A/N: Alright, so you can thank me reading Chaucer for school for what you're about to read. Sort of. While discussing "The Miller's Tale" in The Canterbury Tales, this idea came to me, and I had to plot it out instead of being a good student and paying attention to the lecture - then again, I'd already read it for another class and listened to a lecture on it, so I'm alright. Also, I passed that class with a 98%, so I'm good.

This is most definitely an AU. Let's call it a Three-Kingdoms AU for ease of remembering what's what in the fandom. (This is not to be confused with the Chinese Three Kingdoms from history, or the Chinese novel…) There is some serious fucking around with things in this, so just… be ready for anything. Some characters are simply placed in spots (and not necessarily in character), because they are the only ones I could see visually taking the spots they have in the story. Remember, I don't actually hate any characters. So... there's that.

And because I've never done it, why not start off the story with a fairy tale sort of omniscient narrator opening? Trying new things is fun!

So without further ado, I give you…

Day 7: Frost

The Frost Prince

Far beneath the lands laid a civilization with water for a sky. Hundreds of years ago, the people created tunnels using magic that they could walk through without being drenched, and eventually there came a time where they thrived beneath the ocean. This wasn't a case of them being merpeople, or even that they lived among the fish and sharks and sea life. There was the ground, where common humans lived, then water, then a cavernous space beneath it where the highest members of society lived. The mages.

The only nobles exempt from this underwater eden were the kings and their families from the three kingdoms who ruled over the magic-less citizens above ground.

Every generation, women were chosen from the nobles beneath the sea to travel to the surface and meet with the princes who had come of age for marriage. They were to be beautiful, intelligent, diplomatic, and demure. They had to prove themselves amenable to not only the young prince they were to wed, but also to the current king. However, only one woman would surface at a time for the princes to choose from. Once she was chosen by a prince to be their bride, the next would come and visit the two remaining kingdoms in need of a future queen. The final woman would arrive in the last kingdom and instantly be married, as long as she met with the king's requirements.

Every generation, the three kings met in Council to discuss when they would send for the first woman, when their sons had all aged to maturity. No one knew why only males were born from the magic-wielding noblewomen of the Waters coupling with a ruler of the three kingdoms.

The year was 791, and the first of the young women had been chosen to meet with the era's three princes.

She was young and willful, but her eyes held the souls of the stars themselves. Her father was sure that she would disgrace them all and be sent back home - there was always the chance that all three princes would find a woman unsuitable, and she would be banished to the Far Lands - but the ruling of the noble lords in great majority had made his voice silent.

Jude Heartfilia was absent from the ceremony that had his only daughter stepping onto the dais before the entire underwater gathering. He refused to witness how she smiled at everyone, how unaware she was of the reason she'd been chosen that year.

There was only so much disregard of the rules they could handle, and that meant that his dearest Lucy was to be sent above ground. The noble lords knew they could be rid of her one way or another, through marriage or banishment.

And so, Jude didn't see his daughter whisked away from the Waters. He was unaware that she searched for him in the crowd, desperate to see him one last time before she went on this journey. He didn't know that she wished to tell him she loved him, or that she was determined to prove that she could follow the rules. He was unaware of the tears dotting her lashes when she was sent to the surface, knowing he hadn't been there to see her leave.

No one knew that she had never wanted to be a queen.

Lucy found the Earth Kingdom to be odd, but she loved seeing the looming forests and reaching out of the carriage windows to brush her fingers across the bark and leaves they passed on the way to the palace. The gentle trills of birds in the heavy boughs was soothing over the quiet comments from her handmaiden, Virgo, about keeping herself clean. She was supposed to impress this prince that she was meeting.

There was no way to stop herself from sticking the top half of her body out the window when the driver called out that they were nearing the palace. They broke through the treeline and her soulful honey eyes went wide at the brilliant expanse of stark marble towers leading toward the drawbridge they were about to cross. Guards in all black walked carefully along the tops of the bordering wall between towers. Once past the outer wall, her head tipped back further and further while following the cool expanse of marble that composed the castle proper. It was enormous. And very intimidating. She'd never seen something so huge. And so white. But Lucy had been diligent in her studies about the Kingdoms. She'd always known there was a possibility that she would be chosen, and the last thing she'd wanted was to look like a moron.

The carriage came to a stop and Virgo pulled her back inside so the driver could open the door. The procession just to get out of the carriage was ridiculous though. All the waiting and the trumpets blaring just for her arrival. Finally, she left the carriage and used all the grace she could muster while wearing too many layers of billowing skirts while walking toward the two figures at the end of a long crimson carpet. Both were dressed similarly in fine black and forest green brocade doublets and black breeches. The taller of the two wore an intricate silver medallion with a large jade stone in the center, denoting his status as the king. They were poised, their pointed chins held high and only their eyes moving as they followed her steps closer to them.

Once before them, she curtseyed and then stood and looked at the man who could potentially be her husband. "Lady Lucy Heartfilia, I would like to introduce you to Earth King Skiadrum Cheney, and his son, Prince Ryos Cheney," the nearby squire said.

The prince was handsome, not that she should have been surprised, with skin as pale as the palace in which he lived. Midnight hair hung to his shoulders, and her heart pounded when his deep crimson eyes locked with hers.

"It's a pleasure." Ryos gently took her hand and bent at the waist to kiss her knuckles. "Please allow me to welcome you to the Earth Kingdom."

"Thank you, your majesty," she said. "I'm honored to make your acquaintance." She turned toward the king and curtseyed again. "King Skiadrum, thank you for your hospitality. I hope the day that follows will be amenable for all involved."

His thin, pale lips lifted in the barest of smiles. The shift was so minute that Lucy wasn't sure if she'd actually seen it happen. But those red eyes seemed to run in the family. King Skiadrum's were more vibrant than Ryos' but colder somehow as they sat between his heavy black brows and sharp, high cheekbones. "I welcome you to my kingdom," the king said. Lucy tried not to shiver when she heard his chilling voice. "Come this way, and we can sit down for tea. You do like tea, don't you?"

"Of course, your majesty," she said, smiling a little more easily. He merely blinked at her, and her smile faltered. Had she already done something wrong? Well, either way, she was just glad that she would only be in this palace for a day and night. She was due to leave the next day after first meal to continue on to the Fire Kingdom.

The king turned and his black cape billowed in the wind as he ascended the stairs back to the palace. Ryos came to stand beside her and offered his arm. Lucy gladly took it and they started walking. When she glanced toward him, he wasn't looking her way. His fingers were cold where they touched her slender wrist.

She had a feeling this was the absolute wrong kingdom for someone like Prince Ryos, based on first impressions.

She realized her mistake after they'd had tea. Instead of greeting the king first, Lucy had set her attention on Prince Ryos. She'd been disrespectful and it showed in the cold treatment she received during the tea service. Unless both the king and prince were always so monotone and tight-lipped. She wasn't exactly a chatterer, but Lucy did enjoy a good conversation. She just wasn't sure if she was actually allowed to speak first in this situation. Had it just been herself and Prince Ryos, she probably could have gotten away with it, but with the king there, watching her every move, she was at a loss for what to do.

"So, Lady Lucy," King Skiadrum said, drawing her attention to the head of the long, elegant dining table in an instant, "What is your impression of my kingdom so far?"

Even with a corset keeping her posture perfect and rigid, she still straightened just a little under his critical gaze. She dabbed at her lips with a napkin and delicately set it on her lap. "Well, your majesty, I think it's breathtaking."

Breathtaking. She sounded like a moron.

"How so?"

Her cheeks flushed slightly with embarrassment. "I've never seen trees outside of books. My father insisted that I attend to my studies instead of visiting the orchards that have been manufactured in the Waters."

A moron who had never seen something like a tree before. So a hermit and a moron. Even better. This was just going swimmingly. Maybe she could find a pool to drown herself in while no one was looking. Or she could summon Aquarius to do the job for her by sticking her golden key into a puddle of urine. That was a sure way to get annihilated.

"A wise decision," Prince Ryos said. "There really is no point in having a bride if she isn't also intelligent."

"Indeed," said the king. Conversation dwindled for several minutes, and Lucy wondered if she was the only one feeling the strain in the air. Did they not realize that she was there and willing to talk? Did they just expect her to be silent? Nothing more than decoration like the tapestries hanging on the walls and the expensive vases holding stone-crafted flowers?

Tea was finally finished, and Prince Ryos stood and pulled out her chair to help her stand as well. Not that she needed help, but it was nice, she supposed. She curtseyed to the king once more and quietly thanked him for his time before they left the tea room with Virgo silently following several paces behind them.

They roamed the halls of the castle at a meandering pace. Prince Ryos took her from room to room and gave her a proper tour. He showed her their collection of instruments from across the kingdom, but he didn't play any of them; they were just for collecting, of course. The hunting room with walls covered in taxidermied heads of bucks and bears and quite a few beasts she'd never seen before; Prince Ryos didn't hunt, though, that was his father's pastime.

She met several of the staff, including a librarian named Freed with long mint-green hair that hung to his hips and cold turquoise eyes.

That was where they finally stopped, at a long claw-footed couch with soft green cushions nestled in an alcove between the shelves of perfectly dusted tomes. Freed was still able to see them, if he looked up from the large book he'd been deciphering. Virgo stayed within earshot of their conversation at all times, though she just appeared to be reading the spines of every book on the shelves.

"I hope it isn't improper of me to want some time away from prying eyes," Prince Ryos said.

"That's more than fine." Lucy smiled at him then, hoping with everything she was worth that he would relax just a little around her. She wanted to see who the prince really was, and not the role he played in public. What if there was something about him, deep down, that she didn't like, that only came out behind closed doors? Would she have to stay married to him, if that was the case?

His lips tightened for a moment as he scrutinized her, then he let out a slow breath. "As I'm sure you're aware, each monarchy has a particular magic that they pass down."

"Yes," she said. "The books we have don't say what it is."

"Would you like to see?" He didn't wait for a response and instead lifted his hand in the large space between them, almost as though he was beckoning her closer. Smoky black tendrils of magic wisped from his fingertips and coiled in the air until they formed a tight, condensed ball of darkness. "Shadows are mine to manipulate. My father is the same. The Cheney line has only ever produced heirs who can control shadows, and each generation strengthens what was received from the last."

"That's so-"

"Wonderful." He deconstructed the shadow ball with a twitch of his fingers and reached forward to lift a lock of Lucy's golden hair, then tucked it behind her ear. "I know."

She smiled at him. It was what she was supposed to do, that much she was aware of. Except the conversation simply continued on that same vein. The prince's accomplishments, his accolades, the things he enjoyed doing. A history lesson about the kingdom with facts and statistics and numbers. Her only reprieve from his monotony came in the form of a little green kitten who swept beneath her skirts and twisted and turned around her ankles.

"Ah, this is Frosch. It's a bit of a trickster, but it has a heart of gold."

