, enjoying how his much larger hand engulfed hers.
“But my father and brother were traditionalists, and you’ll soon find there are quite a few members of the court who hold fast to the old ways.” He leaned over as if telling her a secret.
“But I’ll continue to wear away at them, like water over a stone, and bring them around to my way of thinking.”
She snorted.
“Of course you will.”
His lips grazed the back of her hand and she lifted a brow.
“What?” He looked around.
“We’re not in public. It’s just Gunnar in the hall with us and he’s family.”
“I’ll allow it,” she said, inclining her head.
“I thank you for your graciousness, my beloved.” He snuck in another kiss, this time on her cheek.
“Now. Are you ready?” He paused next to a hand-stitched banner of Merrow dancing on glittering waves.
“Ready for what?”
But he merely flashed her a grin and pushed on a slightly worn spot on the wall, revealing a hidden door.
He squeezed her hand and tugged her along behind him.
They emerged in a large room with dark burled wood paneling, illuminated by the warm glow of deliberately placed sconces.
The high ceiling was painted with a mural of an underwater scene with a treasure chest, Merrow and seals frolicking through long, waving fronds of seaweed.
On the far end stood a large, high-backed chair on a platform, empty.
It was the only seating in the space, forcing the suit-clad, serious-looking people populating the room to stand.
“Is this your throne room?” she whispered, her entire body flushing with heat.
But her voice carried farther than she expected and everyone turned to look at them.
She tried to duck behind Des, but he pulled her to his side and very deliberately settled her hand in the crook of his arm.
“Council members,” he said, his voice booming through the space.
“I would like to introduce you to my true mate and future queen of the Merrow Isles and the Storming Seas: Astra Jakobson.”
The jaws of several people dropped while others gave her low bows.
The room erupted into chatter as Astra attempted to disentangle her from the blasted royal holding her fast.
“Hang on, my love,” Des whispered into her ear.
“The best is yet to come.”
“What are you doing, Des?” she growled back, trying to tug free so she could run out through the secret door they came in and keep running until she made it back to the generation ship.
Fleeing was an instinctual response, but at the same time, her heart felt so full, she thought it might explode with happiness.
He’d declared her his mate in front of all these important people.
The foolish man.
He really did love her and plan to keep her.
She only wished she had something better to wear for the occasion than her freshly repaired, too-tight uniform.
“Oh, my darling, delightfully cynical mate. I’m doing this to give you rock-hard evidence of my commitment to us,” he said, before raising his voice again, calling for quiet.
“One more announcement, so hold on to your tails. As your king, I officially declare that the Merrow Isles will allow a contingent of humans to settle on our land. I expect you and all our people to welcome them and treat them as our own.”
The very few cries of outrage were drowned out by loud applause.
Des held up a hand, the room falling silent.
“I firmly believe that having humans live among us will be of significant benefit not only to the Isles, but to Merrowkind as a whole.”
Her hand tightened on his forearm.
She was at a loss for words.
He’d really gone ahead and made it official, hadn’t he?
And all for her.
“Now, give me a moment with my mate,” Des said, turning his back on the shouted questions and leading her back out the secret door.
The silence of the empty hall shocked her back to reality.
“You’re absolutely ridiculous, Des. You know that, don’t you?”
“You think so, do you?” He harrumphed.
“Except now you know for certain your people have a home, and everyone knows you’re mine.”
“Des,” she said.
She placed her hand above his heart and looked up at him.
“Thank you. Thank you for your kindness and your caring. I’ve never met anyone like you.”
“I am an original,” he said, puffing his chest out.
“And you’re welcome. I hope you know I’d do anything for you, Astra. I love you.”
She popped up on her tip-toes and brushed her lips over his.
“I love you, too, Des.”
With a wild whoop, he grabbed her around the waist and danced her down the hallway.
“Do you, truly?”
Laughing at his spontaneous dance, she nodded.
“How could I not? Especially after that ridiculous declaration of yours. Do you really think I’d make a good queen for your people?”
“The best. No question,” he said, dipping her low, the end of her hair sweeping the polished stone floor.
“How could my mate be anything less?”
She hooked an arm around his neck and tugged his mouth to hers, her tongue tracing the seam of his lips.
Pulling back slightly, he said, “We’re in public.”
She knew she was grinning like a fool, but she didn’t care.
Just like she didn’t care that they were in public, not this time, anyway.
“I’ll allow it,” she said, giving him what she hoped was a regal nod.
She was going to be his queen, after all.
He grinned back at her.
“I love you, Astra Jacobson.”
“And I love you, Desburchù Ulfmar. Now kiss me, you ridiculous Merrow.”
“As you wish, your majesty,” he said before tightening his arms around her and kissing her until she was breathless.