Silver Frost (Bitter Frost #3 of The Frost Series) Page 7

  He motioned to the fallen shield of the Summer knight, crested with silver blood. “Once,” said Kian, “I would have looked at this sight and celebrated: the fall of an enemy, scum, Summer scum. But now I look at this and see only pain: the death of a man with a family, friends, a soul, gone forever from Feyland. And I can no longer celebrate the falling of a Summer knight. I can no longer celebrate war.”

  I remembered the harsh, cold prince that had abducted me but weeks earlier – the stony-faced soldier whose only goal was to win the Summer territories. He had changed so much since then, his cold beauty warming, thawing, into a dynamic and thriving flame. His solemn face took on the qualities of joy; his love had changed him, set him free. Where before he had stared at me with a still and solemn countenance, now his features were alive with emotion.

  “We'll get pass this,” I said, squeezing Kian's hand. “I promise. We'll survive this meeting with your mother.” I sighed. “Do you believe in God? I mean – do fairies have a God? Do you know what that is?”

  “Yes,” said Kian. “I have learned what humans worship. I have studied the ways of the Land Beyond the Crystal River.”

  “Do fairies have a god?”

  “We believe in a force greater than ourselves – the Ultimate magic. Perhaps it is similar.”

  “Humans – some humans – believe in God. I do – I mean, I always did. And this God...right now I'm praying that He'll give me the strength to do the right thing, to say the right thing, to help your mother understand...”

  Kian took my hands in his, warming them as the bitter frost raged all around us. “If you ask this God to help you,” he said, “then I will ask too.”

  I smiled.

  “If I am to marry a half-human,” he said. “I will learn the ways not just of the Summer Court, but also of the Land Beyond the Crystal River. Perhaps, when the war is over, you can take me there – show me around.”

  Go back home? How strange home seemed to me now. Was it even home, anymore? Did I belong there at all?

  “Maybe,” I said. “When the war is over. We can visit my mother.”

  “Raine,” he said.

  “Yes, Raine. And Gregory, Oregon. That's where I live.”

  “Gregory.” The word sounded strange in his mouth.

  “And the woods behind the Gregory High School. Before I came to Feyland, I used to think that the woods behind the school were the most beautiful places in the world. Maybe, in a way, it reminded me of Feyland – an echo of a land I had once known, in a dream, in a distant vision. A Feyland reflection.”

  “In the midst of Winter territory,” said Kian, “there is an oasis – an orange grove – where nuts and flowers grow. And I used to walk there as a child, and hide there when I was unhappy – and I never knew why. It was only when I came to the Summer lands, when I met you, that I realized. It reminded me of the palace we danced in as children – a palace I didn't even know I remembered...”

  “We've been waiting for each other for a long time,” I said.

  Kian nodded, squeezing his arms tightly around me. “Let us not wait any longer,” he said.

  Chapter 11

  At last, we saw the frozen, icy spires of the Winter Palace in the distance, standing up like iron spikes against the vast expanses of the vast, white sky. When I had last arrived here, while bringing home the Princess Shasta, I had been terrified of the place: of the ice-covered walls and stern steel balustrades of a place that I knew counted me as an enemy, ruled by a Queen I had known only to fear. Even now, with the knowledge of the Summer sun deep within my soul, I felt that familiar trepidation. Against all that grandeur I didn't feel like a Queen, or even like a Princess. I felt only like a scared teenaged girl, shaking in my boots and my knightly armor.

  There was no reason to be frightened, I told myself. I would be bringing the Winter Queen good news – news of her son's life and freedom! She would hear what I had to say; she would listen to my calls for peace. She would understand; she would help me. But as I felt Kian's cold hands gripping mine, with something between love and fear, I knew that he was no more confident than I was.

  “Are you afraid?” I asked him, as the castle loomed larger into view.

  “No!” He turned his face away, and with that I knew he was lying. A crimson blush appeared over his pale cheeks.

  “What do you think she'll do?” I asked.

