“Yes, of course. ” Bayle smiled wanly at us. “I’ll do my best to implement any changes that the King and Queen see fit to impose. ”
“I just hope a uniform isn’t one of them. ” The younger guard snickered, and Bayle shot him a glare.
Kasper had worn his Högdragen uniform, the way he did any time he was working. Since I wasn’t officially on the Högdragen, I wasn’t allowed to wear one, so I’d gone with a modified version of a tracker solider uniform: tailored black linen with epaulets, but not nearly as flashy as the silver and black velvet one Kasper wore.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch your name,” Kasper said, his tone even and polite.
“Cyrano Moen. ” The younger man straightened up, raising his chin. “I’m the Queen’s personal guard. ”
“Well, Cyrano, it’s funny that you mention uniforms, because I was actually going to suggest them,” Kasper said, causing Cyrano to scowl.
“We’ve always had a dress code here. ” Bayle gestured to his and Cyrano’s outfits, which were very businesslike—dark trousers, dress shirts, ties. Cyrano even had a suit jacket.
“A dress code isn’t the same as a uniform,” Kasper explained. “The Kanin have found that not only do those wearing a uniform tend to exhibit more pride and integrity on the job, but they also have more of a presence since they give the guard greater visibility. Ultimately, we’ve found that a uniform provides a sense of security and helps curb assaults. ”
Cyrano looked at Kennet, almost pleading with him to stop Kasper, but Kennet shrugged and smiled.
“We actually do have uniforms,” Bayle said. “We only wear them for special occasions, like weddings or coronations, but it wouldn’t be unthinkable for us to start wearing them on a daily basis. ”
“You’re all working together!” Kennet beamed and clapped Bayle on the back. Still grinning, he looked at me. “Is there anything more you need from me before I leave Bayle to show you around the place?”
“No, I’m certain Bayle will be more than helpful,” Kasper replied.
I didn’t say anything, but my gaze had wandered back to the strange vault door at the other side of the room. It stood in stark contrast to the worn look of everything else. I wondered if the armory was behind it, but I doubted the Skojare had much in the way of weapons.
“You wanna see what’s behind that door?” Kennet asked with a wag of his eyebrows.
Bayle cleared his throat. “My Prince, I’m not sure if that would be wise. ”
“Nonsense!” Kennet strode across the room. “There are several guards here. Nothing will go wrong. ”
I shook my head. “I don’t need to see anything if it will cause trouble. ”
“It’s no trouble at all. ” Kennet punched a few numbers on a state-of-the-art keypad next to the door, then scanned his thumb—both of which were light years ahead of the lock-and-key system the Skojare had for the dungeon.
Kasper pursed his lips and glanced over at me, as if I had intentionally brought this on. While Bayle seemed to have misgivings about Kennet opening the door, Cyrano had walked up behind Kennet, almost standing on his tiptoes so he could peer inside the second it opened.
There were several loud clicks, followed by a strange wooshing sound, and then the door slowly opened a bit. Kennet glanced around and, seeing that I wasn’t beside him, he waved me over.
“Come have a look,” he insisted with a smile. As soon as I’d reached him, he threw open the door, and I was nearly blinded by the sparkling inside.
I wish I could say that it didn’t hit me the way it did—that my jaw didn’t drop and my heart didn’t skip a beat for a moment. But despite my education, and even my career in service, I still had troll blood coursing through my veins, and if there was one thing trolls desired in life it was gems.
The round room behind the vault door wasn’t very large—maybe the size of standard swimming pool. White lights from the ceiling were aimed perfectly so there could be no shadows. Nothing could hide in here.
But the space was packed with sapphires. It actually seemed like a rather childish way to store them, with jewels simply piled up around the room. There were a few shelves where larger, more precious stones were displayed, but mostly they were just strewn about. Millions of dollars in gemstones were lying around the way a messy child might leave toy cars.
While most of the sapphires were a darker blue, they came in all shades ranging from pale turquoise to nearly black, not to mention some that were pink or red. Some were translucent, like diamonds, while others were opaque, like opals. But all of them sparkled like the night sky.
