‘Since when?’
Since she scolded me over a damned lemon.
He dropped his head, looking at his boots. ‘Since she looked past my crown and my reputation and saw someone worth knowing.’
‘Is that why you love her?’ she said, gently.
‘I love her because she’s perfect.’ Wasn’t that obvious to everyone else? It was irritating that he even had to explain it. It was like asking why snow was cold or rain was wet. ‘She’s fearless and wild and kind and smart and honest.’ He grimaced, wishing he could say it better, so his mother would understand. His words sounded paltry and pathetic, a poor tribute to the wonder of Greta Iversen. There was only this – simple and succinct as it was: ‘She’s everything that’s beautiful about Gevra.’
Silence came again, the only sound now the slow shuffle of his mother’s footsteps. She took his hands in hers, squeezing tightly until he looked up at her. There were tears in her eyes. ‘Then whyon earthare you marrying Princess Elva?’
Alarik stared at his mother, sure he had misheard her. But her expression was earnest, flickering between sadness and confusion.
‘Because that’s what my kingdom needs. That’s the only way we can survive Regna’s war,’ he said, the bite returning to his voice. ‘This entire wedding wasyouridea.’
She stepped backwards, her hands coming to her face. ‘Oh,Alarik,’ she said, with such devastation he could barely bring himself to look at her. ‘That was before.’
‘Before what?’
‘Before Greta. Beforelove. I didn’t think … I didn’tknow…’
‘That I had it in me?’ he said, bitterly.
‘That you wereopento it.’ She swiped a tear from her cheek. ‘I had no idea.’
He gave a rueful laugh. ‘Well, now you know. And so do I.’
‘Oh, goodness.’
‘And what does it matter anyway?’ he muttered, convincing himself as much as her. ‘Kingdom before heart.’ Isn’t that what he had always been taught? ‘That’s what Father would say.’
Her frown deepened. ‘I don’t know what Soren would say but I do know something about the great kings and queens of this wild, windswept land.’ Her voice grew stronger, surer. ‘They weren’t perfect, Alarik. But they were always honest. True to themselves, and true to their hearts.’
Alarik thought of Greta, and the unbridled honesty that so often got her in trouble, and smiled, despite his sorrow.
‘That’s what makes our rulers so brutal,’ she went on. ‘Not hate for other kingdoms but love for this one. Devotion to the beating heart of this land, and all its living creatures. A love so fierce, it has claws.’ She laid her hand on her heart. ‘Love is the strongest weapon in this kingdom. Love is your greatest ally, Alarik. And if you feel its great, unyielding force pounding in your heart,then you must do what all true Gevran leaders do and follow it.’
Her words gave him pause. ‘Even to ruin?’
‘Who’s to say it will be ruin?’
‘If I don’t marry Elva, the kingdom will fall.’
‘Perhaps,’ she said, quietly. ‘Or perhaps not.’
Alarik’s heart hitched, a part of him grasping at the tiny shred of hope in her words. His head spun, his mind alight with other pathways, other possibilities. ‘Are you telling me to cancel the wedding?’
She gave a sad smile. ‘I’m not telling you to do anything, son. I’m only saying that no matter what you decide about tomorrow, about the rest of your life, I will support you.’ She looked past him then, to the snow-swept sky, her eyes glittering with conviction. ‘And wherever your father is, I know in my heart he will support you, too.’
Alarik sat on the windowsill for a long time after his mother left, replaying her words in his head.
Love is your greatest ally, Alarik. And if you feel its great, unyielding force pounding in your heart, then you must do what all true Gevran leaders do and follow it.
As dawn broke across the Fovarr Mountains, and the beasts of Grinstad began to stir, Alarik came to a decision that would change the course of his life – and his kingdom – forever.
He steeled himself as he left the library, thinking not of wars and weddings, but of love. Pure and true and powerful. He was so lost in thought he didn’t hear the ferocious roaring on the wind or feel the rattle of the ground beneath his feet.
CHAPTER 40
