Chapter 10
It must have been colder in the castle than I realized. Surely that was why my fingers were stiff.
And my toes...
The king disappeared back into the ice after our exchange, leaving me to wander the halls where I was now a guest. Everything felt bigger than it did in the Averglas palace, but I wasn’t sure if it was actually larger or the emptiness just made it seem that way.
It didn’t take me long to find my way into a hall full of bedrooms. The doors were beautifully carved in an opaque ice that was still reflective, but not see-through.
It gave the illusion of privacy, but I had to remember that the king could likely see inside every room at any time.
I stepped inside, finding a stunning suite filled with solid ice furnishings.
It likely would have been very comfortable had anything been even remotely warm.
Despite the lack of a real bed or even curtains, I had to admire the craftsmanship of all the ornaments and furnishings.
A stiff sofa sat in the corner, with every tiny button and seam perfectly etched out like it was as plush as one made of velvet.
The icy rug was beautifully embroidered with more carved snowflakes, and the frozen curtains may not have been functional, but they folded so naturally I could have sworn I saw movement.
I took a seat on the bed, unsurprised to find that it was rock solid.
However, there were a few animal pelts spread across the top that prevented my bum from freezing to the sheets.
I grabbed one of the fur pelts and tugged it over my shoulders, relieved to find that it was extremely soft and warm.
There were more stacked in the corner, folded neatly in an ice basket.
If I piled them on the bed and then more on top of me, I might actually be warm when I went to sleep tonight.
Setting the pelt down and smoothing it back over top of the bed, I pulled my bag off to take a moment and settle in.
As lovely of a companion as Douglas was, he tended to weigh me down a bit.
I dug him out of the bag and gave him a place of honor on the side table, allowing him to take in our new accommodations together.
I gazed down at the matchbox still left in the bag, my fingers tensing with the memory of their strike.
The urge to test their magic and make a wish was great, but I promised Gilly and Harley that I would save them for someone who needed it, and right now, I didn’t need any magic.
The king offered to court me. That’s a good start.
I climbed off the bed and explored the room further, my eyes drawn to even more exquisite details.
I stepped toward the curtains that had perplexed me earlier, but it was the window that left me at a loss for words.
The window frames were opaque, but the glass was the thinnest, clearest ice I had ever seen.
I stretched out a finger to test if there was anything there, my numb fingertip inching closer to the ice, until a frosty pair of eyes nearly scared me out of my skin.
“Don’t touch that.” The king appeared in the window’s ice, his stern voice and sudden appearance enough to send me falling backwards into a very hard sofa.
“Why?” I screamed, pressing a hand over my flailing heart. “Is it dangerous?”
“What? Of course not,” the king scoffed, turning his back toward me like he was looking out the window himself.
“I don’t want your fingerprints on my ice.
It took a lot of effort to get it this smooth.
” He grumbled, rubbing his thumb over the spot I nearly touched until it sparkled even brighter than before.
“Pardon?” I blinked at him, rising slowly from the sofa. “Can’t you already see out of all ice? Why do you need clean windows if you can gaze out of any of the castle’s exterior?”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t come into your castle and smudge the windows,” he snapped, whirling around with a flip of his cape that actually waved with the ice curtains.
He...he was serious.
“My apologies, Your Majesty,” I said with gritted teeth. It hardly felt like something I was at fault for, but I needed to keep him happy if we were to marry...even if he was a tad particular.
“Apology accepted,” the king said, taking another second to smooth out the window some more before seeming satisfied.
This was Blamore’s older brother? It's no wonder they didn’t get along.
“Did you only come in here to protect your window?” I asked. “Or would now be a good time to discuss the terms of our courtship you offered?”
“I suppose now is an acceptable time,” the king said.
He walked across the wall, his reflection disappearing for a moment before it appeared in a frozen chair where his image took a seat.
“I’m sure you also have questions about my relationship with Blamore and my distinct lack of leadership over Averglas. ”
That was on the list of burning questions, but the topics felt a little too hot for the ice king at the moment.
“Why don’t we just start with the terms of our betrothal?” I suggested as I struggled to curl my toes in my boots. “That’s why I came here, after all. Not because of your history with Blamore.”
The king rested his chin in his palm, his expression thoughtful as he relaxed in the most uncomfortable chair in the world. “Very well,” he nodded. “But first and foremost, this is only a courtship. I have yet to propose.”
“Fair point,” I said, leaning against the frozen couch but ultimately deciding it was less cold to stand. “Then how do I get you to propose to me?”
“For starters, don’t leave fingerprints on the windows,” he said firmly, waving his hand to make a tablet of ice grow out of the floor.
The tall, rounded tablet stood perfectly in line with his chair.
The king reached over and acted as if he was writing with an invisible quill, and sure enough, the rule don’t leave fingerprints was etched out in the tablet.