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I didn’t know enough of Skojare history to say for certain where they’d gotten all of these, but I knew they had once traded with humans for jewels. If I went far enough back in their history, I’d heard tales of them stealing, some of their ancestors even taking to the sea and pirating.
But really, it didn’t matter how the Skojare had gotten the sapphires; they were here now, and I realized they were the only things in the palace that were safely guarded.
The gems also didn’t completely mesh with what I’d seen of the palace and what I knew about the Skojare tribe. My understanding was that their funds were drying up. I’d heard they still had some jewels, but they were hoarding them so they wouldn’t go completely broke.
The hoarding definitely did appear to be true, but apparently the term some jewels was very subjective.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Kennet asked, breaking my trance, and I turned back to him, forcing myself not to admire the gems anymore.
“Yes, they’re quite lovely,” I admitted.
“I suppose that’s enough for today then,” Kennet said, and he closed the door almost reluctantly, locking the treasure back up.
After that he left, allowing Bayle and Cyrano to give Kasper and me a tour of the palace and explain its inner workings.
The palace was filled with the wealthiest members of the Skojare, living in small apartmentlike spaces, and the guards, who lived in smaller dormitories on the second floor. The guards in their suits were nearly indistinguishable from the rich, and in part, I think that was because the lower-class didn’t want it to be obvious who worked for whom.
Eliminating class distinctions was commendable, but somebody had to protect the royalty. Even public leaders in the human world had a secret service. Everybody couldn’t run around and play together. Somebody had to do the work, but here in Storvatten, it seemed that nobody wanted to.
It could even be seen in how rundown everything was. But as I saw the cracks in the walls, the warped floor tiles, and even the broken locks, I couldn’t help but think back to the vault filled with sapphires.
Why did the Skojare let the palace fall to disrepair when they had so much money? Was their greed so strong that they would rather sit on the gems and let everything fall apart around them than spend the money on necessary repairs? It was like one of Aesop’s fables, where the outcome couldn’t be good for them.
NINETEEN
de rigueur
“It’s insane to me that they’ve lived like this for so long,” I said for the hundredth time.
After Kasper and I had spent a long day going over the palace with Bayle and taking notes, we’d retired to my room to start making a plan for how we would improve things. The problem was that there were so many areas that needed improvement, it was hard to know where to begin.
Bayle had provided us with all kinds of paperwork on training processes, job descriptions, schedules, dress codes, pretty much everything we might want to look at, and it was spread out all over my bed.
I had a notebook on my lap so I could jot down ideas, and Kasper was pacing the room, looking over a training sheet and shaking his head. He’d taken off his uniform jacket, so he wore only the T-shirt underneath.
“They have zero combat training. ” Kasper hit the paper in his hand. “How can you be a gua
rd if you have no ability to protect anyone?”
“I don’t know. ” I shrugged. “I can’t believe that something bad hasn’t happened already. ”
“Everyone here is almost completely unprotected!” Kasper was nearly shouting in his frustration. “The only things they’ve got properly secured are those ridiculous sapphires, and I can’t believe they even thought of that. ”
I was about to join in Kasper’s rant about the severe inadequacies of the Skojare guard when a small knock at the door interrupted us. Pushing the papers aside, I got up and answered it to find Marksinna Lisbet, dressed in a flowing gown.
“Dinner starts in twenty minutes, and we’d be so pleased if you both could join us,” Lisbet said, smiling in her aristocratic way that I’d begun to find charming.
I glanced back at Kasper, even though I knew exactly how he’d respond. Even more so than me, he had a strong sense of propriety. When he was on duty, he took his work very seriously, and I admired that about him.
“We would be honored to, Marksinna,” I told Lisbet. “But since we’re working for your kingdom now, it wouldn’t be appropriate for us to share a table with you or the King and Queen. ”
Lisbet laughed, an effervescent sound that nearly matched her granddaughter’s. “It’s never appropriate to turn down the King and Queen’s request, and they’ve invited you to join us for dinner. So I suggest you get dressed and meet us in the dining hall in twenty minutes. We’re excited to hear your thoughts on the kingdom. ”
Since she’d really left us with no choice, I scrambled to get dressed and fix my makeup. Kasper should’ve had an easier time, because he only had to put his jacket back on, but he ended up spending roughly fifteen minutes reapplying gel to his dark curls to keep them perfectly in place.
