Lindorm Princess

Chapter 17

Butter melted on my tongue as I chewed, savoring every bite. I had to bite back my groan of pleasure. Bread! Oh how I had missed it. The venison and soups the palace had served was lovely fare, but there was nothing compared to Mor's home cooking.

I continued my tale around another mouthful.

"In any case-" I paused, to swallow. "That is why I cannot stay longer. Slange needs me, as his advisor. I am one of the few allies he has in the court."

Mor's face pinched.

"My daughter...advisor to a cursed fae prince..." She sighed, and looked at Far. "We cannot tell anyone. It's bad enough you disappeared. Everyone assumed you had died, were taken by a nøkk, or turned into jelly for the Jotunn." Mor paused to take a shuddering breath. "Witchcraft is still a blessed myth for most folk in these parts, but if people knew you could do magic, they still would see you hang. They might even just want to you to hang, knowing you returned from the forest after three months."

No one lost to the forest had ever returned to our village. They were swallowed up, either by some creature, or some untimely accident. Over time, it was better to just warn children to avoid the trees, rather than risk the loss. The only time we entered was to forage, and even then, every five or ten years, we lost a soul.

Far's face was white. He gripped the table with whitened knuckles.

"Nothing unseemly happened to you?" he growled. "You were not in danger?"

"No," I groaned. I was not used to Far caring about what went on in my life. This new, sober Far clearly did. I felt slightly annoyed, remembering how little he cared about Søren treating me. He was at least five years too late to care about unseemliness or my reputation.

I took another bite, before remembering the warning from the raven-feathered fae. "But you might be in danger. It is unsafe for you both to enter the forest. When I return, you cannot go looking for me like you have been."

Mor covered her face, with a scarred hand. I noticed small crepe-like wrinkles in the folds of her wrist, and the blue of her veins. She suddenly looked small, and old, and tired. My heart clenched.

"I hate those woods," she spoke suddenly. "Always have. There is evil there." I knew she was talking about the trolls she had encountered.

"There is," I acknowledged. "But there is evil everywhere," I said, thinking again of Søren. "At least with magic on my side, I am safer."

"At least stay with us for the week," pleaded Mor. "You cannot go tomorrow. Our hearts cannot take it. We only just managed to get you back home, safe with us."

I paused. The solstice was in two weeks, so there was still time before the ball. Surely Slange would understand that after a week I was not abandoning him. The wooden bracelet on my arm thrummed with his magic, as if in agreement.

"I'll stay," I said hesitantly. "But only a week. And I will help with my chores, as I once did."

"Thank you Lise," Mor said. She touched Far's arm, as if to prompt him to respond, and he cleared his throat.

"I believe our calf- Apple, as you called her, has missed you sorely. Why don't you go check on her and milk her mother, while you're at it?"

That was how I found myself back in the barn, sitting on the old milking stool, tugging teats and batting back nose nudges from the calf. I could have used magic, but I found myself missing the physical labor after being so pampered in the castle. Apple had gotten considerably larger, now almost a teenager. But she still loved the attention I gave to her, scratching behind her ears and rubbing down her soft coat.