Queen of Ice and Ruin

Chapter Seven

We sat around the dining table to eat a simple meal of sandwiches and soup. The cooks had given us two choices: wait for them to make us something grander or have a simple meal more immediately. Our growling stomachs made the choice for us. Janea had prepared a tea earlier that day, meant to be served cold, and this meal was the perfect time to enjoy her creation as well.

"I suppose you were bound to find out eventually," Janea said, regarding their royal heritage. "We thought you might feel more comfortable if you didn't know. Right, Corrin?"

Corrin nodded his head, but didn't say anything. He had hardly spoken since the news of him being the Prince of Trees had been shared. I'd been trying to catch his eye, only for him to avoid looking at me at all.

"If you're the prince and princess," I asked, "how do you end up living such a simple life here?"

Janea opened her mouth, but Corrin finally spoke. "The village leader was needed elsewhere, and I was given the role of his substitute for the time being. Janea came with me by choice, for some strange reason."

"I came with," Janea explained, rolling her eyes, "because someone needs to look out for you."

"I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself," Corrin snapped.

I was shocked. I'd seen Corrin's attitude before, but never directed toward Janea. He always was so soft with her, protective. Janea, however, looked unfazed. "It's my role as your older sister to look out for you, even when you don't need it."

Corrin glared down at his plate of food. Telos caught my eye and gave me a half-smile and a shrug. It seemed that this was not an uncommon conversation after all.

"I didn't know you were older," I said to Janea, hoping to lighten the mood.

She smiled and nodded her head. "Only by about 20 years – which is a very small gap for faeries – which is why it's difficult to tell."

"So, that makes you the baby of the family, then?" I asked Corrin, who was still looking at his food instead of at us.

He didn't answer me, so Janea chimed, "We have a younger sister. She is in Ebren, at the palace."

Jurace, the Princess of Storms, finally spoke. She had been silently eating, listening to our conversation, until this point. "This might be a good time for me to introduce the reason for my visit."

This prompted Corrin to look up. "What gossip do you bring this time?"

Jurace huffed. "It's not gossip, it's news. And trust me, you will be glad to know before word spreads."

I watched Jurace as she interacted with Corrin. There was something playful about the way she spoke to him. Even as she chided him, there was a sparkle of amusement in her dark eyes, the tug of a small smile at the corners of her lips. If she was truly angry or insulted, I would have almost felt bad for Corrin. She looked ethereal, the way I would have pictured a faerie princess. Her skin was dark as a stormy sky, her hair a cloud of white surrounding her head.

She didn't wait for permission before she began to share. "We will soon have a new Queen of Ice."

Corrin's eyes widened. "Mel?"

Jurace nodded. "Her father has fallen quite ill, apparently. He isn't expected to last the fortnight. The Oracle was brought in to determine his successor, and she was chosen. The first of us to take the throne."

"When is her coronation?"

"Soon. You will be expected to attend, of course, so you will want to make arrangements for travel." Jurace glanced to me, then back at Corrin. I assumed "make arrangements" meant "figure out what to do with her".