Una was sitting across Ingrid, tapping her finger in frustration next to the chessboard. Ingrid just captured Una's king, yet again.

"I win again, Una!" Ingrid laughed as she flicked Una's king over.

"I could put you in the field with a real king. Try to capture him. That is our next game!" Una suggested sitting back in a leather chair and crossing her arms.

"You're just angry that I've won three times in a row!"

Una grinned and scoffed.

"What would you expect my reaction to being? No one has ever beat me before, or at least won more times than I've lost." Una laughed.

Alaric walked into the room, carrying various bottles in his arms.

"Still getting your arse beat, my lady?" He smiled brightly at Una as he set the bottles down on the table.

"I told you, you may call me Una, Alaric. I have known you for more than a month now and your sister. Besides, you can't use the word arse and lady in the same sentence unless you're in a whore tavern." Una laughed.

Alaric looked back up at Una as he gently organized the bottles by their contents.

"What potion are you making today?" Ingrid turned around and gazed up at him.

"I wouldn't be joking around like that. Samhain is in a fortnight. You mention any non-Christian denominated word during this time, and you might find yourself smoking with the hams." He laughed.

"But everyone knows we're Christian?"

"If mother Agnus heard you now, she'd call you a heretic. I would watch your tongue." Alaric scolded as he arranged the bottles into groups.

"Una does not mind," Ingrid said back.

"Una is not a Cristian woman. It's not heresy for her to say it."

"I'm neither pagan nor Christian." Una interrupted.

"You're godless?" Alaric looked confused.

"I believe there is a God, but it's not man or woman. I must say, though, I am fond of your religious texts. There is much wisdom I believe the Vikings could benefit from." Una laughed.

"Thou shalt not judge, or you shall be judged, is one of them." Ingrid laughed as she peered at her brother.

"That's rich coming from you, Ingrid. You stare at Queen Wilona's growing belly like an old crone stare at a young woman." He snapped back.

Ingrid looked away and pursed her lips. That comment had defeated her, but it was true. Ingrid despised that Wilona was with the child and with the man she had so many affections for.

"Well, Alaric, I hope you don't use too much pennyroyal in your mix today." Ingrid scoffed.

"How dare you, Ingrid. That is your queen; you curse so lightly. The child she bears will bear the weight of the entire kingdom on their shoulders. I am simply making her a tonic that will ease her morning purges. She's been suffering terribly." Alaric said, slamming down his bottles.

"Oh, hush up. It's common knowledge! Don't you have a room where you can go to mix your tonic?" Ingrid laughed.

"You're sitting in it." Alaric hissed.

"Okay!" Una said softly said as she stood up and patted her dress out.

"Thank you, Alaric, for loaning us your chessboard. Your sister has impeccable wit and talent with board games." Una smiled at him.

"An impeccably smart tongue as well." He frowned at Ingrid.

Ingrid stuck her tongue out at him and stood up. Alaric huffed and walked over to the shelf behind him, grabbing a mortar and pestle.

"You know you are always welcome here, even if you are bored. You'll surely win against me with chess, my lady." He grinned, turning around and placed the large object on the table.

"Una, Sir Alaric. And we shall see about chess. You seem like the competitive type, so that it will be an interesting game." Una laughed as she opened the door.

"Come along, Ingrid. Let us not disturb your brother any longer. He might put too much of an herb in the tonic that will make the child grow a sister." Una laughed as she motioned for Ingrid to come.

Ingrid walked over, avoiding eye contact with Alaric.

"Hold on!" Alaric said as he grabbed Ingrid's arm as she walked past him.

"Let go of me!" Ingrid said agitatedly as she jerked her arm away.

"What do you want!?" Ingrid added.

"Promise me that you will stop your unhealthy obsession with your queen? I know she treated you horribly, but that is now in the past. No good can come of you fantasizing about you replacing her. Una is your lady now. Obsess about her. Perhaps obsess about her good manners first and foremost." Alaric implored Ingrid.

