Page 33 of The Crown of the Last Fae Queen (The Heartless and the Wicked #4)

“Would you like to have … dinner?” Water dripped from her clothes onto the stone tiles of the tower floor, and she found herself staring at the spots intensely.

She found it hard to meet his eyes, but when she finally peeked up, she saw him staring at her levelly.

His lips were pursed and there was a gleam of suspicion flickering across his face.

Were her intentions that obvious?

She cleared her throat. “N-never mind.”

“Yes,” he said with a slow nod. “I’ll fetch you later tonight, then.”

Kolfinna blinked up at him, but he was already turning to leave. She trailed behind him, and then noticed Astrid and Yrsa standing close to the doorway, their heads lowered as Vidar brushed past them.

She took one glance at the painting behind her, at the woman with blazing, harsh eyes, and then quickly exited the room.

Astrid and Yrsa fell into step beside her as they silently exited the tower.

It wasn’t until they reached the outside courtyard that Kolfinna could breathe easy.

The air in the tower felt suffocating; her mind was in disarray over Vidar and Aesileif.

She didn’t know what to think anymore, and she didn’t like how conflicted her heart was becoming.

It was easier to consider the two of them as faceless, evil monsters.

Not people with their own hopes, dreams, and families. People who loved.

“Are you well?” Astrid asked as they entered one of the walled sections of the fortress; it was a path that would eventually lead to her own tower, Kolfinna vaguely recognized. Astrid had undone her white braid, and her long, wavy hair streamed over her shoulders freely.

I’m just uncomfortable with being so wet,” Kolfinna said with a short, uneasy laugh. It sounded hollow to even her own ears.

Astrid’s violet eyes softened. “Let’s hurry to your room, then. You’ll catch a cold in this weather.”

It sounded so … motherly. So out of place. But Kolfinna bobbed her head nonetheless, allowing the fae female to lead her by the elbow down the hall. Yrsa shadowed them, mumbling something about taking a short cut.

“It’s faster this way,” Astrid said with a pointed stare at Yrsa, who glared back. “Going directly to the tower is a shorter distance, but means crossing into the city, which takes much longer with all the foot traffic. Going through the walled sections is much faster in comparison.”

Yrsa’s frown dragged down. “Well, whatever.”

They walked in silence for a little bit.

Kolfinna tried memorizing the path, her mind soaking in the smaller details that would make it easier to remember the different corridors: the landscape paintings with their vivid colors, the various kinds of statues sitting on marble plinths, the color of the curtains in a particular hallway.

“Are you planning on having dinner with that human?” Yrsa finally asked, breaching the silence between them all. She pointed to Astrid’s hair with raised brows. “You look like you’re getting ready to go somewhere.”

Astrid’s cheeks bloomed with color and she touched the ends of her hair with her free hand. “I’m still not sure.”

“I thought you didn’t like humans?” Yrsa’s tone bordered on accusatory.

It was a question Kolfinna had wanted to ask, so she glanced over at the fae woman, who appeared flustered at the sudden attention.

“I don’t hate all humans,” Astrid said, blinking and shoving a strand of hair behind her sharp ear. “And besides, he’s on our side, so he’s different, isn’t he? He must have some fae ancestry to be a part of Ragnarok.”

“He looks mostly human to me,” Yrsa said.

“And?” Astrid pulled them down a bend in the hallway, her boots clipping against the polished black-veined tiles. “It is not as though I abhor humans. I dislike what they have done to me and our people, but that doesn’t mean they’re all brutish.”

A frown dragged down Yrsa’s thin lips, darkening her usual scowl.

She looked like she was going to say more, but a moan had all three of them slowing in their tracks.

It was soft, breathless, and feminine. Kolfinna stopped right when they reached the bend of the hallway.

The other two stopped as well, all of them exchanging bewildered looks.

Had they heard right?

But then Kolfinna heard it again. Heavy breathing, and moaning, and the rustling of clothes.

Her face grew hot as she could make out the unmistakable labored breathing of two people kissing.

Kolfinna’s attention shifted to the hallway to their right and without thinking, curiosity got the better of her.

Her eyesight had improved drastically since becoming a fae, so she could make out the two people embracing each other passionately.

The woman was pushed against the wall, her head thrown back, eyes closed, as a fae male trailed his mouth against her throat.

She had her fingers woven through his golden hair, her chest rising as his hand cupped one of her breasts.

His other hand was underneath her skirt.

Kolfinna’s mouth dropped open as she recognized the two.

Agnarr and Freyja.

But … but they hated each other?

She was sure of it; they had hurled insults at one another, fought each other, and … and been very clear on their distaste of one another. But there was no denying that they both were passionately kissing each other.

Freyja grasped the sides of Agnarr’s face and crushed her lips against his. He yanked her closer to his body, his hands splayed on her backside.

Astrid gaped at them, and then seemed to think better of herself and covered her mouth, her wide violet eyes turning to Yrsa and Kolfinna. She jerked a thumb behind herself, as if questioning whether they should turn around.

Kolfinna definitely didn’t want to confront those two, so she bobbed her head jerkily. Yrsa was still trying to peer into the dark hallway, her human eyes likely not picking up the number of details that Kolfinna and Astrid were able to make out.

Astrid tightened her hold on Kolfinna’s arm and dragged her down to the opposite end of the hallway, where they had come from.

All three of them hurried along and it wasn’t until they had passed into another hallway, far away from the couple, that Astrid quickly said, “Oh my goodness. Did you two see that ?”

“Was that General Agnarr?” Yrsa’s voice dropped conspiratorially low. There was an excited glimmer in her eyes, the kind of gleam that only appeared when a juicy piece of gossip was spilled. “That definitely was him, right? No one is that tall and blonde.”

