To Melt A Frozen Heart | ONC 2024

Chapter 8 | A Thaw In The Tension

You'd think they'd be a little more alert than that...

I shrugged it off as I stared up at the roof of my canopy bed and tried to go to sleep.

***

Voices.

Hushed voices.

They increased in clarity and volume as I neared the breakfast hall the following morning.

I crept closer. If there were whispers, there were sure to be secrets. And those were what I wished to uncover.

Tiptoeing ever closer, I pressed my ear to the wall, quieting my breathing as best I could.

"...but you don't understand, Cassian. She wishes to leave." Wrynn's voice became audible.

Cassian, predictably, sounded rather bored in comparison. "Then let her leave."

A sigh – probably from Wrynn.

"You know what would happen if she were to leave. You cannot allow that. I cannot allow that."

"Your ambition is admirable. But you know how this plays out, we both do."

There was silence for a little while and when Wrynn spoke again, he sounded angry.

"You at least ought to try, Cassian. Since she has been here you have not said one even remotely pleasant thing to her. It is your fault she planned an escape. Why would she wish to stay here? You are right, in one respect – this has no chance of working if you do not even try. Have the years hardened your heart so greatly that you cannot even show common courtesy."

Another pause and it sounded like someone had set down a glass.

"My heart has not hardened, Wrynn. You know that. It has frozen. Just like this land."

An annoyed huff. "Semantics."

"Is it?"

"All I am saying is that you need to try. Cassian. If not for yourself, then for me. For your family. For your kingdom. Else everything we fought for, everything we lost, shall all be in vain."

Whether Wrynn's impassioned speech in some way moved Cassian or whether he simply tired of his captain's pleas, I couldn't tell, but the king's answer shocked me.

"Fine. As you wish. I shall try. Though I should advise you not to get your hopes up."

The noise of what sounded like a cup being replaced on the table could be heard and then... silence. I waited a minute or so before making my entrance.

Pretending not to have just overheard a major conversation riddled with cloaked revelations is really hard.

I summoned up all of my childhood training morphing my face into a mask of indifference, making sure to narrow my eyes slightly in Cassian's direction, as if remembering the bitter end of our last interaction.

"Aurelia." The king greeted me.

"Cassian. Good morning, Wrynn." I nodded at them both in turn.

And then, just to test out what I'd just heard, I looked over Cassian's shoulder to where Darin stood silently. "Good morning, Darin."

The footman shot me a startled look, as if considering whether it would be ruder to say nothing and obey Cassian's orders or to greet me quickly.

I kept my eyes trained on him.

"Good... morning, your highness."

Smiling at him serenely, I lowered my eyes, passing them down over Cassian's face. His jaw had tightened and his grip on his cup had intensified, but to his credit he said nothing.