"Is Frosch a boy or a girl?"

"That's not important. It's a cat."

Lucy knew she was staring - still smiling, but staring - and she really didn't care. She could be polite, but that was just ridiculous. Who didn't care whether their pet was a boy or a girl? Maybe she was being too hard on him though. So, Lucy resolved to give Prince Ryos a fair shot. This was definitely awkward, meeting one another like this, with both of them knowing that he would either like her enough to want to make her his wife who would bear however many children he decided was an appropriate number, or decide he'd rather wait and see who the next marriage candidate would be.

"What are your measurements?"

"... Excuse me?"

"Your measurements," he said. "My father says that certain ratios in measurements are superior for childbearing. Based on the literature I've read, I have to agree. With women's fashion creating preferred figures using corsets, it's difficult to tell whether a woman actually has a superior ratio. So, what are your natural measurements, without clothing?"

Okay, so maybe giving him the benefit of the doubt was going to be harder than she'd thought.

When she reached the Fire Kingdom's volcanic palace, Lucy wondered if she should have asked to stay a little longer in the previous kingdom. Aside from the scorching heat of the kingdom, the palace looked as though it was grown from a volcano with mixtures of ash-grey stone and lava-like windows. It made her wonder if there really was a volcano lurking just beneath the ground that would erupt at any minute.

Prince Ryos was a perfect gentleman the entire time she'd been with him though. He engaged her in simple conversation, asked what she knew about his kingdom, and she could tell that he was intelligent. He was too proper though, too by the book for her, and just a little too direct in some cases. Lucy wanted some excitement if she was going to marry someone. At least his magic had been beautiful. She'd enjoyed watching how he manipulated shadows. And she'd really enjoyed playing with his precious little green kitten, Frosch. Sadly, he hadn't asked if she had any magic of her own.

But her own opinions really didn't matter. It was up to the kings and princes to decide whether any of them wanted her. She was just some prize to be won.

"You look flushed," Virgo said, leaning forward in the carriage and fanning Lucy's face. "Do you need some water?"

"This dress is too hot for being here," she sighed. "I'll be fine."

Moments later, the carriage stopped. Unlike the formal reception she'd received in the Earth Kingdom, Lucy was more than surprised to hear boisterous laughter coming from just beside the door before it flew open. The lightly tanned, grinning face of a handsome man gazed up at her. His smile was so vibrant, so alluring, that it made her want to join right in. His bright green eyes drew her in and held her captive with their childish glee. "Hey, I'm Natsu," he said, reaching in to help her step down from the carriage. "Son of the great Fire Dragon!"

"That would be Prince Natsu Dragneel," Virgo whispered. "His father is the Fire King Igneel Dragneel."

Lucy squeaked in alarm when her shoes barely touched the ground before Natsu pulled her into a warm hug - in more ways than one. It was full of emotion, so friendly and loving. But his body was also warm. Extremely warm. Almost as though that volcano she'd been concerned laid under the palace was actually fueling the exorbitant amounts of energy he had as he spun in a circle.

"Natsu, put her down!" Igneel laughed.

She was set on her feet again, and Lucy peeked through the spiky pink locks of the man holding her - wait, was Natsu's hair really pink?! - to find the king standing a few feet away. He was tall and lean with a healthy glow to his skin and a wide smile that she just knew he'd passed down to his son. His golden eyes were so joyful as he gazed at the two of them. The last thing she'd been expecting was to find the king wearing sandals, white loose-fitting capris with little golden ties at the knees, and a red waistcoat trimmed in gold that was opened to reveal his bare chest. His golden necklace glinted in the late afternoon light. King Igneel's hair was a rich wine color, and his eyes seemed to glow orange if the light hit them just right.

Finally, Lucy pulled back from the hug to look properly at the prince. He was taller than her, not that it was much of an accomplishment with her small stature, but he wasn't domineering. The longer she looked into his eyes, the more she felt at ease in his presence. Still, she had a job to do, responsibilities that she was expected to perform to the letter. She began her curtsy and introduction, only to be stopped by Natsu with another bone-crushing hug. "Your highness!" she sputtered.

"This is gonna be a blast, Luce!"

"M-My name is Lucy-"

"Sure, but I can call ya Luce, right?" He smiled again and turned so he could wrap an arm around her corseted waist and lead her toward the king. "And you look really uncomfortable. Dad, we've got something else she can wear, right? She might burn up in this."

"No kidding," Igneel chuckled. He gazed down at her with a kind smile that reminded her of her late mother. "I hope you have a good time, Lucy. And maybe you'll be the one for my son here." Her cheeks flushed a deeper crimson and her eyes lowered to the ground. "But enough about that!" Igneel clapped his hands and waved toward the palace. "This is your home for the next day. Let's get to the tour."

"And food," Natsu added.

"And changing," Igneel said. The king and prince blew twin fiery breaths at the molten glass doors, melting them away as though they'd been nothing more than ice. Lucy cast a worried glance back at Virgo. At least she knew what sort of magic they both used.

"And maybe some dessert," Natsu said.

"Definitely dessert."

"..." Natsu grinned at his father over Lucy's head.

"Chocolate Volcano cake!" the men shouted in unison, throwing their fists into the air. Lucy smiled to herself as they brought her inside. It was definitely different from the Earth Kingdom. In more ways than one. But she hadn't a clue what she would make of the rest of her stay there. At least Prince Natsu and his father seemed like much more open people. Happier. She rather liked that about them already.

She found herself laughing at the mess Prince Natsu made while he ate. It was actually a little on the disgusting side to see someone eating so messily, but it definitely made her feel just a little more removed from the smothering atmosphere of the Earth Kingdom.

"So, I heard you went to see Stuffy Skiadrum," the king said.

"The Earth Kingdom was my first stop, yes," she said carefully. The last thing she wanted was to get caught in some sort of trap that had her blatantly slandering a monarch. Her execution would be all but guaranteed.

"This place is loads better," Prince Natsu laughed. "That castle is boring!"

"I rather liked the library," she said.

"Library?" Prince Natsu snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'll take a solid adventure through the hotbeds over a dusty room filled with books any day."

Lucy fought back a frown at that, but luckily the king came to the rescue with a swift smack to the back of his son's head with a turkey leg. "How many times have I told you, there's no reason to avoid our library. Everything's warded against our magic, so you can't set it on fire like you do everywhere else."

"Oh, you set books on fire?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah," the prince said. He seemed a bit sheepish while admitting it though. "Downside of using Fire magic. Flammable stuff just really likes to burn up in your hands."

"I would imagine reading an unwarded book would be a difficult endeavor then."

Prince Natsu blinked slowly, leaving Lucy questioning whether or not she'd said something offensive. The king rolled his eyes. "It's hard to read when you set everything on fire."

"Oh," he laughed. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Boy, you need to read more." The king grinned at Lucy. "I need him to marry one hell of a smart cookie, you see. The last thing I need is for something to get messed up because my son is much better with common sense than reading."

"Well, I do like to read," she said. "That's really all I was allowed to do."

"You're pretty smart for a girl," Prince Natsu said, grinning widely as he gazed at her across the large round table piled high with food.

She really wanted to ask just what he meant by that, but Lucy decided against it. It would be better to just let things happen as they came, and to disregard the vast majority of what came out of the prince's mouth.

"Man, Luce, you can sure put away some food!"

Like that. Maybe he just wasn't aware of how rude it was to comment on a woman's eating habits. Maybe no one had told him there was a difference between appropriate and inappropriate statements, because he was the prince. She would have thought the king would teach his son at least a little about being around a woman. Or maybe even the queen, wherever she was right then, but that was probably just wishful thinking on her part.

"Man it'll be so nice to have another woman around. Mom's so busy being pregnant-"

She tuned him right out at that point. There was no way Lucy was going to get through this visit with her sanity intact. No way at all.

"That was… an experience," Virgo said softly as she wrapped a bandage around Lucy's hand to cover the small burn she'd gotten from Natsu just before leaving the palace. Everyone knew he hadn't meant to do it, and she already knew that Lucy didn't blame him for the small burst of magic he'd let off. She'd seen the way Lucy melted just a little when his hand flew up to scratch the back of his head while apologizing to her.

"There's really a volcano under that place," Lucy muttered. Natsu had taken her there in the middle of the night. He'd snuck into her room, into her very bed and shook her awake just to force her to follow him. She'd liked that he was so giddy to show her what his home had to offer, and that he was so adventurous, but she wanted to make a good impression for the sake of her father.

"What did you think of Prince Natsu?"

"I don't know," she sighed, staring out the window. The land was mostly desert where they were at. Further from the palace, between there and the Earth Kingdom, everything was so lush and green. As they continued down the road toward the Frost Kingdom, it was barren. Empty. Soulless.

"He seemed nicer than Prince Ryos."

"Yeah," she said. "I don't know, Virgo. He's just… not all that…"

"Attractive?"

"No, he's attractive." Both of the princes she'd met were attractive. She could see why any woman would be more than ready to tear their skirts off and climb the royals like a tree.

"Brave?"

"No, I'm going to assume that living over a volcano will make anyone brave." She closed the curtain over the window and leaned back in her seat. "He's just… not very smart, I guess."

"Prince Ryos is intelligent."

"Yeah, but…"

"And you did say he was the perfect prince."

"He's what the books say a prince should be," she sighed. Prince Ryos and Prince Natsu were just so different. Ryos really was everything that a prince should be, and Natsu was too just... not in the same ways. "But Prince Ryos is just… boring."

"I understand," Virgo said, gently patting Lucy's knee. When she saw the blonde wince, she raised a curious brow and pushed her skirts up to reveal both of her knees had been scraped at some point. "What did you two get into?"

"You don't even wanna know." She wasn't going to mention the fact that her nightclothes had been scorched and had to be replaced in secret the night before. Or that she'd tripped over a piece of rock jutting out of the outer wall Natsu had taken her over. Or how they'd been scaling what she called a mountain (which was really nothing more than a very large hill, apparently) and she'd tumbled down it twice before Natsu helped her. Lucy had needed to bathe once she'd returned to her room just so that no one would be any the wiser over what she and the prince had been up to.

She had to admit, even if it was only to herself, he had been rather fun to spend time with. If she'd had a brother, Lucy could see herself getting into some of the shenanigans the prince had dragged her into the night before.

Great, he was more like a brother than a suitor. That just made her want to marry him even less.

The most nerve-wracking thing about this journey was wondering what each prince would be like as she made her way closer to their kingdoms. There had been no telling with Prince Ryos. She'd known nothing of him aside from the policies that he'd been helping his father create since he was a child. There had been no stops between her entry point from the Waters and his castle, so she hadn't even been able to interact with the people in his kingdom. However, King Skiadrum and Prince Ryos had both been curious to know which kingdom was her next stop. When Virgo had supplied that it was the Fire Kingdom, they'd both chuckled quietly. There hadn't been a peep about what King Igneel and Prince Natsu would be like aside from comments that they were very different.

