Red Snow (The Shadows bk.3)

Chapter 1: Alienation

White. Everything was white.

The Queen had ordered improvements to be made to the palace; quarries had been dug to supply the chosen stone, pure white marble. The Queen had her labourers work both day and night in order to complete the work as quickly as possible. She had gathered all the sculptors in the kingdom and commissioned them to carve statues of all the past monarchs as well as life-like images of her dragons onto the palace's main entrance.

The palace grounds became as white as the marble used to build the palace's improvements. Snow blanketed the once green grounds and ice-cold wind cut through the air like a million tiny knives. Autumn had only just begun when the first snowflake fell. The air turned cold fast and within a week, it looked like the middle of winter.

The improvements were finished in the year that marked the seventh year of the young Queen's reign. It was also the first year of a winter that would last for many years. Many met their end in the unexpected cold but the Queen turned a blind eye and refused to take the blame for their deaths. Little by little, her people distanced themselves from their monarch and pitied those that were still in her employ. If the Queen was aware of this, she made no move to change it. Everyday she grew in power and what had started as a desire to protect and defend had now transformed into a means of gaining more power.

Her people wanted desperately to love her as they had once done but the more power she gained, the more this became impossible.