"So I'm what—a means to restore siren influence?"
"You're far more than that," Frigga says gently. "But yes, to Nimue, you and Fen likely represent a path back to the old ways. Ways that favored her people and elevated them. The magick has been sorely missed, though. We have had significantly less unions and many less children born across the realms since losing it."
"Why?" I ask, surprised.
"People depended on the matching. They're fearful without the certainty that came with it," Frigga explains with a sigh. "Without the sirens' guidance, many never find their soul-match and they tend to doubt the matches they do make. That hesitation, that uncertainty... it affects everything."
I find myself absently touching the mating mark on my neck. I can't quite describe the feeling and the connection, but it is constant and comforting. The wolf inside me stirs in response to even the thought of him.
"I understand," I say softly. "This connection is unlike anything I've ever known." I search for words to explain. "There is a certainty to it that makes everything else seem... clearer somehow. Like finding a compass when you've been lost your whole life."
I glance at Fen, our eyes meeting briefly. Something shifts in his gaze, a flash of amber-gold that tells me his wolf is looking out at mine. My own wolf stirs in response, a warmth unfurling beneath my skin like stretching after a long sleep. It's strange how natural this feels now, this muted conversation between our other selves.
"The idea of having this and then losing it..." My throat tightens unexpectedly, the intensity of our connection hitting me anew. "Or worse, never knowing it existed at all? I can see why people would be afraid to commit without it."
Frigga's lips curve upward, but the smile doesn't reach her eyes. Instead, they hold centuries of witnessed longing and loss, a deep-seated sadness that makes her beauty somehow more profound. Her fingers trace the edge of her goblet with a wistfulness that speaks of personal memory.
"Precisely, my dear," she says, her voice whispy.
The conversation turns to preparations for Avalon, and soon we're saying our goodbyes. Fen and I leave the grand dining hall. The hallways are quieter now, most of the court retired for the evening.
"That was... intense," I say once we're alone. "I have about a thousand more questions now."
Fen chuckles. "Only a thousand? You're showing remarkable restraint."
"I'm prioritizing," I quip. "Starting with the Knights. How does that work exactly?"
His pace slows. "Yggdrasil chooses. It calls us by name."
"The world tree from Norse mythology?" I raise an eyebrow. "That Yggdrasil? It’s what… sentient?"
"The very same," he confirms. "Yggdrasil connects all eight realms, and its magick runs through everything. It gives life to the universe and is sentient in a way. It doesn’t speak directly to anyone, at least I’ve never heard stories of that happening. When a Knight is needed, a name appears on a chair in Camelot’s tower where the round table resides."
"Just... appears? Like magical graffiti?"
He smiles at that. "Something like that. Sometimes names are replaced on existing chairs. Sometimes new chairs grow and are added to the table. The names themselves appear etched into the wood back of the chair. We are called to serve, regardless of our previous station or plans."
"So you didn't volunteer," I say, realizing the implication. "You were... conscripted by a tree."
He chuckles. “Yggdrasil is so much more than that. Being called to be a Knight is the highest honor in the universe. Yggdrasil is sacred. It gives us life. Magick. It is what connects all of mankind together.”
We turn down another corridor, this one lined with beautiful landscape paintings. I don’t remember passing these last time. He must be leading me down a different route. "And what exactly are you serving? What's the Knights' purpose?" I ask.
"Originally? To maintain balance between the realms. To serve as emissaries and protectors." His expression darkens. "But five centuries ago, that purpose was interrupted."
"What happened five centuries ago?"
Fen takes a deep breath. "There was an evil queen?"
"Let me guess… Another myth I know as a story?"
“Perhaps. She was the reason the Spanish Inquisition started. The reason?—”
“The reason GUIDE exists,” I finish for him.
He nods. "No one really knows exactly what started it or who she is, only that she had more power than any Fae has ever had, and she started killing humans by the thousands. The realms acted swiftly. The Fae left Earth, took Camelot, created the pocket universe of Avalon, and the doorway to Earth was closed and locked."
"And then what did they do? How did you stop her?"
