Return to the Nine Kingdoms

34

The Twins
King Wendell was inconsolable and it was more than two wolf cubs knew how to navigate. When their entourage had finally arrived, Wendell's castle had been in chaos and that had proliferated through a day of even worse news.
"Wendell," Queen Red III pleaded.
The old chamberlain who had unreservedly informed the Twins of his general dislike of wolves bristled at his post next to the King inside the Throne Room. He cleared his throat noisily and narrowed his eyes at the Queen.
Teeth looked from the Queen to his sister and decided that he should keep his mouth shut. He'd noticed the Queen's familiarity and wondered why she could freely address the King of the Fourth—and now the Third—without his title.
Fangs elbowed Teeth in the side and pointed at the King, who was stifling a yawn while he bent his head together with his High Commander. Barely able to stand, the King had been coerced into his throne and the chamberlain had all but shoveled mouthfuls of some kind of cold stew into the King's mouth. He'd been found early that morning in a complete state of distress and at the feet of the Ice Queen's daughter, Queen Iyla. Even as the carriages from the Second Queendom arrived for their rendezvous ahead of their travels together, the King was just being revived by the worried chamberlain.
"King," the Queen corrected herself but again used a pleading tone. "With such a threat to the Kingdom, you cannot displace its last defense!"
"Displace?" King Wendell stopped, midway through dictating changes to the High Commander's list of goods meant for the castle's upkeep.
"You are the only guardian for this castle and for the people who depend on you for their safety," the Queen advised.
Princess Red IV, who had traveled in her own carriage, separate from the Queen's and from the least lavish carriage in which the Twins had traveled, casually traced a drawing in the frost on the window where she stood. The simple profile of a wolf with open jowls took shape under her fingertip and the Princess looked over her shoulder to Teeth with a languid smile.
"My Mirrors are gone, Red," King Wendell said.
Teeth noticed the biting way in which the King addressed the Queen. He hadn't yet been informed of the current Queen's intentions, but Teeth liked to imagine that the younger royal had intuited it.
"And you say that the Ice Queen has sacrificed her only daughter in order to attain them," Queen Red IV said.
Fangs sighed audibly beside Teeth and for a moment, every eye darted over to the pair of them where they stood near the back.
"I have to get them back," the King insisted, ignoring the implication of being a widower at the hands of his mother-in-law. "And I won't be displacing my Kingdom's guardian. My High Commander has already shown his strength and loyalty to the Kingdom. He will protect this Kingdom in my absence and my council will keep the Kingdom in order until I return."
The Princess scoffed. This time, instead of ignoring it like the others had of Fangs's outburst, the Queen crossed the room to face her daughter.
"This is not the time, Red," she hissed.
Fangs and Teeth planted themselves in their places and watched as the Princess narrowed her eyes at her mother and then over at the two usurpers.
"Queen," King Wendell called. "What else am I to do? After the word I received today from the First Kingdom..."
"Queen Cinderella has been dying for a hundred years, King Wendell," the Queen insisted as she left her daughter to her distracted window drawing.
Only one of the Mirrors remained functional after the theft, destruction, and assassination that had occurred while Wendell was distracted by his war with the Trolls. The Message that had sparked the King into action came just after Queen Red had successfully convinced him that their early arrival and his missing Mirrors were unrelated.
"She's only a distant relative to you, King," Queen Red III argued.
King Wendell's jaw dropped and his mouth hung open.
"She may as well be my actual grandmother, Queen Red," he said in dismay.
"You've other matters to attend to."
"You bring these...who are they to you again?" King Wendell continued.
"Wolf cubs, Teeth and Fangs," the Queen answered.
Princess Red laughed at her mother's obvious discomfort. The Queen shot her another look that meant to burn the skin from her daughter's face.
"And?" The King had shook his head at the Queen's answer. "You bring these wolf cubs to my Kingdom, with the intention of introducing them to my grandmother's court at her own daughter's wedding, no less. You won't say who they are, what they're truly doing here, or why it's so important that they accompany you."
"I am not at liberty..."
"Your own daughter also accompanies you, leaving your own Queendom in the hands of...what? A council of elders who live in their books? You dare to advise me, to warn me of the danger when you yourself have done just the same?"
"My Queendom is not under such immediate threat, King Wendell," the Queen argued more sternly.
Princess Red sauntered away from her window and slowly circled the Twins. The two royals took no notice of her movement and continued to argue about Wendell leaving his Kingdom to attend to the dying Queen Cinderella.
"You mean to take all of this away from me, cubs?" the Princess asked slowly and in a quiet voice that remained among the three of them. "You truly imagine that you could take the Queendom from my mother? From me? And you would be responsible for decisions such as this?"
She pointed to King Wendell and Queen Red III who had each raised their voices in effort to overpower each other's opinion.
"It doesn't matter what you think," Fangs argued. "We'd do it better than her or you together."
Teeth winced, knowing that it couldn't possibly be true that he and Fangs were more suited to rule than the current Queen was. But he had to agree that the fancy Princess had no power and even if she had a fraction of the strength that her mother has, she has no true desire to rule. They were taking something from her and she didn't like it. She only loathed them for the challenge they represented to her easy, carefree life.