Part Thirteen: In Which All Things Are Ended

I'm barely halfway up the stairs when Eduard reaches the landing in front of the throne room. The doors open, and he steps inside. He's already talking to his parents when I slip through the doorway and stop just inside the room.

"… will be the last one." I hear him say. "She has the grit and the fire. I think she'll do it. One way or another, this has to end. I can't … we can't exist like this anymore."

He shakes his head, his shoulders rising and falling with a loud sigh. "We've had so many of these one-sided conversations in the past. I said cruel and thoughtless words. I let myself blame you for my failings, but ultimately, they were all my choices. We're in this situation because of me. I have one last thing I need to say, though."

Queen Esme's eyes follow Eduard as he steps closer to her. Tentatively, he raises his hand, groping for the frozen river of tears that coat her face and run down her body. He traces them with his hand––up her arm, over her shoulder, and to her cheek. "I love you, Mother," he whispers. His voice trembles a little when he continues. "I'm so sorry I made you cry."

Esme's eyes fill with tears. They catch on her lashes before Eduard smooths them away with his thumb. Her gaze follows him as he steps away, turning to face his father.

"Father, I know I wasn't the best of sons, and I know you were disappointed in me. Yet, I want to think if we had been given more time, we could have worked through our differences, and you would have been proud of me."

Eduard takes several steps backward. Still facing his parents, he bows to them once. "Goodbye," he says before turning and walking toward the entrance. He pauses when he passes me. "Please come with me, Isabeau." Then he steps through the door and turns to his right.

I linger just long enough to look at the king and queen on their thrones. Everything Eduard told me earlier about his parents and his relationship with them has confused my feelings, and I'm unsure what to think. They're watching me closely, almost urgently. It feels as if they're trying to convey some message I don't understand. Turning, I leave the room, following Eduard out onto the landing.

He's waiting for me at the entrance to the wing that houses the royal chambers. "Aa'leese told me I wasn't allowed to enter here," I remind him.

He smiles and chuckles softly. "I think you've proven you don't always do what Aa'leese tells you. Besides, you're with me, and I have something to show you."

"Isa?" he asks when I hesitate.

"I'm coming."

Eduard leads me to a door about halfway down the corridor. I'm not sure what I'm expecting when he opens it. Perhaps a luxuriously appointed royal apartment, replete with elegant furnishings. It is a beautiful room, all white of course, but it isn't what I'm expecting.

There are four beds spaced around the room, and on each one is the frozen body of a young woman.

My heart is pounding, my hands tremble, and I'm gasping for breath as I slowly limp into the room. I don't want to be here. Yet, I know it is important for me to face the secrets hidden in this room.

"Eduard?"

He's still standing by the door, hands fisted and lips clenched as he stares at the floor. He doesn't answer me. I let my gaze roam around the room again, and I realize these are the women who came before me. They are the other girls from my village who volunteered to enter the ice mountain to teach the cold prince within the secrets of True Love. This is what became of them.

Reluctantly, I step closer to the first bed.

The young woman is very beautiful. Long hair is spread out on the pillow beneath her head. Even in its frozen whiteness it looks shiny and lustrous. Her closed eyes are fringed in thick lashes, and her lips are full and plump. I'm surprised to recognize the dress she's wearing. Although bleached white, it looks just like the blue one Aa'leese tried to dress me in for my first dinner with Prince Eduard. The one I took off and replaced with the deep purple gown. It looks better on this woman than it would have on me because her body is curvy and well-formed.

The longer I look at her, the more unsettled I become. There's something about her––maybe it's the familiar dress. I move quickly to the second bed.

This woman looks very much like the first but with subtle differences. She's thinner all over. Her face more pinched, her lips narrower. She's also wearing a dress I recognize. It's the purple gown I loved so much. As I examine her closer, my eyes are drawn to her shoulders. Something is oddly wrong with one of them. It appears to rest higher than the other. I tell myself it's just the way she's been positioned on the bed, but a growing unease twists inside me, and I know it's more than that. With a strangled cry, I rush to the third bed.

