I don’t cry, but his ancient benevolence strikes right to my very soul. Moving his hand to my shoulder, he slides it to my hand, then helps me rise.
Jarl Jorg holds my gaze for one last moment before he smiles. Glancing around my drakes, then at the massive family and allies party, he nods to a few key players. Then he jerks his chin at my drakes and me, gesturing for us to leave the dining room and head into the adjacent solar where we’ve gone to converse privately before.
A gargantuan dinner is already spread out on three laden side-tables in the gaming hall. Green and gold Tiffany lamps cast a lovely glow around the vaulted drawing room, as carved dragons coil down every timber and vault all around us, creating a far more intimate setting for our talk than the dining hall.
With us are Ström’s Mormor Annika and his little sister Mathilde,plus two other lovely young women whom I don’t know personally but do know to be Ström’s elder sisters.
Bjorn’s clan is represented by his great-aunt Svanhild Magnussen. She wears tawny battle-leathers and an ice-cat pelt tonight, as if she doesn’t give a damn about fancy, with the towering bulk of Captain Olander Mortensen beside her.
My eyebrows lift as I see them; extending my hand, I clasp arms with the bitchy old Matriarch, then Captain Olander, beyond grateful for them. They both grin as they clasp my arm in turn. I have no time to say anything to them, however, as my own stepfathers crowd in around me now.
Hugging me tight and slapping my back.
My reunion with Trublut Lakkvie, Khosh Harrowsblut, and Vjen Jormunder goes on a long time, though no one says anything. It’s all tight embraces and hard, loving sighs, as Vjen sets his forehead to mine, and Trublut shakes me by the shoulders before giving me a gargantuan hug. Khosh grips my nape, kissing me on the forehead and smiling like crazy before he shakes his head at me.
But I don’t get to say anything to my stepfathers before someone else steps in.
I’m surprised to see Mikka Halsbrand before me now, dressed in black battle-leathers rather than any finery. With her all-seeing violet eyes, she stares me down.
Then, she extends her hand, offering me something in her palm.
As she places a little gilded pin in my palm, I take it. At once, something grips inside me as my throat gets tight. I recognize it as my mother’s pin, which she would always wear to important occasions. Little more than a gilded dragon coiled around four bright rubies with a fire-opal in its jaws, it doesn’t hold any magic, but it does for me.
I take it, my tears finally falling, as Mikka watches me.
“For you, Hög Skjaldmær,” she says as she watches me. “Lithava stoleit when she killed your mother at Riksfold. She kept it in her office in the Knight’s compound, as Ruta. So I stole it back. For you.”
“Thank you.” I am quiet, regarding the pin in my hands. I don’t ask Mikka how she found out about my mother’s death and Lithava’s impersonation of Ruta; Mikka was Head Watcher for the Black Dragon Knights, and has figured out things I can’t even fathom with her all-watching eyes.
As I turn the little pin over now, I see the back with tiny, stylized Blood Dragon runes written there.For my darling Rikyava.You are my brightest light.
“Apparently, your mother kept you close to her heart always, when she was visiting with dignitaries, and during social and political functions. I never saw her without it at public occasions,” Trublut says, running a hand down my hair. “I always wondered what happened to that pin. Now, we know.”
I choke up; my vision blurs, and Bjorn knows what to do. Gathering me into his brawny arms, he holds me with my face pressed close to his chest, until I get a few deep breaths and finally don’t cry.
But I want to; oh, how I want to, for everything we’ve been through, and all we’ve lost, as these close family and friends look on.
Waiting for me to tell them what comes next.
“Let’s get food and settle in,” Jarl Jorg says now as he glances around the group, extending his hand to the laden tables. “Then we’ll have our chat.”
We do, as everyone is in need of sustenance. I feel how exhausted all still are from that wicked battle up north, as everyone loads up entire silver trays of food rather than single plates. The Jarl pours drinks from his best whiskey, bourbon, and scotch, while Mathilde hands out the most expensive cigars from the humidor.
Before long, we’re all settled on the green velvet chaises, gathered in a group around a collection of coffee tables. Everyone is eating and drinkinglike ravenous bears; though I know the food is ridiculously top-shelf, I can hardly recall what I ate.
When I finally look down at the remains of my decimated meal, I see köttbullar, lingonberry jam, and several other Swedish sundries. Everything sits in my belly heartily now as I sit back on my chaise between Ström and Bjorn, sipping my latest whiskey.
I’ve got a pleasant buzz, and the cigar Mathilde offers me only enhances it, as she gives me a conspiratorial grin. I have a feeling she gave me one of the Jarl’s best cigars, as she winks at me and dances back to her seat.
But everyone is done eating now, smoking, drinking, and picking through the leftovers as we simply enjoy being alive. Blood Dragons never know when we’re going to die, so we enjoy every pleasure life offers.
And the Jarl isn’t being stingy now that we’re facing what could be the end of all our lives soon. It makes the room thoughtful as we smoke, drink, and finish eating in silence.
Mikkel and Baldur migrate to the long couch with me, Bjorn, and Ström, as Lærke pulls up a chair beside us. I feel the weight of the Jarl’s gaze as he peruses us from across the tables, plus Mormor Annika, Svanhild Magnussen, and my stepfathers. Only our King is missing from our war-council, and Prince Halfdir, as this meeting of the True Knights and their top allies goes down.
A council of the ages, if anyone is left alive to sing about it later.
“We come to it, at last,” Jarl Jorg finally says in his strong but aged voice, gazing around us all. “An hour of wolves and shattered shields, I believe, if anyone here has watchedThe Lord of the Ringsmovies.”
