Chapter Sixteen: Little White Lies

Storslått Palace, the Northern Isles

May 3, 1813

He liked her this way: forceful, commanding, and in control on top of him. With deft strokes of her hips, she managed to undo him until he was begging her for more. She complied and soon she was coming at him hard and fast, sending him into oblivion with waves of pleasure. He suspected she would have been rougher too but she was in a delicate condition. Still, she satisfied him completely and he held her tenderly when it was over.

"That was good, I needed that," she said when she lay beside him, with his hand on her belly. He could feel the growing roundness of her abdomen though it was barely showing through her clothes.

"Are you sure we should be doing this? Is the baby alright?" he asked with deep concern.

"The baby is fine, Lars. It's not yet too far along and we did do this too at the time I was carrying Magna and we weren't even aware she was there. She turned out alright."

"Well she's hardy, our Magna," Lars agreed as he thought of his daughter with fondness. His eight-year-old eldest girl was his spitting image with her beautiful reddish-brown hair and deep green eyes. She was already reading books advanced for her age and he did not doubt she inherited his mind as well. However, there was a cunning aspect about her that surprised even him at times. Before he left for Arendelle, Magna had asked him for her very own pony and he told her it was out of the question for she was too young. This morning she managed to guilt-trip him for being away too often and he ended up promising her a pony for her next birthday. He could chalk that manipulative streak as his Westergaard blood in her, but he sometimes wondered if it was Amelia's influence that was more accountable for his daughter's brazenness. His wife Amelia, he was discovering every day was more brazen than a Westergard when it came to protecting her own interests.

There were very few things that could get past Lars Westergaard. His mind could zero in on a situation faster than any of his brothers can and that was no mean feat as the Westergaards were all highly intelligent men in their own right. However, Princess Amelia of the Northern Isles' guile got past his detection until fairly recently. When he first met his future wife, she was all innocent sweetness, a devoted daughter and sister who seemed afraid to make her own decisions and always deferred any matter of politics to her father and brothers. Their courtship had been quick, their marriage even faster. For almost a decade she was a dutiful wife, reserved, traditional, and even bland in the marriage bed.

His rude awakening happened on the day he landed on Arendelle two months ago and received the death warrants of Lord Svenson and Lord Nyberg for treason and murder of Prince Knudsvig. The documents were signed by Amelia even before he left the Northern Isles—days before Knudsvig was dead. She also sent him a note with only two sentences:

I am with child. Do what you need to do.

That was when Lars realized the woman he was married to was not who she seemed.

Storslått Palace, the Northern Isles

Two weeks prior

Lars stepped off the carriage and stood in front of the large palace doors. He paused at the front steps of the massive stone building and felt a trepidation he had not experienced since the first time he arrived here almost ten years ago. This palace had been his home for all that time though he was never its lord. Now that he legally held lordship over it, he could feel an ominousness settle over him.

It was half-past two in the morning. He had timed his arrival hoping he could just sneak in and check on his children first. He aimed to delay the meeting with Amelia until he was assured his girls were safe. However, there was no getting around it. The senior staff was assembled just outside the threshold, all of them decked in mourning and gave him reverent bows in unison. He noted the soldiers stationed at corners of the castle. He had seen even more of them on full alert all way from the port.

"My deepest condolences, your highness," Lord Anson, the head of the household greeted him reverently. "Prince Knudsvig's passing has been a big shock to all of us and it was kind of you to stay on in Arendelle to console his widow and make arrangements for his period of mourning."

It's not like I have a choice, Lars thought. But that's not what's important now.

"Magna and Caterina? Where are they? Where are my girls?" he urgently asked.

"Asleep in their beds your highness," the kindly old Lord who had served as the Northern Isles royal butler replied. "I assure you they are safe. Her majesty has had their guards doubled since we heard the news of her brother's assassination."

Lars was not assured at all. It was the one that put guards on them that worried him. For weeks after Knudsvig's death, he had written cryptic messages to his friends in court, asking about the welfare of his children, and each time, he got the same reply: They are doing well and are safe. There was nothing of incident to report.

None of these messages assured him. Only one message from Amelia gave him assurance and ironically it was a threat:

I am pleased with your progress. You need not come home until matters are settled in Arendelle. Proceed with your children in mind.

