Queen of Summer's Ice (Book 2)

Chapter 1

    ... 5 years later

      I woke up before the sun did this morning, like most mornings now, next to Ray. His body has long adjusted to the cold and some how managed to always stay warm. It was just us two in our very large bed and for a few more seconds I enjoyed the silence. Hearing nothing except for his deep and calming breaths as I laid my head against his bare chest.

     And just as my eye lids started feeling heavy again, the castle slowly started to wake up. I heard little bare feet climbing up the stairs to my room and sighed. There's no sleep for a Queen, but there really isn't any rest for a mother.

     Silently I rolled out of bed without waking Ray up and dressed in a simple cotton white gown that had gold suns designed on the bottom near my feet. Dax could have opened the door and waited for me inside, but even at the age of five he respected peoples privacy. So as I quietly opened the door, I was welcomed by his overly wide toothy smile. 

      He was beautifully handsome, looking exactly like Ray with his facial features, and dark caramel skin. And his hair was always cut short because he absolutely hated his curls in front of his face. But his eyes were of winter. A soft blue that reminded me of the purest ice.

     "Why are you by yourself hu?" I asked him once we were down the steps.

     His tiny fingers held my hand as he said nothing, I stopped us and knelt down so we were the same height.

     "Where's your sister Dax?"

     His blue eyes didn't want to meet mine.

     "Dax," I softly warned, "You're not going to get in trouble."

     "I don't want her to get in trouble either," he finally whispered in his soft voice.

     I kissed his hand softly and gently moved my thumb along his skin, "Well it depends, what is she doing this morning?" 

     He pursed his lips, thinking it over, and after some deep thought on his part he wordlessly lead me to the empty kitchen and out through one of the back doors. Outside the snow fell gently and the wind was still, the cold never affected me but I always worried for my children. They didn't inherit any of the lands powers, do they feel the cold? Do they feel the suns heat in summer? I asked Palma and Nazim about this, how it was for them to be royals without any powers and they assured me that their bodies should be immune to the weathers.

     But deep down my motherly instincts still insisted that I get a coat for Dax, but he just continued to walk through the snow with no troubles what so ever. After a few steps into the open, I see Ivory sitting on a rock, staring at a patch of grass that was clear of snow, and my heart broke a little. I know what she was trying to do, it was something she's always trying to do lately. She was trying to freeze them, or burn them. Trying to see if she had any powers, just like me.

     Dax was the one who was okay with not having any of the lands powers, he's come to accept it, but his twin was the opposite. Not only in attitude, but physically too. Where Dax's skin was dark, Ivory's was a winters white. Dax's hair was brown with bountiful curls, Ivory's was a silver blonde that waved like a river - she looked more like my mother then I ever did. But her eyes were mine, a deep brown - and her stubbornness. She refused to believe that she didn't have the ability over ice or fire.

     "Ivory, you know you're not allowed to be outside by yourself," was all I said.

     Her eyes just stayed concentrated on the patch of grass, "It's just sleeping."