“As a matter of fact, don’t touch any of the more decorative features either.
” He etched that on the tablet next. “Or, really anything. Your fingers might melt things. Let’s just call it, keep your hands to yourself, hmm?
” he suggested, already smoothing out the ice to scratch out the new rule.
“How romantic,” I mused, tapping my cold toes on the floor.
“Romantic?” The king paused, looking back at me with a curious lift of his brow. “I’m sorry, I thought this was a political alliance.”
“Yes, but it’s still marriage,” I said. “Isn’t marriage supposed to hold some semblance of romance?”
“I fail to see how any of your efforts toward marriage have been romantic thus far.” The king folded his arms, mirroring my stern expression. “It is not as if you wish to marry me for my good looks and wit. You made it quite clear that you wish to marry me for power.”
“Excuse me, I climbed a mountain for you. How is that not romantic?”
“I viewed it more as desperate.” He shrugged.
“Desperate! But–ugh...” I fell back onto the couch, smacking my spine against its solid cushions. He had a point. I might have loved Blamore once, but I wasn’t likely to open my heart again anytime soon. “Fine, scrap the romance.”
“Wonderful,” he said, writing no romance in large print under the first rule. “I’d also like to request that you don’t bring any more unsightly debris inside the castle.”
“Unsightly debris?” I repeated.
“The rock,” he said, nodding in Douglas’s direction.
“Excuse me, that rock was a gift.”
“Ah, I see,” he said, turning to add another rule, no gifts. “Just keep it away from my windows, and please do be mindful of any other dirt or rocks you have on you.”
I gave Douglas an irritated look, but his calm smile was enough to settle me down before I said something I would regret. I cleared my lungs, taking in a long breath before addressing the king. “What else do I need to do to gain your trust so I can become your queen?”
“Trust, hmm?” He rose from his seat, his reflection slinking around the room as he paced from one wall to the next.
It was fascinating watching him move around.
He moved like any other person, but his image grew and shrunk depending on the ice he was in.
It never grew past a certain size, though, making me believe that it was his true height.
He finally paused to gaze out the window, and it amused me to see him truly appreciate the view through the glass.
“By helping me,” he finally replied, his tone calm and certain.
“Help you with what?” I asked. “Cleaning the windows?”
“No, something far more important than even that,” he said. “I need your help regaining the trust of my people, the citizens of Averglas.”
Win back his people? The ones who saw him as a monster?
“Why did you ever lose them?” I couldn’t stop myself from asking, but fortunately, he didn’t seem offended by my question.
“I...I’m not entirely certain,” he said in a dismal tone, his head drooping as he continued to stare longingly out the window.
“But I do know that Blamore dealt the final blow. At some point, he placed shards of distrust in the people’s hearts until their eyes could only see me as a monster.
When I was struck with this horrid curse, no one cared to even look for me, let alone save me.
” He placed a hand on the glass. His back was turned to me, but I could hear the ache in his long breaths.
“But I’m their king. I always have been. ”
“You want me to make the people like you?” I sat up, my mind shifting through the memories of my broken future.
No one had ever spoken of the snow king except as a villain, if they even dared to speak of him at all.
Never once did anyone mention that Blamore had a brother, or that there was already a ruling king.
It was like...everyone just forgot about him and only saw the damage he created.
Is this how you became a monster?
“I’d like to at least start with them not loathing me.
” He turned away from the window, his hands resting behind his back like he was a soldier on duty.
“It’s no secret that everyone hates me. Why else would they hide from reflections and cover up their mirrors? They can’t even stand the sight of me.”
Or they think you’re going to freeze them to death...
“Okay then...” I bit my lip, already overwhelmed by the scale of this challenge. “I can do my best, but it’s not a quick trip down the mountain. Plus, I’m not sure how much the citizens will want to listen to me after I abandoned their prince.”
“Then start small,” he said simply, raising his hand to summon a table to rise out of the floor with a three-dimensional map of the mountain carved on top.
Once again, the attention to detail was mesmerizing.
Even the needles on the pine trees could be individually seen.
“Over here.” He pointed to a tiny cabin nestled behind his miniature castle that I wouldn’t have even noticed had he not pointed it out.
“There’s a pesky village girl who lives here that probably despises me more than anyone.
She’s constantly trying to throw rocks through my perfectly good windows. ”
He shot Douglas a sour look, who calmly smiled back at him like he was as innocent as a river stone.
“You want me to make her like you?” I clarified.
“Again, I’d settle for her not loathing me,” he said. “Find her, get her to stop attacking my home, and I’ll consider trusting you.”
I looked at the tiny cabin on the icy map. It wasn’t a long distance, but my feet ached just thinking about it, and then my heart ached thinking about my feet.
It’s nothing... It has to be nothing.
I clasped my hands together, squeezing them tightly before giving the king a firm nod. “We have ourselves a deal.”