Page 53 of Polestar
Subtle differences that would be a trickle-down effect from their leader.
Why would his father change his stance on outsiders, especially after he’d done the extreme act of banishing his only son and direct heir?
“They don’t look it, Magnus, but I could feel that many of them are pleased to see you.”Ana had said to him as they left the village boundary behind them.
Her words should have made him feel better.
They didn’t.
He noted how quiet the road was between the coastal village and his father’s stronghold.
A stronghold that didn’t seem necessary to a culture of polar bear shifters that had rejected most outsiders for the last few centuries.
Mostly human outsiders, of course.And most other paranormals that weren’t polar bear shifters like themselves, which were usually vetted before setting foot in the territory.
Like his former wife, Ulla, and her younger brother, Aksel; children of the ruler of the Novaya Zemlya clan that occupied the Matochkin strait, whom it was named for.
A political alliance.
Although they deterred most outsiders, there were still rival clans that would seek to conquer and control Barentia for their own gain.
Hence, the massive stone stronghold that housed Magnus’ forebears.
Other clans had tried and failed to take it over.Barentia had always been too strong.
They’d been strong because they’d kept their borders tight.Easier to do when you occupied a frozen archipelago in a northern ocean.
Unease slithered at Magnus’ nape.
The elder had said Bjorn Thornsson was different.He didn’t look out for his people as he once had.They hadn’t seen him in a long time because there hadn’t been a gathering or festival in years.
Magnus had been gone for a decade.
Barentia, like a glacier, was slow to change.Annual gatherings and festivals were a vital activity in their way of life.
What other changes would he see when they reached his former home?
He glanced at Ana, walking alongside him, bundled in borrowed cold-weather gear.With her face framed in a faux-fur trim, the tip of her nose was pink, and her cheeks bloomed under the pale blue sky.
Magnus wore his usual clothes, with the addition of an extra layer under his leather jacket.
They both bore backpacks with more clothing and supplies.
He frowned, recalling the elder’s cryptic words to Ana.She clearly sensed there was more to her.
But then, she’d been cryptic about everything she’d said.
At first, Magnus attributed it to the fact that he was a returned banished, and he should have been shunned by all he met.
It was the way.
He had expected resistance at their arrival, and had been surprised they’d allowed him off the dock, let alone parted for him to enter the village and their most sacred space.
They had all remained silent.
The elder had chosen her words carefully.
Like someone could be listening.
