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Salome shakes her head and smiles with pride in her gaze.
“No, dear. You sound like a queen. And it’s time you remind everyone of it.”
Chapter 2
Katrina
I twist and turn in my bed, sleep a sullen stranger that refuses to pay me his visit. Salome’s earlier counsel keeps me awake, as I stare at my ceiling, wondering how I’ll ever live up to the fearless Winter Queen she envisions me to be.
But her words aren’t the only ones that rummage through my mind. The man who accused me—in my own court, no less—to be an unfit queen, also plagues my thoughts.
Two very different people who hold polar opposite impressions of the person that I am, yet I have no idea who is right and who is wrong in their assessment.
The only thing I know to be true is that Iammy father’s daughter. Which means I can’t lie around here and wait for someone to fight my battles for me. And by the way things are going, a battle is starting to feel unavoidable.
Levi.
Teo.
Atlas.
All three deserve my wrath for their part in my troubled sleep.
I’m not a fool. These crown games all come down to one thing—who holds power and who is forced to relinquish theirs.
How am I to show these kings, and my kingdom, that I’m not one to be trifled with? That I can lead as well as my father did before me? Or any man for that matter.
War is not an option, but neither is having my people starve, which they will, if I don’t have the means to feed them. I need to make an example of their insolence while still being able to rely on their patronage, but how?
These questions keep me up until the rays of dawn begin to filter through the curtains of my bedroom window, alerting me that a new day has commenced.
Since rest is no longer possible, I get up from my bed, throw on a robe, and wrap the belt around my waist, even though I am far from cold with the fury that bleeds out of me.
On bare feet, I walk over to my window and stare at the white-covered mountains on the horizon, wondering how long they will keep danger at bay.
In my mind, I picture Levi’s soldiers marching over them, their swords raised high and aimed at my heart. I’d willingly let them cut it out of me if I thought it would spare the lives of my people. But it wouldn’t. Not if Teodoro insists on starving every commoner and lord alike. Even if Levi took the crown from me and placed it on his raven head, Teo would never accept Levi as his rightful ruler. And as for Atlas? Who knows where his allegiances lie.
No.
Aikyam has always had but one ruler—the north, and it will remain that way as long as air still fills my lungs.
I must find a way to punish all three kings while somehow keeping them obedient and loyal to me.
But again… how?
It wasn’t always like this between us.
Once upon a time I called these three wretched kings my best friends. Even though it seems like a lifetime ago, I can still recall when they were just boys, eager to experience life to its very fullest, with no thought of dethroning me whatsoever.
It was a simpler time then.
A time where this castle was filled with the echoes of their joyous laughter.
Their families would travel, far and wide from their rightful lands, and come north to pay their respects to their true king. I remember standing by this precise window, waiting impatiently for their arrival. It was the highlight of my year, knowing they would spend a whole month within these walls. As an only child at the time, I eagerly awaited those days where I could bask in their friendship and companionship. None of us talked about how one day I would rule them all or even cared for that matter. We were equals then, even if there were obvious distinctions in our personalities.
Levi, being the oldest of us, took his responsibility of making sure none of us came to any harm very seriously. Especially when it came to me and Atlas. Me, because I was the only girl in the foursome, and Atlas, because he was always so sickly back then.
Atlas…