She completely understood the chuckling and the vague description. She was having a hard time describing them herself, and she'd just been there.

The Frost Kingdom, on the other hand, was something that terrified her. When she'd asked about the final stop in her first two kingdoms, they really hadn't given her anything to look forward to.

"The prince is a lot of fun to mess around with at the Council meetings," Natsu said. "He gets mad so easily. He poisoned me once."

She was concerned that Prince Natsu had been smiling even when talking about being poisoned. And she wondered just what the Frost Prince had poisoned him with, and when.

"The Frost Prince?" Ryos asked. "He's a lunatic and a hermit. Be wary of him."

"The Frost King never leaves his kingdom unless it's for Council, and if you are sent there to marry… that prince… then no one may ever see you again, Lady Lucy," Skiadrum said.

Igneel's reaction to where she was going was the worst. He'd just laughed and laughed. That was much more unnerving than anything else she'd heard up until that point. He'd laughed so hard that he'd started crying. Definitely unnerving.

It was made even worse when they arrived in a town just on the outer edge of the Frost Kingdom with a sign that cautioned travellers to pack for "deep chills." Lucy wasn't sure what that meant, but the carriage driver stopped at an inn and said that was as far as he could take her. His horses weren't meant for weathering the ever-present winter winds of this kingdom, and this town was the last one with only a brisk breeze. It would be much worse the further north they went.

Lodgings were arranged for Lucy and Virgo for two nights, just enough time for them to gather the supplies they would need to make the rest of their journey through the frozen tundra ahead. She needed to have winter clothes made - considering she'd only come with a few dresses that were more appropriate for moderate temperatures like in the Earth Kingdom. They needed a way to travel there in the first place. Luckily, someone was already expecting them, and Lucy was taken to a seamstress right away.

"Such a beautiful girl," the older woman sighed while kneeling and taking her measurements. "Shame you'll be dead soon."

"Excuse me?"

"That prince up there in the Tower. He has quite the reputation. I've never seen him myself, but they say one look will scare ten years off your life."

Lucy gulped and stayed silent through the process of being measured for her new dresses and nightclothes. Once she was done, she thanked the seamstress and walked out with Virgo on her arm. But all around town, no matter where they went, she heard the whispers of the townsfolk. How they talked about her, and about the prince and king she would be meeting.

The king was kind and benevolent, and cared deeply for his people. He was hardly ever seen, but that was mostly because it was difficult to travel in the snow. He only moved about the kingdom when it was necessary, for holidays and things like that.

But the prince…

A monster. A heathen. Not the rightful heir and he knows it. He'll torture a man for looking at him the wrong way. He steals children from their beds and eats their eyes. Deformed. Disgusting. Vile. Terrifying.

The general consensus was that he was evil. And apparently a psychopath.

The cobbler making her a pair of sturdy, fur-lined winter boots told Lucy about how he'd actually witnessed the prince hold a torture session of prisoners in the capital's square before having them all executed through impalement. He said the bodies were set up around the Tower as a way to warn people of the future king's insanity.

The baker who sold Virgo two small loaves of bread and some pastries for their lunch on the second day, said the prince was a demon who had taken over the body of a baby - the king's son - and corrupted him. You could see the mark of the demon on his body if you got close enough. He said that anyone who tried was killed a week later.

Lucy hated the pitying looks people gave her as they disembarked on a new carriage that was built to withstand the freezing temperatures further north into the country. What if they were all wrong about this prince? What if he was just subject to the rumors of people lower than him?

Then again, it was very possible that these people really did know their prince, and he really was all those horrible things.

Maybe she really was going to die.

She was too scared to look out the window as they approached the Frost King's home. For three days, Lucy and Virgo had been travelling through the country. They'd gone through one gusty flurry after another, with snow falling so quickly that she couldn't see the land past the carriage window. She was immensely thankful for the fact that these carriages were warded against bandits. She'd been told just before leaving the Waters that she was precious cargo, and even though she didn't agree with being treated like some crate full of doodads, she really didn't feel like being abducted.

The carriage stopped and Lucy took a slow, steadying breath. When she let it out, the door opened and the temperatures plummeted even further. Her breath misted in the air before her. There was no way she could live in a place like this. She'd yet to be able to stand beneath the sun. It had been far too hot to go outside during the day in the Fire Kingdom. Prince Ryos hadn't taken her outside while she visited with him in the Earth Kingdom, even though she'd been able to see through the occasional window that it was a beautiful day.

But in the Frost Kingdom, there was no sunlight shining down on her. Menacing silver and grey clouds shrouded the land that was already white and colorless.

"Time to go," Virgo said. "Wear your gloves."

Lucy nodded and pulled her gloves on, then the fur cloak she'd gotten, and carefully stepped out of the carriage onto the snow blanketing the ground. It crunched beneath her boots as she took a single step forward. But Lucy didn't hear it. Her focus was drawn skyward to the looming crystalline structure before her. She understood why the townsfolk never called it a palace or a castle. It was nothing more than a single tower that speared right into the heavens, far above the clouds. Large blue crystals jutted out at odd angles, in seemingly random places. Some looked too small to even hold a room in them, and were merely there for appearance. It was jagged and rough when taken in at a single glance.

It was terrifying.

What sort of monster would live in a place like this?

She followed the squire who appeared at beside the carriage, a tall man with an unnaturally angular face and long orange hair, as he led her to the doors. "Be careful, Lady Lucy," he said, gently placing one hand on her elbow and the other on Virgo's. "The stairs are made of ice."

"That doesn't sound very wise," she muttered under her breath. Why wasn't the prince there to greet her, as both Natsu and Ryos had been? Why wasn't the king there either? Both Igneel and Skiadrum had greeted her with their sons, right at the doors of their homes. Maybe they were waiting inside where there was no snow drifting sideways across their faces.

"We are very happy to have you here," said the squire. "Prince Erik is currently in a meeting, but I'm to take you there. He says he'll meet with you once he's finished."

Lucy nodded. What else was there for her to do, after all? She couldn't demand that a prince drop everything for her. Her only purpose was to be showed off like a piece of meat for the kings and their sons to argue over for marriage. A white-haired woman met them just inside and bowed before removing Lucy and Virgo's cloaks.

"Richard, he says it'll be a bit longer. Take her right there so she's not standing in the doorway, and he's not left waiting."

"Of course, Sorano." He turned to Lucy then. "Right this way, Lady Lucy."

"Does the prince usually handle meetings like this?" Virgo asked. Lucy was more than thankful that she had the pink-haired spirit with her. It wouldn't be proper to ask too many questions herself, but Virgo could do that for her.

"Not usually," Richard said. "Things have been very busy the last few days. Prince Erik has been handling things just fine though. He'll be a wonderful king."

Lucy really wasn't so sure about that. She couldn't stop thinking of the stories she'd heard of him. Some deformed monster of a prince who was tyrannical and gave children nightmares, who tortured men and women and children alike. A man who led mass slaughters of enemies who rose in secluded areas of his domain, all under the king's nose. He was rumored to be a conniving snake of a prince.

"We'll wait just inside here," Richard said as they came to a stop in front of the throne room. A pair of frosted glass doors stretched toward the high ceiling, obscuring the figures beyond. "He shouldn't be too much longer, but try to think happy thoughts." He paused and seemed to mull something over. "Lady Lucy, I hope you'll keep in mind that first impressions are… not always accurate."

Lucy frowned in confusion as his hand closed over the pitch black handle. He opened one door and led her into the throne room with Virgo not far behind. A plush royal purple carpet ran down the center of the vast room. On either side, the floor appeared to be made of black pebbles that had been iced over to make them smooth and glassy. Intricate crimson and purple tapestries hung on the walls and across the ceiling were gentle swathes of overlapping fabric.

"- Courts in Rodesta are asking for a ruling on their custody case of Dreyar v. Dreyar, because apparently-"

Lucy looked over to find a man with two-toned white and black hair reading from a long scroll. But just past him, sitting on the enormous onyx throne with a purple plush cushion beneath him was the silhouette of the man she assumed was the prince. She couldn't see his face from that distance, and she wasn't sure if she was happy that Richard silently led her closer. She was curious to see what this prince looked like, if he was really as scary as everyone had led her to believe. Then again, she also didn't feel like finding out that the stories were true.

"- Need to make arrangements to have frost flowers delivered, so you'll have to sign off on the requisition order from Vastia Sculptures-"

They stopped only a few feet behind the drawling, boring voice of the man who was reading, but Lucy didn't pay attention to him. Not when she was able to see the prince so clearly. His skin was darker than any she'd ever seen before, a rich caramel that nearly glowed in the odd ephemeral lighting from glowing red and pink crystals around the throne. His posture wasn't regal in the slightest. He slouched on the throne with one leg crossed over the other and his head resting on one hand.

A quiet hiss sounded through the room and rippled down her spine, and that was when she saw the giant purple serpent coiled around the base of Prince Erik's throne, with its head on an armrest. The prince's free hand gently ran over its scales. Was that his pet? It seemed all the princes had one, but both Natsu and Ryos had cats - Happy was a little hellion and she wasn't sure if the little blue cat actually liked her. Did Prince Erik really have a snake, of all things? And one with such vibrant jade eyes…

His hand moved and lightly scratched beneath the snake's pale chin, and Lucy could swear it was over the moon about the sudden contact.

'I wonder what scales feel like…'

Her attention was drawn back to the prince when he shifted again, and she found only one indigo eye staring straight ahead. He didn't look at anyone. If anything he looked like this was killing his soul, and he was about to start making everyone feel his wrath. How could someone look both bored and furious at the same time? She did find the deep maroon of his hair to be a good complement to the rest of him though. It didn't clash with his skin or eye - wait, did he only have one eye? - and even though it was spiked away from his face and much longer than Natsu's had been, she rather liked it.

He definitely wasn't hideous.

"- We've received reports from several villages that Vulcans have been travelling down from their mountains and abducting women. This will need to be handled immediately since we all know what they actually do to the women they take-"

Lucy had read up on Vulcans when she was still in the Waters and learning about the Frost Kingdom. She knew that it wasn't her place to say anything, so she simply kept her mouth shut. Even though she figured the easiest way to stop any Mountain Vulcans, which were usually all male, was to gather several females from another tribe and introduce them. They usually used humans as conduits for their Take-Over magic, but there were reports of other unsavory things happening to women they abducted. And if that was handled through females of their own species being available, then the only issue would be containing them to their mountain and ensuring that villagers didn't travel too close to the border.

But there was nothing she could say. As a woman, it wasn't her place. This wasn't even her kingdom, which meant she had to leave it in the prince's hands. Besides, she was really only a decoration anyway. It wasn't as though anyone expected her to have a brain or know how to use it for anything aside from being able to breathe and titter over moronic jokes. Regardless of what the other kings had said about wanting intelligent women to marry their sons, Lucy knew for a fact that they didn't really care about that.