  “My mother?” Kian sighed. “I don't know. You have to understand – my mother have never shown...emotion. It is not fitting for a fairy ruler to show it. It is dangerous enough for a normal fairy to experience these emotions – imagine it! All that magic set loose by emotion, uncontrolled. My mother could never allow herself to feel those things. She was worried about duty. About piety. About honor.”

  “You've never seen your mother act on love? Not ever?” I thought of my own mother, Raine. I couldn't imagine her ever not loving me. Her love was the first thing in all the world I grew to know.

  “Once,” said Kian. “When my father died – killed by the other army. The Summer Army. My mother went mad. She was screaming, tearing out her hair, beating the walls of the throne room, sending explosions of light and sound everywhere! The other advisors at the court did not know what to do. They'd never seen anything like it.”

  “And what happened? How did she calm down?”

  Kian gave me a weak smile. “Your mother,” he said. “She was staying with mine – you must have been quite young, for she had only just been exiled from the Summer Court, and was preparing to return to the Land Beyond the Crystal River. She was the only one who understood emotions, who understood rage and pain. She was the only one who could be a friend to my mother. She understood. She comforted her. I know my mother has always been grateful for that.”

  Even at the Winter Ball a few weeks ago, my mother and the Winter Queen had been friends. I bit my lip and swallowed. Hopefully, the Winter Queen would remember me as Raine's daughter, her friend's daughter, rather than as the Summer Queen, her mortal enemy.

  We passed by the frozen moat of the Winter Palace, catching glimpses of the underwater dragons beating their wings against the ice.

  “Prevents anyone from skating or walking across,” said Kian. “The ice will break, and then the dragons...”

  He didn't finish his sentence.

  Last time I was here, I had escorted Shasta back to the Winter Kingdom in exchange for my mother's freedom, a political ploy that had given us both what we wanted at little cost. This time was different, more dangerous. Even Shasta, normally so confident, was wary of holding Rodney's hand. She knew that the guards' eyes were scanning us – had Rodney been one to kill their friends? Their companions?

  No sooner had we entered the throne room than we heard a voice, loud and clear, but as calm and sedate as morning after a storm. “Kian!” It was the Winter Queen, her pale features thrown into relief by the force of her happiness. She stepped forward, trailing her silvery silk dress behind her. “My son!” She stepped forward again, coming towards us until she was close enough to touch him. She stretched out her hands and for a moment it seemed that her whole body ached to embrace him, to gather his body into hers. But she only placed her hand upon his shoulders, giving him a formal nod as he bowed before her.

  “My mother.”

  “Welcome home.” She fought the display of her joy, keeping her voice as level as a snow bank, but I could see the happiness in her eyes. Kian had told me that he did not remember his mother ever exhibiting love for him, but her expression made her feelings clear: she had missed her son, and she had been afraid for him

  I caught sight of Shasta's face. Her smile was frozen on, but behind her eyes there was only sadness. Had Shasta's mother ever expressed those feelings for Shasta? If it was Shasta who had gone missing, who had been captured, would the Winter Queen have been so upset? Shasta caught me looking and immediately looked down, freezing her face in a solemn, neutral expression.

  “And what have we here?” Immediately,
the Winter Queen rounded on me, and before any of us knew what was happening the court guards took massive steps forward, surrounding us at the tips of their spears.

  “The Summer Queen,” said the Winter Queen. “What is she doing here? She has refused my offers to negotiate the release of my son – time and time again – rejected my invitations? And what is she doing here?” She strode up to me, peering into my face with those same penetrating eyes I had loved so deeply in her son. “Since becoming Queen, Breena, did you suddenly lose your sense of decorum?”

  Kian and Shasta both stiffened, the color draining from their faces.

  “You come here now – for what reason? After your letters?” She produced a piece of parchment from the folds of her gown. “The Summer Court will never negotiate with our treacherous enemies the Winter Court. Your son dies tomorrow at dawn. By the seal of the Royal Summer Queen and Empress of the Autumn Territories, Breena the Second.” She let the parchment fall to the floor.

  “You've got to believe me,” I said quickly, my voice rising. “I had nothing to do with that.”

