‘Come on.’ Astra tugged him forward impatiently and placed one hand on the stone closest to her and then glared at Agnar until he did the same. She closed her eyes and for some bizarre reason Agnar found himself doing the same. The cold of the stone beneath his hand was strangely calming. Perhaps, because it had been here long before him and would remain long after. In a world filled with chaos it was good to know some things would still remain.
In the centre of the meadow was a small mound, where the rocks encircling it were barely bigger than its peak. However, there was a much larger rock in front of it, like the dragonhead prow of a ship, as if the ship were in the dip of a wave and about to rear up on a crest.
As they passed it, Astra reverently whispered, ‘The first King.’ She bowed respectfully and Agnar did the same.
The runic inscriptions on the prow-stone were so weathered he couldn’t make out what they said. The rock was a different colour to the rest, almost black. Imported from another land—presumably the motherland of the first King. A powerful reminder of Skadi’s ancient bloodline and right to rule. The rest of the Kings were buried in a fan around the first King’s ship, taking their place at his side like the spikes on Skadi’s silver crown, or the petals of a flower.
For years, Agnar’s entire focus had been on winning back this island. But standing here surrounded by the many Kings of Thrudheim that had come before him, he finally understood why Skadi had laughed at him for declaring that he wanted to reclaim hisbirthright.
He was a guest and a fleeting one at that.
Yes,to him and his mother, finally becoming the ruler of Thrudheim was the ultimate prize and a just reward for everything they had suffered. He had been born to be a king and his father and mother had both wanted that life for him.
But was Thrudheim’s crown truly his birthright?
No.
It was an uncomfortable feeling to know that he’d been wrong. Very rarely did Agnar question his choices and reclaiming Skadi and Thrudheim had always been his north star and guiding light. To realise that Thrudheim wasn’t hisbirthright,but Skadi’s, was unnerving. But also…freeing, because he could let go of his resentment about the past.
Perhaps his mother had understood that better than him. Why else would she have instructed him as she had? Telling him,‘Become invincible and then take back what you were promised. Make Skadi your Queen.’His mother had never once instructed him to overthrow Skadi, so she must have known what he’d only just realised.
It was Skadi’s birthright, not his.
He was led by Astra to meet with Skadi a few feet away. She stood at the prow of her father’s burial mound, her hands folded neatly in front of her.
He’d said nothing, but she must have seen him staring at the burial mounds, the weight of their history on his shoulders.
‘Most of my ancestors are here.’ Skadi explained, ‘Although, a couple of them preferred to be closer to Thrudheim. My grandmother keeps watch over the ships in the harbour. She loved to sail and defeated Jarl Gunnar Bloodaxe at sea. Battling his fleet of ships and forcing him into the whirlpools and cliffs until nothing remained but driftwood. Nobody dared attack Thrudheim for another fifty years after her victory.’ She smiled warmly, her face so much brighter when she was less guarded.
‘She is the reason my father never worried about me ruling alone as a woman. I remember him saying that his mother was a fierce shieldmaiden and an even tougher negotiator. She took no husband and declared that my father was a gift from the ancestors. I imagine she just picked one of her warriors to be her stallion for the night.’ Skadi chuckled with amusement. ‘I think my father had hoped to do the same with you, Agnar. He believed he would live at least another ten or twenty years, and wanted me to be as independent and confident in my leadership as his mother had been. I imagine he thought I wouldn’t have to take you officially as my husband until we were both fully grown.’
A sudden thought struck him like a hammer. ‘I have never asked—how did your father die?’
Skadi raised a brow knowingly. ‘You wish to know? No one else cared to, they heard the news of his death and descended on me like rats from a burning ship.’
Agnar nodded, his mother had done much the same, begging any merchant or Jarl to take her with them. It had been a moment of panic among the Kings, Jarls and Chieftains, each of them desperate to use the tragedy for their own benefit. ‘I apologise for not asking sooner… I should have.’
Skadi’s gaze shifted back to her father’s mound. ‘We’d been training with sword and shield. It was the first time I had defeated him and he was congratulating me and laughing about how he needed to train harder because he felt so tired. Moments later he was struggling for breath and then he died in my arms. It happened so quickly… I didn’t even wish him farewell…’
Tears gathered in her eyes and she stopped speaking. He understood that feeling well, had battled it many times himself. He admired her for being able to talk about it as much as she had—he still struggled to even mention his mother, or those months traveling to Aldeigja. The sacrifices his poor mother had made, the starvation, the illness, struggle and ultimate loss.
It was why he had never given up on her dream—no matter how impossible it might have seemed. But if he were to move forward, he had to make a choice.
He knelt in front of the last King of Thrudheim’s funeral ship, placed his hand over his heart and bowed his head respectfully. He hoped Astra was right and the dead visited from time to time. There was no place or woman more beautiful than Thrudheim and Skadi. He hoped his mother might also choose this moment to visit. To see her son make another vow, this time not to correct the past, but to look to the future.
‘Greetings, Your Highness, I have married your beautiful daughter Skadi as you wished. Please forgive me for the delay and my rude arrival—I was determined to return to her and keep my oath. You trusted me without even truly knowing me, believing me worthy as her husband and King well before I became a man. In some ways, I have failed you. But I swear now to make amends. I will protect both your daughter and granddaughter with my life. I will honour Thrudheim and ensure your bloodline continues unbroken for the next generation.’
When he finished his oath, he stood and caught Skadi’s shocked expression.
Slowly, she closed her open mouth and gave an appreciative nod. He followed her then as she walked around the burials, introducing him to her ancestors. Some of the names he could read from the funeral stones and some he could not, but Skadi knew all of them regardless, and when Astra repeated them as if committing the names to memory, he did the same.
They were his ancestors now.
Chapter Nineteen
The rest of her afternoon with Agnar was surprisingly pleasant, although Skadi still felt rattled from earlier. His vow to her ancestors had shattered the carefully built wall around her heart in a hundred ways.
If he was trying to manipulate her into lowering her guard…he’d succeeded. He had apologised to her father and sworn to protect Astra. But more than that, he’d taken the time to learn her family history, to listen to the stories of her ancestors… He’dcared.