She saw the moment Prince Erik looked at her, how his gaze snapped right to her face and intensified the longer he stared at her. His eye burned, nearly glowed, and his hand left the snake's chin to stop the drawling man from reading off of his scroll of kingdom issues.

It was silent in the throne room, completely still, yet all the prince did was gaze into her eyes as she defiantly gazed right back into his. Even when he slowly sat up and she was able to fully see the long scar bisecting his right eye, Lucy didn't shy away from his attention. Her father had the most intense glare in the Waters, and she'd never backed down from him. Except, she was usually getting in trouble over something when he looked at her like that, and she'd made sure to do nothing wrong while visiting the kingdoms.

She was surprised to see his thin lips quirk just a fraction at one corner. And when he spoke, Lucy really wasn't sure what she was supposed to do about the sudden fraying of her nerves from the depth of his gravelly voice.

"The easiest way to stop any Mountain Vulcans is to gather several female Vulcans from another tribe and introduce them," Prince Erik said, still watching Lucy. "They usually use humans as conduits for their Take-Over magic, but I already know about the reports of other unsavory things happening to women they abduct. And if that's handled through females of their own species being available, then the only issue would be containing them to their mountain and ensuring that villagers don't travel too close to the border."

She couldn't help herself. Her mouth dropped open as though she was trying to catch flies with it. Had he been reading her mind? That was exactly what she'd been thinking about the Vulcans. Maybe it had just been a coincidence though. Maybe he knew enough about the animals in his land to know that there were male tribes and female tribes. Maybe he was just intelligent enough to know how to handle things quickly and efficiently.

And he hadn't said a word about maiming or torturing anyone. Maybe that was just more garbage from the rumor mill.

He waved the other man away and slowly stood from the throne. Lucy didn't see Richard smirk and give the other man a wink. She was far too busy watching the prince come closer to her with his serpent by his side.

He was a lean man with dark red pants, a black shirt with a collar that barely stretched up to his throat, and a white, fur-lined coat. It suited him though, that much was obvious. Nothing about him seemed to be out of place, like with Prince Natsu and his pink hair, but he was much more relaxed in appearance than Prince Ryos.

"Lady Lucy," he said softly once he stopped before her.

He was so close though, much closer than was probably appropriate. If the keys tucked into her bodice hadn't heated up suddenly, she would have made a complete fool of herself. Instead she used the small space between them to lower her head respectfully and give him a proper curtsy. "I-It's an honor to meet you, your highness," she said.

"I'm sure it is."

Her eyes snapped up to find him staring at her. 'What a jerk.' His head tilted just slightly, and her eyes were drawn to the elongated tip of his ear. Was that… She was sure it couldn't be real. Maybe he wore fake ears to keep up a façade of being some otherworldly monster. That was just silly though.

"Well, it's nice to see they picked the best in the bunch," he said. He didn't try to hide the way his gaze drifted over her body and lingered on her chest. "So much for getting a wife with a brain."

'Okay, he's more than a jerk. What's worse than a jerk? A giant jerk! No, worse… An asshole. Ooh, that's it. He's a complete asshole. God, I hope he doesn't want to force me to marry him. I'll spend the rest of my life keeping my mouth shut with a jerk-faced asshole by my side. Just fabulous. At least the others didn't stare at my breasts!'

He blinked and his head tilted to the other side. It seemed like he was listening to something, and if those ears of his were real, then maybe he actually was. She hadn't a clue, but between one moment and the next she found that Virgo and Richard had already left the room, and she was alone with the prince. He held out an arm and her hand naturally looped through it, and they walked toward the doors of the throne room with his snake slithering behind them.

That was a little creepy, but maybe… Maybe he would let her pet the snake. She'd never gotten to pet one before. She'd only ever seen them in books that were brought down from the surface to keep the nobles fully informed on what was happening in the lands of the kingdoms.

He stopped before they reached the doors and she looked up at him curiously. He didn't look back at her, but at the ground. At something in the distance that only he could see, most likely. "Cubellios." The snake slithered around and lifted its head until it was eye-level with him. "This is Lady Lucy." He looked at her at the same time as the snake did. "This is my friend, Cubellios."

Cubellios slithered closer and curved over her just slightly. Its tongue flicked out and feathered back and forth over her nose. Lucy giggled and rubbed away the tickling sensation. She bit her lip nervously and glanced at the prince to find him watching her. He didn't seem to be interested though, just observing everything with a critical eye. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Cubellios," she said to the snake. "May I…"

Her hand lifted slowly, and Cubellios' snout instantly dipped to press against her palm. If it wasn't for her gloves, she would have been able to feel the scales perfectly. Why hadn't she taken them off? This was her chance, and she was missing out on it because she'd forgotten to remove her stupid gloves.

"Cubellios doesn't like gloves," Prince Erik said. "Take those off."

Lucy squeaked and quickly did as he said, tucking them into a hidden pocket in her dress. She reached up once again and Cubellios moved so she could pet it. It was like nothing she'd ever felt before, smooth with gentle ridges between the scales, a little cool but not uncomfortable. It was mesmerizing as her hand slid up and over Cubellios' nostril holes, between its eyes, and to the back of its head.

"She doesn't normally let people touch her," Prince Erik said, watching as Lucy's hand pulled back.

"O-Oh…" She started at the sound of his quiet chuckle, and glanced toward him to find a sudden warmth glimmering in his deep lavender eye.

"If she didn't want you to do it, she would have bitten you. She says you're allowed to pet her whenever you wish."

"She… says?"

He nodded and placed her hand in his elbow again. "Let's go find something to eat," he said. "You can tell me a little more about where you come from."

She blinked in surprise at that. He wanted to know about the Waters? Why would he want something like that? It wasn't as though her home was all that important in comparison to his kingdom. But as they began walking, Lucy couldn't help but remember what Richard had said to her. Her mother had told her the same thing years ago. First impressions weren't always accurate.

It was so strange for Virgo to disappear for such a long time, but Lucy didn't mind it. She was probably just getting acquainted with the staff and figuring out where Lucy would be sleeping that night, getting things prepared. She was always so on top of things, that Lucy was sure she would be a wreck without her. But the sun was setting, based on the lights glowing from reddish-orange crystals set in braziers along the walls. It was extremely surprising that time had flown by so quickly. She'd been able to talk with Prince Erik for hours without feeling like she was rambling. He listened to her instead of brushing her off. He asked her questions about her life, what it had been like growing up beneath the waters of the realm.

And when she asked him things, he answered. And he did it honestly.

The most surprising thing about him, though, was that he had quite the foul mouth once he relaxed. He cursed constantly, and he didn't seem to care whether or not she found it offensive. If it had been any other noblewoman, there probably would have been hysterical gasping involved. Lucy really didn't mind it all that much. And when a curse slipped out of her - she really hadn't meant to call him a dick out loud - he'd just snorted over the way she blushed and tried to apologize.

Dinner was a cozy affair. Instead of the long, perfectly made table like in the Earth Kingdom, or the large round table stuffed with food in the Fire Kingdom, things were smaller. More intimate. She could tell the table was made for only two people to eat at where it was tucked away in a little alcove of the library. They were given plates of roasted duck and healthy portions of vegetables she'd never seen, with a basket of bread and a bottle of wine to share. She found out that if she wanted a second helping - which, she didn't because it was all so delicious and filling - all she needed to do was ask, and another plate would be brought out for her. Just like Erik had done for his own second helping. And then his third.

She hadn't had time to ask him about why they were eating in the library before he said that it had only been him and the king for years. By the look in his eye when he mentioned the king, she knew better than to ask his whereabouts. It was odd that he hadn't made an appearance to meet with her at all, but Lucy didn't want to question it.

She'd learned so much more about the Frost Kingdom during their meal. Even though Prince Erik and the king rarely left the Tower - mostly due to the weather - he knew everything about this frozen domain. He told her stories of the beautiful wintry forests and where to find wolves dens, when to stay away from them and when they would actually allow people close enough to meet their young. Stories about the quaint villages and the people living in them, of bakers and millers and smiths, and rumors that spread around town about who was sleeping with whom. She hadn't a clue how he could know any of those things when he never left.

It was while he was walking her toward her rooms for the night that he surprised her. Not once had he tried to touch her skin. He would only touch her sleeve-covered arms or the occasional hand on her back while he led her through the library.

He stopped and sent Cubellios away - Lucy had actually forgotten that it wasn't just the two of them - then gently grasped her hands while looking deeply into her wide eyes. He was silent though, simply watching her, and Lucy was sure that she should have been just a little unnerved by the way he watched things for so long.

She wasn't though. Everyone had their quirks. Maybe he was just a thinker that liked to have his words in order before saying something.

"Why aren't you afraid of me?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You've heard these stories about me. Not all of them are true, mind you, but some do have reasons for being told. But you're not… afraid."

Lucy gave him a small smile and his hands tightened around hers. She'd never expected a prince to have such calloused hands, for them to feel as though he'd been doing hard labor since he was just a child. Everyone's hands in the Waters were soft, overly moisturized. Hers were nearly the same except for the fingers on her right hand that grasped her keys while summoning her spirits.

"Why should I be afraid?" she asked. "You've given me no reason to feel that way, and… Well, I know how mean other people can be."

His eye narrowed slightly. "They didn't like you where you come from?"

She shook her head. "I'm not always a proper lady." Apparently sneaking up to the roof and trying to catch a fish that swam in the water above them, so she could see what the rest of the world was like, was a bad idea. "It gets me into a lot of trouble."

She was also, allegedly, not supposed to tell the neighbor's wife to stop sleeping around with half the block, and if she was going to continue doing so would she please stop screeching like some drowning cat in the middle of the night. Or, maybe it had been alright to say that, just not in front of her husband.

"That's why they sent me first. If no one chooses to marry me, I'll return home and be banished to the Far Lands. If someone does choose me, then they never have to deal with me again."

"Wait, what?"

"My father thought I didn't know, but even he forgets that I listen to what people say. I'm not deaf… I know they don't like me."

"What did you say about being banished?" he asked. "Banished for what?"

"For not being a suitable queen."

"That's the dumbest fucking thing I've ever heard."

"Yeah," she laughed. "You don't have to tell me. Every woman down there is bred to be perfect. The perfect wife, perfect woman, perfect lover. But while we were supposed to be learning how to embroider and knit, I ran off and practiced my magic. We all have it down there, but the women aren't supposed to use it."

"You never showed it to me," he said. She rather liked the way his thumbs brushed over the backs of her hands. "Would you?" Her cheeks flushed while she reached into her bodice, tucking her fingers between her breasts, and pulled out a ring of keys. Prince Erik bit his lips to keep his amusement in check. "That's… a lot of keys in your tits."

"They're good for something then," she shot back without a thought. She really liked the sound of his quiet laugh as it drifted between them. "But you saw my magic earlier."

