The Kingdom of Burning Ice

He is unbeatable

Frostine

I woke up to a gentle touch and when I opened my eyes I found the pretty maid from the kitchen standing over me. I sat up and looked at her in confusion. “What are you doing here?” I asked.

“You missed supper, so I brought it for you.” She motioned at the plate she had put on the low table near the hearth.

I gave her a tentative smile as I replied, “Thank you.” I waited for her to leave but instead she just stood there looking down at me. “You can go...” She looked like she was about to cry, I added, “Or not? I thought you’d have work to do.” I didn’t know why but she makes me feel uncomfortable with her wide smiles and those irritating giggles.

And she issued one then. Giggling, she said, “Oh, silly man, I finished my work.” Here she was calling me man and the King called me a little boy or young one. “Now I can sit with you while you eat.”

I focused back on her words and my eyes widened. Oh god, no.

I slid out of the bed and decided to finish my dinner as quickly as I could so she would leave me alone. I walked to the low table and sat down on the floor and she came to sit beside me. I tried to inch away as surreptitiously as I could but she just put her elbow on the wooden table and looked at me with her chin resting on her palm. “You know you are so pretty and handsome, Frost.” I swallowed the bite I had just taken and shrugged. “All the girls in the kitchen think so.” She insisted.

I ate my food in silence while she talked and talked. I felt like any minute now my ears would fall off. She kept talking about the maids, and then the soldier’s and then which maid liked which soldier. And then she reached the topic of King’s family, which if I might say myself got my interest. She told me about the King’s parents that died a long time ago. She told me that the King has an Uncle and Aunt and a cousin. And just when it was getting interesting she drifted off to another topic.

“And you know there is another man that came the day you came.” I peeked up at that mention because I knew who she must be talking about. But I kept my face expressionless unless she knew that I already knew about Trench. “He is pretty too.” As she said that she gave me a coy look and flicked her hair back. “The other day he asked me to walk with him in the forest.”

“Is he getting settled then?” I asked.

“Of course, he is. He is the wolf. One of us, so of course he is getting all the support from the soldiers.”

I didn’t show my happiness at that bit of the news about my friend and also kept my bubbling curiosity to minimum as I asked, “Are you a wolf too?” It certainly explains how that soldier had behaved with me earlier, I wondered if I had been a wolf too then he might not have punched me like that.

She shook her head. “Not now.”

“Not now?” I questioned.

At first she looked at me oddly then said, “Oh, I forget that you are a human and you came from faraway.” She gave me a big smile as she said, “My parents are wolves so I’m one too, but I will come into my form on the night of full moon after my eighteenth birthday. If the night of full moon has already passed then I’d have to wait for a month for the next one. For men it is different, they turn into their maturity at sixteen, as they have to care for their family and to serve the King.”

I nodded but the information was still too much to digest. I asked, “What about those who don’t have wolf parents?”

“Like your uncle Rahat? In such cases, only our highness can give the blessing. There’s a ritual where the king drinks from the person—”

“Drinks?”

“Blôod.” She answered as if it should be obvious and my heart felt like someone had pushed me from the roof. The King drinks blöod!! But Hina continued as she said, “Then the King gives a drop of his own bloöd to the other person to give him the gift as God bestowed upon us.”

“And that’s all it takes for someone to be a wolf? What if someone gave the king his bloöd in secret by contaminating his food and then steal his blood later?” I asked, that thought for some reason made me feel uncomfortable.

“No. It can’t happen.”

“Why not?”

“Because you don’t know what the King is capable of. No one can steal from him.” Her voice dropped as she said, “He hasn’t turned into a wolf in hundred and thirty five years.” When I looked at her with my mouth open and my hand mid-air with my next bite, she said, “Don’t tell me that you didn’t know that wolves can be immortal, the special ones that are chosen by the gods of fate. And the King is one. And what I was telling... Yes, the king hasn’t turned in all these years which is no small feat as it’s impossible for a wolf to remain in human form during a full moon and yet the King doesn’t change. There’s some story behind it that I don’t know, but for all the years he hasn’t turned he had collected the power and strength of his wolf and no one can go against him in the fight. He is unbeatable. And the most powerful Alpha in all the kingdoms.”

