How To Charm An Ice Queen

#5. A Process Of Elimination

Chapter 5

A Process of Elimination

"I tell ye, no amount of ice witchery is gonna scare me away."

"You lot better step back and watch a real man woo the queen,"

"She'd no doubt rip out your heart and feed it to her dogs if you even go near her, Stupid."

"Nah, she'd freeze it and turn him into an ice sculpture,"

Supper had been quite uneventful if you discount the obvious bragging around the table over who had the best qualities or capabilities to win over the queen.

Once again, tales of evil and ice witchcraft were thrown about as the most outspoken shared conspiracies with one another, clashing in both chronology and plain impossibility.

Captain Zander it seemed, had humoured these stories with his own theory: her pet snow-dog, leader of a pack of prize winning sled dogs, was in fact a werewolf.

That sparked a whole new set of blabbering, how it was so obvious and how they had seen the dog have human-like habits.

Thankfully, when it was all over, I had been called into one of the main parlour rooms with Anabelle and a servant was our escourt. Apparently the queen's mother wanted to officially welcome us in person.

"Oh, Prince Levi, Princess Anabelle!" A cheery voice called as we entered the parlour. "My, how you've grown! I'm so glad you arrived safely, I apologize for not greeting you sooner,"

Annora's mother was quite petite in comparison to her daughter. A lot nicer too. Her dark hair streaked with a few grey strands but she held herself as regal as a proper lady.

I bowed as my sister curtsied and we took our seats as requested. The woman regarded my raccoon hat curiously but made no comment.

"Your palace is wonderful," Anabelle gushed. "From afar, the white marble makes it appear as though it were made of ice."

"Why thank you dear. I believe it has that effect only when the snow has fallen."

"May I say you look absolutely radiant tonight, Milady," I grinned. "The paintings in the halls don't do you justice,"

She placed a gloved hand to her mouth. "Quite the charmer, aren't you?"

Quite.

"Thank you for inviting us, Milady," I said instead with a smile. "Pardon my brashness though I'm curious as to why,"

"Straight to the point I see," she grinned. "Perfect. You may call me Odette, dear. No need for formalities." She leaned forward in her seat and looked as though she were about to divulge a great secret. "You see, my daughter has had quite the stubborn streak when it comes to marriage. In fact this entire Season had been quite difficult to orchestrate with her sabotaging every potential suitor I could find."

She sighed and rubbed her temples. "Naturally I blame her father for instilling all those thoughts of independence but I suppose it's for the best now that you're here." With her grin back, she went on. "Annora doesn't trust people easily. Especially with her duty as queen and sole ruler. So I thought it would be beneficial if she met with a familiar face of a boy she once fancied."

My heart skipped when she said Annora had fancied me. Why the hell didn't I remember?

"She liked me?" Was all I could ask.

Odette giggled girlishly. "Oh my dear boy. It was obvious to everyone but you,"

"Well that may be a slight problem," Anabelle said. "He doesn't remember,"