“You own all of this?”
Tor looked down at me. “No, I own the castle. But I rule it all.”
I blinked again.
“Rule it?”
“It’s mine, not part of my father’s kingdom. Everything from the river to the sea to the forest is ruled by me.”
Holy crap!
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes,” he grinned, “really.”
“So, your Dad gave it to you at birth or something?”
He shook his head. “No, Cora, I conquered it.”
I blinked yet again then whispered, “What?”
“I conquered it.”
“You conquered it?” I breathed.
“Yes, love.”
Holy crap!
I turned to face front and I could see why he would want to. It was amazing. But I didn’t get it. Why would he do that? Was he the marauding kind of warrior?
I didn’t know if that was good.
“I don’t get it,” I told him.
“Get what?”
“Why, when you stand to inherit a kingdom, would you conquer this land?”
“This isn’t the only land I conquered and all of it was my land, my birthright, wrested from me, or, more aptly, my father. I just took it back.”
I twisted again to look at him.
“What?”
His arm about me gave me a squeeze and he explained, “Remember what I told you about Dash not being a soldier or warrior?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“My father isn’t a soldier or warrior either.”
Whoa.
Tor went on, “He’s a good man. A kind man. A benevolent king, fair and generous. His people love him. But even though he has great skills in some ways as a leader, in others, he does not. Furthermore, he had the misfortune of finding, falling in love with and wedding women who were, by all accounts, lovely but who had weak constitutions. My mother died while having me.” Oh dear. “Dash’s mother died from flu six months after he was born.” Oh shit. “And Orlando’s mother never fully recovered from his birth and died two years after in her sleep.” God, that sucked. “My Father loved them all and became more and more heartsick with each loss. He was raising three sons alone and although he is king, he fully participated in our upbringing and therefore his mind was on other things. The ruler of the neighboring kingdom to our north coveted areas of ours and with my father’s heart not in it, this king was able to conquer vast tracks of my father’s, and thus my, realm. My father did what he could in his state to fight but did not succeed in keeping his kingdom safe.”
All righty then. Maybe everything about this world wasn’t hunky dory.
Tor kept talking. “King Baldur of the north is not a benevolent king. He is not fair or generous. He is greedy and ruthless. His taxes are high. His tactics are cruel. Therefore, our people, as ruled by him, were suffering. So, when I came of age and finished my training, I felt that not only was it my responsibility to re-secure the land that was my birthright, it was my responsibility to safeguard those living on that land who were still my people. Therefore, I petitioned my father to allow me to build a personal army of warriors to do these things. He agreed, I chose my men, trained them and then we advanced.”