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He was such a little thing the first time I saw him. Even though he was just a year younger than Teo and I, Atlas always looked smaller and frailer. I can still vividly recall how Levi looked like a grown-up to us, always standing tall and stoic, watching over little Atlas as he tried to keep up with my and Teo’s mischievous antics.
Which were very frequent.
Teo had a knack for always getting into trouble, almost as if he thrived on the chaos. He would somehow find the most daring adventures for us all to partake in. Everyday Atlas and I would follow Teo blindly, knowing that no real harm would fall upon us as long as Levi’s watchful eye was on us. At least that’s the memory I hold of the time we spent together.
None of them cared if I was the only girl among them.
They accepted me as their own, and together for an entire month, we were all we had.
But then my mother died, and everything changed.
My father grew weary of their visits and ended them altogether, no longer wanting to play the role of host to his vassals without his Queen at his side.
I was heartbroken with my father’s decision. They had been the only friends he allowed me to have, and here he was ripping them away from me when I needed them most.
But as the years passed, memories of them began to fade and their absence from my life no longer hurt as much as it used to. I guess that’s a good thing, because if I still held any affection for them, then their current betrayals would have hurt me deeply.
I was a child when I knew them, and now they are all grown men.
Kings.
Kings that have turned as cold as the northern snow that falls on the ground.
But I can be cold too. Calculating and ruthless, even.
I can be terrifying.
Just like them.
I need to show them that the young, innocent girl who used to run after them, laugh at their jokes, and hang on their every word no longer exists.
Salome is right.
Maybe instead of reacting to their villainous ways, I should be causing my own tyranny. Reminding them that I’m their queen, and that if they want to keep their heads, they must bend the knee and be loyal to the one crown that rules them all.
But how can I do that without bloodshed?
Think, Katrina, think.
There must be a way that I can turn the tide in my favor.
There must be.
But what?
It’s the knock at my bedroom chamber’s door that ends up disrupting my muddled thoughts.
“Enter,” I order, knowing that at this early hour, it can only be my room servants and handmaidens ready to prepare me for the day ahead.
As expected, they all rush into my room, Kari and Ebbe hurriedly placing fresh linens on my bed while Inessa and Anya prepare my bath. I fall into the routine of letting them bathe me in rose petal scented water, making sure every inch of me smells sweet and fresh, all the while wishing they could cleanse my troubled thoughts as easily.
When they ask if I had a good night’s sleep, all I do is nod. I’m in such an apathetic state, that summoning the will to talk feels like a burden I have no strength for.
Sensing I need a distraction, they begin to gossip around me about their latest conquests and admirers just to fill the silence. They all giggle away at the antics of their men who seem to think they are close to winning their hearts, or in most cases, getting them to slide naked into their beds.
“Men are fools when their little heads are doing their decision-making for them,” Anya utters whimsically.
“Aye, but they’re even bigger idiots when they are trying to win our hearts,” Ebbe offers with a lovestruck blush to her cheeks.
