I sit across from the king of the Ignius Kingdom, the king who refuses to leave me alone whilst I force myself to eat the strange breakfast of the people.
"So what was it like to live here, during the war?" Lucas asks.
"It was better than it is now."
"Describe it to me."
"Why?"
He grins. "No one knows what it was like back then. It was not recorded well. Early documents are a lot more damaged; and there is nothing better than having it come from the eyes of a witness."
I sigh. "Everyone knew each other. We trained together and everyone had something they did. Some stayed here, others battled. People and their families did move out to the colonies sometimes to keep them in order. It was peaceful and organised though. When there were not people badgering me for proposals. Title hungry people who thought I would accept an arrangement like my mother and father. Those people were horrid. I would not be here if not for... Tell me about your kingdom."
"It is extremely large. Many different people and well it is hard to describe. But it is not as icy as here. The capital is honestly pretty loud at times. Ability matches and business deals are common. It is a lot less closed off."
"Closed off?"
"The ice empire. It has extremely strict security. Getting into one of the less populated cities and towns can be hard enough. The capital however is the most closed off of all. You would have to be a dedicated scholar or a world leader, like me, to get in here. It is the centre of research. Cures for some of the worst illnesses are created here. They study the history of our world and many other things. The Ice Empire today, is known for intelligence and wisdom and the best healers and medical professionals in the world. Unless you are of this nation getting in here is impossible without being invited in."
I finish eating and get up to my feet.
"Leaving so soon?"
"Yes."
"Spend the day with me. We can explore the city together. I am sure you are curious."
"No I am not. I only ate here because it is where I used to eat with my family. You just happened to have intruded."
I want to see none of it. None of this new city. It makes me want to burst into tears when I think of how I was left like that. I want to run away from it all. I do not want to be hit with it all in the face.
He intercepts me on my way out.
"Yes?" I ask.
His black jacket with its fur lining is practically forced into my face. He is taller than me which means instead of his eyes, I am staring straight into the chest I was unfortunate enough as to bump into seconds before.
"Nevea," he says, and I wince as his tongue butchers my name. "Did I say it wrong?"
"Yes," I sigh.
"Nevia. Is that better?"
"No. My name is Nivia. Ni-vi-a. It means snow."
"So I could just call you Snow?" He asks.
"No you cannot," I say.
"Hmm I think I can, Snow."
"But- "
"It is just a nickname. You are so serious Snow; you need to relax. I am not out to get you," he says, frowning.
"As if I would believe that. You keep following me like a hunting dog; not to mention how you keep tormenting me. It can only mean you want to gain my trust and then attack me."
"Why would I do that? You have not practised abilities properly since you were frozen. I have had more than enough opportunities to hurt you. Yesterday when you attacked me, you saw I could overpower you. If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done it. This is exactly why I am telling you to relax. It may have worked well for you in the past, but now you need to be calm," he lectures me.
"I am sorry that my attitude and how I am does not work for you!"
"I never said it did not work for me. It is unhealthy to be so stressed," he speaks.
"I would consider it completely natural right now."
"Then let me help you," he suggests.
I dodge to the left. Just as I am about to escape this room, his arm stops me and pulls me back against him.
"Really Snow? Am I that bad that you wish to run away from me?"
I sigh. "I do not mean to offend you but being close to you so much makes me on edge. It is nothing to do with you but more where you are from. I just do not want- "
"So you plan to avoid me just because I am from the Ignius Kingdom."
"Yes."
"But you were in the military. You were trained to base feelings off of more than that."
"It is not just that! I have other reasons too." I declare.
"Like trust issues?" He points out.
"Yes exactly that! The last person I saw, let me fall off the peak into a cavern. Do you think I want to trust anyone? No!" I shout at him.
He does not get mad at me.
Is he even a king? He has had no problems with me disrespecting him. If I were to talk like that to anyone in my family, I would be punished for disrespect. Most likely, I would have to hunt for the next day's supper with the hunting group or on my own. Considering I would have been disrespecting royalty, it was an easy punishment, just not fun at all. Combat was my specialty, not hunting. Unless I was on a campaign and hunting there, I did not want to hunt.
"If you are always fearing betrayal, you will never form any connections. You can experience things in this time. Experience travel or do things."
His dark brown orbs are watching me intensely. He seems oddly persistent. Too persistent. I do not like it. I find it to be extremely off putting.