"I did?"

She nodded and singled out a key. "Virgo, my handmaiden, is one of the spirits I can summon. I summon her every morning, and keep her out throughout the day with me to work on my magic. She has days off though, and sometimes I can't always keep her out if my magic is too low, but… I try."

His gaze shifted to the side when she put the keys back where they'd been. Her hand slipped back into his as though it was the most natural place for it to be. "Is this something you really want?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Do you want to be a queen? Do you want to marry some prince and leave your home and family behind?"

If Lucy was being honest with herself - which she usually was - then she didn't want to be a queen. It was something she'd never really wanted. She didn't care about the status of rulers or attaining it for herself. She didn't want to rule a country, or marry a man who thought she didn't have a brain. She didn't care about having money or some status to lord over people. Granted, she'd never lived without it, but there had been times where she dreamt of being a normal human with no magic, just to find out what it was like. Maybe it would make her appreciate the things she had more, or maybe she would finally find a place where she belonged. But Lucy knew that would never happen.

Her whole life had been beneath the rest of the world, cloistered away from every normal person on the land, surrounded by the vapid conversations of noblewomen. She didn't love her home though. It was just one more place where she'd never really fit in. On the land, she was an outsider, so new to everything she encountered. In the Waters, she was the weird girl who didn't know how to keep her mouth shut.

She just didn't understand why he would ask her something like that. Or why he would even care. This arrangement wasn't about her feelings, it was about finding wives for the three princes. Whoever they wanted to marry was theirs for the taking. And if she was chosen by one of them to be a future queen, then that was just her lot in life. It would be the only time she would lie down and not fight back. Because she wanted to prove to her father that she could do something right for a change.

If she was never going to see him again, then Lucy wanted it to be because she'd done something to make him proud. Not because she wasn't a suitable wife. All she had to do was be a proper woman, and everything would work out.

"I'd never force someone to marry me," he said. "Look at me. What kind of monster would subject a woman to living a life with this?" Lucy frowned up at him, only to find his gaze settled on their joined hands. Did he mean the scar on his face? His pointed ears? The color of his skin? The fact that he had a snake instead of a cat? She didn't really see anything wrong with any of those things. They worked for him. "My predecessor wanted me to marry according to the land's traditions. Choose a bride from the Waters and have an heir. He didn't have an heir, and people have talked about it ever since he took me in. He didn't want that for me…"

"You're not a blooded heir?" she asked. That would explain why people kept saying he wasn't really the heir to the throne.

"No," he chuckled. "The Frost King found me while he was travelling. I was out in the woods, no family and no home, starving to death and bleeding out from being mauled by a bear. And he brought me here. He saved my life and raised me to be the next king, because… He never found someone who would marry him. And if he had, he wouldn't have had any children."

"Why wouldn't he have chosen someone from the Waters?" she asked. God, how many women had been turned down by the king and banished because they hadn't met his standards?

"He chose not to partake in that tradition, and informed the nobles so they'd stop bothering him. He didn't want a wife."

"But to have an heir, at least," she said. She didn't exactly agree with marrying just for reproduction, but it was tradition. And if the Frost King had wanted an heir, all he'd needed to do was marry someone.

"No matter how much magic you have, two men can't have a child."

"O-Oh… Oh!" Lucy blinked repeatedly and found him simply watching her once again. "He's… I see. Well, that would make sense then."

His head tilted again. "You don't seem to mind," he said. "It wasn't exactly a good thing for him to be that way."

"Why not?" she asked, frowning. "Who someone loves isn't anyone else's business." Well that was how Lucy saw it, but she knew for a fact that the nobles she'd grown up with frowned upon those sorts of relationships. Lucy just didn't think it was anything to get all worked up over. As long as people were happy, then she didn't see a problem.

"Well, I'll probably be like him, in a sense. I doubt I'll find a woman to marry, or have an heir. I'll just have to hope I can find someone to take the throne when my time comes…" He tried to let her hands go, but she held fast. "Don't worry. It's something I accepted a long time ago. But there's something I've been thinking about since before you came here."

"And what's that?"

"If this isn't something you want, then you don't have to worry about me pursuing you. I don't rule like the others. My kingdom is so far removed from theirs that things are definitely different here. The only reason I agreed to this is because the king asked me to. Because he took care of me, I swore I'd take care of his kingdom when the time came."

"But I could get banished," she said.

"I'm sure the other two saw in you the same things I do," he said gently. "And if it comes down to it, and neither of those dumbasses can see what I do, then I'll take you in as a ward. I won't force you to marry me, but I won't let you be banished… if you'd allow me to."

"If I'd allow you…" Her thin brows knit together when he took a step closer. She could smell the rich scent of cologne lingering on the fur of his jacket. "You're the weirdest prince I've met, you know that?"

"I know," he chuckled. "But keep that in mind, okay? I won't make you my bride, but if you have nowhere else to turn to… just ask, and you'll have a home here."

"Why would you do that for me?"

He lifted her hands to his lips and pressed a gentle kiss to her knuckles. "Because the only time someone's spoken to me without thinking about everything that's wrong with me, was when you said hello." He kissed her knuckles again then let go of her hands and took a small step back. "I hope you sleep well though. I'll… I'll see you in the morning for first meal."

She stood in the hall for several minutes after he turned and walked back the way they'd come. It wasn't until the white-haired woman she'd met that afternoon peeked her head out of the room Lucy was to sleep in that she came back to reality.

"Lady Lucy?"

"Hm?"

"Are you going to stand there all night?"

"... Maybe," she said, staring at her hands and where she'd felt his lips against her burning flesh.

"Is everything alright? Your handmaiden disappeared earlier. She said something about being needed elsewhere and then… poof. Gold sparkles everywhere."

"That's fine," Lucy said. She turned toward Sorano, unaware of the tears in her eyes.

"Oh, what did he say to you?" she asked, coming forward and drawing Lucy into a gentle hug. "You can tell me. It's alright."

"Wh-Why does he look so sad?"

Sorano stared in surprise at the top of Lucy's head as she cried. She led the blonde into the room and helped her get dressed for the night in a silk ruby nightgown, then brushed out her hair while Lucy tried to calm herself. Neither spoke a word. There wasn't anything that could be said. Eventually, she tucked Lucy in beneath the thick blankets and wished her a night of sweet dreams, then left.

"What was that all about?" came a soft, sneering, oh-so familiar voice. Sorano turned to look at Macbeth with a scowl. He pushed away from the wall across from Lucy's room, fiddling with his white and black hair.

"What?"

"Tucking her in like a child," he said. "She doesn't belong here, and you know it."

"Why, because she can see Erik for who he is?"

"No one sees that," he said. "He's only got us left now, Sorano. What do you think is going to happen when he turns her away?"

"He offered to let her come back."

"Just watch," he said, toying with a white braid and glancing at her out of one coal-lined eye. "She'll leave tomorrow and go to that stupid King's Council, and then he'll be forced to see her as the queen in some other kingdom. Because he's too hellbent on not taking things for himself."

"He won't force her to marry him," she said. "How is that a bad thing?"

"Because you know as well as I do that this was his only chance," he said. "He'll abstain from taking any wife now that he knows what goes on with those nobles. And the people in this kingdom have a hard enough time accepting him as the damn prince. A second king with no heir? I doubt they'll want him to marry some commoner when he's not even a noble by birth himself."

"They were lucky that the king found a kid who could use magic…"

"There were only so many of us," Macbeth said. "The point is, she's his only shot. And he turned her away because he suddenly grew a heart."

"Or maybe it's because he heard her soul," Sorano said, turning away from him. "Macbeth, you know why he never leaves here. Why it's so far away from everything. And with the king-"

"Don't. I already know."

"Then stop being a jackass and do your job."

Lucy kept her ear pressed against the door and closed her eyes while listening to them walking in different directions down the hall. That hadn't made things any easier on her part. Maybe she should have just stayed in bed and pretended she couldn't hear them talking with the door still cracked open.

But she'd been curious about what they were saying. Was it about her, maybe more people who just didn't like her? Was it about the prince? Well, she'd figured it out pretty quickly, and it still left her with nothing to do but turn around and lie in the bed. This wasn't her decision to make. It was left to the remaining princes and kings to decide her fate.

A small part of her wished that Erik was like the others, selfish enough to take her for himself.

Thundering crashes woke Lucy from her already fitful sleep, and she sat up in her bed, gasping for breath and searching the darkness of her unfamiliar room for the foreign sound. She couldn't see a thing. She could only hear the rapid taps of something sharp against her window. Scrapes and howls that rung through the air just outside. She clutched at her blanket and tried to calm her breathing, but she hadn't a clue what was happening. Maybe it was just a nightmare, and she would wake up any moment to find the sun streaming in through her bedroom window. Maybe this was nothing to worry about at all.

The large window across the room shattered inward, bringing ice and snow and shards of glass barreling toward her with the screaming winds. Lucy shrieked in terror and vaulted from the bed. Thick blankets tangled between her legs and sent her crashing to the floor. A shard of glass cut into her arm while she tried to scramble free, but all she could hear was the wind and heavy, unknown thuds drawing closer to her.

Were there monsters she hadn't been told about? She didn't want to wait and find out for herself.

Tears broke past her lashes when she finally freed herself from the blankets and crawled across the room to the door, gaining scrapes along her knees and hands from the shattered window panes. The temperature dropped so quickly that she found herself fumbling with the handle, shivering and trembling as she was battered by bone-chilling winds. And all the while those heavy thuds came closer, grew louder. The wind outside screeched and wailed with something akin to fury.

The handle finally turned and she stumbled out into the dimly lit hall. Every second brazier held a glowing crystal and gave off just enough light for her to pick a direction and run. And she ran. She hadn't memorized the layout of the Tower - that would have been a ridiculous feat in less than a day - and even if she had, Lucy was in no shape to recall any of it. She turned down random corridors, ascended one flight of steps and nearly tumbled down another in search of some place that was quiet. Somewhere safe.

Anywhere that she couldn't hear the monster outside, raging against the Tower, trying to tear it down and rip her to pieces. That had to be what it was. There was no other explanation for it.

She screamed when something grabbed her, wrapped around her waist and pulled her backwards into a wall of warmth. Her vision was already blurred with tears that streamed down her cheeks, and she fought against whatever held her captive and nearly broke free.

"What happened?" His voice was calm as he spoke right into her ear, and while part of her screeched that it was just a trick, that she shouldn't trust anything she heard, something else stayed her flailing limbs. "Why are you bleeding?"

Her cold-numbed legs wouldn't hold her any longer, and she collapsed while great, heaving sobs wracked her body with tremors. Erik followed her to the floor, holding most of her weight so she didn't hurt herself further. She knew it was him, there was no questioning it when she felt his warm, calloused hands sliding over her bare arms. When she tried to speak, nothing came out. Nothing that could be understood, at least, but instead of getting angry and telling her to calm down, she found her head against his chest and his arms winding around her, holding her tenderly.