Una took a deep breath and sighed. They were always quarreling with one another. It was humorous because they looked just alike. If it weren't for Ingrid's breasts and Alaric's stature, they would be thought of as identical twins. They were anything but alike when it came to their personalities. Alaric was poised and composed, whereas Ingrid was fiery and excitable.

"Maybe you could obsess about something other than your botanicals and books. Perhaps that pretty harlot that fancies you in the town would suffice. Shall I bring her up here, and you could buy her for an hour?" Ingrid laughed.

"She was one of my old patients. We are nothing but friends!" Alaric blushed deeply.

"That's not what your cheeks say!" Ingrid laughed and pinched one of them before sprinting away.

"Ingrid!" Alaric shouted with his eyes furrowed and his fists balled up.

Una peered out of the doorway, watching her disappear around a corner. Una dipped her body back in and crossed her arms, resting her back against the door frame.

"What's her name?" Una said spritely.

Alaric sighed and walked back to his table. Una watched him pull the cork lid out of a dark blue bottle and shook some of the herbs into the mortar.

"Her name is Johanna. Unfortunately, she is a whore, but she helped me when I first came here with Ingrid. She approached me and could understand my language. She gave my sister and me refuge at her house. She was king Idris's favorite whore, so she did and will always live suitably. That is how I am in my position today. I would help heal the women in the taverns and the men who came in drunk and wounded." He smiled as he pounded in the herb.

"One day, it was king Idris who came with an atrocious gash in his left flank. Johanna was concerned and brought him to me. His royal court physician had sutured him up, but his wound had festered, and an infection had started. With my aid, he survived the night. The next month, he came and took me away from Johanna. I occasionally go and see her as a friend, nothing more." Alaric insisted as he began to grind the herb into the mortar in a circle.

"Your sister is jealous of her too? She seems to have been beaten down by Wilona more than I expected." Una said, peering out of the doorframe to make sure Ingrid was not there listening.

"I know this is true. When someone is unhappy about themselves, they begin to feel anxious and insecure." Una added.

"You speak as if you know her condition," Alaric said, adding a dash of another herb into his mix.

"Jealousy is a destructive path. It blinds you from the truth. It is a poison you choose to drink yourself, the suicide of spirit. I am familiar with this toxin. My closest friend became my bane. It is exactly the likes of what Ingrid feels toward Wilona being pregnant with the man she secretly loves. I, too, wanted the worst for my best friend when I discovered that she concealed her pregnancy from me more than half along. I seem to have the gift of a curse because no sooner did the man I love betray me and die. My best friend, who betrayed me with her child, died too. Jealousy takes hold of us all, no matter how strong or high up we are. It is like the cold of winter. It will surely find us. Some will fall to it. Others bear through it. It is up to Ingrid to decide if she wants this to consume her life. We cannot stop a fire that rages until all the wood is burned up. Ingrid will have to put out her own flames, or she will be burned to ash and shall be bitter for the rest of her days." Una said.

Alaric the entire time looked so intently into Una's fern green eyes.

"That's what I was afraid of," Alaric said as he started to crush his herbs again.

"That would be a terrible fate for Ingrid to become like me," Una said, turning her eyes down.

"What do you mean, Una. You are the perfect role model for Ingrid to follow?" Alaric said, slamming his pestle down and looking back at Una.

"She doesn't want to be like me, hell-bent on vengeance, married to a sword and a promise that carries no leverage more than a dead twig in a ripping wind. I could have been married. I could have had children and created a new family. Instead, I was blinded by jealousy. I became jealous of the man who took my father, mother, and siblings away from me. While he probably sat on his throne and drank mead with a smile on his face. I was torturing myself with loneliness, with despair. All I wanted was to love and be loved. Ingrid wants this too. She is a gaping wound ready to fester. If she does not let Gareth go, she will be destroyed by her own conscience, like I was. Now, look at me. I exist in the eternal purgatory of too late and too early. I want to die, but I want to live still." Una said, tearing up.

Alaric sighed and walked over to Una. He brought his hand up under her chin and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"And that is exactly why she needs you. You level the storms brewing in her heart. I have never been able in all my years to calm these storms." Alaric said, taking his hand away, staring still in Una's eyes.

