One True Queen: A Wings of Fire fanfiction

42.

content warning: a fairly non-graphic fight scene, Snowfox's spectacularly awful parenting/relationship skills

Snowfox

"Can you believe him?!" I exclaim, pacing back and forth. "I've always know he was a disloyal idiot, but this?! He's becoming a threat to tribe security. I had to confiscate his keys and remove him from the guard, of course, but now he's mad at me for that?! I have a kingdom to run!" Polar locked himself in his room, and has since refused to come out. What a drama queen.

Snowflake sighs, pulling her fur over her shoulders, and rubbing her eyes. "Permafrost was never like this for me."

"Oh, rub it in. Your kid isn't totally useless," I mutter.

She rolls her eyes.

When I came back, my girlfriend had started sleeping in the Queen's Wing. She said she missed me, and this was the only place in the palace dragons would leave her alone. So we've been sharing the room ever since. I've never actually shared a space with someone before. It's kind of nice.

Among other things, I've learned:

1. That Snowflake might be even more beautiful than she was the day I met her

2. I snore in my sleep, and it's "utterly infuriating"

3. Snowflake takes hour-long baths. I mean, every. Single. Morning. It's like she's going to leave me for the damn bathtub! Most mornings, I don't even see her until lunch!

4. She has a beauty regimen, which she insisted I try out once. I was very late for my meeting and had to make up an excuse about sleeping in.

5. She has her nose in a scroll at all times. Her reading spans everything from sappy romances to weird, theoretical, what-are-you-talking-about-Snowflake math, engineering and history. She was top of her class at Princess Alabaster, but her parents wouldn't let her switch to Princess Frostbite, the academic track.

6. Her heaps of jewelry are out-shadowing my weapons wall, with all my favourite blades and poisons. I'm not quite sure how to confront her about this issue.

7. She likes being the "little spoon."

8. She likes watching me work out. She thinks it's funny. I tell her that I need to be at the top of my game to fight off challengers for the throne. She says I don't even have an heir, and I say that she can either stop making smart remarks and watch in silence or leave.

9. She's a horrible listener.

10. But she's also almost always right about how I should run my kingdom.

"He has such an attitude," I scoff. "Ever since we got back from the war, it's been like this." I hesitate. I haven't told her about Polar's magic yet, and it's getting increasingly awkward to navigate around. At any moment, I'm terrified she's going to figure it out. I have no idea how Snowflake feels about animus magic and using it outside of our tribe's laws. It's not exactly easy to bring up in casual conversation. "He went behind my back, Snowflake! He snuck into a high-security prison cell! He could have lost our hostage—he was just talking with her like they were best friends."

Snowflake sighs heavily. "I still don't understand why you had to take a hostage."

"Well, she's the only reason I could come home to you, for starters," I snap.

"Glad to know this was ever about actually choosing me," Snowflake says, rolling her eyes. "And not a convenient political move, now you've gone and got us involved in another war."