“I’ll agree with that, but we still need to be on our toes. If he truly is a prisoner with the Skelvarns, there’s a reason that Magnus let Erik call the castle and then followed it up with a note. None of this makes any sense, but we’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Sven sank down into his chair and rubbed his chest. “I’m completely healed now thanks to Bryn, so I certainly don’t want a repeat.” His eyes met those of his head guard. “She is my true mate. I think I always knew that, but it’s a cast-in-stone fact now.”
It had been less than a day since he and Bryn emerged from the mating chamber, hand in hand and as of one heart. While a pregnancy took time to reveal itself, he already knew in his heart that an heir had been produced.
“Does she know about your dragon?”
He nodded. “She does, and she wasn’t even surprised. She has dragon fire in her that has been untapped and unknown all her life.” He told Lars about the ring. “She went right to it, before I even had a chance to mention it. There’s something in her past that she doesn’t know about but we need to figure it out. She’s going to see Martin so he can begin tests. Willingly,” he added to stress his point.
Lars didn’t comment on the implication. “And in the meantime?”
“I’m going to train her as you do the guards. Not as in depth, but enough to be able to defend herself should the needarise. I would bet my life that she’s pregnant, but it’ll be a few weeks before we know for sure, so I want to use that time wisely.”
“So the Rite of Kaelitheris has finally given us an heir,” Lars commented as he extended his hand. “Congratulations, my friend.”
Sven shook the outstretched hand. “Thanks, but keep it quiet until we can make an official proclamation. Not to mention, I’d rather give Bryn some time to adjust to her new lifestyle before she has the whole town bowing at her feet.”
“Understood. Should I assign a permanent guard to her?”
“No, she wouldn’t like that. She’s still going to act as my grandmother’s personal assistant. We just need to make sure that she doesn’t go traipsing around town without security. She can be a bit independent, in case you haven’t noticed.”
Lars' face lit up. “Of course I’ve noticed. Our new queen can be a tad feisty.”
“Just keep surveillance on the down-low for her until I can make her understand the situation.” He stood and headed for the door but snapped his fingers. “Oh, and she’ll be moving into my chambers on a permanent basis.”
“Does she know about that?”
He ignored Lars’ teasing comment. Truth was, they hadn’t discussed it yet but he couldn’t see Bryn being against the idea.
Unfortunately, he was wrong.
“Absolutely not,” Bryn exclaimed when he ran the idea past her. “I am not moving into your room. We are not shacking up together when you are theking. What will people say? What will they think about me?”
“I don’t care what they think.” To Sven, it was the most common sense idea he’d had in a long time.
“You may not care, but I do. We have spent one night together, mister, and if you think that means that we are instantly tied at the hip, you might want to think again.”
Her petulance was punctuated when she slammed the bedroom door in his face. He decided to retreat before he made the situation worse. As theking, which he did not like the way she had spat the word out, he was used to people doing what he wanted with no questions asked. Except for Lars possibly.
He put his hand on the door. “I’m going down to the gym to do some training. I would like it if you would join me to learn some basic self defense skills. I’ll leave that decision up to you.”
As he walked to the gym, Sven thought about her words. He sighed as he realized she was right. For so long he had been focused on the actual ritual, and when no heir was conceived, it was just a waiting game until the next time. The mother of the heir would automatically be his mate, but he had never contemplated falling in love with his true mate, heir or not.
Marriage.
The word stopped him in his tracks. Bryn was going to want to get married. He knew her well enough to know that she would want to be married because they wanted to, not because they had to because she was pregnant. She would not want Stagholt to think that she was queen because she got knocked up.
Which meant that they needed to marry within a few weeks before her pregnancy was known. The Visionary Trust Council knew about the mating ceremony, but the town didn’t. All the people had seen them together at the party, so they had seen the love.
He just needed to convince Bryn to marry him. And soon.
When he reached the gym, he strapped on some boxing gloves and attacked the bag. He couldn’t decide if his heart felt lighter that he had a tentative plan to marry Bryn, or if his heartfelt heavier because he had to convince her that it was the best option.
You fool. The best option is that she willingly marries you because she loves you.
The longer he punched the bag, the more he became convinced that she loved him enough to marry quickly. He almost grinned as his arms ached from throwing punches.
He turned to a lower bag and practiced some roundhouse kicks. He and Erik had always worshipped Chuck Norris and had strived to reach his level of martial arts.