He did carry on with caution after that, knowing that he was no longer in full control of the situation. He never thought he of all people would end up trapped like this and the one that held his chains was the woman he assumed had been nothing but a distraction.

"I want to see them now!" he declared though he was careful that only the butler heard him.

"I do sympathize with your concern Prince Lars," Lord Anson replied gently. "However, Queen Amelia has given express orders that you are to see her the moment you arrive. Given the recent tragic circumstances, the urgency is understandable."

Lars forced himself to keep calm when he responded to Lord Anson. "Yes, quite understandable indeed."

He followed the faithful servant inside. Lars expected to be led to his office or the library. Instead, the butler led him to the private apartments of his recently deceased father-in-law. He paused at the former king's bedchamber.

"Why are we here?" he asked.

"Queen Amelia saw it fit to now occupy the king's rooms. She has also had your personal effects moved here as well."

"Of course," he replied politely, though inside his heart was hammering at the anticipation. What would he find beneath those doors? Who was this woman who was now summoning him to see her in the middle of the night?

He heaved a sigh and opened the door. She was sitting on the edge of the enormous canopied bed. Her diminutive frame looked even smaller compared to the scale of the opulent bedroom that had been occupied by a line of kings that stretched back two centuries and held a power of the purse that was the envy of the Scandinavian region. Lars had long imagined himself becoming one of those kings. Tonight he was closest to achieving that dream as he could possibly could. However, this little woman stood in the way.

She looked just as fragile as she had been on their wedding night. She was perhaps even more vulnerable now for she wore no dressing gown, only her white shift, and her dark hair was pulled down and fell almost messily down her back as if she had just awakened from sleep. It was so unlike her who had always plaited her hair for bed and her gown was always so modest. It was the first time he even saw her in something so little. His eyes focused on her belly but could not see a bump there. It was still early of course, but he couldn't help but wonder if she had lied about that as well.

"Lars, I am carrying your child," she said as she moved her hands to flatten her gown to show the tiny indentation there. "I didn't lie to you about that."

"But you lied to me about everything else," he said harshly.

"Not everything," she said as a wicked smile he had never seen before formed her lips. "I do adore you and that's the truth. In fact, I am more in love with you now that you've proven yourself to me."

"Proven myself?" he gasped in astonishment. "This was meant to be a test?!"

"And you passed admirably. You did precisely what I set you to do."

"I had innocent people executed!"

"They weren't innocent!" she fiercely shot back. "They were planning on taking this kingdom. My kingdom! From my children and yours!"

He was surprised at her tone. In all the years of their marriage, he had never heard her speak this way before. It was like he was seeing a total stranger unravel before his eyes.

"You had your own brother killed, for a kingdom?" he accused.

"I did it to save the Northern Isles! We are on the brink of civil war. I will not have my imbecile brother ruin what my father built. This is my home and my land! I will protect it and rule over it just as our children will rule after me."

She paced the side of their bed and when she spoke, her dark eyes blazed with passion. "I have stood aside for years. I was better than Magnus or Knudsvig in governing this kingdom but Papa never saw that because I was a woman! None of those Lords in court saw me as anything but a womb to be traded off for an alliance with another country."

She abruptly stopped pacing and stood to her full height to look him directly in the eye before continuing. "You are no better. You have used me as well or do you deny being my brother's lover?"

Lars' mouth fell open at this revelation. He thought he had been careful. He never thought she even suspected. "You knew?"

"Of course, I knew," she replied. "I could never beat Magnus. He was too good, too popular but he had one weakness: he favored men in his bed and then you came along. Did you flatter yourself that you seduced me into marrying you while convincing Magnus it was a way to hide your relationship? I put the idea of you marrying me in his head and I convinced him to make any son I have with you as his heir."

Lars bowed his head, furious at himself for not seeing it before. He didn't even give too much effort in convincing Magnus to set things in motion that would be to his advantage. The crown prince of the Northern Isles seemed already pre-disposed to his idea of making Lars' children with Amelia next in line to the throne. It would have worked too if Magnus didn't die suddenly on the battlefield and brought Knudsvig into the line of succession before he and Amelia could have a son.

The thought of Knudsvig made him suspicious of what else Amelia had done to ensure the Northern Isles line continued on from her.

"Knudsvig's marriage to Elsa, when you sent me the death warrants—you were so sure she wasn't pregnant," he pointed out.

