The Yule Prince : An Enemies to Lovers Fantasy Romance

Chapter Eight

I do not know what time I finally fall asleep to the sound of Friedrich's steady breathing and the howling of the wind. But when I wake, the prince is no longer beside me.

Relief fills me at the silence that fills the cabin. The storm has desisted.

I push myself to my feet, my muscles stiff and aching from the horse ride. I stretch. My mind is reeling following my late night conversation with Friedrich.

"Oh. You're awake. Finally." He appears in the doorway of the bedroom. His blond hair is tussled, and there are purple smudges beneath his eyes. It looks as if he slept as badly as I did.

I grab my bag and take it to the kitchen table. From here I can see through the window. Outside, the harsh terrain has transformed overnight into a peaceful blanket of undisturbed snow. The sun is rising over the horizon.

I yawn. "Can we skip the sass this morning, Friedrich? It's early and I don't have the energy for it."

I pull out the piece of fruitcake I'd taken from the kitchens last night and take a bite. It's stale, but the brandy-soaked fruit warms my stomach. I feel Friedrich's eyes on me and hold it out.

"Would you like some?" I say.

He looks at me like I'm offering him a used diaper. "Of your dirty bag cake? No thank you."

"I'm trying to be nice, Friedrich," I say, exasperated. He shrugs, and I notice the sleek silvery material hanging from his arm. "What's that?"

"A dress."

"Oh? Well silver is certainly your color."

I stuff the rest of the cake into my mouth as his lips curl into a cool smile. "It's for you."

I cough, a sultana catching in my throat. "What? Why?"

He looks pointedly at the crumpled clothes I slept in, and my tangled red hair. "Well, you cannot attend the Christmas Eve feast like that."

"I'm not planning on attending the feast, Friedrich. I intend to find St. Nicholas, get the address of my parents, then go home."

He leans against the doorframe and arches an eyebrow. "Right. You think you can just stroll into the Christmas Castle and demand a meeting with the most powerful man in all the kingdoms?"

"I'm his daughter. Of course he will see me."

"Because he's shown such commitment to you in the past, Joy. Has it occurred to you that he doesn't even know you exist? And with the Christmas Eve Feast being the only time of the year when a challenge to any of the three thrones can be made do you not think that he will think you, yourself, are plotting to overthrow him? And treat you, and, more importantly, me accordingly." I fold my arms as he continues. "No. We will be attending the feast, Joy."

"But the assassination— "

"Will take place at the feast."

The corner of his lip lifts, like he knows he's won.

"Well, you've really thought about this, haven't you?" I say.

"Unlike you."

"What about your father? Won't he be at the feast too?"

"Yes." His eyes glint violently. "I'm counting on it."

"Counting on it? What do you —?" I shake my head. "You know what, I don't care. I just want to go home. Fine. We'll do it your way."

I wipe my hands on my breeches and walk over. When I reach for the dress, he swipes it away. "With those greasy fingers? I don't think so."

He packs it into his satchel where I catch a glimpse of something grey already inside.

"We will ride now." He swivels and marches to the door. "The feast begins in four hours. Come."

A whoosh of cold air enters the cabin and he steps into the snow.

"Wait," I say. "This place? The dress? Who does it belong to?"

"My mother."

"Your —?"

He strides outside. I grab my coat and follow him.

***

The sun slowly rises above the glaciers. Friedrich rides ahead of me—his slender body leaning into the horse, his eyes fixed resolutely ahead. It's as though he is purposefully avoiding the questions I want to ask.

By the time the sun is high in the sky, though, he slows to a canter. I pull up beside him.

"I don't know why, but I'd never imagined you having a mother." My breath clouds in front of my face.

"Well, Joy, perhaps no-one has yet given you the talk about where babies come from. So allow me. When a mummy and a daddy like each other very much they have a special cuddle and—"

"Oh, shut up!" I slap his arm.

He catches my eye. Then he laughs. It surprises me. I have never heard him laugh before. In fact, I didn't think he was capable of any real joy.

I smile as he fixes his gaze back on the mountains ahead.

"I just mean I've never heard anyone mention her," I say. "There are no pictures in the castle. Who is she?"

He bites his bottom lip.

"She was half mortal." He pauses. "Like you. The cabin belonged to her mortal mother, my grandmother. Her father, though, lived in one of the forgotten kingdoms—the Kingdom of Snow. He forced her to marry Krampus so their kingdoms could form an allegiance."

"I thought the Kingdom of Snow was just a myth."

He shrugs as we pass by a frozen lake. "It is not."

"So where is she now?"

He looks as if he's considering whether to respond.

"My father was cruel to her," he says after a long pause. "And she was too wild to be constrained within the walls of a castle. She escaped not long before you arrived. Before my grandmother died, I would meet her at that cabin once a year on the Winter Solstice. I have not seen her in five years. She may be dead. But I think not. I've heard rumors she seized power from her father and now reigns as monarch—"

"The Snow Queen," I say, recalling the dark bedtime stories the Yuletide servants would tell me before bed about the powerful queen who could command storms of ice, and turn anything she touched to ice.

They were meant to be scary stories; cautionary tales to stop me from wandering astray on the mountains. But I always liked them; I always wanted to be the Snow Queen. I thought that if I was as powerful as her, maybe I could find my way home.

Friedrich inclines his head.

It's then that I see the cozy looking cabins littering the mountainside ahead. And in the middle of them, a large stone castle.

"The Christmas Kingdom," I say. "We're here."

My pulse quickens as we ride closer.