A Queen for the Frost Giant (Legends of Rahasia Book 0)

Chapter Forty-Two

"Long ago, the great Cloelia Regina tore the first Julius's heart out like it was nothing." Julius smirks, toying with a jeweled dagger, carving into his stolen throne. The figure of Alarica, carved into the throne's back, lays eerily silent. Eyes open. Watching me as I sit on the floor in front of Julius.

Watching my eyes follow the twirling of that dagger.

"Now." He stops spinning the dagger's point. He leans forward, staring down at me. This traitor Julius. "Now, I get to steal your heart from you. Isn't that something?"

I remain silent, turn my face to the ground. I shift slightly to avoid sitting on stolen silver coins. My father's face, King Balder Wulf Dominus, graces the front of it. Even now, he's watching me. Thinking I'm weak.

I can't prove him right.

"You aren't answering me." He sounds like a petulant child. He presses the edge of the dagger into my throat, the flat of it digging into my neck.

"Yes, Julius. You're great."

"Thank you." He steps down from the throne then, squatting in front of me. He takes a single wisp of my hair, coiling it around his fingertips. "Remarkable. Tell me. How do they wed in Ymir?"

I pause, folding my hands in my lap. I can't help but smile.

He grasps my hair, harder this time, pulling it forwards. I wince, biting my lip to keep from crying out. "Is something funny?"

"Just a happy bride."

He throws me back. I scatter amongst the coins, the riches spinning in this tent. I get to my feet, slowly. He stands, quick to tower over me, to glare down at me.

I am not weak.

"The folk in Idriola marry. They wear crowns of flowers. Weapons in their laps for strength, to summon Alarica's blessing. A night of heavy drinking, where mead and ale flow free, sweet as honey. The couples prepare by bathing naked in freezing waters. To be clean beneath the gods." I step forwards and Julius holds his ground, though there's a hitch in his breathing now, an uncertain glimmer in his eyes. "But you'd like a proper Ymir wedding, yes? For nobility. For a king."

He nods. I smile, softer this time, plying.

"Then we'd join hands, like this." I wind my arm around his. The slip of stolen silks around his forearm, it hushes against my skin. "And a cant. Ubi tu Gaius, ibi ego Gaia. Where you go, I go. And we'd decorate the atrium in fine silver, dripping from the ceilings. We'd eat sweet cake. Burn a sacrifice of fine sweets for Mother Metis. Place droplets of saltwater on our tongues for Father Ardo. Kill a beast for Alarica."

I draw closer, whispering. "And the most important part, we'd drink."

He lets go, a hesitant smile at his lips, sharp curiosity, needling, prying me apart with his eyes. "Then pour us a drink, Gaia."

I bow slightly, itching at the slight, to go from would-be-queen to pourer of this traitorous slime's drink. Skin crawling, heart beating in unrest, I go to fetch a flask.

And just before, I take a link from the reykr chain and crush it with my thumb.

Reykr carries anything. Valerian. The dying breath of an animal.

The chain link bleeds green then white then violet into the drink before going still, silent.

This is no Ymir wedding. Let it be like the call of Alarica.

Let it end in bloodshed.

I place the cup to my lips, stopping short before the liquid rushes past. I swallow, smiling. Julius turns to me, grinning now. That selfsame, triumphant smirk.

He takes the cup from me. "Good." He tells me. "You are better now. Better to stand there, just another treasure in my room."

I watch him down the drink quickly, watch the look in his eyes, the squirming.

I watch as he falls to the floor, the cup discarded.

I watch as he chokes, reaching for me, eyes betrayed. Nails scratching at nothing.

I step over him and go to the dagger on the throne.

"You're so stupid." I chuckle.

And then I bend over him, dagger tight in my hand.

"So very, very stupid."

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