"How exactly are we going skiing in the middle of the summer?" I asked Maxwell as we walked towards our car. A couple of servants were carrying our luggage, which I was trying not to be weirded out by. We were headed to the next stop in the great social-season-competition-for-the-crown extravaganza.

"Olivia's duchy is Lythikos, in the far north of the country," he said. "And her estate is high in the mountains. Actually, it's technically part of the Alps. It's always skiing weather there."

"I can't believe Olivia is letting me stay at her estate," I quipped.

Maxwell laughed. "As much as she may not like you, she knows better than to snub you publicly."

"Thank goodness for small favors, I guess," I said as we loaded the last of the luggage and climbed in the limo.

Several long hours later, I woke up from a nap to Maxwell drumming a beat on my head. "Wake up, wake up, wake up!" He said excitedly. As I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, the car came to a stop and Maxwell helped me out, proudly showing me where we were. "Welcome to Lythikos," he said, "Land of Snow, Ice, and Mountains!"

I was speechless for a moment. It was stunning. We were standing at the top of a hill, in front of a huge stone fortress-looking thing that Maxwell insisted was a ski lodge. Down the hill was a large lake frozen over with ice. A few of the nobles were already skating. Beyond that, a huge mountain range dominated the skyline. It was like a Bob Ross painting – nothing but snowy caps and happy little trees as far as the eye could see. "This all belongs to Olivia?" I asked at last.

"Which unfortunately gives her an advantage with Liam while we're here," Maxwell said grimly.

Hana approached us just then, and added her hopelessly optimistic spin on things. "Olivia may have the edge, but that's no reason to admit defeat!"

"Right," Maxwell said, smiling. "That's the spirit!"

Drake was just behind Hana. "What happened to your brother, Maxwell?" He asked. "I notice he's not around lecturing Harkness. I thought he hated to miss out on the chance to eat fancy food and rub elbows with the royals."

"Bertrand was called away for some business having to do with our estate."

"Bertrand isn't coming?" I said, trying and failing to hide my smile. "I already miss his protocol pop quizzes."

Maxwell grinned at me. "If you really want, I can quiz you on how to best stand behind a chair."

"Please don't," Drake interjected before I could respond. "We're about to have such a nice time."

"I agree," said Hana. "It's beautiful out here." She shivered. "Even if it is so very cold!"

We decided to check out the inside of the chateau as Hana called the fortress. I settled into my room and pulled out my winter coat, thankful that I had decided to pack it after all. I found a thin silk scarf and put it on, too. Better than nothing, I thought. And it looked cute with by brown wool coat. Once I was dressed, I rejoined my friends in the entryroom of the chateau. Maxwell had a pair of ice skates in each hand. He gave me one and we all trailed outside towards the lake.

"Do you know how to ice skate?" Maxwell asked me as we pulled on our skates.

"Pfft," I scoffed. "Watch me skate circles around you."

"Be my guest!" Maxwell said, gesturing to allow me onto the lake ahead of him.

I could see Liam and Olivia in the center of the lake, skating hand-in-hand. Maxwell followed my gaze. "I'll distract Olivia," he whispered to me. "You snag Liam." I laughed as I watched Maxwell skate towards the pair, waving his arms and calling out to Olivia.

I slowly followed behind him, and as he reached Olivia and Liam, Maxwell hip-checked Liam, sending him flying towards me. I skated backwards out of his way, and stuck out a hand, which he grabbed as he sailed past me. He swung me around, and soon we were facing each other like we were about to waltz. "Lady Riley," Liam said with a grin. "Always a pleasure to run into you."

"Would you care to take a turn about the lake with me, Prince Liam?" I asked.

"It would be my pleasure," he said, turning so we were both facing the same direction. He kept a tight hold of my hand as we started skating. "You look lovely today," he said as we got moving. "And warm."

"Yeah, I'm definitely glad I brought this coat. Tell me, do you and the court come here often?"

"Not very often, no. But when we do, Olivia is always generous enough to host us." I didn't really have an answer to that, so we skated in silence for a minute. Then, Liam spoke up again. "Actually," he said, "I used to come out here frequently when I was younger. Olivia and I would play in the snow together."

"Really?" I said, trying to hide my shock. "Tell me more."

"We'd build little snow forts on the bank and catapult snowballs at each other." He smiled at the memory. "The lake was too dangerous to play on since we were so young, but sometimes, we'd sneak out onto the ice in hopes that we could see fish beneath the surface."

"It sounds like you two were really close."

"We were. It's been hard watching her, well, become who she is." He sighed deeply. "I know Olivia can be a tough person to get along with."

"She's like, the opposite of you."

"Olivia had a difficult childhood," he said. We stopped skating, gliding into a quiet corner of the lake as he told me her story. "Her parents were killed in a political assassination when she was only five years old."

I gasped. "That's horrible!"

He nodded sadly. "She was alone, without family at her estate for the better part of a year before my parents and I officially visited. She was supposed to be in the care of her great aunt, but the woman had left to summer on the Riviera, abandoning her. Olivia didn't have anyone. She was so alone."

I furrowed my eyebrows with a deep frown. For the first time, I was beginning to see Olivia as a real person, not just the villain of our little reality show. "Did she have servants to take care of her?"

"Yes, and they were doing their best, but they were traditionalists. Nevrakis-family trained for decades. After a lifetime of holding the nobility up on a pedestal, they weren't prepared to give her what she needed most."

"Love," I finished his thought for him, and he nodded.

"The first few days of our visit, she was sullen and withdrawn. I thought she hated me."

"That sounds like the Olivia I know."