"It's okay," he said. "It's just a storm."

"It's a m-monster!"

"No," he chuckled. "Just a really bad storm, Lucy. It'll pass by morning." She kept crying though, because it had seemed so likely that this was something more sinister. And then, because he probably thought she was an idiot for getting so worked up over something as silly as a storm.

"The window… it… it…"

"I'll have someone fix the window. The hail must have been pretty bad to break it like that. Is it alright if I pick you up?"

Lucy nodded against him and his arms shifted, then he stood as though she weighed nothing at all and carried her back the way she'd come. Before she could consider the fact that he might be taking her back to her own room, Erik turned and walked through an open door, then another. He carefully set her down on something cold and hard, and when the crystals on the walls lit up the room, she found herself on a counter in a bathroom.

"Shit, you're really hurt."

She tried to use her arm to wipe away her tears, but he gently caught her by the wrist. Moments later, Erik blotted at her cheeks and eyes with the corner of a small cloth. She looked down at herself and cringed when she saw the crimson trails running down her legs, the scrapes on her hands and shins, tears in her nightgown and sparkling bits of glass protruding from her flesh. "I-I'm sorry…"

"Sorry for what? Being scared?"

Her head lowered in shame while he walked off to another part of the bathroom. He came back with a small leather bag and set it beside her on the counter. Crackling thunder nearly shook the room and she jumped and searched the ceiling for the sound.

"It's alright." Erik took her face in his hands and gently turned her toward him. "No matter what you hear, it's just the storm." His eye widened slightly after a moment. "You've never… been in a storm, have you?"

She shook her head and sniffled. It was pitiful and pathetic. She was pitiful. A grown woman, scared of something like the weather. No wonder his servants hadn't wanted her to stick around. She wasn't good enough. She was a crybaby and she'd never known it until that night.

"Now that's just a bunch of bullshit." Erik rested his forehead against hers and his fingers slid behind her ears, up into the long, loose strands of waist length hair that he'd only seen tied up and away from her face. "Plenty of people are scared of storms, okay? Macbeth is just butthurt over stupid shit, and I've already talked to him about running his mouth like some goddamn washing well wench."

She let out a watery laugh at that. It was the first time she'd ever heard someone curse so much and so often, but something about the way he did it really didn't seem all that bad. She kind of liked it.

"I'll get you cleaned up," he said. "Just be patient with me, since I've only got the one eye."

She saw his small, playful smirk, and sniffled her agreement. It hurt while he carefully pulled each piece of glass from her cuts with small metal tweezers, and it was even worse when he poured some clear, foul-smelling liquid over everything, but she just bit at her lips and kept herself quiet while he worked. Bandages were slowly wrapped around her knees, over parts of her legs, her hands. And then he pulled out a needle and thread.

He paused and swiped at the blood on her arm, then waited. Maybe he wasn't all that sure about what he was about to do.

"You're not afraid of needles, are you?"

"No."

"Okay, just stay still." He threaded the needle and brought it to the large gash on her arm, then stopped. Just before pushing it into her flesh, another bout of thunder rumbled in the air and Lucy jumped.

"Sorry!"

"It's alright," he said. She gasped as the needle punctured her flesh, but didn't allow herself to move until he finally bit the thread - had his teeth always been sharp enough to do that, and she hadn't noticed? - wiped at the stitches with a piece of cotton soaked with that dreadful smelling liquid, then wrapped it with bandages. "All done. You're quite the badass, Lady Lucy. You didn't even cry over stitches."

She sat forward on the counter and wrapped her bandaged arms around him in a crushing hug. She was still a little cold, but that didn't matter. She just wanted to thank him for coming to the rescue, for taking care of her and helping her understand what was going on when she was so terrified. Slowly, almost as though he was unsure of himself, Erik returned the gesture. Without a thought over her modesty, Lucy's legs shifted so they weren't digging into his stomach, and she inched closer until she was flush against him.

"You're cold," he whispered. His warm breath against her throat sent goosebumps rippling across her flesh and she failed to suppress a small shiver. "You'll get sick if you don't warm up."

Lucy shook her head and held on tighter, grasping at his shoulders before he could try to push her away. Her cheek brushed against his pointed ear and her fingers moved across something odd. It felt like skin, but it wasn't smooth. Not the way it should have been. She looked down and found that he was shirtless.

She went still.

It wasn't the fact that her fingers traversed over only a few of the multitude of scars on his back. She vaguely wondered why they were there. Maybe they were scars from that bear attack he'd told her about when he was a child. But what concerned her was the fact that he wasn't wearing a shirt at all. Why wasn't he wearing a shirt?

'Oh my god… No shirt. Oh, this isn't good. I'm cuddling with a shirtless man. A shirtless prince! And I'm only in my… Oh my god! My nightgown is NOT appropriate for anyone to see me! Oh why did I let Sorano give me this?! Sleeping in my own room, sure, it's fine. Getting snuggly with the damn prince who's barely wearing a thing, not so much! Oh my GOD!'

He chuckled, and she could feel his breath hitting more than just her throat, where his mouth still was. With the realization of what she was wearing, something much closer to lingerie than a proper nightgown that would have covered her chest and reached her knees, Lucy remembered that her breasts had barely been covered by the silk material.

"I'll get you something else to wear," he said. "I won't peek."

Lucy pulled her hands back and watched as he stepped away with his eye closed. He pressed a hand to his only eye to cover it and left the bathroom. Except she'd looked.

Oh, dear sweet heavens, had she looked. The only clothing on him was a pair of black shorts that hugged his hips and thighs. She'd gotten far too good a view of his lean frame, the light definition of muscles leading down his stomach, a strip of maroon hairs that disappeared into the band of his shorts. And when he turned, it wasn't much better for her mental state. Past the scars on his back, her eyes were drawn to his narrow waist and hips, and then his rear end.

By the time he returned, still only wearing those shorts, her face hadn't cooled down in the slightest. She was sure sticking her head in the volcano beneath the Fire Palace would have been less intense than what she was experiencing.

"It should be a little better," he said, still covering his eye and handing her a white tunic with gold stitching.

Lucy quietly thanked him and pulled it on over her head, then removed the nightgown. She struggled to bend her arm properly to tie the laces over her chest though. That was going to be a problem. "U-Um… Can you…"

Erik slowly pulled his hand away from his face and found her eyes downcast while one hand fiddled with the strings by her chest. He came to stand in front of her once again and cinched the tunic closed from her navel to her throat, then tied it properly, all while watching only the bright flush to her cheeks.

"Thank you."

He smiled to himself, and it disappeared before she looked at him. "Are you feeling a little better?"

"A little."

"If you give me a minute, I'll put some clothes on. I want to show you something."

She nodded and waited while he got dressed, and only stepped down from the counter when he was back - mostly clothed in a similar tunic and a pair of black pants - and holding onto her waist to keep her steady. The tunic that covered her really didn't do much to keep her legs hidden, but at least her chest wasn't exposed any longer. She had a little modesty intact.

He silently led her out of the bathroom, and she spared the opulent bedroom with an oversized bed against the far window a single glance before they left. She wasn't sure where he was taking her, only that they were climbing higher and higher until he paused before a simple wooden ladder with a door in the ceiling above it.

"You ready?"

Lucy wasn't really sure what she could be ready for, but nodded anyway. He opened the door and she followed him up the ladder, and Lucy was left speechless at the sight before her. Above her. All around her, really.

They'd come to the very top of the Tower, to what appeared to be a large crystalline globe sitting atop the clouds. She stepped away from him and further into the room, spinning in a slow circle while she tried to take everything in. The clouds really were beneath them, churning and raging in that wintery storm that had so terrified her. And high above were millions of glittering motes of light. Hundreds of thousands of stars, twinkling so much closer than they'd ever been before.

For the first time in her life, she could see them clearly. She could feel her connection to them strengthening, even though her keys were still in her room. Would she have been able to summon her spirits even easier while standing so close? Her hand raised of its own accord, desperate to reach out and touch the home of her spirits. It was so close. The heavens were just on the other side of the glass surrounding them.

"I checked it out in the library." He came to stand beside her, gazing up at the sky as well. "You showed me those keys, and I wondered what sort of magic it was. It has to do with stars, right?"

"It does."

"I thought you might like to see this. I was worried that you wouldn't get to, since you can't see them in the daytime, obviously. And you might never come back… But I'm glad I could show you tonight."

"They're perfect… Thank you, Erik." She didn't see how he looked at her when she said just his name with no title attached to it. Her smiling face was directed heavenward. Her eyes shone with the giddiness that trilled in her soul.

"Lucy," he said, hesitating slightly. She finally looked at him again. "We don't have a lot of time together, but… would you…"

Her brows drew together when he sighed. "Would I…?"

"Would you maybe tell me about the stars?" he asked. "I can read about it in books, but… It sounds fucking stupid, but I'd rather hear you talk about them."

Her smile was impossibly bright when she agreed. He heard in her soul that no one ever cared to know about the magic she could use. And Erik knew without anyone having to tell him that it was a horrible idea to get to know her. She wouldn't be there for long. She wasn't going to return to him, and he knew that. In the morning, they would have first meal together, and then she would be taken to the King's Council, and Natsu and Ryos would both ask for her hand. He'd heard them from his home when she was there. They both wanted to marry her, have her bear their heirs and become the next queen. Igneel and Skiadrum both liked her as well.

His offer for her to be his ward was for nothing. She wouldn't return to this frozen Tower. The next time he saw her after that meeting, she would probably be wed and pregnant with someone else's child. But he was selfish. He'd accepted that a long time ago. Erik just wanted this one memory of her by his side, telling him things that she'd never told anyone else. He wanted to listen to her voice for as long as she'd let him.

He arranged several heavy blankets on the floor that had been stacked in a corner, then laid down beside her and draped another large blanket over both of them to keep the slight chill in the air at bay.

She pointed to constellations with her bandage-covered hand, drawing symbols in the sky and telling each one's tale. At some point, he turned toward her and just listened to her voice. There were no more constellations she could point out, but she had so many stories to tell him. About her own spirits, about how her mother had used the same magic and passed her keys down to Lucy. She rolled onto her side beneath the blanket to face him, still smiling as she spoke in a hushed whisper.

He asked her questions, trying to soak in everything he could about her. No one ever talked to him like this, except for the king. But for the first time, there was someone else who wanted to spend time with him, to talk and just enjoy their time together. He knew without a doubt that it would never be enough with her. But Erik also knew that there was nothing to be done about it. He wouldn't force her to be with him. He wasn't that sort of man, no matter how selfish he wanted to be. She didn't want him or anyone else to take her choices away, and all he could do for her was be the one who refused to do that.

"Erik?"

"Hm?"

"Will you do something for me?" Her fingers drifted across his chest and up to his jaw. "Please?"

