Snow Blossom

The beginning

Azaleas POV

I awoke to my maids scurrying around my room, I see them whispering as they arrange my clothes for the day. I sit up and they greet me

"good morning your majesty, we were sent by the king to prepare your dressing for the day early, for the engagement you have this morning".

I yawn and shake my head in agreement

"yes I understand, you may all leave except Katherine"

they all leave in a line and I start to get up. Katherine stands still as I get up and I walk towards the bathroom she follows me inside and helps me bathe. After that she helps put on my layers and layers of clothes, undergarments, corset, underskirt, tights, heels, think of every uncomfortable thing you can wear all together. After I am dressed the rest of my maids come inside and do my hair and light makeup. When they are done I go to the stand next to my grand bed that has been done during my bath, and put on my crown with large deer antlers, my large deer ears twitch as the cold metal touched my scalp, I then put on my other head piece that lays on my forehead.

I walk out of my room dismissing my maids, they run off to do other tasks, I get to the grand hall and then to the dining hall I sit down at the middle of the long dining table on one of the ends is my father, a deer centaur and also the king of the forests kingdom, and on the other side my mother a simple and normal human and she's also the queen of the kingdom. I greet them as I sit down

"good morning father,... mother"

I nod at her and we begin to eat after we pray to our deity Mother Nature.

We go to the castle doors to great our guest. The doors open and the sunlight hits my face warming me up, a slight wind and the clear blue skies over the horizon. The knights open the main gates and a horn is sounded, as three white horses appear in the distance as they begin to get closer I see them clearer, a king a queen and a prince, the Kori family, they were elves from the ice kingdom and they were know for there icy temper, their son had a bad reputation or so I heard, not from my parents they only spoke good about him, Valen, his name felt gross to say even in my head. As they got closer they got off the horses, our knights took their horses to the stables and they got closer to us, close enough were it would be impolite to not welcome them.

"Welcome to our kingdom, King  and Queen Kori it is our pleasure to have you two in our home"

my father spoke as he shook their hands

"and of course how could I forget your son he truly has grown up to be just like his father"

he shakes Valen's hand, my mother greets them similarly and my father turns to me expecting me to say something.

"oh I am princess Azalea it is a pleasure to meet you three"-

I'm lying through my teeth it wasn't a pleasure, I over heard my parents talking about how great it would be to join the families, that would be worse than this. I see King Kori look at Valen and then Valens eyes roll, he steps closer to me holding his hand out, I look at him confused and he moves his hand motioning for me to put my hand in his, I hesitate and then I place my hand on his icy one, lightly he holds it up to his lips and kisses the back of my hand.

I can move I'm frozen by his touch, he looks up at me annoyance in his eyes, his dark red eyes. When I'm pulled out of his trance by my mothers laughter she was responding to a joke by Queen Kori, i pull my hand away, and turn towards the castle we all walk inside to the main living room which had lots of activity's but were were using it as a sitting area.

"Honey, be a dear and give Valen a quick tour, he's about your age it shall be good to befriend him, would you not agree?"

I turn to my mother with an irritated look

"sure"

I say coldly, and motion for Valen to follow as our parents talk about business I asume.

He follows about 3 paces behind me, I stay quiet, so does he, im just pointing out the most important things I turn to try to just steal a glance and he's staring daggers at me I turn again, and continue walking. We are now both standing at the doors of the library

"this is the library"

I say and begin to walk away but I turn and see he is still standing looking at the doors he turns to me

"can we go inside?"

He hadn't spoke much this whole time, as he asked he did not turn to face me. I walk towards him

"sure"

I say pushing the doors open, he walks inside taken aback by the walls of book shelves and indoor garden with a large tree in the center of the library. I look at him his gaze on the tree I open my mouth to say something but I hesitate

"do you like to read?"

I say he snaps his head at me and doesn't say anything his face is hard to read, he doesn't answer and keeps looking at the tree.

"This tree has a lot of energy,.. is there a reason for that?"

He asks suddenly breaking the silence I turn to look at him touching the tree his hand glowing.

"My ancestors used to practice magic, but now magic has been forbidden, I asume they casted a spell of sorts of protection"

I say looking at him, he turns away from the tree and turns to me getting closer until he's standing extremely close.

"May I" he asks putting his hand up to my face

"you may" I say wondering what he's going to do,

he cups my face and his hand and my cheek glow bright, brighter than it did on the tree.

"You have lots of energy as well, might be why I'm so attracted to you"

he says this with a straight face, I blush lightly at his words

"what?"

I say unladylike he takes a second to process and then his face also blushes and he pulls away and turns back towards the tree. I hear him whisper 

"I didn't mean to say that in such way, I meant that my powers notice your energy"

I don't know what else to do but I laugh, he snaps his head at me

"what's so funny?"

He says upset, I just keep laughing, after a few moments of giggling trying to get myself together

"I apologize, that was just very humoring"

I say straightening back up. He stares with a face that is saying 'you're dead' but he wouldn't dare lay a finger on me, my guards would chop his head off. I go up to him and that's when I notice that he's probably never been laughed at like some sort of jester, and that he doesn't leave his palace much due to the cold, so he doesn't have human interactions except with his parents, and staff, and that can not be fun. I tap him and he flinches

"I'm sorry, i didn't mean to make fun of you"

i say sincerely he turns to me and he stays silent for a moment then says

"I love to read, but i don't have a library this big at home"

i smile and look up at him he just stares at me

"you can come over and read whenever you'd like"

i say walking towards the doors, he follows his face blushing and his heartbeat acculturating.