"I'm surprised she hasn't pierced queen Wilona to the heart while you've been here. For everything she had put Ingrid through and now the ultimate betrayal. You have not been here long, but you have seen how queen Wilona treats Ingrid. This is the longest that I have ever seen Ingrid's hair, and that is the lightest thing that woman did to my little sister was treating her like a boy." Alaric said, walking to the door and shutting it.

"Tell me, please, Alaric," Una begged him.

"I know Ingrid had told me a few things over the years, but I never took them seriously till now."

"Alaric, please." Una reached out and grabbed his sleeve.

"Tell me truly," Una said.

Alaric's bottom lip began to quiver, and he turned around and headed back to his concoction.

"Queen Wilona has...an appetite. She calls herself Christian but practices things that would defer away from embodying that name." Alaric began as Una went and sat back down near the chessboard.

"Queen Wilona tortured my little sister." A tear began to form in Alaric's eye.

"She abused her physically and mentally. Queen Wilona used sex magick practices and ritualistic killing to send herself into a trance-like state to enter other realms. From there, she summoned dark forces forth, and she uses them for her bidding. She used them against Ingrid so Queen Wilona could stay young and gain dark esoteric wisdom. She was not the only one involved. Ingrid told me there are many men in this kingdom that have taken part in these abominable rituals for power and influence. That is why she knows of pennyroyal so well. She used it many times to expel the unholy offspring from her loins." Alaric said low and hesitantly.

"Alaric, I have no words." Una's voice trembled.

"I have tried many times to expose this, but each time I have come to a dead end. I want to believe Ingrid, but I do not know if I can. How can you believe something so extreme? I suspect that Ingrid had become disillusioned between the dark tales she had been told of Queen Wilona's bloodline and that of reality. Perhaps her tall tales were fabricated, so she had a means of getting attention, that of which I know for a fact that Queen Wilona suppressed." Alaric said.

"Your tear tells me otherwise, Alaric. You're not telling me true, are you?" Una said, peering up at him.

She could hear Alaric's breath quicken.

"Una, I beg you. If you meddle with queen Wilona, you will meet forces far beyond your understanding and power." Alaric trembled.

Una stood up, her eyes wide, her heart racing. Why could she not connect the dots earlier?

"Wilona is a Pendragon." Una hesitated.

"Do not speak that name!" Alaric seethed.

Una froze.

"I am most sincerely sorry for that impudent outburst, Una. " Alaric braced his hands against the table, and his hands shook.

"Alaric?" Una said, standing up and rushing to his side.

She put her hand on his shoulder and felt his body quiver.

"I feel most shamefaced by cornering you. I did not mean to do so." Una said, rubbing his back as he leaned over the mortar.

His tears fell silent as she watched Alaric become unraveled. Una did not know what to say or do. She was horrified by the things that he had said. Were they true, and he knew of them but physically could not say it?

"I'm sorry," Alaric said, shaking like a leaf.

"No, this is all my fault. I should have never pried you on such a topic."

Alaric turned to the side and grabbed Una by her shoulders, and shook her.

"Listen to me, Una. You need to take Ingrid and leave this place. You are dealing with forces far beyond your capabilities. You cannot win. These Pendragons are...." Alaric bit his lip.

He was grabbing Una so tight that it almost hurt her.

"If that is what is for the best. I don't know why or how, but I know, I can feel your truth." Una said as she grabbed Alaric's hands.

She put them down and wrapped her arms around his torso, pressing her head into his chest.

"I believe you, Alaric, and I believe Ingrid. I have been given the gift of sight and prophecy. I was a druid, and technically I still am a high priestess. I can feel truth as well as darkness. This place, it was dark when I came here, not because the moon was black, but I could taste it in the air, the water the way Wilona smiled at me. This has been the darkest kingdom I have visited, and yet we call this place Christian. There is no Christ here. I believe what you call it is Lucifer."

Alaric held Una back, his arms still shaking.

