Page 21 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen (The Heartless and the Wicked #4)

When they came to a set of double doors, Astrid pushed them open, her grip on Kolfinna’s wrist tightening.

Inside, a long dining table took up the center of the room.

There were candles along the top of the table and a roaring fireplace warmed the room and bathed it in cozy, orange light.

Vidar sat at the head of the table, his helmet off and his long hair pulled back to reveal his sharp ears and the mapwork of scars along his face.

An empty spot was beside him, and four other people snapped their attention to her when she entered. She only recognized Rakel.

Astrid bowed before swiftly leaving and closing the door.

Kolfinna stood awkwardly, her legs leaden and her stomach knotting together uncomfortably.

She spotted another set of doorways at the opposite end of the room, and giant windows on one of the walls, which overlooked the purple-hued evening sky, and the fortress city sprawling below it.

“Come, Kolfinna.” Vidar rose from his seat and his wings unfurled, stretching out to their full length. They appeared like velvet and leather, the ends sharp and lethal. He lifted his hand to indicate the seat beside him.

She stiffly walked toward him, her gaze flicking over to the inquisitive stares from the other three.

Directly across from her seat sat an older man with graying black hair and pale-blue eyes.

His sharp ears were lined with tiny metal pins and rings.

He grinned sharply when their eyes met, and she quickly directed her attention to the other two.

A tall woman with slicked back reddish-blonde hair, sharp cheekbones, and even sharper ears sat next to Kolfinna’s seat.

Her features were harsh, but beautiful, and her silver eyes flashed with something intense as she narrowed them at Kolfinna.

Across from her, a beautiful, muscular fae male sat with his massive arms crossed over his broad chest. His lips were curled back into a frown, and his emerald eyes seemed to blaze with rage.

His hair was golden and brushed back neatly.

While the woman appeared severe yet noble, he appeared simply brutish.

All of them, she noticed, were wingless. Most of the fae here, it seemed, preferred to keep their wings dematerialized, unless in battle. Only Vidar kept his in view at all times.

Kolfinna lowered into her seat gingerly at the same time Vidar sat down.

She fiddled with the edge of her long sleeve.

She didn’t like to be the center of attention, and right now, everyone was staring at her expectantly.

Searching for her flaws, she was sure, and most likely comparing her with the little princess they likely knew from a thousand years ago.

“Introduce yourselves.” Vidar narrowed his red eyes at the group.

“General Floki.” The older man across from her lifted his hand to his chest and lowered his head, his yellow eyes never straying from hers. “A pleasure to meet you again, Princess Kolfinna.”

Again . She had no idea when they had initially met.

The noble woman beside her smiled faintly. “And I am Freyja Vigdisdóttir, Your Highness.”

Everyone turned to the golden-haired man, whose scowl only grew darker.

“Agnarr,” he said flatly.

“And that’s everyone.” Rakel clapped her hands in the tense room. “Shall we begin our meal, then?”

Vidar picked up his eating utensil, which seemed to signal everyone else to do the same.

Kolfinna finally peered down at her plate and then at the rest of the table.

An array of roasted meat on porcelain platters cluttered the center of the table, along with crusty bread, cheeses, and crisp vegetable dishes she couldn’t name.

The cuisine was similar to the current food of Rosain, but also …

. different. There were more fruits, vegetables, and honey on the meat, making it both sweet and savory. It was a strange combination.

She had a little bit of everything on her plate, and the more she chewed on it, the more ravenous she became. She hadn’t realized how starving she was until that moment, and she scarfed down her food hungrily.

Freyja watched her. “Have you not eaten today?”

“A little.” She chewed slowly, aware that everyone was staring. She could feel the heat clawing up her neck. “Well, I lost my appetite for a while …”

“Why?”

“Because we are her enemies , Frostfang.” Agnarr didn’t even try to hide his revulsion. He tore into a chicken leg savagely, and then plunked the naked bone onto his plate.

Frejya narrowed her eyes at the handsome fae male. “Do not call me that.”

“What else shall I call you?” There was a challenge in his tone. “Coldhearted, perhaps?”

“ Agnarr .” Freyja bared her teeth at him. “You never cease to amaze me at how truly insensitive you are.”

