When another cloud blocked the sun, Bryn smiled to herself and grabbed the handle for her suitcase. A sixth sense feeling of being watched made her glance around, but the crowd had thinned and there weren’t many people around.
With a giant grin still on her face, she headed for the street. She needed to hail a taxi and get to the hotel so the realadventure could begin. A black sporty car was parked in the “No Parking” zone, and she shook her head.
“Even a place as perfect as Stagholt has people who can’t read.” She pulled her jacket tighter around her body and pulled her luggage along as she maneuvered around the offending vehicle.
Chapter Two
Sven
Sven held up his hand to make everyone stop talking. His eye twitched from the pain developing behind his eyes, and his teeth ground together in frustration.
“Enough!”
Lars, head of the Royal Guard, turned to the others and mimicked the action. No one dared cross both of them and soon the room was silent. With a deep breath, Sven waited a moment before speaking.
“I am your king. I should not have to sit here and listen to you argue like petty children. Is this not my kingdom?”
Several heads nodded in agreement. Lars gave a curt nod and shifted his weight.
“Then I expect the courtesy of the respect that I deserve and not all of this bickering that I’m hearing.” His voice was quiet and clipped. Anyone who knew him understood that when he was angry, it meant more than if he yelled.
Lars turned and pointed to the ornate double doors. “You men are dismissed. I will call you when I need you back at the castle.”
Lars, however, was not about to back down. He waited until the doors closed behind the last man before spinning back to Sven. “You are not safe stepping foot outside this castle alone. Not today. Especially not now.” His voice was sharp and commanding. It echoed against the vaulted ceilings of themeeting chamber, a room designed for governmental functions or military briefings, not personal arguments.
But for today, the entire variety of matters blended together almost as well as oil in water.
Dragon King Sven Aftervadee stood with his jaw tight and his hands clenched behind his back as if handcuffed. The desire for a physical altercation almost overwhelmed him, but he knew he had to use constraint. Lars was his most trusted guard, but now he glared at him like a man tired of being protected. Sven almost felt bad that Lars was in his current position. They had been friends since childhood, so the man had more leeway than anyone else.
“I’m not under siege,” Sven said with a warning heat beneath his words. “I’m going to the airport. To pick up my brother. That’s all.”
“That’snot all, and you know it.” Lars stepped forward almost as if in challenge. “Your brother is returning after two years incommunicado. You are the sitting monarch of the Iskara Northlands.”
“We have no reason to think that Erik’s absence has been for nefarious reasons.”
“We have no basis to think that it wasn’t. We have no idea where he’s been. And the palace has receivedfourseparate threats in the last several weeks.”
“None of which have amounted to anything,” Sven snapped.
“Yet.”
Silence thudded between them like an immovable object.
Lars’s voice dropped, quiet but no less firm. “I’ve been with you since your father died. We were friends moons before that. I’ve seen you learn how to carry your new role and how to best serve the crown. But this, Sven; this is not strength. This is recklessness tangled in stubbornness.”
Sven’s jaw tightened. “It’s not reckless. It’s family.”
Lars’s expression didn’t change. But Sven caught the flicker of something in his eyes. Annoyance, maybe. Or pity. He hated both.
“I was simply saying that your safety is at issue with the Skelvarns–” Lars’s voice trailed off when met with a raised hand again.
Sven knew that his guard, and friend, was not comfortable with the current state of affairs and was only looking out for the best interests of the crown, but he also knew that if anyone would support him, it would be his number one commander.
His frustration notched down a level. “We have had no trouble from the Skelvarns in some time regardless of your intel, and I think that if I want to go greet my brother at the airport, I have the right to do so.”
Lars met his eyes. “But Sire,” his back stiffened as he went back to being formal, “the threat was validated, and we just want to be certain that you are safe.”
“The threat was validated weeks ago and what has happened since?” Sven paused. “Nothing. Not a word, not an act of violence. Magnus is not known for his patience.”
