Page 166 of North Queen
His eyes grew darker. “Get on your horse, or I’ll drag you back.”
She knew he meant it. Still shaking and filled with horror, she climbed back on the mare.
Mikael sat in his study, poring over the deeds of his lands. He looked for more to give his ex-wives, as Salara had asked of him. It surprised him she’d asked this, but then, she was always surprising him.
He knew it wasn’t easy for her in Kharav. Could she see how much he was trying? Soren was furious with him, and understandably so. There would be consequences with the lords, he knew. But he was willing to suffer the cost.
Footsteps echoed in the halls, and the door to his study slammed open against the wall.
“I hope you’re proud!” Salara seethed as she stormed in.
He rose from his desk in alarm. What was going on?
Her eyes blazed with a fire he hadn’t seen before, not even when she’d been upset about his wives.
“How better to show your strength than by killing boys!” she spat at him.
Mikael darted his eyes to Soren, who had walked in behind her.
“What’s the meaning of this?” Mikael asked.
“A group of boys crossed the border, and I sent them back,” she told him. “But they ran into your brute along the way, and he slaughtered them!”
“They weren’t boys,” Soren countered. “They were nearing twenty.”
“Boys!” she cried.
“Old enough to battle,” Soren argued. “And from Osan.”
She gave the commander an appalled look and shook her head in disgust. “What’s wrong with you? And what does it matter where they’re from?” She turned back to Mikael. “He does this in your name! The prince was with them, and your monster sent him back with a threat to his father—he openly invites war!”
Anger flared within him. She didn’t understand the ways of Kharav, and Soren was certainly ensuring her introduction to them was most unpleasant. He’d deal with him later. “Salara,” he tried to calm her. “You’ll come to understand we must do necessary evils to keep Kharav safe.”
She shook her head again. “No. Don’t pass this off as a necessary thing! Any competent man would’ve seen they weren’t a threat.”
He looked at Soren, who waited quietly, unfazed. Mikael gritted his teeth. Heat veined under his skin at his commander’s indifference to her upset. But she would need to understand that Kharav was a kingdom of war. He turned back to her. “We defend our borders most savagely. This is known to our enemies with certainty, and it’s this certainty that keeps us safe.”
Her face twisted. “That’s your answer? Safety?” She backed away from him as she shook her head in disgust. “Well then, enjoy your safety thinking of slaughtered boys!” She turned and stormed from the study.
Mikael pushed out a breath as he slowly rolled the parchments and wrapped the leather cord around them. His fury built from deep within, and it took every ounce of strength he had to control it. He waited until she was out of earshot before he cast a sharp eye at Soren. “Have you no sense?”
Soren’s brow hung darker. “You would have done the same,” he argued.
“Not in front of Salara! She thinks we thirst for violence.” The harming of innocents—it bothered her. Deeply. “She doesn’t understand our ways. She isn’t hardened to them.”
Soren sighed. “I let Jeord live. His father will see it as a mercy. They dare not bring war against us, and that piss prince will think before he crosses our border again.”
“You fail me.”
Soren shifted back. Mikael had never uttered those words to him before. “I told her to leave. What else was I to do?”
Mikael’s frustration grew. “You should have let them go. Her loathing is already upon me, and you push her further away!”
“Is it not better now than later, brother?”
Mikael slammed his fist on his desk. “I’m not your brother—I am salar!” he thundered. “And so help you if I lose her.”
Soren stepped backward, clearly taken aback by Mikael’s rage toward him. His eyes flashed with his own anger, but he bowed his head in submission, and Mikael pushed past him and out of the room.