I let out a sigh, realising that this persistent imbecile has no plans of giving up. "I will join you."
His lips turn up into a grin. "Well that took awfully little convincing-"
"Really? Because I can decline again," I threaten.
"I will take what I can get then ma'am."
His joking tone irks me. It makes me want to scream or shove an icicle down his throat. I need to be civil. Civil and calm. Civil and calm. This is not the old Ice Empire. Whilst I was born a princess, in this day, I have absolutely no authority. Not to mention that as uh un-kingly as this man is, he is still a king. Shoving an icicle down his throat would no doubt cause an international incident.
Well at least he is not a traitor. He shows no ill will towards these people. He annoys me, so I will consider it ill will towards me. But he is not traitor, not yet. So he is better than some people I know.
"My current goal is to make the ice princess laugh," he tells me.
"I can laugh but I do not feel like it."
"So I will make you, at some point, feel like it. You have no empire to think about someday running, so let's make up for all the fun you missed."
"My idea of fun and your idea of fun are very different. I have had lots of fun."
"Hm I read up about you. There are books written about you. Some are extremely intriguing."
"Intriguing? What do you mean?" I ask concerned.
"Just some theories that you fell in love and ran away because you had an arranged marriage. It was an interesting story. It was a little hard to picture you naked under all of those layers-"
My eyes go wide. Horror fills me. "If that is how you plan on getting me to laugh!"
"No. Uh that was not a joke actually. It is a good read though. One of the most popular historical fiction books currently-"
"T-the most popular books have people thinking of me naked," I stutter, my face flushing red. "W-who would write something so vulgar and- and- I don't want to think about it."
"So Snow gets all flustered."
"And you would not be flustered!?"
"At first... but you see uh there is a genre people have used to write about me."
"Politics?"
"Fanfiction."
"Fanfiction? I am unfamiliar with the term."
"Basically people write stories about real or fictional people-"
"That is how you define about a third of all books," I sigh.
"But it is fiction either based off of other fictional works or real people."
"So we are in these fanfiction books?"
"Yes, you were believed to be dead, so it was more of a historical fiction- I am not going to explain all of this. The best way for you to learn is to read it."
"Do they not ask for your consent when writing?"
"No."
"How do people know whether or not it is real then? D-do they think I did that stuff?"
"People know it is fiction. There are some non-fiction books too on you if you would prefer it? Obviously some details may be wrong. The Ice Empire loves their stories and has produced some of the best authors. Research and knowledge is the specialty of this nation, but there are many creative minds as well."
"Really?" I ask interested. "Maybe I should teach you how it used to be. I can teach you how to skin a bear."
"Now you get excited at the thought of skinning a bear?"
"We would need to hunt it first of course."
"I am not so sure-" he laughs nervously.
"You want me to explore the new world. I believe that it is only fair that you see my world too."
"But some people do not enjoy the sight of blood and dead animals," he says.
"I have never heard of such a thing," I shake my head.
Why would anyone fear killing or blood? How else will they get food? Being squeamish at the sight of blood is absolutely ridiculous. People who act as such are weak and would starve to death if they got isolated in the cold.
"Wait can you not hunt?" I ask shocked.
"Well no-"
"Is there something wrong with your legs?" I ask.
Either he cannot run, or he is sick. There might be more possibilities but those are my best two guesses. His legs look perfectly normal though. He can fight so I would not think he is afraid of a little blood and guts.
"My legs are perfectly fine Snow."
"Well then why can you not hunt? It is a basic skill that you must know if you are supposed to survive. It is as if you have never spent a night alone outside. Everyone is supposed to do it on their 13th birthday to be declared an adult. If you haven't done it how-"
"You have some very strange customs. I have never hunted because I do not need to. Food is far more available."
"That's absolutely ridiculous. You should know how to hunt. It's a natural part of surviving."
"You should be more open minded; people will not learn to hunt if there is no need for it. Some people in this region prefer not to eat meat at all."
"They do not eat meat? What are they idiots? They need meat to get strong and not freeze in the winter."
. .
A/N
Thank you for reading and all your support. This chapter might be edited a little at some point. But I hope you all liked it. I am still not very used to writing stories that are not werewolf, although I did at the beginning of my account before taking that specific book down a few years back.
I am currently under a ton of stress and failing a lot of subjects so um I am sorry for not being super active, not just on this book but all my other books as well.