Page 22 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
Another prince turns towards Royan. “Keep an eye on the princess,” he says. His tone is angry but less hard than the first one.
“And we’ll keep an eye on the bears,” the third prince says, sounding confident and almost like he is smirking. “Good thing we had a gut feeling something would go wrong.”
Royan keeps his hand tightly around my reins while the princes follow King Gillean. “Princess Azadeh,” Royan says earnestly. “Now, please take my advice and don’t look back. Keep your eyes on the horizon, please.”
I find myself nodding, dumbfounded. Behind me, I can hear the noise of some cracking and then growls and hisses. One of the bears roars loudly. There are more cracking noises to be heard and more roars.
“They are retreating,” Ita yells from the back.
Royan tosses a glance back and sighs in relief. “There is nothing to worry about anymore, Princess,” he says, and the smile in his eyes convinces me that it’s truly safe. We don’t slow down, though, and instead ride towards the capital swiftly. Warmth fills me at a certain point, like a blanket is stretching over me.
“What is this?” I can hear Simin’s voice.
“A spell,” Ita explains. “It’s to keep the capital safe from mythical intruders.”
“Like the woman in white?” I ask.
It’s quiet around me. Ita seems to want to say something, but Royan is faster. “Yes,” he says simply.
“What does she know about the woman in white?” It’s one of the princes, the first one, with a slightly rough tone in his voice. I shift my gaze to look at him. Now that we have reached the capital, we are slowing down, and I can finally take a few glances at the king and his sons.
“We had an incident close to the borders,” Royan explains.
“What kind of incident?”
“For Goddess’ sake,'' the prince with the sassy smirk intervenes. “Let them arrive before you start interrogating them.” He rides closer to us, and his red hair sparkles in the sun. He winks at me. “You are scaring the princess, Caelan.”
“I’m not scaring anyone!” Caelan grumbles.
They start to bicker slightly, while the second prince rides to my side. He looks at me worriedly. “Are you alright, Princess Azadeh?”
“Yes,” I stutter, finding myself mesmerized by his silver eyes. I have never seen eyes like that before.
“Let’s get her into the safety and warmth of the castle,” King Gillean orders. Everyone follows his order swiftly, the princes falling behind and giving orders to the warriors. Shayan stays with our men to keep an eye on them while Royan leads Simin and me to the castle. I can see some of the locals looking out of their windows. They wave at us and greet us, and I can feel their curious glances on me, but it’s not making me feel uncomfortable.
Royan helps Simin and me down from our horses, hands the reins to a few stable boys and ushers us inside. I have barely time to even look at anything, because the instant we step inside, an elderly lady and a few maids surround us. “These poor girls,” she shakes her head. “They are freezing! Hot chocolate for them!”
I’m still trying to process everything while the lady hurries away, and the maids lead us to a small room. “That’s the private dining room of the royal family,” Royan explains.
Soon enough, the lady returns with mugs full of steaming hot chocolate.
Royan’s eyes gloss over. “King Gillean will be coming any minute.”
*FLINN*
“Trust Caelan to make the worst first impression.” I’m still wheezing at the way he went all alpha on the poor princess.
“She saw a woman in white,” he argues. “I just wanted to know what it’s about!”
“We all do,” Endellion shakes his head. “But I agree with Flinn. Your timing sucks sometimes. I don’t think she was terrified, though.”
“We’ll see,” I say, feeling a tad curious. She set foot into these lands and was already attacked twice. Isn’t that too much of a coincidence? Whoever she is, this is certainly going to be interesting.
“Let’s make sure to meet her properly,” Dad’s voice comes from behind us. “She is waiting for us in the dining room.”
Meeting the princess sounds promising enough for all of us to hurry inside. Dad takes the lead and opens the door to the dining room. Gamma Royan is standing next to the princess, who is drinking something warm, while her friend is next to her.
Her friend raises her gaze, her eyes widening slightly. The poor thing almost looks terrified for a moment. I should have realized it would be a bad idea for us four alpha wolves to waltz into the room this way.
