Laryn remained immobile in the lull, but Rakel could see the fear lurking in her eyes.
“You need not fear rejection, Laryn,” Rakel said. “We will not turn you away.”
The huntress briefly shut her eyes. “Thank you, Princess. My King.” She bowed first to Rakel, then to Steinar. “If it pleases you, I have brought a gift for the Snow Queen.”
Rakel’s heart broke. This young woman had obviously lived through much. And though she fled for her life—alone—with little more than the clothes on her back, she had thought to bringhera gift? She wanted to refuse, but she sensed to do so would hurt what little pride Laryn had left.
“That is very kind of you,” Rakel said.Such trite words that convey so little depth.
“I brought one for His Majesty as well, should it please him,” Laryn said.
Steinar was far more charismatic, so he smiled with boyish charm. “That is very noble of you, Laryn. I will gladly accept any token from you, if you will agree to let us welcome you to Verglas,” he said as he rejoined Rakel.
Laryn bowed her head. “It would be my honor.” She turned towards the forest that swept down from the mountains and encroached upon Ostfold and the palace, and whistled.
Two canines, white as snow with black markings around their eyes, black triangular ears, and black paws slunk from the woods. They had beautiful blue eyes that were nearly the same glacier blue as Rakel’s, and they looked from Laryn to Rakel and Steinar.
“This is Koray. This is Senay.” Laryn pointed first to the larger of the two dogs, then to the smaller. “They are ilumen.”
Steinar knelt down and offered out a hand for the dogs to sniff. “Ilumen? They’re real? I thought they were only fairy tales.”
“I have never heard of them before,” Rakel said. She hesitated, then joined her brother in extending her hand. The larger dog, Koray, sniffed her, tickling her palm with black whiskers, then seemed to smile at her.
“They’re mystical canines said to possess the light of stars,” Steinar said. “Legend has it they come from the north—beyond the impassable mountains.”
“There are very few of them in the continent,” Laryn said. “And they are rarely seen, except when they wish to be. It is said that they have magic—for you cannot keep or cage them unless they wish for it. Though King Mauro very much longed to own one, neither I nor any of his men successfully captured one for him.”
“You must have hidden your knowledge of them, then?” Farrin asked.
“Yes.” Laryn smiled fondly at the dogs. “I was once pursuing a chimera on the King Mauro’s orders. I managed to slay it, but it badly wounded me. I would have died, but Senay, Koray, and my Stella found me. King Mauro did not know I counted them as my friends.” She nodded to the forest, where a third ilumen sat in the shadows of the trees.
General Halvor rubbed his chin. “If you cannot keep them against their will, how can you say you are giving them to King Steinar and Princess Rakel?”
Layrn gestured to the two dogs. Senay was inspecting Steinar with great dignity, but Koray kept wiggling closer to Rakel and thrusting his long muzzle towards her cheek in an attempt to give her a wet-nose kiss. “You are right; they are not truly mine to give. But when I learned of Princess Rakel and what she had done, and when I heard how King Steinar welcomes those cursed with magic…I knew they were meant for them.”
Koray almost knocked Rakel on her posterior as he tried to lick her. Senay huffed and lowered herself so she lay on her belly near the king.
“We thank you, Laryn,” Steinar said. He flashed the huntress another smile. “To give us such beauty…I hope we prove worthy of your regard.”
“Yes.” Rakel strained to keep her face out of Koray’s reach. “Thank you.” Koray finally succeeded in knocking Rakel over, but Farrin tapped his magic and caught her in a crouch. Instead of being upset, the large dog seemed to take this as an invitation and crawled into Farrin’s lap to give himself a boost up to Rakel’s face.
Layrn smiled, loosening the tight anxiety that had cast a pall over her face. “I am glad; it seems they have chosen their masters. They are also brother and sister, you know.”
“Imagine that! How perfect,” Steinar said.
Rakel finally slipped free of Koray and stood with as much dignity as she could muster. “Again, we thank you for these…majestic canines, Laryn. I am glad you were able to enter Verglas. Although magic is neither outlawed nor looked down upon here, we do have some structure as a group, for we wish to hone our skills and be useful members of society. Your exact role will be up to you, but we will assign you a mentor.” She paused and looked inquiringly at Farrin. “Bunny, do you think?”
Farrin subtly held Koray back from jumping at Rakel and was rewarded by the great white dog flopping on his feet and showing his belly. “Yes,” Farrin said, wrinkling his brow at the canine.
“I’ll take her to your secretary and then introduce her to Bunny,” General Halvor said.
“Are you certain? I’m sure one of my guards could if you have more pressing duties,” Steinar said.
General Halvor shook his head. “No, I need to speak to several magic user representatives and see if anyone is ready to rotate into an army squad yet. This way please, Layrn.”
Layrn offered them one more bow. “I can never thank you enough.”
Steinar shook his head. “But you neednotthank us.”