  “That is your seal, is it not? I take it that those promises of peace you made me at my ball were merely lies.”

  “I never got your message!” I said. “I've been trapped in my own Court – my advisers have been sending you messages without my knowledge, without my consent. I would have released Kian immediately if I could have, but there were spies in my court...it wasn't safe!”

  “A convenient excuse,” said the Winter Queen. “Now that my son has escaped, and brought you captive. How much easier than if we were to treat you with the same...kindnesses with which you treated my son.”

  “It wasn't...” I started to explain, but the Queen raised her hand, sending me into silence.

  “You are the voice of your Kingdom, Breena. You are its Queen. You are responsible for your advisors and their actions; you are their leader. If you have allowed them to act without your consent, in your own courtroom, then you are as guilty than as if you had composed the letter by yourself.”

  I had not expected this. All my protestations seemed to vanish into folly. And yet, with a sickening silence, I knew that the Winter Queen was right. This majestic woman, standing before me, had run a country on her own, fought a war, raised children, survived through it all. And I couldn't even run my own Court. I had run away, like a frightened child, afraid of standing up to Wort and his men. How could I ever have thought that I would be as strong and brave a queen as the Winter Queen, or even Shasta? What would have happened if I hadn't gotten to Kian in time? I would have been responsible.

  “You are right,” I said. “I am responsible for my actions, and the actions of my court. And it is in the name of peace that I come here today, of my own free will, unarmed.” With this I removed my sword from my scabbard, and laid it down before her. “Kian did not capture me, nor did he escape. I acted in secret, in concert with your daughter, Shasta, to free him myself, because I could not do so through the diplomatic channels. I have been kept prisoner by my advisers, kept in the dark, and thus I came here to speak to you face to face, Queen to Queen, about the possibility for peace. I do not wish to cause more strife in this war, for my people, for your people, for our people.”

  The Winter Queen sighed. “I am listening.”

  “My predecessor was assassinated by a Winter Royal – the people know that much, if they do not know who it was. And my people want revenge. I understand why...this assassin acted.”

  Shasta shot me a warning look.

  “I too wished I had the authority to spare the Knight Rodney. But I cannot deny that now my people blame Winter more than ever for the death of the Old Queen. They do not want to fight a war any longer, but they cannot accept a simple release of Kian. Wort and his cronies made sure of that, spreading hate of Winter throughout the land, spreading propaganda. Even those who want an end to war want it on our terms, on Summer's terms. I knew I couldn't simply let Kian walk free. So I have staged his escape. I want peace, Your Highness. And I would never let it come at the price of Kian's life.” As I said his name, my voice trembled, overcome by my love, and pain, and fear.

  At the sound of her son's name, the Winter Queen perked up. “And what do you have to say to this, Kian? You were there at the Court. Is she telling the truth.”

  Kian stood up straight, taking a deep breath before beginning his tale. He told of his capture by Summer Knights, of his imprisonment in the Autumn Tower, of the beatings he had sustained by the Summer Guards.

  Once again the Winter Queen was a protective mother, rounding on me like a tiger. “You let this happen, Breena? Let my son be imprisoned, treated poorly at the hands of these brutal forces?” Her voice was tight with anger. “You want peace, yet allow the very Crown Prince of our kingdom to be tortured.”

  “It wasn't like that, Mother!” Kian broke in. “The advisors – Wort – they were poisoning her with kelpie soup, weakening her, imprisoning her – she freed me as soon as she could, did whatever she could. She risked her life and her kingdom to save me, disguised herself as a common knight, abandon her kingdom, all to free me from her own men?”

  “As noble as that is,” said the Winter Queen, “what is to stop me from ending all this right now? Taking her prisoner? Declaring victory for the Winter Kingdom and taking over the Summer lands?”

  I stopped short. Surely the Winter Queen was an honorable woman – even in the heat of battle, she would not dare execute an unarmed Queen who had come to negotiate for peace. Still, the silence that followed her question was sickening, and I felt a decisive drop in my stomach.

  “Because,” Kian said quietly, taking a step before me. “Because I love her.”

