back and see Thor. That man had a strange pull on me. Almost half a year had gone by since I last saw him, but I thought of him often. The memory of his strong muscled body that I’d seen in all its naked glory kept popping into my mind, especially when I was trying to fall asleep at night. Maybe it was the Northlander blood in me, but where I should have been horrified about the possibility of him using his superior size and strength to spank me, I was intrigued.
“I’ll think about it,” I said.
Khan nodded with satisfaction, as if I’d made a promise to go. “Good. And when you see him, I’ll need you to deliver an ultimatum from me. Tell him that he’ll come back here right away, or I’ll change the law and make Freya my heir.”
For as long as I remembered, Pearl had advocated for equality, but this time she didn’t look pleased. Her mouth opened as if she wanted to protest, but no words came out.
“I don’t like ultimatums,” I said and sat up straighter.
“Then it’s a good thing I’m not giving you one. You’re the messenger, Linea, and you’ll tell him what I told you. Think of it as doing Thor a favor. If you don’t tell him, the alternative is him returning one day to learn that he lost his title without a warning. Would you prefer that?”
“If I go, I suggest that you write a letter that I can bring to him. I don’t want to be the one telling him that you’re making Freya your heir over him. He’s already feeling rejected enough.”
“Rejected?” Khan bared his teeth in laughter with no amusement behind it. “He’s the one who rejected us. Nothing we do for him is good enough. Pearl tells me all the time that I need to express my love for Thor more clearly, but how the fuck is buying him the coolest drone on the planet not clear enough? We’ve given him everything and he still threw it away.”
When my mother touched my thigh under the table, I knew she felt the simmering anger in me. I’d seen the anguish in Thor and felt the pain he carried; it made me want to defend him to his father, who obviously didn’t understand his son.
“Linea and I see your frustration, Khan, but with great gifts often comes great responsibility and where some people thrive on it, others succumb under the weight of expectations. You and Thor would benefit from talking things through and finding a resolution that would work for both of you. If Thor decides to come home, I hope you’ll hold back your judgment and listen to what he has to say. There are always two sides of a story.”
Khan moved to his desk. “I’ll get started on the letter.”
CHAPTER 3
Messenger
Thor
Every day, I asked myself if it was time to go back home but so far, I was still here.
The overwhelming anger and disappointment that had led me this far away from home had given way to shame now. As days turned into weeks and then months, it became harder to go back home and face my family and friends. What would I give as an explanation for my absence? In their eyes my life was nothing but blessed. My complaining that I felt unappreciated by my father and attacked by the media would make me sound ungrateful. The painful truth that I had run to save my sanity and escape my dark thoughts wasn’t something I could ever admit to anyone. If I did, people would surely think me weak, and the heir of the Northlands couldn’t afford to appear fragile.
When I first arrived in the Motherlands five months and twelve days ago, the solitude of the beach had felt like freedom to me. There had been no expectations to meet, duties to attend to, or people to judge me.
Four weeks later, however, my freedom had developed a bitter aftertaste of failure and loneliness.
Bored out of my mind, I had asked one of the locals if anyone needed help with anything. He had told me about his friend Dee-dee who ran an animal sanctuary and always needed volunteers.
The next day my dogs and I took a community drone four hours south to Second Chance Sanctuary, where we lived now.
Dee-dee, a sweet middle-aged woman, told me on my first day here that a tragic incident had taught her the importance of caring for those in need.