Chapter 7: Interlude - Heart of Ice
Pale, delicate fingers slid along the smooth, chill surface of the glittering balustrade. Deep blue fabric swept up the stairs before feet found the floor of the corridor.
She made her way silently down the empty corridor, her breaths sparkling in the air before her with every exhale. It was cold here. It was always cold here, but the cold was her birthright and it had never bothered her.
She stopped before a half-open door and pushed it open. The room beyond was furnished with the most luxurious fabrics, exquisite furniture and richly-coloured artworks. On the cushioned chair by the window lounged a tall, blue-haired woman in a long green gown.
The girl was waved in by the woman as soon as she caught sight of her.
"Come, come, look at this," she cooed.
The girl moved forward, edging around the other person in the room while keeping her eyes averted from them. She went to the woman's side.
The woman held up a beautiful necklace, thin golden chain dangling from her fingers. Hanging from the chain was a large, perfectly-cut hyruski gem. It caught the sunlight from the window, light dancing in the girl's eyes.
"Touch it," the woman encouraged.
The girl raised one finger to press it against the frozen surface of the gem. It barely brushed the surface of the gem before she drew it back.
"W-what is that?" she asked, stunned by the amount of power radiating from the gem.
"Something we've been working on," the woman said, her blood-red lips turning up into a smile that held no joy. Only pride. "It is a fitting gift for a princess, isn't it?"
The girl couldn't say anything to that. Instead, she meekly excused herself from her aunt's presence and fled the room.
The crystalline walls of the palace blurred in her vision as she walked quickly down the stairs. The few foreigners who had been privileged enough to see the palace made entirely of ice had called it a marvel. A beauty incomparable to any other in the world. A creation worthy of the gods.
It should have felt like home. Once, it had. But recently it had come to feel more like a trap. She couldn't help but think that the eternal chill of the palace was seeping into her veins, hardening her heart. As it had her aunt's.
Why couldn't her aunt be satisfied with what they had? Why wasn't it enough for her? Why did she continually seek more?
This place was all the girl had ever wanted. But instead she was swept along with her aunt's desires, forced to be a pawn in her bid for more influence over the other kingdoms. There was nothing she could do about it. Until she turned eighteen, her aunt held all the power over her.