Page 6 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“There is another reason King Naseem is sending his beautiful daughter to us, aside from wanting to get rid of her to allay his fear,” Quinn says. “She is only nineteen, said to be kind and smart, and blessed with the gift - whatever that means.”
“He wants her to marry into our kingdom,” I conclude. “She is basically a human sacrifice to them.”
“Dad,” Endellion looks at him earnestly. “You want one of us to marry this woman?”
“No, I want you to win her heart in whatever way you deem suitable,” Dad says. “If this leads to one of you falling in love with her and her with you, that’s even better.” He frowns. “Rumors said she was barely allowed to leave the castle and its grounds; she could never talk to someone her age. She is a lonely soul, and a human on top of that. I want to see who of you has it in you to make a hurt and shunned girl open her heart again, and feel welcome here. Technically, winning the princess as a willing ally would be of benefit to our kingdom, since she could be a strong advisor to whoever of you will rule. On a more personal level, I hate King Naseem; I want to shove it in his face that we aren’t as presumptuous as he is and can treat his child better than he does.”
Silence stretches around us. “Dad, what if none of us succeeds?” I ask. “It is a possibility that this young woman will be so terrified she won’t let anyone in.”
“Then we’ll return to Quinn’s plan with the chosen mates,” he grumbles.
Again, silence stretches around us, before Flinn breaks it. “Alright, I’m in,” he says.
“Excuse me,” I blink.
“I’m fed up with this. Dad needs to make a decision, and if she’s suited to one of us and it helps, I’m all for it. I hate how we are all beating around the bush constantly. Let’s face it, one of us has to
“And what if the girl hates your guts?” Endellion asks with a chuckle.
He shrugs, grinning a little. “Then, there are still the both of you, who are too responsible not to at least try.”
Endellion nods. “Alright,” he says. “I see nothing wrong with trying to help this young princess.”
“I could see it as another mission,” I admit.
Dad’s scheming something - I just know it - and I hate that we all just have to play along, but Flinn is right, all of us just want to settle this. We all have the drive of an Alpha King, we are all strong, but onlyonecan become king.
Endellion isn’t wrong either, saying that a young woman who has been neglected her whole life deserves to feel welcomed and loved.
I feel there is more to this story about the princess, though, and the real reason Dad wants her to stay with us so much.
*FLINN*
“What’s the old man plotting now?” I ask my brothers once we have left the meeting room. Dad even opened the bottle of wine to celebrate his ‘brilliant idea.’ I know brilliant ideas, they don’t call me Master Manipulator for nothing, and this isn’t one.
There are a gazillion things that can go wrong. What if the poor girl is so traumatized she hates us all? What if she simply doesn’t like any of us? I feel like she should be working with an actual professional doctor or therapist instead of with three single men. Worst comes to worst; there won’t be a winner next year, and Dad will have to find another way to choose his heir.
At least he doesn’t want us to marry her. I’m sure she is a nice girl, but she unfortunately has the wrong gender. Now if her father sent a hot prince here, we would be talking.
“I think he just doesn’t want to choose,” Endellion says quietly. “He thinks if he chooses one of us the others will automatically be envious, and our bond will break.”
“It’s not going to be that way,” Caelan says shortly.
“Yes, we know that,” Endellion says. “Because we have this special bond between us, which makes it physically and mentally impossible for us to hurt each other. But no one else truly knows how it feels to be connected like we are; they don’t understand. They believe because we are an alpha’s successor and have the drive of a leader in us, it will lead to a massive fallout once one of us is chosen.”
I sigh. I hate that Endellion is right. “Come, the blizzard passed. Let’s head outside and check the damage.”
“You want to go outside and work?” Endellion smirks. “Are you sick?”
I roll my eyes. “Very funny!”
“What’s funny?” The voice of our younger brother reaches me. Nevyn comes running towards us, waving his arms. He looks odd like that as he is quite tall. Other than that, he looks more feminine than the three of us. He has soft gentle features, and his white skin and green eyes are a stark contrast to his almost black hair. He has been growing it out and is keeping it long.
Caelan has been in his ear for a while to cut it short again. The man has an aversion to long hair, it seems, but Endellion told him to suck it up, be a good brother and accept Nevyn the way he was.
Being called a ‘bad brother’ did the job it seems.
And they call me the most manipulative! Unbelievable.
