Winter's Warrior

Chapter Three

~ | Owen | ~

Clearing my throat, I instructed Sean, "Let the boys know to gather in this room. We will have a family meeting to discuss today's events and the ongoing negotiations."

Sean nodded and dutifully gathered the boys.

The room was loud, as expected with nine boys occupying it. The room was not small, in fact, it was a bit extravagant, but the nine of us took up the space and filled the room with noise. Sang generously offered to allow us our own rooms, but we chose to share. It is, after all, what we were used to.

Now, however, was not the time for idle chatter. I had called them here for a reason. Clearing my throat, I waited for the room to quiet down a bit so I could be heard. "Quiet down. I now commence this family meeting. We need to discuss the journey and this new queen that we are to work with."

I was most certainly not enthusiastic about the idea of working with a new queen, one who was coming across in a most unusual way. She didn't seem to care about our kingdom's needs in the slightest, her icy personality as cold and unforgiving as the lands she lived in. The only time she had broken from that character was to 'prank' us, as Luke would say. To make us think our brother was dying. Needless to say, I didn't approve.

Once I was certain I had everyone's full attention, I continued, "Queen Sorenson is most... unusual. I have a feeling prices will be unfair, and this deal will take some careful negotiation if we are to return home with good news, which is mostly likely her plan. To make us wait as long as possible so that the supplies are no longer needed."

A strange expression crossed Luke's face—a mixture between disappointment and disagreement. "I don't think that's the case. She's not heartless. She's been surprisingly gentle and kind."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Gabriel spat. "She's literally a block of ice! Beautiful but cold. Think with your head, not your—"

The rest of Gabriel's sentence was cut off as North smacked the back of his head and the others began to speak up, taking sides. Sean, Silas, and Kota sided with Luke, trying to argue that they saw something soft within the girl. North, Nathan, and Gabriel disagreed. I had to side with them. The girl had been nothing but rude, a smug, uncaring and spoiled little girl. Victor bounced between sides, seemingly unable to make up his mind as he watched it all, conflicted. As a prince, he had plenty of experience—both with learning to act uncaring when he cared, and with the cruelness power could bring.

I couldn't help but join in as I heard Sean counter an argument with the phrase, "She's too cute to be evil!" How is that a valid argument?!

"Enough!" Victor's voice cut through the din, startling us all by his uncharacteristic shout. He was our friend, family, really, but even so, when a prince spoke, you listened. "Sang is not the problem at hand, our kingdom's war is. Stop squabbling like children."

"Prince Morgan is correct," I said, as formal as ever. "We have worse things to worry about—a child in a queen's crown has nothing to do with it."

"That is not what I meant," Victor corrected lowly, a serious look in his fire eyes. "Our opinion of her does not matter. Her agreeing to the deal, however, is important. We risk our entire kingdom if we get on her bad side."

The room erupted into noise once more as North began to shout. Not even Victor could silence them—he couldn't even be understood in the mess of noise. It was pure chaos until a heavy knock sounded at the large oak door.

The room instantly fell silent. If we were heard talking ill of the queen...

Nathan, closest to the door, swept his sky blue gaze across us, looking for confirmation. I inclined my head, and he reached out to open the door.