Free Web NovelChapter 18: The Allegations.
"I didn’t mean to offend you, princess," the old lady began gently. Her voice was so low and soft that no one would ever suspect her of saying vile things. "I simply didn’t like the way you were acting with Ethan this morning. As a mother, I don’t want my son to be seen as a traitor."
"Did you just call me a slut?" Arianna asked, shocked that the woman hadn’t taken her words back.
"I never said that. You shouldn’t get me wrong," Aunt Freya replied, shrugging with a superficial smile. "I am merely worried about my son."
"How dare you, Aunt Freya? How can you accuse me of such things?"
"I am not accusing anyone. I am protecting my son."
"From whom?" Arianna was taken aback. She never expected this woman to say something so malicious. If not for the fact that Freya was the king’s aunt, Arianna would have slapped her across the face by now.
"From anyone, Princess."
"If you dare say such a thing about me again, I will report you to the king," Arianna warned.
"To the same man who suspects you have a thing with his son?" Aunt Freya laughed, looking at the princess with mock pity. Even though she knew that wasn’t the real reason the king had sent Ragnar, she was more than willing to use it to scare the princess.
"I already told the king exactly what happened. He knows the truth, and I am not going to be intimidated or let you insult me," Arianna said, standing her ground. She refused to let anyone drag her name through the mud. "This should be the last time you speak to me in this manner."
"Really?"
"Yes. I am loyal to the king. Perhaps you should be more worried about your own daughter," Arianna countered, her shoulders straightening. "I heard she refuses to choose a mate because she’s pining after a specific married man."
"W-what?" Aunt Freya stumbled back a few steps.
Arianna swept past her, leaving the woman standing in shocked disbelief, desperately wondering who could have leaked that secret.
Though Arianna walked away quickly to avoid causing a public scene, the venomous accusation still burned.
"You actually told her about her daughter?" Eira asked, hurrying to keep pace behind her.
"Yes, Eira. I told her exactly what you told me," Arianna replied. At first, she had worried it might be a rumor, but the sheer terror in Aunt Freya’s eyes just confirmed it. "But tell me... who is this married man her daughter is dying for?"
"It’s difficult to tell, my lady. I only overheard their conversation," Eira lied. She couldn’t bring herself to admit that the man in question was the king.
"I didn’t like the way Freya spoke to me," Arianna said as they walked back to her tent. Upon entering, she found Maria making the bed, assisted by a few other female servants. "Excuse us, please."
The servants bowed and filed out. The moment the tent flap settled shut, Arianna turned to Maria. "There is a problem."
"What is it, my lady?" Maria asked, her expression clouding with worry. She dropped her work and hurried over to her mistress.
"I want to tell the king the truth tonight."
"What truth?"
"What happened between Ethan and me in the past," Arianna said, her voice dropping to a low whisper. She glanced nervously at the tent entrance to ensure no one was eavesdropping, then stepped closer to Maria. "If I don’t, I will end up being branded a liar and a traitor."
"Even if you do tell him the truth, the king will still consider you one," Maria warned, terrified for her lady. "He does not look like a man who forgives such things. The people here fear him for a reason."
"It doesn’t matter. I will tell the truth and go down with Ethan."
"And what if you go down alone? There is no special bond between you and the king. But Ethan? That is his heir, my lady."
Arianna sighed heavily, sinking onto the edge of the bed. She buried her face in her palms, desperately searching for a way out. Ragnar was already on his way to uncover her past. "I have to find a way out... What if I intercept Ragnar when he comes back?"
"That will be incredibly difficult," Maria told her gently. "He is fiercely loyal to the king. There is no negotiating with him."
"What if I make him ill?"
Arianna froze, hardly believing the words that had just left her mouth. Desperation was pushing her to a dangerous brink.
"If we are left with no choice, then I won’t oppose your decision, my lady," Maria murmured in support. She knew exactly how much her lady had already suffered.
"Or... maybe I could escape from here?"
"Whatever you wish, my lady."
"But I told the king I was going to stay," Arianna sighed, a profound exhaustion settling into her bones. She knew the only way to save herself was to ensure Ragnar either never reached the west, or was silenced before he could speak to the king. "I am so scared, Maria."
*****
"Aunt Freya, what are you saying?" Kane asked, pacing between the young soldiers currently at training. He had an immense amount of work to do, yet his aunt refused to drop her request. Still, as the only family he had left, he couldn’t simply ignore her.
She was dear to him.
"I think you should mark the princess before another man claims her," Freya urged.
Kane stopped in his tracks and turned to face her, his brows knit in a mix of confusion and annoyance. "Who would dare to touch what is mine?"
"I—I have no idea. But you shouldn’t just be worried about other men; you should worry about the princess herself. She is from a different world and you have no concept of what girls from her world are capable of."
He tried to block her words out but they struck a discordant nerve. Kane didn’t want to believe Arianna was that kind of woman but then again, how well did he truly know her? He really had no idea what her boundaries were.
"The princess is a good woman," he managed to say, looking away to hide his growing unease.
"Then what was Ethan doing in your tent this morning?" Aunt Freya asked, ensuring the question carried a heavy, loaded implication.
Kane opened his mouth to defend his wife but the memory of this morning stopped him. He recalled the heavy, suffocating tension in the room when he had walked in.
Surely Ethan wouldn’t dare touch what belonged to him... and surely Arianna wouldn’t go to such extremes. Would she?
"Ethan went to look for me," Kane said, holding onto the excuse.
"And you actually believe that, my child?" Aunt Freya asked. She was slowly pushing him to the edge, nudging him toward a reckless breaking point.
Kane offered no response, his silence heavy.
"Due to your curse, you are unable to satisfy her, so she turned her attention to your—" She didn’t finish the sentence before the king whipped around to face her, his eyes burning with a terrifying, primal anger.
"Stop it, Aunt!" His voice boomed across the dirt, so loud and fierce that the soldiers on the training ground froze in sheer terror. They quickly scrambled to the far side of the field, leaving the king and his aunt entirely alone. "How dare you speak of my wife and my son in that manner?"
"K-Kane, I am only saying what I saw and heard," Aunt Freya stammered, taking a hasty step back. She despised when Kane got like this; when his anger flared, he became entirely impossible to reason with.
"What else?" he demanded, his voice dropping to a dangerously low vibration.
"I saw the way she was looking at Ragnar this afternoon," Aunt Freya lied smoothly, tears already welling in her eyes. She knew exactly how much her nephew hated to see her cry, and she used it to her full advantage. "I confronted her about it, but do you know what she did? She insulted me in front of everyone."
Kane swallowed hard, forcing his ragged breathing to slow as he tried to calm himself down. These were serious allegations leveled against his wife. Aunt Freya wasn’t a liar—or so he believed—which meant she had to be telling the truth. Right?