It only takes a few moments for me to find what I'm looking for. Even the midnight blue gown she's dressed in, the same one I refused to wear this evening, can't hide the humped back, the twisted hips and shoulders, and the uneven legs. The face is thinner, harder, but it's still the same.

I know what I'll find even before I reach the fourth bed. As I stare down at the young woman there, dressed in a patchwork dress very much like the one I'm wearing, I have to accept the awful truth of what I'm seeing.

They, all four of them, are me.

"Eduard!" I scream. He doesn't answer. He hasn't moved, still standing by the door, still staring at the floor. Angrily, I cross the room and grab his sleeve, shaking him until he has to look up at me.

"Where are the others?" I demand.

"What?" He frowns at me. "What do you mean?"

"The other women who volunteered to come in here. Where are they?"

"There were no others. I'm sorry, Isa, it's only been you."

"But … But you can't see. How did you know it was me?"

"Your voice, my love. It was always so unique. As soon as you spoke, I knew it was you. The curse took away all my senses except hearing and touch. Over the years, my hearing has become very acute. I can hear the changes in your body just by listening to your footsteps. I know what you're wearing by the way your clothing rustles. I can tell there's something in your pocket because it makes a slight rubbing sound when you walk."

My mind is a whirl of confusion as I consider everything that's happened since I entered the ice mountain. "If you knew it was me, then why were you so rude and ill-behaved when I met you in the throne room and later in the dining room?"

"Because …" He sighs, then shakes his head sadly. "Because I wanted you to hate me. I wanted you to despise me so much that you would never remember the love you once had for me."

"Why, Eduard? Why would you want me to hate you?"

"Look around you, Isabeau!" he shouts, throwing his arms open. "I've been responsible for your death five times. Five times, Isa! Once when I met you the first time, and four more when you came here to save me. I can't endure it another time. I can't, my love." Eduard's shoulders sag, and he covers his face with his hands. A ragged sob tears through his body, and I so want to comfort him. Instead, I turn and walk back to the first version of me.

"Did they know, Eduard?" I ask. "Did they all understand who they were and what had happened?"

I hear him move beside me. "Yes." His cheeks are coated with tears, and he wipes them away before speaking again. "She recognized me immediately. I stood at the sound of her voice and caught her in my arms when she ran to me. She was laughing, kissing me, calling my name. I was so happy! I thought we'd broken the curse and could resume our lives, but then she started screaming and turned to ice. That's when we learned my touch would freeze any living thing."

Eduard leans over the bed, running his fingers lightly, reverently, over her face and hair. "This is how I remember you, Isabeau, my wild, beautiful Northern Princess."

"I don't look like that now."

"I know." He straightens, then turns to me. "Each time you came back, I could tell your harsh life had taken its toll on your body. It was one more terrible thing I was responsible for. I'm sorry, Isa. I'm so, so sorry. You must know that I don't care how you look; outward beauty means little to me now. Inside, you're still the same person I fell in love with. I can't see your outside appearance, and it doesn't matter anyway. I loved you then, I love you now, and I'll love you forever."

His declaration brings tears to my eyes. I want to run to him, to throw my arms around my Eduard, and cover his face with kisses. Instead, I cross the room to where the last version of myself lies frozen on her bed of white. She looks so like me––thin, and drawn, and … tired? There is one difference, however, clutched tightly in her right hand is a long sharp knife, much like the one I left in my room earlier. Aa'leese's words repeat in my head. Harden your heart and do what you came here to do.

"Did she try to use it?" I ask when I sense him standing beside me.

"Yes," he finally admits. "That's when we learned steel couldn't hurt me."

"And now you want me to use the icicle in my pocket."

For a long moment he doesn't answer me. "What do you know of the curse, Isa?"

His words surprise me. They're not what I'm expecting. "Uh …" I try to remember what Nana told me. "A fair maiden must willingly enter the ice mountain and teach the prince imprisoned there the meaning of True Love."

"And what else? Was there a time limit on the curse?"

"Ten times …" My voice trails off as I look around the room. "Ten," I whisper. "You had one hundred years to break the curse."

"Did Nana tell you what happens after the hundred years is over?"