No wonder he calls me young one, I thought to myself as it seemed easier to focus on that instead of all the other information she just gave me.

“And you know, when I fall in love, I won’t care if he is not a wolf or my chosen mate...” Hina gave me a look that had me focusing down on my food. “We will ask the king for his blessing and like me my husband will have to pledge his loyalty to the king and both the kingdoms, then may be the king will grant my husband the honor of becoming a wolf.”

I doubted that. That it would be so easy to have his blessing for becoming a wolf. Rahat must have done something very special and honorable for the King or as she put it to both the kingdoms for the king to give him such a gift.

“What is a chosen mate?” I asked instead.

“The chosen mates are the predestined couple. The marriages happen on the basis of arrangement or as deals or for love. But sometimes these marriages are not to the mate chosen by the gods of fate. So the mate remained unknown and away from his/her other half. It’s like the soul of a person is divided in two. When they are close, they feel attracted to each other like magnets. And they could feel each other's emotions when they have a certain kind of relationship.” She leaned closer, licking her lips, she said, “And when they mate it is said that it feels like fireworks in heaven. And also if destined mates touch each other intimately for the first time they automatically have matching marks on their person. So everyone knows that they have found their mate.”

“What if the destined mates or as you said the chosen ones don’t like each other?”

She shrugged. “It happens. It’s not necessary for the wolf to stay with his/her mate but they will always share a connection with the other, as I said, half their soul is the other one. Some don’t care but for some it’s very difficult.”

Once again I inched away from her and drank the sweet cider. “Thank you for the food, Hina.”

“Oh, it's nothing. If you want to thank me, you can just—”

Whatever she was about to say was lost in the loud crash coming from the adjoining room, followed by low angry growls. I stood up on shaky legs and my heart started beating faster as the commotion grew and it suddenly felt very cold. Hina shivered and said in a fearful voice, “Oh, something has happened. The King is angry.”

I hated the fact that I didn't understand. She quickly explained, “He is the ice King, the height of any of his emotions causes us to feel the chill as we are pledged to him.” I turned around and started to go to the door but she grabbed my hand and whispered, “Where are you going?”

“To see what happened.”

“No. You can't go, you could get hurt. The king is angry and by the noise there are other wolves outside.”

“But shouldn't we see what happened for the king to be so angry?” I looked at her face and said, “It's okay if you are a little afraid, but I have to see...” I added, “I am a man and assistant to Uncle Rahat, so...”

“Oh, of course, you should go.” She beamed at me. “And I will tell the maids of your heroic act.”

I scowled inwardly but gave her a smile in return because I thought that's what any man would do.

I pushed the door open slightly and peeked outside. The corridor was empty except for a broken chair. I decided to venture forth, the King’s room wasn’t far so a few steps later I stood on the threshold and couldn’t believe my eyes. “Uncle!!” I rushed forward, dropping to my knees as Rahat sat slumped on a chair, his chest and hand bleeding. “What happened?” I asked and made to touch him but I heard a low growl.

And I made a mistake of turning to the sound, only to stumble back when I saw a very large animal straining against his bounds. The wolf howled at me and his eyes drilled at me like he would like to have me for dinner. I swallowed and inched backwards, afraid that any sudden movement would make him jump at me and he’d tear through his bounds and eat me alive. But something at my back stopped me. And when I tilted my head backwards, I got my upside down view of the king as he stood behind me. His icy eyes with golden flecks in them looked down at me. And it felt like I should run away and never come back because as Hina had said, this close I could feel the iciness of his anger that I hadn't felt before.

To Be Continued...

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