He wanted to say no. He really did. He knew it would be better to tell her that it was impossible, that he couldn't give her what she wanted, but then she moved closer and didn't let him get the words out. Her lips covered his in a gentle, exploring kiss. Her first kiss. Why she would want him to have something so precious, he'd never understand. She was intoxicating though as her tongue slipped between his lips. There was only so much he could handle. He wanted her, damnit. But the truth was that he could never have her. And with each passing second that he couldn't bring himself to pull away, he knew it would end badly.

Her soul asked for everything he couldn't give her, but he waited for her lips to say the words he longed to hear. She whispered his name so reverently while his hand pushed beneath the tunic covering her slender body and slid over her hips and waist.

It came out as nothing more than a gasp when his weight settled on top of her. Her kisses intensified and her hands trembled as she explored his shirtless form.

"We shouldn't," he rasped. "Lucy-"

"It's okay."

She wasn't disgusted by the scars on his back when she clutched herself to him as his hips settled between her pale, quivering thighs. She kept her gaze trained on his single indigo eye when he broke the kiss and gently eased into her, stealing her virtue for himself when he had no right to take it.

But her soul begged him to. Her swollen lips lifted in a giddy grin when their bodies molded together and he kissed her throat and chin and cheeks. The quiet mewls of delight grew in time with their writhing movements, until she was gasping, moaning, screaming his name. And all he could do was soak up the thrashing in her soul as it cried out for more of him, for everything he had to give. He wanted her to take it, to hoard all that he was and keep it forever in her heart.

Her back arched beautifully beneath him, ripping a crackling cry of ecstasy from her and a low groan from him as he speared into her one last time.

She didn't mind it when he collapsed on top of her, when he kissed her sweat-slicked chest and his arms wrapped around her. She just held him the way he'd secretly hoped she would. She held tightly and didn't let go even as the sun crested the horizon. Gentle golden rays bathed them in early morning light as they rolled across the strewn blankets, and her hips curled in a steady, heady rhythm that had him desperately trying to keep this moment forever.

He wanted to always remember how she looked with the sun shining down on her, lighting her hair in a golden halo with the clear blue sky above her. He wanted to burn into his memory how she smiled down at him, how it felt to have her hands on his chest, his hands moving her hips, seeing his own tunic slipping down her shoulders and baring her body for his eye only. Her long hair flowing around them, how she bent to kiss him again and again because she couldn't get enough of him either.

When he heard her soul sighing three words as they laid together, spent and panting and refusing to let go, Erik's eye finally closed. He ignored how his own soul echoed with dread, how it pleaded with him to accept her and everything she was. He'd taken enough from her. He was a selfish bastard, and he'd taken it all. All he could hope was that another prince wouldn't mind what he'd stolen. He'd never forgive himself if her life was ruined because of his selfishness.

Lucy stepped away from the teleportation runes and walked down the short hall to the King's Council antechamber. She didn't smile when she saw Prince Natsu and Prince Ryos standing in the circular room, talking with one another. Courtesy dictated that she should, but there was no way to do it. Her late night with Erik, and what they'd done well into the morning, replayed in her head over and over all during what was supposed to be her final meal with him. If they hadn't been alone, she never would have allowed him to toss their food to the floor and take her on the small table in the library. His kisses had been so passionate, so desperate, and she hadn't been able to stop herself from giving over to his soft whispers and pleas for more of her.

But it had felt like a goodbye, in more than one sense of the word.

She had to keep reminding herself that he wasn't going to marry her. She'd given herself to him freely, but he still wouldn't take her as his wife. He'd made sure she understood that while kissing her cheeks, while his hips slapped against her and he groped her corseted breasts.

They would never be together.

She should have been happy about that. She should have been ecstatic that he wouldn't force her into a marriage.

"Luce!"

She forced a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes when Prince Natsu met her in the middle of the antechamber. His more relaxed clothing was gone, replaced by burnished orange breeches and black riding boots, a red brocade doublet adorned with gold beads along the hems. He wore a dark red cape draped over one shoulder and tied beneath the opposite arm. He didn't try to hug her, and she could see that he really wanted to. He was subdued. Much more than he'd been when they'd first met.

"Hello again, Prince Natsu," she said with a graceful curtsy. She turned to Prince Ryos when he met with them as well. He appeared almost the same as the day she'd met him. His clothes were finely pressed and mostly black and silver. His own cape reached down to his knees and didn't cover his shoulders at all, but she was surprised to find it was a beautiful shade of emerald that truly complimented his burning crimson eyes. "Prince Ryos."

"Lady Lucy. You seem to have fared better than I anticipated."

"I did." She could feel his eyes on the bandages peeking out from beneath her elbow length gloves.

"Whoa, what happened?" Prince Natsu grabbed her hand and pulled her arm forward, then peeled at the edge of her glove. "Did Erik do that?"

"N-No," she said. "A storm hit the Tower last night, and hail broke my window."

"That is what happens when you build something so structurally compromised," Prince Ryos said. "It's good to see you weren't hurt worse than a scrape or two."

"I actually needed stitch-"

"Man, you should've just stayed with us," Prince Natsu said, dropping her arm and grinning. "We never have crazy snow storms like that."

"You live on a volcano," Prince Ryos said.

"Yeah, well you never go outside. What are you, a vampire?"

Lucy closed her eyes in exasperation and pulled at her glove to fix it above her bandages. Fast footsteps sounded from the hall she'd come down upon her arrival, and she turned toward it to see who else might be coming. The soft hiss she heard from the hall gave her a pretty good clue though.

"Whoa, Erik," Prince Natsu laughed. "What's with the clothes?"

His hair was the same as it had been the day before, but he didn't look the same to her. Erik didn't stop in his trek to the door on the other side of the antechamber with Cubellios slithering beside him. His eye was hard and unforgiving, staring straight ahead. His shirt and pants from the day before had been replaced with an ornate navy dolman top with frosted blue cords running in rows across his chest and simple navy slacks. It was so formal, almost militaristic with its rigidity and order. Over his shoulders rested a pelisse lined with white ermine, with the same navy and ice colors making up a coat of arms across his back.

"Where do you think you're going?" Prince Ryos asked when Erik pressed a hand to the king's seal on the Council door. "The Frost King should…"

A pale blue sigil glowed at the top of the door and it swept open, granting him entrance. The door slammed shut behind him and Cubellios, leaving Lucy with the two stunned princes alone in the antechamber.

"He went in," Prince Natsu whispered.

"That's impossible."

Lucy didn't dare ask what they meant. She didn't need to know. But she'd hoped that he would at least greet her. She'd hoped he wouldn't ignore her. Had the time they'd spent together meant nothing at all? Had he really been so selfish to take her virginity, to use her body as he'd wished while she was with him, only to ignore her after it was all said and done? Maybe it was for the best, if he wasn't going to take her as his wife. She didn't need the others knowing that she wasn't pure any longer. There was no telling what would happen to her if someone found out that she'd given that gift to someone who wasn't her husband. Banishment would probably be the least of her worries.

She ignored the princes near her while staring at the door across the room. She wasn't sure how long they waited, but eventually the door opened of its own accord. Prince Natsu and Prince Ryos held out their arms for her and led her forward. She wasn't ready for this. She wanted to run as far and as fast as she could, but Lucy knew that wasn't an option. It would only make her a disgrace and ensure her banishment.

They left her standing just inside the King's Council chamber and moved to take their seats beside their fathers. The room was well lit with an ornate iron chandelier hanging in the center over a stylized triangular prism made of green and red and blue tiles on the floor. Lucy slowly walked forward and stood in the center of the prism.

To her left King Igneel sat in a large throne made of black stone with intricate etchings all along the arms and legs. A smaller empty throne sat to his left, and Prince Natsu had taken a seat in another throne on his right.

To her right was King Skiadrum in a marble throne with identical etchings. An empty throne sat to his left, and Prince Ryos took the seat on his right.

And directly in front of her was Erik, sitting in the center throne made of bright blue crystals with no one to accompany him on either side. He was alone, just like he always was from what she understood. Well, with the exception of Cubellios, who had coiled around the top of the throne and laid completely still.

"Now that everyone is here," King Igneel said, "There is an announcement to be made."

"Dad," Natsu said with a frown.

"The Frost King has passed from this life, leaving Prince Erik as the named heir to his kingdom."

Everyone turned toward the lone figure in his throne - a king's throne, Lucy realized, while gazing at the thick platinum necklace with a large sapphire around his throat - and he said nothing. Erik simply nodded.

"We will continue the alliance between our lands," King Skiadrum said. "Should you need assistance from the Earth Kingdom, you need only to ask."

"As with the Fire Kingdom," Igneel agreed.

Erik let out a slow breath and kept his single eye directed to the ground. "The Frost Kingdom thanks you for your kindness," he said. Lucy wondered if his voice had always been so chilling and distant. Had she simply imagined the warmth she'd felt from him? "My predecessor informed me, at great length, of your generosity. I aim to maintain the ideals he set forth during his own time as king."

"Erik," Natsu said softly, leaning forward just a little to get a better look at the once-prince. "What-"

"That's king," Igneel hissed, glaring at his son. "Show some respect, Natsu."

"Sorry… King Erik, what happened to him?" Lucy barely caught sight of Ryos and Skiadrum covering their faces with one hand at the exact same time.

"The day before Lady Lucy arrived at the Tower of Heaven his illness took a turn. There was nothing we could do to save him, even though we tried everything. He passed his title to me that day, and I sat with him while he drew his final breaths."

"And you didn't tell anyone," Skiadrum mused.

"What difference does two days make?" Erik asked. "I'm not officially recognized by my country yet. You're the first to know."

"They should have known the day he died."

"Well, they didn't. They'll find out when I return today. There was enough going on with this…" Erik paused and waved a hand toward Lucy without looking her way. "I didn't need to have everyone up in arms over me becoming their ruler without a queen as well."

"Which brings us to the reason we're all here," Igneel said. Lucy tried not to shrink away from their attention when everyone turned toward her. Even Erik looked at her. "As newly appointed king, your choice takes precedence over the other princes in this matter. I know what you said, but Erik… You need to consider your people."

"There hasn't been a queen in the Frost Kingdom for nearly one hundred years," Skiadrum said. "The last king ruled for almost eighty years without one, and his mother had been dead since his birth. It's your duty to accept a bride."

"I refuse."

"What?" Natsu shouted. He looked from Lucy's downcast eyes back to the new Frost King. "What's wrong with Luce that you don't wanna marry her?"

"..."

"Erik, your predecessor assured us that you would take a queen and provide a proper heir to your throne," Skiadrum said.

"And if Lady Lucy isn't to your liking, then there are still two other women coming," Igneel added.

"I told him I would go through with this," Erik said slowly. "But do keep in mind that I can hear you. All of you. And knowing what I do now, I can't agree to it. I won't take a queen from the nobles that are sent from the Waters."