“I thought they hated each other?” Kolfinna whispered, glancing over her shoulder as if the two generals would suddenly burst out from behind them and demand to know why they were talking about them.

“You don’t think they noticed us?” Astrid’s eyes were still wide. She placed both hands on her blushing cheeks. “Oh my gosh. I’ve never seen something like that before. Do you think they’re secretly in love ?”

“So it was General Agnarr?” Yrsa asked.

“Yes,” Kolfinna answered, the image of their fervent embrace not leaving her mind. “Agnarr and Freyja.”

Yrsa gawked at them like she hadn’t heard right. “ General Freyja ?”

“Yes, yes.” Astrid waved impatiently. “Everyone knows they both dislike each other, so what was that? Maybe they’re lovers?”

“They certainly looked like lovers.” Kolfinna was suddenly reminded that the cursed sword had told her that Freyja was carrying a child—was she pregnant with Agnarr’s baby?

Just thinking it made a strange fluttering, fleeting feeling pass over her chest. Excitement?

Unease? Shock? She wasn’t entirely sure.

“They fought each other previously. I saw it, too. Agnarr sported a giant bruise …”

Astrid tapped her chin thoughtfully as they crossed into a familiar-looking hallway—they were close to Kolfinna’s tower. “They are mated with one another, so it shouldn’t be that strange. But I didn’t think that they … kept it up.”

Mated?

She thought maybe Astrid would elaborate, but she only continued, “I wonder how long has this been going on for? And why they didn’t just show their relationship. I mean, if they’re in love, everyone should know it, don’t you think? Why hide it?”

“Love?” Yrsa snorted like she had said something ridiculous.

Astrid’s eyes narrowed. “What?”

“You’re na?ve.” The woman shook her head, her short hair brushing against her shoulders with the motion.

They passed by an arched window, and the sunlight glimmered off Yrsa’s brown eyes and made them appear a lighter shade of honey.

“They clearly just lust after one another, so why would they need to share it with everyone else?”

“You said they were mated with one another,” Kolfinna interrupted, her still-damp boots sliding over the glazed, reddish tiles. “What did you mean by that?”

“Oh. You don’t know? The fae have this marriage ceremony that binds the husband and wife magically.

It’s also called a mating ceremony, and once you do it, you can’t mate with another person like that again.

I mean, you can certainly have lovers, or get divorced and marry someone else, but you will always be bound to your mate through magic.

And even if he or she dies, you can never do the ceremony with another person. ”

“You mean the Bryllup ceremony?”

A slow grin stretched across Astrid’s face. “Yes, that’s the official name for it.”

“So Agnarr and Freyja are … mated?” It sounded strange to her ears; why would they choose one another if they loathed each other? But her mind traveled to what she had witnessed, and she wondered if they truly hated each other or not. “Did they choose each other because they had no choice?”

“I’m not sure, but it only makes sense that they mated.

” Astrid stared straight ahead. “Everyone in the army was encouraged to participate in the Bryllup ceremony since it increases our overall power. General Agnarr and General Freyja are extremely powerful, so they only became stronger once they mated. But I wouldn’t have thought that they would continue to … ”

“Continue to … what?” Kolfinna entered the familiar wing that told her they were in her tower. They climbed up the spiraling staircase, flecks of water from her wet braid dampening her shirt as she brought it forward and fidgeted with the wet ribbon holding it together.

“Well, you know .” Astrid chewed on her lower lip, something flashing in her eyes.

“Most of us have had to … mate with someone we don’t want to, in the name of increasing power.

That includes, well, copulating . Kissing or holding hands might make some power spark between you two, but you need to consummate for the bond to actually work.

Most people do it once, and then never speak to the other person ever again. ”

“ Oh .” Kolfinna could feel the heat rising to her cheeks.

Was that why Blár and her hadn’t had any changes to their power?

She had been wondering it for a while now, actually.

Their powers hadn’t increased significantly, if at all, and the only time she had felt different was when they’d initially done the ceremony and kissed one another.

“What happened to your mate?” Yrsa asked when they reached Kolfinna’s door.

Astrid’s expression soured. “Please don’t refer to him as my mate.”

“What happened?”

“He was thirty years my senior.” She shuddered.

“I didn’t have many options, since most people didn’t want to bond with me.

” Her hand slipped to her white hair and she began stroking it nervously, her eyebrows knitting together as a faraway look entered her eyes.

“He died in one of the battles, and I only knew because of our bond. I never saw him again after our initial … coupling.” She shivered again, this time in revulsion.

Kolfinna couldn’t help the sympathy that welled in her heart for her. She couldn’t imagine bonding to someone she didn’t care for, and then being forced to be intimate with that person in order to receive their power.

“Why didn’t anyone want to mate with you?” Yrsa asked, staring her up and down. “You’re not bad-looking.”

There was a hard set to Astrid’s mouth. “I don’t know.”

Probably because she had a little bit of elf in her, Kolfinna realized as she took in the woman’s white hair. But she had more pressing questions to ask about the mating bond—questions that could help her figure out if and Blár could use it to their advantage.

“You can tell if the other person is killed?” she asked.

“Yes. Or if they’re in distress. Any strong emotion, really.

” She lifted her shoulders. “The more emotionally connected you are to one another, the more you can feel through the bond.” It seemed like she didn’t want to talk any further, because she pulled open the door to Kolfinna’s room and motioned her inside.

“I’ll let you know when it’s time for lunch. ”

“Thank you.”

It wasn’t until Kolfinna was inside that her exhaustion truly hit her and she stared longingly at her bed.

She had dozens of questions swirling in the back of her mind, but she needed to shower first, then take a nap—both of which sounded heavenly at the moment.

Later, she’d have to think of a plan, and how all this new information could be used to her advantage.