"The Queen, she will kill you if you try anything. I pray that God lay his hand on you and blesses you so you will never have to come back to this God-forsaken land. Once you are here, you can never leave this kingdom. Queen Wilona has brought this spiritual plague upon this land. This plague was the one that snuffed out king Idris's light. The darkness you can see and feel is real. It knows you, Una, and it will try to consume you like it is with my sister. She is going mad, and I am since I am helpless. If I leave here, the queen shall go on a headhunt for me. I have seen things, and I know things." He said barely above a whisper as he broke his embrace from Una.

Una stood there and looked sympathetically at Alaric. She knew that such things were real. She grew up hearing tales of the deity Balor, the unholy and demonic army leader that ravaged her people long ago. She knew that the Pendragon's were rumored to be the unholy offspring of this chief. Una was called a snake and a dragon, but nothing could be more horrifying than being a Pendragon. This very name evokes the fear and memories of darkness in others. Una knew this place was too right to be true. Underneath the skin of these people in this castle was black and rotten blood. People like Wilona were infecting others with this blackness, and the darkness was consuming them to the core.

"Alaric, you forget I'm of dragon's blood. Perhaps I may be immune from her sickness. I will not leave you."

"You must. Samhain is coming soon. It is not the only holy day for your people. Where there is light, there is darkness. Queen Wilona will make assent into the darkness this day when the veil is thinnest between this world and the next. Wilona will poison your spirit and possess you. She hates you. Ingrid tells me so."

"Give me until that time. Until Samhain, I will try to expose and dispel her. Until then, we never had this conversation." Una stared thoughtfully into his eyes.

Alaric nodded and went back to pounding his herbs. Una sat back down and absorbed all that she understood now. She had to do something. Wilona had to pay, and if it took Una's own life to do so, it would be a worthy sacrifice. In Una's eyes, this would be the last and her greatest gift.

Xxxiv

Una was sitting at the edge of her bed, embroidering over a tear in Wilona's underdress. She had torn it when it got caught on a briar in a forest thicket earlier this day. Una still wonders why Wilona was following her. Una was only walking through the forest to get some fresh air and alone time.

Una caught Wilona following her when Wilona's dress got snagged, and she was struggling to duck away. When confronting her, Wilona said she was merely making sure that she would not get lost in the forest. It was dark, even in the daytime. Una found this suspicious, but instead of cornering the queen, Una pointed out the tear in her dress. Wilona admitted that she did not have a new handmaid. She was soon to get one. That was when Una offered to help her. In exchange, Wilona promised that she would not tell that Una was wandering off when people were looking for her. That was when Wilona introduced her second excuse, that her husband Gareth was beseeching her.

"Ouch!" Una winced as she pricked the tip of her pinky.

"Are you alright, Una?" Ingrid said, jumping up.

She was organizing the colored threads on the floor for Una.

"Yes, I'm fine. It's getting dark, and It's been a while since I've done this." Una said as she quickly sucked the wound.

"It looks like you do this for a living!" Ingrid declared.

Una was trying to match the pattern on the dress's hem, but it proved more difficult than Una imagined. It was tedious work, and trying to reach the threads to the dress was even more troublesome.

"How are you so good at everything?" Ingrid said with a pout as she walked back over to the floor.

Una put down the dress and looked down at Ingrid rolling her eyes.

"There are so many things that I can't do, Ingrid. A slave or servant possesses more skill than I. Besides, I cannot say that I get very many compliments, so I have always been inclined to think my work was subpar compared to others. I've had to work towards my own gratification." Una laughed.

"Your standards of gratification must be really high! You're much too modest, I think, to the point where you can't realize your talent."

"Nay, Ingrid, I know there are many embroiders who do finer work than I. It is not talent. It is patience. People feel like they can't do something, not because they lack talent, but because they lack the patience to realize that they possess aptitude." Una laughed again.

Ingrid smiled and looked back down at her threads.

"You're saying that I can be the best archer in the land if I just shoot a few arrows to see if I'm any good or not? That is how you became good?" Ingrid jested.

"Yes, and many of the talents you possess won't be things you like, so you are inclined not even to know because you never tried." Una smiled and returned to her work.

