21. Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-One
The Enemies
Gerta:
T he Ice Queen may not have his heart. It already belongs to me.
Those words echo in my head as I think of how Kay— my enemy with stringent rules— gave me permission to kiss him against all common sense.
Unfortunately, none of that confidence translates when I open my mouth. “Let me get this straight— if I were to prance up the mountain to the Snow Queen’s palace and locate Kay, all I have to do then is to kiss him and he’ll be free?”
Wolf nods nonchalantly.
Behind her, Biggs frowns. “Why did you say ‘prance up the mountain’ like that’s a simple task barely worth mentioning? Didn’t you just almost die on that mountain?”
Prince waves his words away. “No, no— this is a good plan. And there’s safety in numbers, so I’ll go with Gerta to help her accomplish her goal.”
Biggs rolls his eyes. “You really think you can steal the Snow Queen’s icy heart while we’re trying to thaw one of her victims?”
Running a hand through his unevenly long hair, Prince nods resolutely. “At the very least, I can keep her distracted. ”
“Surely, this isn’t what you really want, Gerta,” Smalls says from where he stands beside me, one arm draped over my shoulders.
I look up at him.
Smalls sees in my eyes what my throat won’t let me say and sighs.
“If it helps,” Wolf adds, “I know a shortcut up the mountain.”
We all turn to her.
I plant my hands on my hips. “How do you have all this information on the Snow Queen all of the sudden?”
“Oh, it’s not all of a sudden. Some of us have hobbies other than mooning after each other, after all.” She gives Biggs a pointed look before offering Prince a patronizing smile. “And some of us actually do something about our fascination with the Snow Queen.”
Prince glances between her and me. “Wait, I have to fight both Gerta’s prisoner and you for my Queen?”
“Oh, I don’t want her attentions. Just her alliance in the fight against at Constantinium.” Wolf sniffs. “But apparently, she is ‘ above ’ such things.”
“If you knew about this shortcut all this time,” Prince demands, “why didn’t you take me with you?!”
“Because I’m above such things.”
I gesture at Prince to silence himself before he can ruin my best chance of rescuing Kay from the unreachable summit of Schneekongin . “So, you’ll lead Prince and me up this shortcut?” I ask.
“Even better— I’ll go with you.” Wolf shrugs a shoulder. “If I can’t get her to ally with us, then I’ll just undermine her just like we do with Constantinium.”
Nodding, I glance between the besotted fool and the crazed rebel. “We have a good team. ”
Smalls sighs. “It won’t just be you, Prince, and Wolf, Gerdie.”
I glance up at him. “This isn’t one of our usual missions, Smalls. I expect nothing from you— from any of you.”
“But you think this enemy invader will make you happy. Can’t say I understand it, but . . .” Smalls pats my shoulder and nods once. “I haven’t braved cold and hunger by your side all these years just to turn my back on you now, sister of my heart.”
“I wouldn’t go so far as to say Kay can make me happy, but I know I won’t be happy until he’s free. And—” Overcome with emotion, I throw my arms around Smalls even though I can’t even wrap my arms fully around him. “ Thank you .”
Prince turns to Biggs. “What about you?”
Biggs stares back. “What about me?”
“Are you coming?”
“Well, obviously. I’ve got nothing else. Lost contact with everyone else I knew during the Night of the Broken Walls, so I might as well stick with you lot.”
I smile. “Then I suppose it will be like one of our usual operations. Except for the part where it’s a palace instead of a caravan, and the Snow Queen instead of Constantinium.”
Biggs nods. “Just minor differences like that.”
“In that case, I’ll finish cooking breakfast,” Smalls announces. “The rest of you pack up with the knowledge that the Imparias might raid while we’re gone.”
Ignoring him, Prince tugs at the tips of his hair. “I think I might need a trim. And your hair needs a good brushing, Gerta, if you want to win that true love’s kiss.”
I laugh, but the sound comes out a little more nervous than I mean. “True love’s kiss . . . What if we don’t have that? True love, I mean. I’m not even sure it exists. And even if it does, we were enemies—”
Wolf snorts as Smalls strides past her toward the firepit. “I think you’re well beyond that now. ”
“The look in his eyes when he left me for the Snow Queen, though . . .”
Prince clenches his jaw.
Biggs pats his shoulder and turns to me. “His heart was frozen. A kiss is sure to fix it.”
“Only if it’s true love! But you see, even before we were taking turns abducting each other, I was his childhood tormentor.”
Smalls whirls around. “Kay was that scrawny dummkopf that got adopted out of Granny’s, wasn’t he?”
I nod.
“I knew he looked familiar.” Shaking his head, Smalls hurries back to the firepit before the food can burn.
“See?” I stare at Wolf bleakly. “It’s doomed!”
Prince, however, is the one who grips my shoulders and makes me look him in his eyes. “Did he or did he not take a blow to his heart for you?”
“He did . . .”
“And are you or are you not willing to face the elements to save him?”
I straighten my back. “Yes.”
Prince pats both my shoulders. “That sounds like true love to me. All that’s left is the lip-locking.”
“And breakfast!” Smalls calls, causing my stomach to rumble in response.
“Yes, breakfast.” Prince nods. “Eating before kissing. We’ll need our strength.” With that, he wanders away, tugging his hair again.
I move deeper into camp, my limbs as desperate for rest as my stomach is for food. But before I collapse, I can’t help but glance back at the Snow Queen’s mountain.
Kay is up there. That much I know for sure. Whether or not he is my true love, though, remains to be seen .
“Don’t worry, Captain,” I whisper as my heart pounds in a way his can no longer, “I will get us both out of this, free.”
Kay:
“To find a man worthy of my hand,” the Snow Queen announces, like she wasn’t just stroking my face, “I have prepared a contest of skill.”
The men in our group lean forward, looking far too intrigued by her words. The women, however, quickly lose interest and begin casting disinterested expressions. I’m not sure even one of these poor souls is capable of smiling. I certainly don’t feel as though I can— it would exhaust far too much energy.
However, I cannot deny that I do feel something almost like elation at the Snow Queen’s words. My chance to be promoted in the military may be gone, but it would seem that there are ranks here that a man can climb instead.
“Conversation is the skill in question, for I shall not wed a boar.”
I actually feel something other than numbness or annoyance. Conversation may not be my favorite pastime, but it was a skill I was taught during training, both both for negotiation and forging alliances. It is a skill I am more than ready to wield for my advancement.
“The rules of the contest are simple.” The Snow Queen stands and gestures toward what I see now is the second story of the palace, its floor translucent, as it is also made of ice. “Each man shall visit me in my parlor and prove his conversation skills with me in the allotted time. At the end of these meetings, I shall choose the man whose companionship I most enjoyed. Then tonight I shall throw a ball and announce my betrothal. ”
With that, the Snow Queen steps down the steps from her throne’s platform, breaking the spell she’s woven over us, even the women.
The Snow Queen gestures to a woman— the one wearing a gown crafted from gray wolf fur. “Send the men to me in the order that they pledged their service.”
The woman in gray curtsies. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Bestowing a nod to her, the Snow Queen then turns to the rest of us, the smile banished from her face like it was never there. “Gentlemen, I look forward to our conversations.”
Well, Gerta called me the ice king. I suppose I might as well make it official.