''Some women fear the fire, some women simply become it.''
Evellíne embarks on a journey with her parents to England, as a request of Queen Judith and her son, King Alfred. They barely met and the connection between them is so strong that in a blin...
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''No!'' Judith said with arrogance.
Evelline had been on her knees for hours before the Queen, who, sitting on her throne, looked with total contempt at her daughter-in-law.
She almost begged for Hvitserk's freedom.
It had been days since he's been away from everything, and deep inside the princess knew the meaning of the tattered excuses of Judith and her soldiers when they were asked about the Northmen status.
What's even the point of him being imprisoned?
That could no longer be postponed.
Not when Hvitserk had helped her so much. Evellíne didn't want to, but the truth is that she was indebted to Ragnar's son.
She had promised herself that she was going to get him out, and she wanted more than anything to keep that promise.
"Your Majesty ... I must say that I understand why you decided to keep him imprisoned, but... I wonder how useful it is to treat him as a prisoner since he was the one who rescued me?"
Judith frowned, her mouth twisted with disgust. In a bitter expression, she raised her voice.
"The only person who had any intention of rescuing you was Alfred!'' she grinned ''how ungrateful would it be to say such a thing about your husband and King?''
Evellíne squirmed inside.
"I never said that Alfred did not try to do something for me, Your Highness. But in this case, I cannot be hypocritical, much less unfair. Yes... Alfred tried. I love him and I'll be eternally grateful, believe me. But Hvitserk ... he was the one who succeeded'' the girl tried to put a little sense into Judith's twisted mind but it was in vain. She even considered telling her mother-in-law about the pregnancy but she had not even told Alfred yet. How the hell could she try to soften Judith's stone cold heart?
The Queen looked even more annoyed and suspicious. Of course, she holds tight her own past with Athelstan and used it for judging Evellíne's choices. The fact that she had fallen in love with a half-Northmen-half-Christian did not mean that the princess would follow the same path.
Besides, after the kidnapping of Evellíne, when Margot arrived, a range of new possibilities had been opened.
Perhaps because of Margot's royal blood, perhaps because she had known her since childhood, but mainly because of the fact that Evellíne was gradually losing her sweetness and innocence, and more and more showing that she had the iron fist that Judith had lacked to rule alongside Ecbert in the past, Aethelwulf, and besides her son, Alfred.
Lately, that really concerned the old Queen.
The fear of being forgotten and compared was something that haunted her since she inherited the crown.
And just that very day, when she looked in the mirror, she was in tears. In pure vanity, she wept to realize that her youth was vanishing with time, the wrinkles and blemishes taking hold of her pale skin, her hair almost grey, her teeth yellowing and almost falling.