"What do you hate most?" Ingrid said, looking up crossing her arms.

Una put down her embroidery and looked off to the side.

"That's a tough question to answer," Una admitted.

"No, really, what do you detest the most?" Ingrid pressed.

Una sat and thought for a moment.

"Honestly..." Una began.

"I hate being a queen." Una finished.

Ingrid looked up again, startled by what Una had said.

"What do you mean, you hate being a queen?" Ingrid said with a frown.

Una looked down at her embroidery. She thought back to when it all went wrong. She remembered how it all began when Una lost her wolf friend, Selene. Then she lost her other friend, Yvar. Her father banned her from ever seeing him again with no explanation other than that he was a Dane. Then her whole family was slaughtered. She had to grow up so fast, with little time to stay a child. She was still a child when Eurion became King, and then he was slaughtered too. Darren and Marged, the man she loved and her best friend, died within the same few days. Una's life had become a bloodbath due to her name, her prestige, and her family. If she were not born a princess, perhaps she could have married Darren instead of him wedding Marged. Marged and Una would still be best friends to this day, and she would have never been forced to leave Yvar. Her family would not have died. Una thinks she would have been more content as a slave or servant girl.

"I don't know," Una said with her eyes stinging.

Una quickly looked down at her sewing and began to stitch with more force.

"Una," Ingrid said with a solemn tone.

"I'm fine, I just need to get back on the right path," Una said quietly.

Una got one of her stitches snagged behind another and tried to trace her steps back to correct it. In the process, she created a larger knot.

"That's kind of selfish to say. King Gareth said that you are a really esteemed queen, though. Why would not be on the right path? Are you giving up or something?" Ingrid blurted.

Una got frustrated and ended up breaking the thread behind the knot, destroying all the labor-intensive work she had just done.

"Damn it!" Una screamed and threw the dress across the room, knocking over a vase and shattering it.

"Why are you interrogating me!? Who cares what Gareth said? It means nothing!" Una shouted as she stood up.

She walked over to the door and threw the door open.

"Una! Wait, I didn't mean to say that!" Ingrid implored Una as she slammed the door behind her.

Ingrid looked down at all the threads on the floor.

"Lord, why can I not hold my tongue!" She sulked.

Suddenly Gareth came rushing into the room, flinging the door open and surprising Ingrid.

"What did you do to her?" Gareth begged.

Ingrid blushed at the sight of Gareth. He was wearing Idris's old armor that was once locked up in the armory room. She wondered why he was wearing it. Ingrid could see Wilona peering in behind him with an evil grin.

"I don't know, she broke a thread and went mad, my king!" Ingrid said, looking down.

"You stay here, Wilona. I'm going to go talk to her." Gareth said as he ran off.

Una was rushing down the hall to the garderobe room. Tears were in her eyes. She was so frustrated with herself. Now that she has admitted what she always knew, it feels more real to her now than ever. She was a queen, but she hated being queen. Una slammed the door to the room and sat in the empty corner next to a tall plant. She picked one of the leaves and twirled it in her fingers.

"Tell me what I'm doing wrong!" Una cried as she pulled her knees up and leaned her head on the cool stone wall.

"You're doing nothing wrong, Una," Gareth said as he slowly opened the door and peered in.

Una looked up, her eyes wide with tears.

"May I come in?" He asked.

Una nodded and looked away from his gaze, trying to dry her tears. Gareth walked in, shut the door, and crouched down in front of her.

"Hey, what's wrong? You can talk to me. I want to know why you think you are doing something wrong?"

Una closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"You can tell me, Una. We're friends. I'm not addressing you asking."

Una squinted her eyes tighter.

"Do you ever wish you were not King?" Una asked.

Gareth was taken back by the question and sat down on the other side of the wall.

"I'd be lying if I said I wish I had a simpler life. I envy my cousin, Sion. He lives in blissful ignorance. He has no responsibility. He lives comfortably, and he has nothing to worry about other than me dying." Gareth said, sitting a knee up to his chest.

Una opened her eyes and leaned forward, but still slouched against the wall.

