Page 27 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
“King Naseem is harsh,” Simin states before she pales slightly.
“Don’t worry, no one here cares what you say about him,” Alana confides in her.
“Literally, our father hates him,” Eibhlin says with a giggle. She was quiet until now, just listening to us, but now she seems to warm up.
“Eibhlin, don’t say that,” Kilah berates. “It’s inappropriate.”
“Why?” she shrugs. “It’s the truth.”
Eibhlin now comes closer to walk next to me. I haven’t talked much to her during dinner, but now that I can take a closer look she really looks like a little angel, at least on the outside. She is dressed entirely in black though. “You are the youngest?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she giggles. “And they make sure to constantly remind me of it.”
“She looks younger than she is though,” Kilah explains. “She is already sixteen.”
“Really?” I eye her curiously, noticing how she carries a porcelain doll with her.
“You should act more your age,” Kilah tells her. “I’m surprised you don’t get bullied more.”
“Oh, a group of kids tried to,” she says with a smile. There is a glint in her eyes when she says it that makes me pause for a moment. I know that look. Shayan or my brother Kiyan have it sometimes when they go on a hunt.
“Really?” Alana furrows her brows now and looks at her. “And what did you do?”
“I told their leader that if they don’t stop, I will come to them in their sleep and poke their eyeballs with a needle.” She laughs at her own words, her laughter resembling a bell that echoes through the hallway, while the rest of us stare at her with wide-opened eyes. “What?” she pouts. “It’s not like I would have truly done that… just maybe appeared with a needle next to his bed and scared him.”
“Erm,” Alana clears her throat. “I promise, Eibhlin isn’t a psychopath.”
“Just a bit,” Kilah adds.
“I just like horror stories,” Eibhlin tells me. With her golden locks, she truly looks so innocent. Looks can be deceiving though. This girl is certainly not a pushover, and although I’m a little creeped out, I find it fascinating. “I’ve heard you saw the white woman?”
“What?” Kilah and Alana say in unison.
“So, there is a story about that?” I ask, exchanging a gaze with Simin. “Tynan and Royan told me it’s nothing, just a myth.”
“Yes, it is a myth,” Alana says. “We have plenty of them circling around. The problem is that more and more of them seem to come alive.”
“Myths have a reason for existing,” Eibhlin chirps. “People just forgot someone or something existed, and then they labeled it as myths.”
“It can also be a metaphor though,” Kilah points out.
The topic seems to be of interest to her also, so she forgets to be her regal princess-self and actually engages with her sisters. I smile discreetly. In a way, she reminds me of myself.
“Royan said there have been sightings,” Simin says.
“That’s one way to put it,” Alana shakes her head. “A week ago, our older brothers were saving a village close to the borders of no-man’s land,” she explains. “They were attacked by something. A worrying occurrence recently. When they returned with the surviving villagers, something continued to chase them.”
“Did it really happen, though?” Kilah wants to know.
“Endellion saw it and heard it,” Alana says. “So did Flinn.”
“But, maybe they imagined things,” Kilah offers. “A snow monster doesn’t exist.”
“Kilah, they aren’t idiots,” Alana says sharply. “And they are alpha wolves with strong senses.”
“No-man’s land?” I ask. “You mean the land where we passed through when traveling here? Are the people there in danger?”
“No, that’s just a small strip of land,” Alana explains. “Technically, the whole Kingdom is surrounded by no-man’s land, but not all of it is dangerous. It’s the villages that are close to the North mountains that have been attacked recently.”
