Crowns of Flame and Ice - Book One

(21) A Dragon Cut Emerald

Two days later I was again trudging through the frozen expanse of forest and Ice. Quilo, silent as ever, stalked ahead. We hadn't spoken of what had occurred in that tavern two nights ago, I'd gotten the impression he wanted to just forget about it. I didn't disagree. The snow was thicker now than it had been before, falling in steady fat clumps instead of in fast bursts. It was becoming trickier to walk through, clumping on my shoes and freezing around my ankles. As we neared Calvain the snow would eventually slow, the temperature turning less extreme. Despite the cold temperature I would've marvelled at the beauty of it, how the snow clung to the trees and blanketed the floor. Would've, but didn't. Not as it made everything so eerily quiet. When I'd been in the castle I loved the quiet it brought, it allowed me to focus on the things that kept my mind busy. Now, Quilo a silent figure ahead of me, all I had to focus on were my thoughts.

My mind kept coiling around unpleasant memory after unpleasant memory, eventually, I knew they would rear their ugly heads and strike. Most likely in the form of vicious words directed at Quilo. I sighed, impatience had me grinding my teeth. A thought appeared in my mind and I grinned, a spark of childish joy I hadn't felt in a while formed. I quickly paused to lean over and gather snow between my palms, rolling it into a ball before Quilo noticed my faltering steps. I peeled my arm back and let the snowball fly, years of training allowed the compacted ice to find its mark. Quilo whirled, a hand going to the back of his neck where snow still clung on. Oh, shit I thought as Quilo fixed his stare onto me, rage lightening his eyes. Why couldn't I have just.. I don't know. hummed a tune or something? Counting the fucking snowflakes in my hair would've been better than being on the receiving end of the look Quilo was giving me right now. Quilo stalked forward and I backed away, my back pressed into a nearby tree. Quilo glanced up and then back down at me, a slight grin appearing on his lips. He slammed his hand into the space above my head and then quickly backed away. The tree shivered, and all of that snow that had been stuck in the branches? It fell straight onto my head in an avalanche. "You bitch!" I spluttered, dusting the snow from my clothes and tossing it out of my hair. "Don't start a snowball competition with me if you're not going to play dirty" he chuckled, blowing hot air into his hands and then pressing them against his ears.

I frowned, "are your ears cold?" He shook his head and I rolled my eyes, wincing as snow loosened from my eyelashes and fell into my eyes. "Your ears are the colour of my hair, if your going to lie to me make sure your good at it." Quilo huffed, covering his ears with his hands. I turned, undoing the buckle that kept the bag at my side and pulled out the red and pink bobble hats I'd bought from Penden Market. I pulled the pink one onto my own head and offered him the red, some of the numbness from my ears vanishing. "I'm not wearing that" he pouted, pushing the hat away. I frowned, "why?" it made little sense to refuse any extra warmth, his ears were so red I worried they'd drop off. He stepped back," it has a...it has a pom-pom on it." I frowned, "it does." He shook his head again, snow tumbling down his shoulders with the movement, "I'm not wearing a bright red pom-pom hat Lil Red." I smirked, a plan already forming in my mind, "it's not going to bite you, Frosty." He cringed as if he disagreed and my lips twitched. I held up my hands, "fine, fine. Freeze to death for all I care."He gave me a sceptical look and then turned, trudging off into the snow once more. His hair blended into the distant snow, it looked as though he was sculpted from the ice itself.

I pounced, jumping and turning in mid-air, pulling the hat over his head. His hand immediately latched onto the hilt of the sword at his back as if he'd thought some imaginary enemy had fallen from the trees. I grinned and he glared at me, "I said I'm not wearing the hat." He began to tug the hat off his head and I sighed, "if you don't wear the fucking hat, I'll start singing." He paused and then began tugging at the hat again, calling my bluff. I pulled all of the cold air I could into my lungs in an over-exaggerated 'if you take the hat off I'm going to start belting lyrics to bar songs at full volume' breath. He pulled the hat back over his head, some of the angry red already fading from his face. "Fine, I will wear the stupid hat. Happy?" I grinned and sauntered over next to him, blowing a kiss as I passed, "very. Red suits you by the way." I heard him mumble a stream of curses under his breath that most definitely weren't very prince-like and I chuckled.