"I don't think that is the real reason you are upset, Una."

"I want to leave Wessex." Una blurted out.

Gareth furrowed his brow, and he looked concerned.

"What do you mean? Do you not like it here?"

"I have overextended my stay. I feel that it would be best if I leave before..." Una trailed off.

"Before what?" Gareth asked.

"I'm tired of hurting everyone." Una's voice cracked, and she began to cry again.

Gareth knew in this instance what had happened. Una was homesick, and the anxieties of the tragedy of her friend are catching up with her.

"That's precisely why you are here. Under my roof, you have my protection. No one can come for you or anyone else you know."

"Who do I have left?" Una cried.

Gareth took a deep breath and leaned his head back in the corner.

"What was to be a few days of stay turned into a month, Una. You have hurt no one. In fact, we love you, Una. It is us that should be apologizing. We are the ones who hurt you. You are supposed to be on a journey north, and we are binding you with friendship here." Gareth said.

Gareth knew deep down that he never wanted Una to leave. He wanted her to give up on her kingdom, resign her throne as she said she would, and come live peacefully with him. Una was the only shining light in this kingdom. Since king Idris died, the town has loomed with this darkness that Gareth had never seen before. Una's spirit reminded Gareth of his father's kindness, humor, and enthusiasm. Perhaps he was selfish by keeping her here because she was the last sliver of what Idris fought for.

"There's another thing, Gareth," Una said softly.

Gareth sat up and looked intently at Una. She would not look at him. She continued to play with the leaf.

"I fear for your life. That is why I can't leave just yet."

"What do you mean!?" He said, shocked.

"I can't say it here. We must go somewhere where there is no one."

"By all means, we may go now if you wish. Is that what you're worried about?" He asked.

Una gently nodded her head and looked away.

"You're worried for my safety." He smiled and stuck out his hand for Una to grab.

Una took his hand, and they both stood up.

"That's something I can say I've never encountered. Then again, I never thought I would have a wife from Mercia." He laughed.

Una grinned, but she knew deep down it was a very serious matter. Una knew that Wilona was planning something grave for him. It has been a week since Alaric revealed what Ingrid went through and what Wilona kept in the dark. Una has been carefully observing Wilona this week, following her like a scout. What she found was genuinely unsettling and disturbing.

"We must make haste. Time is running out." Una said.

Gareth nodded and opened the door. Standing there was Wilona with a smirk on her face.

"I thought I told you to stay put!" Gareth exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, my love. I wanted to come to show you what a beautiful correction Una did to my under gown. Isn't it lovely?" She said, holding it up, still with a gaping tear in it.

Una knew she used that as an excuse to come eavesdrop.

"Una and I are leaving for a little bit." He said, still holding Una's hand.

"Where are you going, and why?" Wilona said, staring that their hands.

"She wishes to show me some maneuvers with her sword in the forest. I need to get back to training, and Una is a formidable opponent." He said.

Una could see the discomfort in Wilona's eyes. Gareth spotted a guard walking around.

"Sir David!" Gareth shouted for him.

He came rushing over.

"Please escort the queen to her chambers, and make sure she does not leave. Understood?"

Wilona's mouth gaped open, and the look of shock traced over her face.

"Yes, my king." He said with a bow.

Una could see Wilona's knuckles turn white as she squeezed her hands. She grinned, but it was a grin of malice.

"Of course. By all means, I hope she likes your swordplay." She hissed and turned around, not acknowledging Una at all.

"Childish whore." Wilona whispered under her breath as she walked away.

"What was that, my queen?" Sir David asked.

"Irish... lore, I would love for you to read me some Irish lore." She hesitated and laughed.

"I'm afraid I can't read, my queen." He said as they made their way down the hall.

"What a pity. Perhaps I can read it to you then, to occupy my time." Wilona smiled.

"You are most kind, my queen. Thank you for the generous offer." He said with much enthusiasm.

Wilona huffed in irritation, but at least she knew that she didn't have to put up with Una much longer. Wilona has a plan for Una. A war is coming for her and everyone that gets in her way.