Page 2 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
Have I ever been wrong?I ask him.
Yes, he says.But I’m not taking the risk to prove you wrong today.
He grabs the reins of the teenage girl’s horse and nods at her with a smile. “The blizzard is approaching,” he says gently. “Let’s make sure to get out of here.”
She looks relieved, and after exchanging one last gaze, we both set off leading the other two horses with us. We catch up to the others the moment they begin passing the borders of the capital, the biggest town of our kingdom, situated around the castle. The protection spell around it engulfs everyone the moment they pass through. Even if the blizzard catches up with us now, the dark force behind it will stay outside. Guards and warriors are already running towards us to help the villagers down from their horses and bring them to the safety of the castle.
“Everyone, stay inside,” Caelan yells at the townspeople, who are peeking out of their houses. “The blizzard is hitting any moment!”
He and another bunch of warriors make sure to lead the horses to the safety of the stables, while Flinn and I push our horses to their maximum. “Good boy,” I whisper to mine. “I’ll make sure you receive a feast and a lot of belly rubs for your efforts.”
He neighs as if he understands me.
Flinn and I dash forward with the old man and the girl across the border, feeling how the protection spell closes behind us. The blizzard will come, but whatever else chases us will remain outside. A roar can be heard behind us the moment we make it to safety.
I… I heard that too, Flinn mutters.
The blizzard hits us with its full force the moment I make it to the stables. Thankfully, everyone else is safe inside already. It’s only Caelan, Flinn and I here, and a few warriors who help us with the horses. The storm is already here, rattling the windows, but our houses and buildings are firm; we are used to this weather.
“Good job,” Caelan tells us.
“You too, brother,” I smack his shoulder, while Flinn goes all out and pulls us into a group hug.
“What are you doing?” Caelan grumbles, looking a bit flustered.
“Aw, look at you,” Flinn grins. “All shy and embarrassed.”
I chuckle at his words, while Caelan just furrows his brows.
“You don’t always have to be so serious,” Flinn jokes, poking Caelan’s cheek, only to get his hand smacked away.
Caelan pulls away and turns his attention back to the horses. Although we are triplets, our personalities differ vastly; we also don’t really look the same as we aren’t identical. Caelan looks like our father. He has blue eyes and blonde wavy hair going over his ears, Flinn looks more like Mom with his red short hair, green eyes and freckles. Meanwhile, I am the weird one in the family. I don’t look like anyone in particular. My hair is black and slightly curly, and I have creepy silver eyes, which come from Goddess knows where. The three of us couldn’t be or look any more different. The only thing we share is that at the age of twenty-four, we still haven’t found our mates.
Every shifter is supposed to have the one person fated to him or her, but somehow, my brothers and I haven’t had luck finding ours. I know from my friends that they felt a pull one day, a knowledge that she or he was of age, and their wolves awake. It’s an instinct inside them that tells them their mate is somewhere out there, waiting for them.
As for us three, none of us feels this pull, nor do our wolves. So, either our mates aren’t eighteen yet, or they died before they were of age. My chest clenches at the thought of my mate having died before I met her. But then, even if this might have happened to one of us, how high is the possibility that we all three lost our mates?
Something just doesn’t feel right.
“Cae,” I approach my brother again. “You really led us well today.”
“You made some good points, too,” he answers. “It was your idea to take the mountain path.”
“And you listened to me,” I point out. “You could have ignored me and went with your original plan. You were the leader for this mission.”
He furrows his brows, giving him his usual brooding image. “Mom always says we are weak on our own and strong together.”
The three of us have taken on more and more tasks to help rule the kingdom, and our father makes sure that each of us gets to lead a mission, to play out our strengths and to learn new perspectives. He probably wants to see how well we handle these stressful situations. Dad’s been putting off the decision to announce his heir to the throne. Because we are triplets, it’s more complicated. The power doesn’t automatically fall upon Caelan just because he is the first who popped out of Mom. It shouldn’t be that way; normally, the first-born child of an alpha or Alpha King would inherit all the power, and it would be easy to make one of us king.
But nothing about our birth was normal. Our mother says we are special, because never before have triplets been born in the kingdom. She says we are a miracle, but it feels more like we are cursed.
“Let’s head inside,” Flinn pulls me out of my thoughts.
The stables are directly connected to the castle, fortunately, or we would have needed to spend the next few hours here. Thick sturdy white bricks build the façade of the castle, protecting it from the weather and cold, and making it look like an ice palace from the outside, while inside everything is made out of warm wood and polished stone. The Kingdom of Eternal Ice doesn’t have many resources that grow in the cold, but we give our best so our people can live in comfort and safety.
“Here you are!” a voice reaches us, and light footsteps approach. Alana, one of our sisters and the second oldest after us, approaches. She hugs each of us, her eyes glazed with worry. She is a tomboy and hates most ‘Princessy stuff’ as she calls it. She looks like the spitting image of Mom, tall with her red hair and her green eyes. She cut her hair chin-length a while ago and is always clad in pants and shirts.
Dad complained at first but then gave up and let her be herself.