"But one night, I heard her sobbing through the wall. I actually believed it was a ghost, at first. But once I got over my fear and decided to investigate, there she was...little five-year-old Olivia, weeping and clutching one of her mother's gowns, saying over and over again, 'Come back. Please come back.' I knelt beside her and held her until she cried herself to sleep. I knew we couldn't leave her there. I convinced my parents to invite her to live at the palace with us."

I sniffed and realized I was crying. I wiped my eyes quickly as I saw Olivia approaching us. "That Maxwell is a persistent one," she said, annoyed.

"He can be high energy," Liam said, his voice suddenly chipper.

"Yes," Olivia said, "I can tell." She turned to me, her smile a little menacing. "So, Riley, I bet you've never seen a countryside this spectacular. Aren't you impressed?"

I very nearly gave her some attitude right back, but had to pause and sniff again, my nose running from the cold and my tears, and it made me think before I spoke. "Actually," I said at last, "Yes. It's gorgeous. Your home is truly spectacular."

She was obviously taken aback at my words, but she recovered herself enough to agree with me. "I'm glad even someone like you can appreciate the elegance and splendor of nature." But just in case I was in danger of thinking we could be friends, Olivia then wrapped her arms around Liam and reminded him that he owed her a round across the lake. As they left, she snaked her hand into his and tossed me one last wicked smile.

Hana came gliding up to me just then, executing a beautiful spin as she came to a stop in front of me. "Looks like Olivia stole Liam from you," she said.

I shook my head, "It's fine. I can't take it personally. What I really want to know is, where'd you learn to skate like that? No one else here knows the first thing about ice skating!"

We watched as two of the noble ladies stumbled gracelessly across the ice, both ending up flat on their stomachs. Hana suppressed a giggle. "Ice skating is one of the things my parents sent me to lessons for."

"Ah," I said, nodding. "All I got was one year of ballet."

"It's a skill I learned to appeal to suitors," she clarified. "I was told 'a display of elegance can go a long way.'"

I arched an eyebrow at my friend. "Do you even like ice skating?"

"Oh," she said, looking guilty. "You know...it's okay."

"Very convincing," I said sarcastically.

"When my parents were selecting my activities, whether or not I enjoyed something wasn't a factor they considered."

Just then, Olivia's voice rang out across the lake. "All right, everyone." She declared. "It's time to hit the slopes!"

"Dare I ask?" I turned back to Hana. "Were ski lessons part of your training?"

She giggled again. "Only a few. I can manage. What about you?"

"I've never been." We started skating towards the edge of the lake where everyone was exchanging their skates for skis. "Snowboarding, yes, but never skiing."

"Well," Hana said encouragingly, "Skiing has to be easier than snowboarding, right? You have two feet to steady yourself instead of just one."

I wasn't so sure, but I followed her to the ski lift. Once at the top, she smiled broadly at me and said, "Meet you at the bottom!" before she took off down the steep incline. I hesitated at the top, trying to get a feel for the skis and poles. As I stood looking down, Drake skied up to me, smiling broader than I had ever seen him.

"So, Harkness," he said, "You finally made it to the slopes."

"Aww," I teased, "Were you starting to miss me, Drake?"

His smile instantly disappeared. "Hardly," he grunted. "I was just getting bored."

"Why weren't you skating?"

"Figure skating isn't really my thing."

"Really? I think you'd look good in a tutu." Teasing Drake was quickly becoming one of my favorite Cordonian past-times.

"Some mental images aren't worth the effort," he said, shuddering.

"But I suppose skiing is manly enough for you."

He waved a pole around a bit, indicating the other nobles. "I'd hardly call what's going on here skiing. But I'm looking to change that. How about a race?"

"What makes you think I can ski?"

Another smile crept onto his face. "Maybe I'm starting to have faith in you, Harkness."

I looked at him with my most serious face. "Drake. You're starting to scare me."

He grinned even wider. "I'm scaring myself." He shook his head, clearing it. "Anyway, I'm going to start skiing down this slope in a minute, and if I get to the bottom before you...well, let's just say I'm calling it a win, and I might never let you hear the end of it."

He counted us off and shot down the mountain. I did my best to keep up. I was doing okay until we came to a branch in the middle of the run. Drake deftly swerved around it, and even called out a warning to me, but I hadn't quite gotten the hang of turning yet, and I slid right into the branch, somersaulting over it and landing on my stomach, sliding the rest of the way down the hill like a human toboggan. "Ow." I said as I rolled onto my back. Drake's face appeared above me. I expected instant humiliation, but he looked concerned.

"You okay, Harkness?"

"Yeah," I said, letting him help me up. "But, I think you won. And I'm definitely going to have a few bruises."

"Don't worry, Harkness. The pain will go away. The humiliation...that'll need some extra time." I laughed in spite of myself, and Drake took a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. "This trip hasn't been half bad so far," he said, looking around. "Shame that tomorrow it's back to waltzing and bowing and all that."

"At least I ski better than I can waltz," I said grimly.

"Wait, you can't waltz? I saw you dancing with Liam."

"He did most of the work. I just followed along." I looked at Drake's suddenly serious face. "Why?" I asked. "Is it important?"

He shook his head, letting it hang low. "Oh, Harkness, Harkness, Harkness. What would you do without me?" He put a hand on my shoulder and looked at me to give me the bad news. "At the ball tomorrow, all the ladies are expected to dance the Cordonian Waltz. In front of everyone."

"I'm going to embarrass myself in front of everyone, aren't I?"

"Yes, probably." He stepped back, grinning. "But look on the bright side!"

"What's that?"

"It's gonna be hilarious to watch."