"She said …" I have to stop and think for a moment, then her words come to me, and I repeat them. "She said, 'Should a hundred years pass without its breaking, then the curse shall last forever until the stars fall from the sky and time is no more.'

"Oh, my gods," I mumble. The horror of what I've just said seeps into my brain. If the curse isn't broken, then Eduard, along with everyone else inside the ice mountain, will be trapped here forever. Images of him wandering these silent walls, eating cold, frozen food in the dining room, and playing the piano to an empty room form in my mind. It's a fate I would not wish on my worst enemy.

Quickly, I scan the room again, finally understanding what I'm seeing. If I came back every twenty years and this is the fifth time, then this is the last chance to break the curse.

Eduard!" I shout, turning to him. "The hundred years is almost over. We have to break the curse now. You have to learn the secrets of True Love."

"No." He shakes his head slowly. "No. We've tried before, Isabeau. Each time you came back, you told me stories, myths, and parables about love. We talked about love, and you showed me love. You tried so hard to save me, but my sins are too many. I have too many wrongs to account for. Look around you and face the truth. I am beyond redemption."

"No, no," I argue. "Everyone is worthy of forgiveness. There must be something we've missed. I wonder …" So lost am I in my musing that I don't notice what Eduard is doing until the sound of his frock coat hitting the floor catches my attention. He's still dressed in his linen shirt, but he pulls it from his breeches and begins loosening the ties in the front lacings.

"Eduard, what are you …" Memories of him smiling at me while I opened his shirt and slipped it over his head flood my mind. I remember sliding my hands across his broad chest, over his shoulders, and around his neck. His hair was soft and silky when I ran my fingers through it and pulled his head down for another kiss. Desire races through me, and I must groan slightly.

His head snaps up and anger fills his face. "No!" he commands. "Do not think of that night. Do not think of love or pleasure. Think of the next morning. Remember the sorrow and hurt of learning I was betrothed to Princess Tanya. Hate me, Isabeau!"

"I … can't."

Eduard moves so quickly I barely react before he's grabbed the pocket on my skirt and ripped it free. The icicle is in his hand with the sharp end pressed against the bare skin of his chest.

"Here, right here. Push on it here, Isa. It will slip between my ribs and enter my heart, and we can finally end this horrible curse and you can return to your village."

Slowly, my hand raises and grasps the end of it. "How can you ask me to take your life? I can't, my love. I'm … I'm just not strong enough."

"Yes, you are. You can do this. Please, Isa, please. If you have any pity left for me in your heart, please don't condemn me to an eternity in this prison. I cannot endure it. I'll go mad. Please, my love."

"I could stay with you. We could be together forever."

"And do what?" He scoffs. "Let you feed me dinner every night like a child? Sit in the music room while I play the same songs over and over until you think you will go mad if you hear them one more time? I can't see, Isa. Do you want to spend eternity reading to me? How many sightless walks can we take around the frozen gardens?"

He huffs again, shaking his head in frustration. "Can you imagine the agony of never being able to touch you? We've tried that before, too. Something always happens. An accident, a trip, a bump, I would forget and reach out, and then you would die screaming in my arms while I felt your body freeze beneath my touch.

"Please do not ask this of me. Push it into my heart and let my torment end."

"Harden your heart, harden your heart," I whisper to myself. My grip tightens on the ice shard, and I hesitantly push on it. His skin parts and the icicle slips a little way into his body. Bright red blood wells up around the puncture site. It startles me so much I start to pull back.

"No," Eduard shouts. His hand moves forward, trying to keep the icicle in place. It slips on the ice and slides over mine. Suddenly, we're touching, holding hands around the means of his death. I feel the cold immediately. It's a sharp, almost burning pain that turns my hand to ice.

"Isabeau!" he screams. He jerks, frantically trying to loosen his grip on my hand, but we're frozen together and there is no separating. "No, no, no, not again," he cries. "Please, dear gods, please don't let this happen again! "Kill me, Isa! Push the ice into my cold heart and end this, now!"

