House of Night

chapter 3, part 2

Sanna gritted her teeth, and Sigrún held her ground before the queen. "They have burnt the house, Katja, can't you see? They're rioting."

As Sanna spoke, one of the wolfriders behind Katja screamed and sent out a blast of ice. Sanna realised a rock had hit the rider on her shoulder.

"It's not safe, ma'am!" the wolfriders yelled. "We need to get back to the palace."

"They will not hurt me," Katja said. Whether it was because she believed she was stronger than an ord, or because her people loved her, Sanna wasn't sure, but she knew both weren't true. Katja was more idiotic than Sanna had thought.

"They can, and they will," Sanna said cruelly. "Look at this crowd. They're furious."

"Please, my people," Katja called out. Her voice was melodic, as always, but Sanna detected a hint of fear in it. "We must put out this fire. The poor Darhús family will return from New Hamilton and find it in ruins! We can work together!"

"This house has been empty all winter, while people have slept on the streets," a woman in the crowd shouted.

"Let it burn!" someone else yelled. The crowd took up the chant, and their voices drowned out anything that Katja or the wolfriders could say.

Katja turned her wolf to try to see over Sanna's shoulder. Sanna looked towards the crowd on the lawn, who were now kept back from the queen by a wall of wolfriders and a thick wall of ice that the wolfriders were building as protecting against the raging crowd. The crowd rammed against the ice, and the wolfriders held it in place.

"And so you burn the place?" Katja asked, her voice cracking like ice as she tried to yell over the wall. "And who does that help? Can't we be civilised? The Darhús are a good family, and very charitable. Their philanthropy is why many ord children go to school! What good will it do to burn their home?"

Sanna reached out and grabbed onto Katja's wrist, forcing her to look at her. "We must leave."

"I cannot let this house burn."

"It's just a house," Sanna said. "Better a house than your life."

Katja flung her hand free of Sanna's, but she urged her wolf into the air. Helvig took off with a blast of cold, and she rose above the wall of ice and the crowd. The queen flew above all of them now, looking down on them.

Someone threw a rock.

It missed the queen easily, but she scanned the crowd, looking for the aggressor.

"I remember all of your faces," Katja said, her words angry now. "Look at you! Causing destruction, when our nation has already faced so much heartbreak! Wolfriders, arrest these people! They will be trialled for their crimes!"

Sanna urged Sigrún into the sky, and they raced after Helvig, who was flying back towards the palace. Behind them, the wolfriders clashed with the ords, who were throwing things over the ice wall. The fire raged on.

Sanna on Sigrún could not keep up with the queen on Helvig, but once they were back at the palace, she found Katja pacing in the same drawing room they'd been sitting calmly in hours ago.

"They called me Little Queen," Katja said, spinning and facing Sanna as soon as she'd entered. "What do they mean by that?"

"Because you're young, of course," Sanna said. "And you haven't proven yourself to them."

"I have proven myself by being of the Koningssen bloodline!" Katja snapped. "That is proof enough that I am their rightful leader. They threw rocks!"

"The rocks didn't hit you," Sanna said.

"My grandmother had people beheaded for even looking at her wrong. Is that what it must come to? Must I instil fear in my people, so they respect me? Is that the only way I can gain their loyalty?"

"Fear cannot win loyalty," Sanna said. "Only love."

"Why shouldn't they love me?" Katja asked. "The people loved my mother." At this, her voice cracked, and she fell into an armchair and put her face in her hands.

Sanna softened, and sat down beside Katja. She placed her hand tentatively on Katja's back, and felt the sobs shake through her body.

"It's not my fault!" Katja said. "It's not my fault that the crops don't grow! I can't control the whole world! They are foolish for thinking this has anything to do with me! I should be allowed to mourn!"

"But your people need a leader, Kat. A leader who puts their interests above everything. They are your people. They need the power you wield, to help them. And if you cannot help them, then at least you cannot make it seem like you are ignorant to their suffering. The streets are full of refugees from the farmlands. They've all come to the city hoping to find work and food because their spring crops have failed. They're starving, and they're dying on the streets. And they're angry because the big mansions along the canals remain empty, while people die of the cold in the streets. Do you see how they might blame you for that?"

"But what does it help anyone if they burn the Darhús house?" Katja asked, enraged. "There is no justice in destruction."

"Perhaps there could be, if it has allowed you to see the problem," Sanna suggested delicately. She didn't want to allow Katja's anger to win, in this situation, but ever since her mother's death, Katja had been boiling with a rage that had nowhere to go.

"I have seen the problem," Katja agreed. "I have neglected my duties for too long. I have been swallowed by grief, and I have allowed it to cloud my judgement."

Sanna nodded. "Right," she said, breathing out. She already had a list of suggestions for Katja, and she was ready.

Katja stood up. "My people will love me," she said. "But first, they must respect me. I cannot allow the rebellion I just saw. I want the leaders brought to trial, and I will have the guilty beheaded."

"No," Sanna breathed out, as Queen Katja walked from the room, her head held high.

... to be continued

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