The Goblin's Heir

Chapter Six: The Chamber Door

I slept in much later than I usually did. It was already well past noon and still, I laid there in bed with hardly the will to lift my head from the pillow. I hadn't dared to truly sleep until Knut was safely awake and out doing his kingly business. I turned onto my side, pulling a pillow into my arms as I curled around it like it were Knut's own body. I couldn't shake the dreadful feeling that something was wrong. Awfully, horrifically wrong. Someone was trying to get into our room at night and I didn't think it was just a servant doing its chores. If it was a servant, it wouldn't stop what it was doing so abruptly and it would've answered when I called out to it. It didn't make sense. Especially, Knut's bewildered reaction to it the first time it happened. He controlled the servants. They didn't come to our room unless he called them. 

Unless it was not Knut's call they were answering.

Or it wasn't a servant at all.

Knuckles rapped against the heavy chamber door in a melodic, playful tune. I knew who it was without having to even think about it. I pulled my blanket up around me and called back. "You can come in. Unless you want to yell at me a bit more, then you can just stay out there and rot."

"Are you decent?" He asked. "I don't like how much Father is smiling this morning."

"I'm never decent, but I'm dressed if that's what you're asking."

"I've come bearing gifts." Frit walked in carrying a trey of several of my favorite things. I smelled chocolate and cinnamon, sugar and butter. That put some energy into my bones. I sat up and watched as he set it down at our breakfast table by the balcony doors. Sure enough, there were fresh sweet rolls and a steaming cup of the hot chocolate drink the Unseelie were famous for. Frit waved his hand over the decadent meal. "Behold, my peace offering."

"Someone felt guilty." I couldn't help but laugh a little at him. He must've put some considerable thought into what would most likely bring him back into my good graces. As if he'd ever fallen out of them. I found my robe at the end of the bed and slipped it on over my gown as I went to investigate his offerings. I picked up the chocolate drink first and took a long sip. My eyelids closed and my mouth curved with bliss at the unparalleled taste. There was a nostalgic quality to it that made it taste all the better. One sip and I was teleported back fifteen or more years to when Frit was much smaller and the skin around his mouth and cheeks were almost permanently stained with chocolate. "Your offerings have pleased me," I said, swallowing another mouthful. 

"Good," Frit smiled. I tried not to notice how much he resembled Jasper when he smiled like that. He had the same slightly asymmetric shape to his mouth. 

I settled in at the table and sank my teeth into the sweet roll. The sweet taste made my feet kick happily beneath the table and banished all feelings of dread. For the moment it took me to finish my meal at least.

"Give the old woman a sweet and she turns into a little girl again." Frit teased, taking Knut's usual chair across from me. "Look at you, an hour past noon and you're still lazing about in your nightdress. Though I suppose that's to be expected after the late-night you and father had. I could hear the two of you giggling and stumbling over each other all the way from my room. Where were you two all afternoon anyway?"

"We went horseback riding," I answered, washing down a lump of sweet roll with liquid chocolate. 

"For ten hours?"

"We took a detour,"  I said innocently. "Several in fact."

Frit shivered in disgust. "Never mind. I suddenly don't want to know." He pointed to the last remaining sweet roll. "Are you going to eat that?"

I shook my head, "Go ahead," I said, sitting back to finish my cup of chocolate. I watched him tear it to pieces,  happily sucking sugar and butter from his fingers. He and I ate together in blissful silence, each perfectly happy just to stuff our faces with sweets until our teeth rotted. It was times like this, this familial closeness, that I missed the most about having my brothers around and I knew it would be these memories again that would haunt me most once Knut and two of my sons were dead.