Linnea: A tale of the Snow Queen

Chapter 19, Isla

I couldn’t believe that I was pregnant only a few months into being the queen. In your time being pregnant at seventeen would be considered unusual. In my time it was quite normal. Filip and I had only been married for six months. Four of which he was king. We had absolutely no idea what to do. I know I kept far away from Ingrid. I didn’t want to be around her. Not after I killed Agnar. This was when our relationship started to deteriorate. It was only going to get worse for us after this. Ingrid never understood why I stayed away from her. I just didn’t want to be around her. Agnar’s frozen corpse was still in the garden. Lucas and I were the only ones who knew where it was. I couldn’t undo it, nothing could. Agnar was just stuck like that forever. As a matter of fact he’s still there.

Whenever Filip took me out there I started to get uneasy. What if he had found the new statue that I had created. I told Filip everything but not this. How would he react? What if he knew his angel wasn’t quite an angel? What would he do to his snow queen? I had imagined all the possibilities of what he could do. None of them were good. Even if he decided to punish me for Agnar’s murder I couldn’t do the same thing to him that I did to Agnar. I didn’t even know how I did it in the first place. All I knew was that if I did it once then I could do it again.

After Emil’s death I refused to have my baby live in that room. Emil had died in his sleep and I didn’t want that on my mind every time I entered the room. So instead we had a guest room taken out and left Emil’s old room the way it was. I would still refuse to enter that room for years. After all the furniture was moved in for the baby I got to work. Ingrid wanted to help me so I let her. I thought it would be nice to have some flowers here and there. I still didn’t want to be near my step-sister. I shouldn’t let that affect my child though. I wouldn’t deprive them of spending time with their step-aunt. I would keep up the appearance of liking to be around my step-mother and step-sister. I still liked being around Aksel and Markus. They were my little brothers. They could do no wrong.

Everything was ready for our child. If it was a boy we would name him Noah. If it was a girl we would name her Isla. I waited for weeks. Until one day it happened. I had given birth to a beautiful girl. She had my blonde hair from before my gift had taken effect and Filip’s gray eyes. Princess Isla was a wonder. My father had his first grandchild and my step-mother had one too. Markus wasn’t entirely impressed with my daughter, but he was a seven year old so that was to be expected. I knew that I should’ve been happy, and I was, but I also felt nothing at the same time. After giving birth I was placed on bed rest. I felt relieved. No stresses of royal duties or worry of my magic. Just me, my husband, and our daughter. Other people would come and go but it was mostly me and Isla. I had created a temporary bassinet to keep her by my side. It was made of ice so we made sure to bundle her up warm enough on the small bedding Filip placed inside for me.

I have to admit that I was bored most of the time. It was just me and a baby after all. Filip still had to do his job as king but he would make efforts to visit me. I was not allowed out of my room for a week after Isla was born. She was also born in July and I was happy to stay indoors with my snow and ice to keep me cool. Then on my third day of rest after Isla was born, my step-mother and step-sister came in, “Hi Linnea. We brought you lunch.” Agnes said
“You two didn’t need to do that.” I replied
“We even made it ourselves. Agnar would’ve loved my cooking.” Ingrid said
“Look at her. She is so precious when she’s asleep.”
“Don’t wake her up. Ida just helped me get her to sleep.”
“Sorry Linnea. She’s just too cute.”
“Mother, do as Linnea says. It’s her baby after all. What did you name her again?”
“Isla. Princess Isla is her name. She’s currently next in line for the throne.”
“A woman in charge of a kingdom. That’ll be the day.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it, Agnes. We’ll raise her to rule over the kingdom. She will be a great leader unless she gains a brother someday but I doubt that.”
“Why?”
“Because going through that once was enough for me.”
“Especially because you’ll get bigger.”
“Agnes, I didn’t get bigger.”
“What?” she replied. I got out of bed and showed her. I was still the same size as I was before. Nothing changed, she was in awe. She didn’t understand how I didn’t look older. I was never going to age again. I was stuck in the body of a sixteen year old. Only Agnes could figure out that I wasn’t aging. It was just a side effect of magic.

As time went on after Agnar’s death, Ingrid grew more depressed. She loved Agnar, but she also wanted to get married. She kept asking me to find someone else but I couldn’t do that to her. Agnar just used my family to get to me. All because he claims he saw the future. I knew that it was impossible to do that. Magic could do many things but probably not that. Being queen was not easy. Yet alone having a newborn. Isla would eventually be sent to live with one of Filip’s relatives. I didn’t want her to be around me later on. You’ll see why.