AN: This is a fairytale story which I've been working on for awhile. Hope you like it. :P

Disclaimer: Don't own TT.

Winter

"I'm the prince of this place." The one and only Prince Jericho spoke evenly. "Speak your name and your purpose, noble Lady."

"Jericho": a term of sympathy coined by the Second-Prince's adoring subjects. A name to reflect a guarded heart, one that the soft-spoken prince himself claimed was trapped in frigid ice. It had been physically ensnared by the cold menace, the prince said, after his brother's and his mother's sudden deaths. First-Prince Grant had died to his warrior pride; and Queen Adeline had died for her grief shortly after him.

Prince Jericho's father, the king, had died in a sense after his wife, and had fled to the East for peace of mind. Guilt hung over him still even there, like a malicious cloud threatening to pour cold rain on him forever, because his beloved son had died.

Grant had died practically by his hand! By the missed presence of his guiding hand, his favorite heir had fallen. Grant's vice had always been pride, and until his dying day King Slade had been there to chain him back down to earth, where he was mortal. However, in the heat of battle that day, far from his homeland and its king's watchful eye, Grant had esteemed himself as more god than man. Throwing himself deeper into the frenzy of battle, and deeper into a frenzy of bloodlust of the mind, the ill-fated prince had scarcely blinked before finding himself impaled upon the golden spear of the enemy. With a bloody cough, the first-prince then gathered strength enough to drive his sword through his murderer's stomach and entrails. After that revenging act, First-Prince Grant lived not a second more.

The first-prince's herald relayed that heroic story to the noble parents and only brother of the dearly departed. Second-Prince Joseph took a vow of silence for weeks after the news was broken to him. He kept his silence even while watching his mother fade back to the dust from whence all mankind is rumored to have sprung. When death finally consumed Queen Adeline, the sensitive youth did allow words to rip out of his mouth, although every syllable he spoke condemned his fragile conscience. With every painful utterance, images of his mother, who he had selfishly neglected during her final days, appeared before his mind's eye. Even basic servant-master interactions tortured the second-prince.

Being the only enduring son of their king, the common masses assumed, rather presumptuously, that King Slade would turn his face to his remaining son and love him more than ever before, as grief over a loss or over many losses can sometimes breed intense love for what remains. But Joseph had been a mother's son, not a father's mirror image. Second-Prince Joseph had erred often to show mercy from the throne, a philosophy that stood against the reigning king's unpopular iron-fist policy. Grant had understood righteous judgment, and even consistency in law enforcement, but Joseph so highly favored mercy above simple judgment. So Joseph was not fit to rule in his stead.

Regardless of his opinions about his only son, King Slade had left the lad in charge of the Kingdom Wintergreen a year prior, while he traveled.

Seizing the opportunity, the masses petitioned for, nigh demanded that the second-prince claim the crown while his father tarried in the Orient. The humble young man did resist, but the people pressed him in overwhelming force for a year - so hated was his father! Prone to leniency and compromise, Second-Prince Jericho finally struck a deal with them, pledging: "Once I am married, then I will rule you, but not before then. It's the custom to be married first. So find me a woman to melt my heart and heat my blood, and then I will usurp my king."

His proposition put the people in a bind. They perceived that the most exotic of women never made his knees weak. Prince Jericho knew that his subjects were oblivious of his preferences, and that they would never see his eyes stick to a pretty lady's back, although he might indulge his senses right in front of the masses.

In the young man's heart, love and respect for King Slade restrained him from the kingship, and marriage by extension. In his heart, the prince had already decided to remain lesser than his father and preserve his seat for him. But, having sensed a revolution in the making, Prince Jericho acted against his intentions and made a bargain with the people so they would be content while the smart prince waited anxiously for King Slade to return.

All manner of noblewoman came into the prince's presence intent to marry during his long wait, and just as many were sent away from him. Desperately, the masses flung their own daughters at his feet, and pledged that they would be as slaves if he would only marry them and take the throne! The prostitution disgusted Jericho, who then wrote into law that no prince, then or thereafter, could marry a common woman. If anything would bring hysteria and heartlessness to his land, the prince would blot it out with his royal pen.

But the terrible acts of prostitution sowed doubt and bitterness in Prince Jericho's heart where sympathy and kindness usually stood. The boy caught himself directing more resentment toward his beloved father than care. The love of a son did remain, but all tenderness seemed to flee from King Slade's memory and find rest with the commoners. How the common people detested Slade and feared his return! Was there no reason for the people's hatred and fear, or too many reasons to cite? Had his king's policies fallen to corruption, and his reign also to evil?

Curiosity mounting, Jericho combed over legal documents such as tax laws, land rights bills, and so many declarations of war that his head spun, all to find a sliver of goodness done in his father's kingly name. The study revealed needless wars and King Slade's warlust, which both sickened Jericho. The toll constant war had on the industries, resources, and young men of Wintergreen was unforgivable - unforgivable! Wintergreen was a kingdom built on the skeletons of warriors, average soldiers, and victims! Never once had peace reigned along with King Slade!

Upon that revelation, something beneath the prince's rib cage clenched, and he fainted there in the study. He awoke days later to see a nurse seated near him, who jumped when he rose from his bed.

"Truly, we believed you were dead!" she had said breathlessly. "Your body was stone cold, and the doctor couldn't find a heartbeat!"

A thought had then occurred to the prince, a way out of his pact with the people. It would prey on their presumptions, really depend on them, but now he was as desperate for revolution as they were.

"When my brother and mother first passed..." he began uneasily, "I sought out an avenue to resurrect them. I had heard of the witch Raven who camps in the caves on the western border, and of her great magical power; so I sought her out, and found her. A favor I asked, but a curse she gave me: an icy cage that has trapped my heart. It is the reason why I have yet to marry, because how can I love anyone with a frozen heart?"

The nurse answered in distress, "Impossible! How will you take the throne?"

"By treason, I fear, and quickly, before my father returns through the East Gate or I lose my nerve. Whichever comes first!"

Shortly after that, Prince Jericho had discovered by messenger that his father had arrived through that very gate weeks prior. His pact with the people, which he had written as a covenant and officially sealed with the family crest, became the prince's sole option for toppling his father's reign legally. As a document sealed by the reining family member, it held weight enough to crush King Slade's seat on the throne.

If Prince Joseph tried to overthrow the king by himself while Slade lived within his kingdom's borders, civil war was assured. With the people and the law on his side, however, the crown was as good as his, so Joseph finally resigned to marry.