"And she wasn't. I know what's going on in Arendelle, Lars. I have for a long time. Why do you think I wanted us to spend the holidays there? I wanted to confirm things from her personally on what's happening between her and Knudsvig before I took action. That's a rather delicate matter my spies could not confirm, even when they tried to read over her letters to her sister."

"You have spies in Arendelle?" he asked though he wasn't sure anything Amelia told him now would surprise him.

She let out a bitter laugh. "Oh Lars, and I thought you were the most brilliant of the Westergaard brothers. I thought you would have figured it out by now. I had them the moment Knudsvig was married to Elsa. After that incident on their wedding night happened, who do you think fed on Knudsvig's fear that Elsa was out to hurt him if he ever went to her bed again? I wanted to make sure Knudsvig and Elsa never conceived a legal heir. Well, my brother's a disgusting idiot. He didn't need any help in keeping Elsa away from his bed."

She was right. Knudsvig was a stupid man who would have gotten himself killed some other way if Amelia hadn't taken action. The pamphlets that appeared in the Northern Isles shortly after Knudsvig became heir to the Northern Isles certainly did their job in further announcing the prince's shortcomings, as well as painting Elsa as a witch so it would not earn her any favors from the masses.

Then it all clicked in Lars' head.

"You're behind the Purification League?"

For the first time that night, Amelia's smirk faded and she avoided his eyes.

"Amelia," he whispered urgently as he approached her. "Tell me the truth. Are you behind the attacks on Elsa and her family?"

She sat down on the bed again and refused to look his way. He sat beside her and waited for her answer.

"Amelia?" he repeated.

"I started it," she finally admitted. "It was meant to discredit Elsa and Knudsvig in the eyes of the Northern Isles so neither one of them could be considered as potential heir. It was easy enough to do it. I paid some shady Arendellians to make caricatures and created the name of the Purification League as a cover. Knudsvig's cronies got the idea and began funding other desperate groups to focus on Elsa while using the same name of the League. I swear, I stopped the funding after the first two pamphlets which were fairly mild. I didn't realize it would turn solely against Elsa after that or that it would escalate to include her family."

Lars was aghast. He realized Amelia created a monster she did not expect would turn wild and would be used by the one she was trying to discredit against someone she marginally wanted to damage.

"I thought Elsa was your friend?" Lars remarked.

"She was until she became a threat to my children, our children," she said sadly. "She conspired with the Northern Isles lords when it suited her. If I have to destroy her with them, then I will, to protect what is ours."

She turned to face him and took his hands in hers.

"Lars, I know you doubt me now and even suspect I will hurt our girls, but you need not worry. I love them just as you do. I would do anything for our children, just as I would do anything for my country. You might think me a monster, but I only did what was best for all of us. I took action to ensure our survival. You need not fear me."

He believed her. Everything she had done so far had been to further the interests of herself and their girls.

"You could have told me," he said.

"Would you have listened?" she asked.

Lars couldn't answer for what she said was true. He had never seen her as anything but as a convenient cover-up, a path to power that he had used to win his kingdom, just as his brothers and all other Westergaard men had done for generations. She was a woman that needed to be handled and reassured with little white lies. His education had not prepared him for a woman who knew how to lie back and he was suddenly lost.

"What would you have me do now?" he asked.

She moved her hands to caress his cheek. "You have already done it by carrying out my orders even when I never told you explicitly how to act. You protected me and my interests because I know they are also your own. I'm not an idiot Lars. I know why you came here. You wanted power and a kingdom of your own and you used Magnus to enter this kingdom. Magnus is gone but you can still have what you've always wanted. With me. Help me sustain this country in the days ahead and I will make you my king."

He was silent as he contemplated her words. He never imagined he could ever find anyone who would offer him this, even after all his schemes had been uncovered. She wasn't a silent and submissive woman, but a cunning actor who had carried on almost a decade-long deception just as he had. If he was to be honest with himself, his prolonged con was wearing him down and he wondered if she was just as exhausted at playing someone she was not. He was suddenly curious at what else she was capable of. How was she able to orchestrate such intricate political actions to be timed to her advantage and been able to hide them for so long? He wanted to explore the complexity of her mind, which he suddenly found incredibly attractive. Yet, at the same time, he felt insulted that she had deceived him like this.

He kissed her fiercely as a way to test and punish her at the same time.

To his surprise, she kissed him back with a ferocity he did not expect that he abruptly pulled away.

