“Perhaps, although my wife isn’t due for a few more months and I hope—ouch—our child is not so conniving,” Rune said, wrenching the toddler from him to make her release her grip his hair. “There you go, Ria. Go find your mother,” he said, setting her back down.
The crowd completely dispersed with the little girl’s departure, but the ambassador of Kozlovka couldn’t look away. It was astounding to him that a royal family so, so normal would be the financial power of the continent. He barely noticed when the Loire ambassador slapped him on the back and moved on.
“As her father is Steffen and her mother is Gabrielle, Ria was statistically doomed to have a shrewd personality,” Prince Falk said. “That being explained, you should probably begin to worry.”
“Falk,” Princess Elise said, smacking her husband in the belly.
Prince Rune laughed good-naturedly. “And what of you two? Think you’ll be ready to unleash a child with your combined intelligence on the world?”
“Of course,” Prince Falk said. “But we won’t, yet.”
“Why not?” Prince Rune asked.
“All our investments are not at a point where I could think about being absent from work,” Princess Elise said. “Carabas Harbor has been operational only for four years, and I mean to expand our wool industry.”
“That’s rather auspicious,” Prince Rune said.
“I will not rest until all acknowledge Arcainia’s financial superiority,” Princess Elise said with a maniacal laugh, flexing her fingers as she grinned like a hungry wolf at the dancers and party attendees. She abruptly cut the expression short. “I haven’t seen Brida yet tonight. I’m off to find her. You two enjoy yourselves,” Princess Elise said, kissing Prince Falk on the cheek before she swirled away.
Prince Rune squinted as he watched her leave. “Sometimes she frightens me.”
Prince Falk sighed like a lovesick school boy. “I just love that side of her.”
Prince Rune eyed his brother. “Allow me to amend that. Sometimes you both frighten me.”
Prince Falk shrugged, and his eyes landed on the hapless ambassador of Kozlovka. “What do you want?” he imperiously asked.
“Nothing,” the ambassador of Kozlovka said, swallowing.
“Humph,” Prince Falk said before turning his attention back to his brother. “Elise received another letter from Prince Severin of Loire today.”
“Don’t their exchanges bother you?”
“Not at all. I’ve met his wife. Prince Severin isn’t the type to stray, but if he did, she would butcher him. Anyway, he’s wondering if he could send a few scholars to apprentice with Elise for a year or two.”
As the princes drifted away, the ambassador of Kozlovka could no longer hear the conversation. He took the moment of silence to reconsider his thoughts on the royal family of Arcainia. He knew they were involved in the Shimmer Conflict, but every royal family on the continent was. Going beyond that knowledge he knew they were one of the countries that were struck first by a rogue magic user.
He always thought it was sheer luck that had freed their country, but after witnessing the family interactions and name dropping for even a few minutes, it was abundantly clear to the ambassador of Kozlovka that Princess Elise and the royal family of Arcainia could handle any problem cast on their country.
Rune
Everything was burning.
Elise’s world was a wash of flames and heat. She wanted to cry out, she wanted to scream and howl in pain. But she couldn’t.
Clotilde was there, her death screams mixing with the roar of the hungry flames. Elise shut her eyes against the horrors, but she could feel the queen’s papery skin under her hand as the witch expired, turned to dust by Elise’s power.
Soon Elise would join the queen, turned to ash by the blistering flames.
Elise bolted upright, gasping for air and pushing her wild curls out of her face. “It was only a dream,” Elise said to her silent room. “I’m not in Verglas, about to be burned. I’m in Castle Brandis, in my room,” she said, her voice an audible reminder.
Elise shivered and burrowed back under her blankets, chilled by more than the cool air.
Besides the marked change in her relationship with her foster brothers, Elise’s curse-breaking-witch-slaying adventures added another aspect to her life: nightmares.
Elise knew Clotilde was evil, and she doubted anything but death would have ended her reign of terror, but the one-time queen’s screams and the feel of ending her life haunted Elise in her sleeping hours.
Just as bad were the nightmares of fire and burning. Between the two memories, Elise found it difficult to sleep to say the least.
Elise closed her eyes only to be assaulted by the sight of King Torgen’s mad, feverish eyes. His twisted laughter rang in her ears.