His white eyes stare at me, pleading for me to end this madness. And I stare back at him, trying to ignore the freezing pain creeping up my arm. When I glance down at our joined hands, I notice his has some color to it. As if my warmth has leached into his skin. It reminds me of the cover of the book in the library that changed to its original color when I touched it. I want to see his eyes, his lips, his face. Reaching up, I place my left hand on the side of his face, cupping his cheek with my palm.

The white fades away, leaving his skin pale but with a hint of pink in his cheeks. His lips are full and rosy, his hair a riot of fiery chestnut curls held in place by a golden circlet. Then I see his eyes. As the paleness disappears, it's replaced by the startling green touched with blue that I remember so well.

He blinks, and then focuses on me. "Isabeau," he breathes my name. A happy smile brings life to his face. "Isabeau, I see you."

"Yes." I grin back. "And I see you, too. Oh, Eduard, I see you, and I remember everything." I want this moment to last forever as we stand gazing at each other, but the cold is creeping up my arms, and it hurts. I've known worse pain, but I still can't stop the grimace when it spreads across my twisted shoulder.

"Isa?" Frantically, his eyes survey my body. I want to flinch away from his gaze, afraid of his reaction. There is nothing but love and concern when he returns to my face. "We've run out of time, my love. Please––"

"Shh, no more talk of killing. We can break the curse."

"We've tried before, it doesn't––"

"Hush, Eduard," I interrupt him again. "Listen to me. Each night, I kept you waiting in the dining room. At first, you yelled and were rude, but tonight after waiting more than two hours, you greeted me with courtesy. Why, Eduard?"

"Because I …" He frowns. "Because I wanted to see you, and you were worth waiting for."

"Still, you could've been cruel when I finally appeared."

He grinned at her. "No, I couldn't. I love you too much. So, I just waited patiently, knowing you would come when you could."

"Then you learned the first secret of True Love, Eduard. Whether you realized it or not you learned patience, and True Love is always patient."

"I …" Understanding crosses his face. "What else, Isa? Quickly," he adds watching the frost spread across my chest.

"The night I fed you chocolate and told you the story of Old Nana. What did you learn that night?"

"Kindness." He smiles slightly. "You were kind to me because all your life Old Nana and the villagers had been kind to you, and True Love is always kind."

"Yes, and the story of Roselynn?"

This time a bigger smile brightens his face. "I learned that True Love is not proud."

"See, you are capable of learning True Love, Eduard."

His smile fades when we both glance around us, silently waiting for the sound of ice melting or some other indication that the curse has been broken. There is nothing, only silence, and the whiteness continues to spread across my body.

That's when I know, when the certainty of what I've suspected all along settles within me.

"Isa?" Eduard's worried face turns to me again. "It's not working, my love. You know what you have to do. Please, before it's too late." The pleading in his voice breaks my heart, but I shake my head, denying his words.

"That's because the meaning of True Love wasn't only yours to learn. I, too, had a lesson to learn. You see––love, real love, True Love––is also steadfast. It doesn't doubt. It isn't suspicious or uncertain; it doesn't run away. That's what I did. I ran away. At the first hint of doubt, I fled. I could have stayed. I should have stayed. We would have spoken, and I would've learned the truth. Instead, I gave in to despair and let it take my life.

"Have you ever wondered why my life has been so harsh?"

"The conditions––" he starts, but I interrupt him.

"No. Roselynn and Emmett were healthy. No, my love, I needed to learn to endure. I knew pain and discomfort, but this time, I did not give in to despair. I learned to be steadfast. True Love is always steadfast, Eduard."

Once again, he glances around the room, expecting something, anything, to happen, but I know this curse is not over yet because there are at least two more lessons to be learned, and they are the most important of them all.

The ice has reached my lower back. I can feel its grip begin to move down my legs. Although I try not to react, I can't help the shudder that works its way through my body.

Eduard feels it, too. I can see the panic in his eyes. Before he can speak, I turn my head slightly and call out to the room. "Mother!"

Aa'leese appears beside us. Her features are altered slightly. Now that I've regained all my memories, I recognize her face. What I don't recognize is this smaller, weaker version of the once proud, strong mother who raised me. This curse has affected her body, too.

