Ice Queen

Princes Under Restriction

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#19

The silence was eternal, or at least it seemed to last this long.

"What a beautiful combination of flavors!" The Fire King cried quickly stuffing his face with more of the desert. I kid you not, I thought I saw Ash smirk slyly at my surprised expression.

"I would have to borrow the recipe." The King breathed after swallowing down at least half of the cake. I drew my eyebrows together, I should have known better - fire elementals like hot and what's hotter than that evil pepper?

My father remained at the table with a slightly tight jaw, he didn't specifically look at me but I sort of already had a gut feeling this was going to end with another verbal argument.

Seconds later we got presented with royal dishes that involved pretty much every sort of meat, fish, vegetable and fruit. I was reaching for the steamed broccoli when a hand grasped the bowl before me. I looked up to find Ash practically piling his plate with the vegetables, leaving none to me.

I narrowed my eyes snatching the other options available. The culprit had a warm smile on his face - because he'd won this time. Or he thought he did.

Our parents started conversing about the latest royal events, apparently there were a lot of matters to discuss - I didn't pay attention to those, although I probably should have. But could you really blame me? There were other important things on my shoulders - like preventing that shadow from penetrating my mental state. Whoever this sinister fog was, it was bound to be a person who wished for the Ice Kingdom to fall.

"Eira?" I jumped in my seat and stared perplexed at the patient sets of eyes. Ice King was not liking my attitude this afternoon and pushing myself to get onto his bad side was not on my list today.

"Yes, yes, I totally agree." The reply getting a few chuckles, the loudest one rumbling from the back of Fire King's mouth. Gabriel thought he was listening to a humourless joke that I so did not wish to make. I didn't know what was going on, but I wasn't planning on making myself appear as a fool of the show. Not for another time in the span of two hours.
Obviously the conversation was probably not something I should have agreed to, because by now my father was raging with disappointment. Honestly, there was an extra layers of ice on our dining walls. Beatrice was full on sulking like I've bruised her soul and sent it locked under ground.

"Why don't we show you our leopard barn?" Ice King offers stealing attention of others from my red-faced self. Good save, father.

"You have those around? I'd be betting leopards have almost been gone from our world." Fire Queen exclaimed with a surprised smile that brought chills to my spine. Cold rushed through my veins but not because I was angry or upset, it was coming from someone entirely different, that also sat at the dinner table.

"Because fire elementals have majorly damaged the forests that they live in."
Alayna snarled, rising from the sitting position, Fire Elementals slowly copied her manner, furrowing their brows as tension rose.

"I have you know, they stepped on our sacred land, many of our civilians suffered injuries which were irreversible. They declared a war against us." Fire Queen informed with a heated gaze directed at my younger sister. Alayna was doing pretty good for someone who was being confronted by the Fire Queen herself.

Honestly, the Fire Lady was usually very quiet, her mouth wouldn't twist to form a smile or a deep frown - it was always neutral, like she was a wrong brick in the building.
She gave an impression that was far from a typical fire wielder. I mean the fact that she kept to herself was enough to doubt her sort of powers.
Her red eyes were focused on Alayna like she was analysing her every tactic - as if she knew exactly what the Ice Princess would say next.