“Enough, you two,” Rakel said with a sigh, and Kolfinna got the impression this wasn’t the first time the two of them had argued that day, from the nonchalance from both Vidar and Floki, and the annoyance in Rakel’s tone.

“You are as beautiful as I assumed the princess of our empire would be,” Floki said with a wink as he stabbed a hunk of beef smothered in caramelized, honeyed onions. “You remind me of my daughter. She used to be your nanny when you were younger.”

Kolfinna stared at the older man. He was smiling gently, but there was something dark within his eyes. She swallowed down her food, her appetite once again waning. She didn’t want to ask what had happened to his daughter.

Vidar ate slowly. “Do you like your accommodations?”

Do you mean my prison cell? Kolfinna wanted to ask, but she didn’t want the others to dislike her further, so she instead kept her tone level and said, “Yes.”

Beside her, Freyja stabbed at a hunk of meat, her knife loud against the plate as she glared daggers at the golden-haired fae.

“We will begin your training tomorrow morning,” Vidar said. “You must learn to wield the D?d Svaerd. ”

A deep coldness swept over her and she froze. She was reminded of how it felt to wield the evil blade. How it had longed to shed blood, how it had forced her to fight against her will, and how it had controlled her body. She didn’t want to be anywhere near it again.

“Why?” she asked.

“You are the heir,” he said as if it was obvious.

“But … But why? Am I going into battle with you?” It sounded ridiculous—why did she need to learn how to use that weapon if she was their enemy?

Why would they want her to become stronger?

It didn’t make sense, but then it clicked to her.

“Wait—am I supposed to free the queen with the D?d Svaerd? Is that why I have to learn to use it?”

The instant she had wielded the D?d Svaerd all those weeks ago, Vidar and his armies had been freed from their slumber, so it only made sense that it was tied to where the queen was sealed away.

Was there a physical barrier that needed to be cut down with the D?d Svaerd?

Or was the only condition to free the queen was that she needed to be good at using it?

Vidar chewed his food, delaying his answer as he stared at her with those red, red eyes, which only seemed more intense with the white lashes that framed them. Finally, he swallowed. “Yes.”

“I refuse.” Kolfinna tightened her hold on her knife.

Everyone froze, gazes moving to her, and then to Vidar.

The tension in the room thickened.

“You have no choice.” Vidar’s voice came out low, and his wings twitched. The air around him seemed electrifying and heavy.

“No choice?” She licked her lips. “I fail to see how you can force me.”

She couldn’t free the queen—she simply couldn’t aid them in that way and curse the whole of Rosain in the process.

It sickened her to know that she was an integral part in all of this.

That they needed her. She would rather be an unimportant foot soldier than shoulder all of these responsibilities and guilt.

Vidar smiled slowly, and it sent a shiver down her spine. The scars on his face appeared to distort as he tilted his head to the side. “Kolfinna, you should not challenge me. I have many methods with which to make you cooperate. Do you truly wish for me to exhaust them all?”

He was bluffing. He had to be.

“I don’t want to free your queen,” she said, though it came out small.

“You have no choice,” Rakel said icily.

Vidar continued to eat to his meal, his expression schooled to indifference. “I seem to remember a certain human who you seemed to be in love with. What was his name? I never did catch that as I fought him.”

Kolfinna’s blood ran cold.

“You are aware I could have killed him, yes?” He stared at her.

“I kept him alive because he had a vast supply of mana, and I knew that would be useful. I miscalculated, I suppose. I should have kept him with me the entire time, and used his broken body as a way to get you to cooperate. I can still arrange for it.”

“You … You wouldn’t.”

He pierced the roasted chicken on his plate loudly with his knife, leaving it to stick out. “You know nothing of what I am capable of, Kolfinna. Especially when it concerns my wife.”

She bunched her trembling hands together.

Would Vidar really find Blár and use him against her?

She could imagine he could, but … but she had to believe that Blár wasn’t that easily found, or beaten.

Vidar might have bested him in battle, once, but it wouldn’t be so easy the next time.

A budding headache throbbed at the back of her mind.

“We don’t even have to go that far,” Agnarr said with a short, cruel laugh.

He dropped another cleaned bone onto his plate, and took a swig from his cup.

