The Last Princess [EDITED]

Chapter 14

THE first thing I noted when I woke up was that I was freezing.

I blearily opened my eyes and saw a wall of white.

I blinked hard and saw Aiden standing, looking outside. "What's going on?"

He turned around when I spoke, face grim. "Bad news, Princess." My heart leaped as I looked past him, through the cave opening. Snow coated every leaf, every twig, every blade of grass.

I stood up, my feet feeling shaky as I walked towards him. It was the first time I'd seen snow as well - the ice glittering like glass, small bits of green and brown poking through it.

I crouched down, touching it carefully. It was harder than I'd expected, and so cold. But when I looked...it was hard to decide which was lovelier - the snow or the rain.

"Do you think it's beautiful again?" Aiden asked. I just knew he was raising an eyebrow in his typical skeptical look. I chuckled, standing up and turning to him. I was right. He was staring at me, looking utterly bemused - an eyebrow raised.

"It is. Don't you think so?"

He sighed, shaking his head slightly, "Alright, it is. But it's also cold, and we can't possibly travel in this. We'll have to stay here until it melts. Nalvia knows how long we'll be stuck if it snows again."

I looked at the white expanse in front of me. "The first snow. My sisters told me that there used to be a celebration at the palace for it."

Aiden crouched next to me. I could see his face through the corner of my eye. "I've heard of that. We have it in the camps, too, though probably not as grand as you did."

"Not me," I corrected, leaning back on my heels, my bare skin freezing.

Aiden sighed heavily. I glanced at him to see him looking at me. "Tell me about your sisters."

I bit my lip, looking back into the trees. "Where do I begin? I barely remember the older ones - Laurel, Sylvan, Olive. But they were the kindest, humblest women you'd ever know. I remember Ash a bit - and Willow and Holly. They were the ones that raised me. They taught me everything about being a queen, the things Laurel and Sylvan taught them. They made sure I wasn't afraid, wasn't ever lonely."

I let out a small laugh, pulling my knees to my chest. "I was the baby of the family. They protected me, made sure Ivy hurt them, not me."

"There was one more. Eight princesses," Aiden said, after I paused for a while.

I nodded, choking down the sob that had built up in my throat. "Juniper. She was barely two years older than me. The two of us, we didn't remember anything except those cells. She was my best friend, we went through everything together."

Aiden waited as I wiped a traitorous tear. "We knew Ivy was going to kill her. A few days before she was to turn sixteen, we made plans to escape. Ivy - Ivy found out, and - "

A sob broke out, and I covered my mouth, shutting my eyes tightly. I could still hear it. Juniper's screams, my screams, our pleas for help. I could see Juniper, bloody, still feel the pain that had shaken my body after Ivy had punished us.

She'd held me for so long as we cried. We'd known we'd lost. Lost to Ivy.

Aiden's arms encircled me. I buried my head in his chest as I shook, forcing out the words. After all this time, it was good to tell someone everything. "She made sure I wasn't alone in those days before Ivy killed her."

"She sounds incredible," Aiden said, rubbing my back lightly. I nodded, though he couldn't see me.

"She was the best. But then she was gone, and - "