Her eyes dart over the icicle poised at Eduard's chest, our clasped hands frozen together, and the ice spreading its way throughout my body.

"Do it, Isabeau! You're the only one who can. Time is running out, and we must be rid of this place. Plunge it into his heart and end this curse so that we can go back to our kingdom and resume our lives."

"And do what?" I ask. "Would you have me live with the knowledge that I ended the life of the only man I will ever love? How can you ask that of me? Think of it, Mother. Would you see me die of despair a second time?"

"Oh, Isabeau, you are overly dramatic, you––"

"No!" I silence her. "I will not kill him! It is time for you to face the harm your curse has caused. Look at what your anger has done, not just to Eduard, but to me, all the people in the palace and the village, and to you, too. You were once a strong leader, a wonderful mother, someone I admired. Now, you're just a shrunken version of yourself, condemned to act as a servant to your own daughter. Oh, Mother …" I have to stop and try to draw a deep breath. The coldness is in my chest, and I gasp for air. "Love is about forgiveness. Do you not love me? Can you not forgive him for my sake?"

So many emotions cross her face––love, sorrow, stubbornness, and then anger and resentment when she focuses on Eduard. "Oh, daughter, I …" she begins, then stops. "I can't."

"Yes, you can, Aa'leese."

We all turn at the sound of a new voice in the room, one I know but never thought to hear again. Her kind features are still the same, but the wrinkles and aged body are gone. In its place is a taller, more commanding version. Clothed in shimmering white and radiating an inner power, she graces me with the most loving smile when I whisper her name.

"Nana?"

"Goddess." I hear my mother gasp.

The loving smile disappears when she focuses on my mother. "I told you, Aa'leese, when you begged this boon from me that revenge was not always sweet. I told you that curses could turn against the speaker, causing as much suffering to the innocent as the guilty. I warned you to consider your path carefully, but you did not. Now, look what your rage has wrought. It's time to forgive and let go of your anger."

Mother shakes her head, but I can see the moisture in her eyes. "But he … I lost …"

"Aa'leese." Nana's voice is softer now. "You've been in this frozen place for a hundred years. Isn't that long enough? Think of your kingdom. Have you forgotten the high mountain meadows, the raging white-water rivers, the towering snow-capped peaks? Your stallion still waits for you. Don't you want to feel the sun on your shoulders while you race him beneath the clear blue skies of your homeland?"

My mother is openly sobbing now. Tears flow down her face as she turns to me. "I'm sorry, my daughter. I'm sorry for what I did to you, for all the misery you had to live though. Forgive me, dear Isabeau, forgive me."

Then she turns to Eduard. "I'm sorry, Prince Eduard. I reacted in anger and did not give you a chance to explain. I know you love her, have always loved her. I've seen you mourn her over and over for a hundred years. My daughter says I should forgive you and I do, but in truth, it is I who should be begging for your forgiveness. Forgive me, please. Let this be over."

While Eduard and my mother continue to talk, I turn my face to Nana. The cold is still spreading. Its freezing grip has wrapped around my heart, and I can feel it slowly failing.

"Are you ready, dear child?" I can hear her voice in my head, and I nod. My throat is ice, and I'm not sure I can speak.

"Isa?" Eduard's voice seems to come from very far away. I look at him one last time. His eyes widen in horror as he realizes what is happening to me. "Goddess," he shouts. "Please."

"There is one last secret of True Love," she tells him. "Isabeau has known it all along and has chosen to fulfill its requirement."

"I don't understand." Frantically, his eyes dart between Nana and me. "Tell me, goddess. Tell me what I must do to save her."

"True Love," I manage to barely whisper. "True Love lays down its life for another."

"Take me," I hear him plead, and my mother echoes his words.

I shake my head slowly. "It was always my choice." I manage to squeeze the words through my narrowing throat. "One I made years ago when the soldiers first came to the village."

My breath is gone, my heart is frozen, my mind no longer functions.

The last thing I say is, "I love you."

The last thing I see are Eduard's desperate eyes.

The last thing I hear is the deep crack of breaking ice.

.

.

AN: Thank you for reading. Epilogue coming soon!