“When they ask us how we think their palace is, what should we say?” Kasper asked in a hushed voice as we made our way down a long corridor toward the dining hall.
“We’ll just have to be as vague as possible,” I suggested. “The truth is too brutal to say all at once over dinner. ”
“I just hope we can make it through the meal without someone saying, ‘Off with their heads,’” he muttered.
“Even if they did say that, who do they have to enforce it?” I asked dryly.
Kasper laughed. “Good point. ”
We reached the hall to find Mikko, Linnea, Kennet, and Lisbet already seated around the table. Four guards were standing at attention in the corners of the room, including Linnea’s personal guard, Cyrano, and they were all wearing matching uniforms—a frosty blue satin number that rivaled the Högdragen uniform in style and flair. They weren’t exactly practical, although the guards did have swords sheathed on their hips in flashy metallic sashes, but the uniforms did identify their station.
As I made my way over to the table, I couldn’t help but notice the icy glare from Cyrano. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the uniform, although I was certain he wasn’t happy about that, or because he had to stand guard while Kasper and I got to eat at the table.
Kennet stood up. “Bryn, why don’t you take the seat next to me?” He pulled out the chair beside his. I’d been planning to sit next to Kasper at the end of the table, but I didn’t want to seem rude by denying the Prince’s request.
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“Thank you. ” I smiled at him and allowed him to push my chair in for me, even though that was definitely not proper etiquette.
“So, how are you enjoying the palace?” Linnea leaned forward to speak to me, not minding if her elbows were on the table, and pushing elegant dinnerware to the side to get a better look at me.
“I can honestly say there’s nothing else quite like it,” I said.
“It is truly magnificent,” Kasper said, echoing my sentiments.
A butler came around to begin serving the first course. Before I had the chance, Kennet slipped my silk napkin off the table and dropped it artfully on my lap. His hand brushed my thigh when he pulled it back, but neither of us acknowledged it.
“This is your first time here, isn’t it?” Linnea asked, turning her attention to Kasper.
He nodded. “Yes, it is. ”
“My husband and I are dying to know what you think of our security here. ” Linnea leaned back in her chair so the butler could place her napkin on her lap, then he set a bowl of tomato bisque before her. “We already love the suggestion about the uniforms. ”
Behind her in the corner, Cyrano snorted a bit. He was doing a horrible job of keeping his expression blank, the way any good guard would do when they were working. Tomorrow, I knew that Kasper would have a long talk with him about the appropriate way for guards to behave.
“I’ve been saying they should be back in uniform for years,” Lisbet commented between spoonfuls of her soup.
“They used to be?” I asked in surprise.
Lisbet dabbed at her mouth with her napkin before answering. “Yes, when I was a young girl, things were different. Much stricter. ”
“Things change, Nana. ” Linnea chose her words deliberately, looking over to Lisbet. “Mikko is leading us into a more equitable era. ”
Since she was home, the Queen had begun to wear lipstick again. Fortunately, she’d gone with a dark pink instead of the usual bright red, which suited her pale complexion much better. Her shoulder-length ringlet curls sprang free around her head, and her wrists were draped in several jeweled bracelets.
Everyone at dinner was dressed formally, including Kennet, whose steel-gray suit appeared to be sharkskin, since it had a subtle sheen to it. I’d like to say I didn’t notice how striking he looked in it, but it would be impossible not to.
“Equity should never come at the cost of safety,” Lisbet said, and her tone challenged anyone to disagree with her.
“Safety should never come at the expense of fun. ” Kennet defied her with a broad grin, which caused Mikko scowl at him from across the table.
“Forgive my brother. He has never been known to take things seriously,” King Mikko said, speaking for the first time since dinner had started. It always startled me a bit when he spoke—in part because he rarely did, and in part because of the sheer gravity of his voice.
