House of Night

chapter 3, part 1

SANNA

"A letter for you," Katja said, her pale hand rifling through the many letters on the table. "From Lombardia, again."

Sanna sipped her tea. Another letter from Ari, she knew. Ari was now in the habit of writing to her at least once a week. Sometimes more.

"Go on then," Katja said. "You can read it aloud to me. Ari hasn't written me half as much as she's written you, and you know Tom. He's never been much of a writer. Of course my ambassadors keep me informed on everything in Lombardia, but I want to know what's really going on. I can trust Ari for that."

Sanna took the letter from Katja's outstretched hand, but she didn't open it. "I'd prefer to read it privately."

Katja gave a small smile. "Ooh, does it contain poetry, perhaps? Declarations of love?"

Sanna glared at Katja, and her smile disappeared.

"I am only teasing, Sanna," Katja said. "But I've seen the two of you together. You complement each other, don't you think? You're both brilliant. She challenges you, I can see it. I believe she challenges you like no one has ever challenged you. Certainly not I."

"This isn't your business," Sanna said coldly.

"Your happiness is my business," Katja said. "You are my oldest friend, Sanna. Why won't you allow yourself to be happy?"

"Your mother is dead, your nation is crumbling, there has been no spring harvest and your people will starve, and you concern yourself with my happiness?" Sanna asked.

"Believe it or not, I can concern myself with many things," Katja said. "I cannot make the suns shine brighter. I cannot dispel this ash cloud that lingers in the sky. I cannot make the crops grow."

"You are a queen, now," Sanna said. "You cannot make the suns shine brighter, but you know there are those with magic who could do just that. You cannot make the crops grow, but you know there are those with magic who could do that. You can stop your people from starving. You can form new alliances with Alamadi and Frühland. Encourage light and spring starrlings to come here. Create better trade conditions, so that we may survive this unending volcanic winter."

Katja tossed the letter she was holding to the table and stood up. "My mother is dead, and I have inherited a nation in perhaps the bleakest time in living memory. Spare me a moment of joy in imagining that two of my friends may find happiness where it has been cruelly ripped from me."

"Ma'am."

Sanna and Katja both looked to the door, to watch the wolfrider entering. The woman pulled her hat from her head and clutched it to her chest. "There's trouble in the city, ma'am. Unrest among the ords."

Katja stood. "Helvig," she called, and her wolf was up at once. "Take me there."

"It may not be safe."

"They're only ords, are they not?" Katja asked. "I'll need a cloak. It's still cold outside, is it not?"

"It's unseasonably cold," the wolfrider agreed.

Sanna held the letter to her chest, wondering if she could bring herself to read Ari's words now. But as Katja dashed from the room, Sanna knew she wouldn't be able to sit idly within the palace while she knew there was trouble outside.

She went to her chambers to dress in warmer clothes, and then found herself descending the palace steps at the same time as the queen, who was now accompanied by a dozen wolfriders.

The sky was the same ash grey it had been for weeks, and the carriageway in front of the palace was covered in a grey sludge - snow mixed with ash and disturbed by the traffic of carriages.

Sanna avoided stepping in the sludge, and pulled herself up onto her wolf's back. As the pack of them ascended into the air, Sanna caught the smell of smoke on the breeze. They flew towards the city, where a plume of dark smoke rose into the equally grey sky.

They swept down towards the district of mansions along the canals. Usually, the gardens would be brilliantly green, with flowers in neat rows, and the brick walls of the boat houses covered in flowering vines. The mansions along the canals were painted in brilliant turquoise, lilac and aquamarine, with white windowsills and columns with gold trims that usually shone in the spring sunlight. One of the most pleasant things to do in Vulfholm was take a boat along the canals in summer and admire the gardens and mansions in this area. Sanna had once imagined taking Ari on one of those boats. She knew Ari would appreciate the colours of Vulfholm from the water.

But the colours were dulled by the grey clouds, and the gardens had not burst into life as they usually would have in spring. The trees remained brown and spindly. And there was smoke billowing from one of the finest houses along the canals.

There was a crowd on the lawn of one of the mansions. Sanna had memorised each and every one of the great houses of Norrlund, and she knew this mansion to belong to the Darhús family. They were one of the richest families in Norrlund, controlling a significant amount of land, wheat and grain mills. Sanna had heard they owned a set of rooms in the palace, an estate near the summer palace, and a penthouse in New Hamilton.

But now, their beautiful mansion on the canal was burning.

"The Little Queen!" came shouts from the crowd of ords on the lawn as the wolfriders descended. There was no space to land in the garden of the house, overrun as it was with ords, so the wolfriders used ice magic to freeze the section of the canal. The ice crackled underneath them as they landed.

"Here she is! The Little Queen!"

Their tones were disdainful, Sanna knew immediately, but Katja hadn't picked it up. She waved at her people.

"Wolfriders, please, help put out the fire. My people, has anyone been hurt? Present yourself, and we will rush you back to the palace to see our best doctors."

Katja's voice was strong, but it was drowned out halfway through her speech as the crowd jeered at her. Sanna steered her wolf to step between Katja and the crowd and stared at the queen.

"They are not happy with you, Kat," Sanna said. "You should be careful. They'll throw things at you."

"These are my people," Katja said, with outrage. "Step aside, Sanna."

... to be continued

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