"You've been holding back," he told her between ragged breaths.

"I have. But I won't anymore." Her arms snaked up around his torso and she pulled him closer to her. Her hand then moved upwards, her fingers feeling up his shoulder blades, applying little dots of pressure until she reached the nape of his neck where she began rubbing the skin where the ends of his hair stopped. Her fingertips then began doing the same pressure indentations on points of his neck in a way that teased his senses. He was surprised she knew he loved being touched there and he responded by letting his hands trail over her hips as he tried to feel her over the thin fabric of her shift.

"Now who's holding back?" she taunted in his ear. The words drove him to fury that he pushed her away but only slightly. He grabbed the edge of her shift's collar and ripped at the fabric all the way to her hemline then pushed the broken garment away so she stood naked before him. He stared at her nude body for the first time and his gaze lingered on her breasts, before moving down to the slight bump of her stomach before proceeding to the patch of hair between her legs. He expected her to flinch or look embarrassed. Instead, she met him with a look of defiance that was disturbingly commanding when he once more reverted to her face. She didn't even need to speak. He understood her silent order and he began to strip before her while she watched him as if she was waiting to rebuke him for the slightest error.

"On the floor. Lie on your back," she ordered once he had divested himself of his clothes.

Lars was expecting to do this on the bed, but he did not dare contradict her. He followed her command and lay down on the carpeted floor. He watched as she settled her body over him with her face hovering just inches above his.

"Lars…?" she whispered

"Yes, my queen?" he teased. "Tell me what you want."

"You learn fast," she said with a pleased little grin. "I like that about you."

"You love me. You just admitted it a while ago," he replied as he felt his old confidence grow stronger again now that her naked body was pressed against his and she was poised for him to take. He thought that perhaps not all of his plans were lost. She was a conniving and devious woman but somehow that only made her an interesting challenge for him. Now that he knew what to expect, he could counteract it. She told him she was a woman who had been set aside for years and made to feel invisible. She was no different from the countless other women who had been made to feel neglected and unloved by the men in their lives. That was her weakness and he could use that to his advantage. She desired a sense of importance and power and he could work with that. He could flatter her as his queen, help her to shine in her court, and make love to her the way she wanted. In the end, he could still make her his instrument without her even realizing it.

"I do," she said as she began rubbing against him. He could feel her growing wetness on his arousal but he decided he would take his time with her. He would let her enjoy this moment as he pleasured her into submission.

His hands began roaming her backside but she pushed them away. Without warning she pushed herself in him and then she began moving in a way that drove him to an intensity he realized he could no longer control.

"Amelia… slow down…"

She didn't and so he let himself be caught in the dizzying waves of pleasure she was bringing him. He had never felt anything like this, not with Magnus or anyone he had ever been intimate with.

He felt the sting of the cold blade on his neck before he realized the sudden loss of Amelia on him.

"Amelia… what…" he gasped in utter confusion.

"I love you, Lars," she declared as her eyes glinted above him even as she held the knife against his jugular. "But I also know you love yourself. Make no mistake. If you ever make any move that will put your welfare, that of the Southern Isles or any of your brothers above mine, our children, or the Northern Isles, I will end your life."

He stared at her fearfully and knew with a chill in his bones that he had been mistaken once more. He would never again underestimate or be able to go against her.

Storslått Palace, the Northern Isles

Present Day

"We need to make Magna queen after me," Amelia told him.

Lars shook away the memories of the night he confronted Amelia and became her permanent (and in some strange sense willing) captive. What she said was not a suggestion. He knew by now that when Amelia put her mind to do something, he can only obey her. Still, he caressed her stomach to indicate that they still had a child on the way, and it could very well be a boy.

"The baby is going to be a girl, Lars, I just know it," Amelia said. "I can feel it. And we don't have time. We need to change the laws soon to allow a woman to be a ruling monarch."

"I'm already on it, darling," Lars said. And he meant it. He was never one to put his odds to chances. Even before he came home to the Northern Isles, he had already studied the loopholes in existing legislation and already had plans to find ways around them to put his wife as queen regnant and his eldest daughter next in line. He told her about them now in detail while he gently massaged her back.

By the end of it, she looked extremely pleased, which was where he needed her to bring about the next uncomfortable topic he had to address.