“Forgive my brother,” Kennet countered. “He has never been known to take a joke. ”
“Both of you, behave,” Linnea said in a firm but hushed tone. In that moment, she had a weariness beyond her years, and I suspected this hadn’t been the first time she’d had to remind the brothers to act appropriately. “We have guests. ”
“You spoke of making changes,” I said, trying to change the subject. “Have there been changes to the guard in recent years?”
“Not dramatic ones. ” Mikko pushed the soup bowl away from him, having only eaten a few bites, and a butler hurried to take it away. “Most of the alterations were under my father’s reign. He streamlined the guard and appointed Bayle Lundeen to implement the changes. ”
Kennet took a drink from his wine and smirked. “The kingdom says it was out of his strong sense of justice and commitment to an egalitarian society, but the truth was that our father was a tremendous cheapskate. He’d much rather have kept the vault full than paid the guard their rightful due, which meant we needed a smaller guard. ”
From behind Linnea, I saw Cyrano nod his head in agreement.
“Kennet!” Linnea gasped. Her level of shock was almost comical, especially considering that Mikko and Lisbet seemed unfazed. “It’s not right to speak ill of the dead, especially your King. ”
“Perhaps it’s best if we don’t discuss business over dinner,” Mikko said. I wasn’t sure if he was coming to the aid of his wife, or if he also disapproved of Kennet’s statement. It was impossible to tell since Mikko’s face was an unreadable mask.
“I’ve always found that to be the best policy,” Kennet agreed amiably.
Looking at Kennet and Mikko staring at each other across the table was a bit l
ike a funhouse mirror. They looked so much alike, even though Kennet was younger and slimmer. But Kennet was very expressive, often grinning and raising his eyebrows, while Mikko rarely seemed to emote at all. Not to mention that Kennet was talkative and flirtatious, and Mikko barely said a word.
The waitstaff began to clear the first course before bringing in a massive salad of arugula, pressed melon, and goat cheese. While they exchanged our dishes, nobody spoke, and the only sound was the clearing of silverware and the setting down of plates.
“There are so many other things we have to talk about,” Linnea said, since no one else seemed eager to pick up the conversation. “I am disappointed that I wasn’t able to see either of you more today. ”
“Tomorrow you should make time for a little fun, Bryn,” Kennet said. “You must take a break and have lunch with me. ”
I paused, trying to find a polite way out of it, until I came up with the perfect solution. “If you insist, then Kasper and I would be happy to join you. ”
But Kennet would not be appeased. “Unless of course Kasper has more pressing business to attend to?” He raised an eyebrow at Kasper.
“Kennet, you’ve met beautiful girls before,” Lisbet said in exasperation. “Certainly you know how to contain yourself around them. ”
For once, Kennet didn’t have a snappy comeback, and I just kept my head bowed, focusing on the salad before me. Even though I wasn’t the one putting on the display, I still felt the maddening urge to blush, but I suppressed it as best I could.
“What is on your agenda for tomorrow?” Linnea asked, doing her best to keep the conversation flowing.
“I believe Bayle has a few more things he’d like to show us,” Kasper said. “We haven’t seen the towers yet. ”
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“How exciting! The towers are my favorite part of the palace,” Linnea enthused.
“When do you think you’ll be ready to brief me on the changes you’d like to make?” Mikko asked, surprising me by showing an actual interest in what we were talking about.
“A few more days, I think,” I said.
He nodded. “Let me know when you’re ready, and we’ll get something on the books. ”
“We’re all excited to hear what recommendations you have,” Linnea said.
“We’ll certainly be honored to share them with you,” Kasper said.
“Queen Linnea, how are you finding being back in the palace?” I asked her.
Since we’d gotten back, I’d had hardly a moment to check in with her, and I was curious to find out if she still felt out of sorts. I’d have preferred to ask her when we were alone in hopes of getting a more honest answer, but since I wasn’t sure when that would be I thought now was better than never.
“I couldn’t be happier to be home. I’m a bit embarrassed for all the trouble I caused for disappearing like I did. That strange man spooked me, I suppose, but I’m glad that you brought me back where I belong. ” She reached over and squeezed Mikko’s hand on the table, looking up at him in adoration, but he barely glanced at her.