  A hush fell over the room, as – one by one – the guards watching us drew in breath, staring us down. I could hear their heartbeats quicken, their stares fix upon us. I shivered.

  “You love her?” The Queen asked. “So, that is what this is about? A war is being fought – and two schoolchildren worry about their feelings?” She softened for a moment. “Winter and Summer together cannot be, my son.”

  “Why?” Kian's voice rose. “Why not? Two kingdoms – united in peace – under one set of rulers?”

  “And would Winter and Summer ever accept being ruled by their enemies? Being unified? The Winter people would say it was a trap by Summer; Summer would say that Winter was in control.”

  “Then...” Kian looked about the room wildly, as if to find some answer written on the ceiling, on the windows. “Then I'll give up my crown!”

  A collective gasp came from the crowd.

  “Why not? Let Shasta rule – she is a better soldier than I am, a better ruler. I'll forfeit my crown and be but a Winter knight, under the rule of the Summer Queen!”

  Somewhere at the end of the Winter Queen's mouth, I thought I saw a smile starting to twitch.

  “Your thoughts, Breena?”

  “I can't ask that of Kian, your majesty,” I said. “He would make a great king. I love him too much to let that happen.”

  “But...carrying on with Kian – surely that's an even greater risk? It makes either you or my son look like a fool. And how do either of you expect to keep your crowns if the people find out, and turn against you. There are men like Wort on my side, too – men who would be quick to rouse the people to revolution if they thought they could win them over. Men who could use this information against you.”

  “What are you saying, Your Highness?”

  “I am saying – that as a Queen and a Mother, I must ask you both to set this fancy aside. I will release you – out of gratitude for saving my son, and honor at not hurting an unarmed foe – but if I do so, I must ask that you stay as far away from my son as possible, that you never see him again.”

  My heart seemed to stand still within my chest. And yet, looking into the Winter Queen's eyes, I could see that she was right. What would have happened if my people found out about my mission to save Kian? I could be deposed overnight –
and Wort could be installed in my place on the throne...and then peace would never happen.

  “Yes,” I said, softly. I could see surprise flit across the faces of my friends. Kian turned pale, closing his eyes, a small – silent – sign of anguish. “On one condition.”

  “A condition?” The Winter Queen looked amused. “What is it?”

  “That you sign a treaty with me – a cease-fire against hostilities. And that we begin discussions for peace. I do not want this war to continue past this generation, Your Highness. I want my children – and Kian's – to grow up and rule a peaceful land.” Children that would never be ours I thought sadly.

  “I see,” said the Winter Queen.”

  “We can tell my people that we negotiated a secret treaty – Kian's life in exchange for the disputed Spring lands. I don't care about the land, one way or the other, but if word gets out about Kian's escape, I'll need to cover it up somehow.”

  “The Spring lands? And what do I tell my people? There are many Winter fairies that live on that land.”

  “We will provide all Winter fairies currently living on that land sufficient money to relocate. You can tell your people that you got your son back – and that you have chosen to give up the disputed territory in exchange for enough money to build new homes for all the Winter families that have lost theirs.”

  It wasn't anything like a complete peace treaty, but it was a start. The Winter Queen looked surprised, raising an eyebrow as she spoke. “You placed the needs of your kingdom above your own. Perhaps you really are Raine's daughter, Breena Malloy. You are a true Summer Queen. Perhaps I was wrong about you.” She shot me a look full of meaning. “Queen to Queen, I will grant that condition. Perhaps we can finally make steps towards peace.”

  Chapter 12

  It had come time for us to say goodbye. In those awful few hours since I had agreed to part from Kian forever, we had not even spoken to each other. We had allowed our eyes to meet only once – by accident as much as out of necessity – and not ten seconds had passed before the agony had become too great to bear and we had retreated into silence and coldness once more. I knew he was not angry with me – he could not be angry with me – and yet his silence felt like anger to me, as cold and raging as fury. Even the slow, soft telepathic connection between us – the sense of connectedness that linked us even when we were in the same room – the sense that we were not two people but rather one ecstatic and indivisible whole, had vanished. I couldn't even feel his pain.