"Lars, you do know I adore the way you butter me up," she drawled softly. "There's something you want to ask me, is there?"

Lars could never get over the way she could read his mind.

"There is, and I assure you, this does not in any way intend to criticize you."

"You're being defensive," she said with a tiny laugh. "But I'm not made of porcelain my love. Ask away. Feel free to criticize if you must. I do value your input."

She said the last two words with a hint of innuendo that tickled him but he decided not to take up her offer. He needed to discuss this without them getting distracted.

"It's about the Purification League," Lars put it bluntly. "I need to know more about it, for Hans' sake."

Amelia sat up to face him seriously. "I must meet Hans one day. It would be interesting to get to know the one person in the world you care about just as much as your own daughters."

"Amelia, I assure you, our daughters come first, even before him."

"I know," she assured him. "I don't begrudge the love you have for your brother and from what I have heard of his brilliance, I can understand why you feel that way about him. He's like a little you, isn't he? I'm not surprised you have a soft spot for him unlike the rest of your brothers."

"Caleb and the others didn't even see his potential until very recently because they are blinded by who his mother was," Lars admitted. "But I've seen it, even when he was still a young child. All of us have grown up trying to prove ourselves to father and then later to Caleb, and heaven knows I've gone through that too. They just gave Hans a harder time than the rest of us, and even more so when he failed his first test. But he came out on top in the end and right now he is in a really good position to help usher this region, including the Northern Isles towards our continued survival. We need him as an ally."

"Well you've maintained your relationship with him," Amelia said. "Next week we will announce our support to the Sixth Coalition, so I don't see how giving him information on the Purification League helps at all."

"It will help my darling because you started a problem that will now become his," Lars candidly said then watched her face. It didn't take her long to gather his meaning.

"Ahhhh… so Hans was sent by the Coalition to marry Anna and take over Arendelle. I suppose that's the logical Westergaard next step. You want me to tell you all about the League so Hans can get rid of it and win points with his bride."

Lars kissed her forehead. "Your thinking brain my love is a beautiful thing," he praised her sincerely.

"Marriage to you enhances it, dear," she flattered back. "Unfortunately, I don't have much information now. I no longer know who controls the League. Knudsvig and his cronies took it up after me but when they died, it stopped. But I am hearing reports with my spies that it continues in some parts of Arendelle. I wouldn't be surprised if Arendelle's disgruntled citizens, those Elsa had turned a blind eye on for so long have continued it. Elsa only has herself to blame for ignoring the peripheries of her kingdom and letting dissent among her citizens fester. I suppose it's no longer her problem as she is most likely dead or a helpless slave in the Ottoman Empire."

"But it is Hans who will have to deal with the League now if he wants to hold onto Arendelle's reigns," Lars pointed out.

Amelia was silent for a moment as if contemplating what he just said. When she turned to face him, the smirk was back on her face. "You think of this as a problem for Hans, but I think of it as an opportunity."

"What do you mean?" Lars asked.

"The League is only attacking Anna and her family, not Hans. The way I see it, you can tell Hans what I know of the League and he can use that information as he sees fit. He can exterminate them and gain Anna's eternal gratitude and loyalty. Or…" she paused as she smiled wistfully at him. "If Anna's going to be the same fool as her sister in ruling the kingdom, Hans can always use the League to continue what they were meant to do."

Lars could only marvel at the way Amelia's thought process was so much like his own. If he didn't' know any better, he could swear she was probably a Westergard by blood and not just by marriage.

"You're right," he agreed. "If Anna's going to be trouble for him, Hans can just repurpose the League to discredit his wife so he alone can rule Arendelle unopposed."

Author's Note: Are you surprised it is Amelia who is behind the League? From the time that I wrote about how the Westergaard family retains power through bedroom politics, I've always imagined the possibility of a Westergaard spouse who was able to see through the deceptive motivations of the brothers and still be able to retain her power. Amelia was the obvious candidate as she was married to Lars, the most brilliant of the Westergaard brothers who knows how to use his bisexuality to his advantage. Lars and Amelia are the true power couple of this region as they possess the political savvy and the killer instincts to further their ambitions for their children.

Beginning this chapter, I am raising the rating level of this story as I will get more sexually explicit in further chapters. Yes, I do listen to the clamor of you wonderful readers. Elsa's and Hans' interactions will get steamy and there won't be a cold river available all the time for them to cool off.