His emerald-like eyes connected with hers, and she found only viciousness in them.

“Since she loves humans so much, we can simply round up and kill as many as it takes for her to listen. Oh, and perhaps we can string up their bodies outside her tower so that whenever she looks out her window, she sees the people whose deaths now stain her name. I could easily arrange for it, Commander Alfaer.”

“We are not so barbaric that we would do such a thing,” Freyja scoffed. “There are other methods.”

Agnarr lowered his cup from his mouth and sneered, “Do not pretend to have a heart now, Freyja darling.”

“I am not your darling ,” she hissed.

They continued to hurl sharp-tongued insults at one another, but Kolfinna could barely make out the words, her mind muddled with horror at the thoughts of all the humans they could, potentially, kill in order for her to listen. She didn’t want to know what they were capable of.

Freyja slammed her metal cup on the table, her sharp eyes blazing with animosity as she jerked up to her feet. “You and me, outside, now . The only way I see fit for your hateful, disgusting mouth to be sealed shut is if I bloody it to a pulp.”

“Always prone to violence.” Agnarr rose to his feet, downing his drink and banging it on the table. “Fine, but I remember winning our last bout. Are you sure you wish to quarrel with me when you are in a weaker state?”

Her eyebrows pulled together. “Weaker state?”

“Yes.” He grinned savagely, his teeth gleaming white and sharp. “You are on your monthly cycle, are you not? It is the only explanation for your horrendous mood and anger.”

Freyja’s cheeks bloomed with red and her hands wrapped around her cutlery knife. Kolfinna shrunk away from the woman, not wanting to be close to her ire.

Vidar clapped his hands together, and the two finally stopped glaring at each other to turn to their leader. He stared at them both unflinchingly, unamused, but also not angry at them like Kolfinna had expected him to be. “If you are to fight, take it elsewhere. You both are excused.”

Freyja released the knife and lowered herself into a bow. “Thank you, sir,” she said rigidly, before stomping toward the doorway.

Agnarr scoffed, bowed to Vidar, and then trailed after her. The door slammed shut behind them both, and Kolfinna stared down at her lap.

What the heck had just happened?

“Are they … leaving to fight?” Kolfinna wasn’t sure what to think—if anyone from their military fought like that in front of their superiors, she was sure they would be severely punished for the unprofessionalism.

But here, it seemed normal. Either the fae army was laxer than the human armies, or everyone here was close enough to act brazenly.

“Yes,” Vidar answered simply.

“Is that … normal?” She didn’t even know if she was fishing for information, or just out of pure curiosity.

“Yes,” Rakel said, blowing out air. “It is easier to let them fight it out than to intervene and calm them. Anyway, you will train with Agnarr first tomorrow. It will probably be better to have someone knock some humility into him before your training session, so you should really thank Freyja when you can.” She said the last part with a cackle.

Dread built in the pit of Kolfinna’s stomach. She didn’t want anything to do with the brutish fae male. She never did well with powerful, domineering men who perpetually glared.

Floki chuckled and ate the rest of his meal.

“I look forward to when it’s my turn to train you, Your Highness.

I would love to see how your magic differs than that of your parents.

” There was an expectant gleam in his eyes that Kolfinna didn’t like—she had an odd sense that she didn’t want to appear like a fool and disappoint everyone, even though she shouldn’t have cared.

“I don’t …” She sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

She couldn’t tell them that she didn’t want to train with anyone and that she never wanted to be near that cursed sword again, but she didn’t know how creative they would be in convincing her to cooperate.

She wasn’t sure if she wanted to find out.

So much for gleaning information out of the other three. Agnarr seemed to hate her, Freyja seemed too frigid, and Floki seemed sharp enough to see through her. She doubted she’d be able to get any of them to open up to her.

“Can I be excused?” she asked with another exhale.

Vidar stared at her and then at her half-eaten dinner. “Eat everything on your plate first.”

“I am not a child,” she said, feeling her cheeks grow hot.

“I will not repeat myself.”

Rakel stifled a laugh, while Floki grinned too. Kolfinna’s face burned hotter and she wasn’t sure what was worse—their laughter or Vidar’s order. But nonetheless, she began eating.