"Then what do you suggest?" Igneel asked.

"I'll do as my predecessor, and choose my own heir. That's the only way."

"Moron," Ryos sighed almost silently.

"We can't change your mind?" Igneel asked one last time. "If you need some time-"

"I don't need any time to mull this over. I've been thinking about it since he died," Erik spat. "Do what you will with her. This doesn't concern me any longer."

Lucy's eyes closed against the tears burning at her lashes. He wasn't as crass as he had been around her. His speech was more controlled than she'd heard the day before. He wasn't being himself. But maybe she didn't really know him all that well.

"Well, I'll take Luce as a bride," Natsu said. "She only screamed a little when I took her to the center of the castle. Pretty good for a girl, so…"

"We would like to negotiate," Skiadrum said, glaring at Natsu. "I believe she would be a great asset for my kingdom."

"Same here," Igneel chuckled. "But she's more of a free spirit, don't you think? You might suffocate her with all those rules, Skiddly-doo."

"She should be with us," Skiadrum said. "Ryos is more than ready to bring the heir-"

She had to stop listening, otherwise she really was going to vomit. Didn't they realize she was standing right there? Didn't they care that she could hear them? She had feelings, damnit. She was her own person in everything until it came down to what would happen in her life.

Why couldn't she be the one to make a choice for herself? She'd done it the night before with Erik. Except, that hadn't ended well. Even though they'd spent the night together, he didn't want her to stay with him. Maybe he thought her behavior was unsavory. She'd thrown herself at him, had all but begged him to take her purity. What if he was disgusted by her, knowing that she'd allowed him to do that even though they weren't wed?

"- Look at her hips! Those are perfect for Fire magic-"

'I hate this. I hate this. I hate this… Shut up… Just shut up, all of you…'

There was more to her than how well she could bear children for some prince she barely knew. She was more than a soft body with breasts and thighs and a mouth for a man to take as his own. She had a brain. She read constantly. She had her own magic that she trained with so hard, only for it to be ignored.

Erik set his attention on Lucy, but she didn't see the way his eye narrowed slightly at the glittering air just beside her. The two kings and princes didn't stop arguing, even when a large man with a white goat's head, wearing a black suit and sunglasses, suddenly appeared in a puff of pink smoke and golden sparkles, kneeling in front of her.

"Hi, Capricorn," she said quietly. The spirit pulled a handkerchief from his suit jacket and handed it to her, then disappeared once more.

No one commented on it. Igneel and Skiadrum had moved on to yelling over one another and there were already scorch marks on the floor around the Fire King's throne. Erik was the only one who saw her lift the handkerchief to her downcast eyes and blot away her tears.

'Shut up… all of you just stop. I'm right here. Why won't you ask what I want? Don't you care?'

This wasn't something Lucy had asked for. She'd never wanted to be a queen or anything like it. She didn't want to marry someone who didn't care about her own opinions. What kind of queen would she be aside from a woman in a pretty dress if her future husband couldn't count on her to make a sound decision? If they weren't equals, then what was the point of being married in the first place?

Her parents had been lucky enough to marry for love, and she'd watched them as she grew older. They did everything together. Her father had always looked to her mother to support him, and when she didn't agree with his ideas, Lucy had witnessed how they talked things out. They weren't normal in the slightest where she'd come from, but that was her normal. And that was what she'd dreamt of having. Not pompous assholes who only cared about the space between her legs pumping out little boys to take the throne. They said they liked that she was smart, but that didn't mean much to them. She could tell. And the only one who had cared about her opinion in the slightest, the only one who had taken the time to ask Lucy what she wanted out of all of this, was the only person who wasn't fighting for her. Her head lifted and she stared straight ahead to find him watching her. For the first time since he'd come into this meeting, he didn't look bored. Or very well put together.

He looked as sad as he had the night before, when he'd offered to make her his ward.

Lucy wondered if she was the only one to have seen the way he looked while in the throes of passion. Had what they'd done meant nothing to him? For the first time in her life, someone had taken the time to listen to her. He cared about her magic. He'd actually asked about it, unlike Natsu and Ryos. She'd given everything of herself to a man, and maybe it had been impulsive, but she'd thought they had a connection. She'd thought there was something between them, that he understood her better than anyone had ever tried to before.

Lucy didn't want to be with Natsu or Ryos. She knew, when she looked at the scarred Frost King before her, that he was the one. There was no fear of being banished for her. She could have a home in his kingdom, just like he'd said. If she made a fool of herself, she wouldn't be turned away.

"- You're insane if you think I'll let you weasel your way in and get this one, Skiddy!"

"Why you overbearing-"

"Enough!" Lucy bellowed. "God, just shut up already!" The room went silent with everyone's eyes locked on the suddenly scowling blonde. She never looked away from Erik. "I choose the Frost King."

"I beg your pardon?" Skiadrum asked.

"Lady Lucy," Igneel said slowly, "That isn't how this works."

Her eyes flicked to the left, narrowed and agitated. "Why doesn't it work that way?" she asked. "Why am I not allowed to choose who I take as a husband?"

"It simply isn't done," Skiadrum chuckled. She turned to him instead when Igneel said nothing.

"And why isn't it? Why do you men get to choose who will marry me, when I'm a person too? Or do you only care about maintaining the power for yourselves? What, are women not allowed to have opinions in your kingdom? I'd thought you were more progressive than that, your highness."

"Luce, just relax," Natsu said. "You're getting worked up over nothing."

"Am I, though?" All the back and forth between the two sides was making her dizzy. She needed to channel her anger though, and the easiest way to do that was by looking in one spot. Erik just so happened to be directly in her line of sight, so she settled for him. "Tell me, would any of you want to be bargained for like some ridiculous painting at an auction? I'm not some object to be passed around, even though that's what this entire thing has been about!"

"You should mind your manners, Lady Lucy," Ryos said. "You're speaking to royalty."

"No, I'm speaking to four arrogant bastards who think they can do whatever they want with a woman, without asking her own opinion on what happens to her body. You might be rulers in your kingdoms, but the only time you have any say over me is when I'm above the Waters."

"Which you are right now," Igneel said with a raised brow. "You could be hanged for this."

"Would you really hang me?" she spat. "For making my voice heard because I won't be forced into a marriage I don't want? Would you really allow your son to bed me, when I don't want him to? Don't you have laws against that sort of conduct for your commoners? Or are you all above those laws because you happen to wear a pretty necklace and live in some palace?"

She took a small step closer to Erik and found his lips twitching ever so slightly in a poor attempt at a smile. Or maybe he was just trying not to smile at all.

"I made my choice," she said. "If the Frost King won't marry me, then I'll return home and be banished from nobility."

"What?" Natsu asked, frowning. "That sounds kinda dumb."

"The Frost King has removed himself from this," Skiadrum said. "He won't take a queen, as you heard him say earlier."

"Erik," she said, taking another step forward. "I don't want to marry anyone else."

"Lady Lucy, that's far enough!" Skiadrum shouted. "If you take one more step…"

"I gave myself to you," she said, loud enough for everyone to hear. She didn't care anymore. She didn't want to be with him because he was a king. It had never been about that for her. She'd known the night before, when she'd given herself to him. Somewhere deep within her soul, Lucy had known that he was the one. "I don't care if everyone here knows it. I gave you everything I am, and you accepted me. They can think whatever they want, but I want to marry a man who cares about my desires."

"You've got to be kidding me," Igneel sighed, covering his face with his hand. Natsu's frown deepened when Lucy removed her elbow-length gloves and revealed the bandages running down her arms and onto her hands.

"I want to marry a man who will take care of me when I need it, but still respects me," she said. "I want a husband who sees me for more than breasts and a vagina."

"Honestly," Ryos sighed to himself. "Lucy, control your language."

"What I want is to marry someone who makes me feel the same way that my parents felt when they were young." She took another step forward. "I want-"

"That's it!" Skiadrum bellowed. His hand lifted and sharp tendrils of shadows sprung from the ground on a direct path to Lucy.

"Cubellios!" Erik hissed. Lucy's eyes went wide as Erik jumped from his throne and pushed her to the ground while shadows streaked through the air. He landed on top of her, covering her as much as possible and she was just barely able to see his snake flying on a direct path to Skiadrum. The Earth King stood with his son behind him, snarling up at Cubellios who loomed over him and hissed, ready to strike.

"Call this thing off," Ryos said. "Erik, my father was trying to keep you from being attacked by her."

"I wasn't trying to attack him!" she screeched.

"Shh," Erik whispered. "Will you let me handle this?"

She silently fumed, earning a quiet chuckle from him in the process. Hadn't she just been ranting about not wanting to shut up and let men control everything? So much for him listening to her.

"I heard that. And I was listening." Erik lifted his head after pressing a barely-there kiss to her hair that she wasn't aware of. "Cubellios, that's enough. As long as King Skiadrum doesn't try using his magic in here, I won't use mine either."

"Sending your snake isn't-" Skiadrum started, only for Igneel to cut him off.

"Oh, shut up, Skiddly-wink. Do you really want to be poisoned in this small room?" He paused and let his gaze wander toward Erik as the new king helped Lucy sit up. "Would you care to explain what is going on?"

"Well, what she said is true."

"Which part?" Skiadrum spat. "The hysterical rambling or admitting she's a-"

"I hear you," Erik snarled. "And if you finish that thought, I won't stop Cubellios from eating your scrawny ass." Lucy's gentle grip on his shoulder made him pause, and he took a slow breath then nodded to her silent plea. "I did spend the night with her. That wasn't a lie."

"Then why would you turn down marrying her?" Igneel asked.

"Probably for the same reason I am," Ryos said. "Lady Lucy, you have my apologies, but I will not marry an impure woman."

"I didn't want to marry you anyway, so it works out," she shrugged.

"Watch your tongue, you guttersnipe," Skiadrum said.

Igneel rolled his eyes when Cubellios reared up, ready to strike at the Earth King on Erik's command. "Natsu, thoughts?"

"I really don't mind," he said. "Luce was a lot of fun to run around with."

"This is definitely a different side of her."

Erik gently pulled her bandaged hands into his and helped her stand. "Cubellios, you can come back. The Earth Kingdom has withdrawn, which means they can sit in silence while this gets sorted out."

Lucy smiled while the large winged serpent - what in the world, when did Cubellios get wings?! - slithered across the room and coiled its body around herself and Erik. She reached up and instantly felt its snout pressing against her palm.

"King Erik, the Fire Kingdom is the only one prepared to take Lucy as a future queen," Igneel said.

"Because Natsu wants her," Erik nodded. "Sure, but what about what Lucy wants?"

"Oh, please," Skiadrum muttered, rolling his eyes. "She's hysterical and delusional."

"I'm hysterical because I know that I don't want to fuck your son with a stick up his ass?" Lucy asked. "Or Natsu because he's more like a brother than someone I'd want to marry?"

Igneel's brows shot up when Cubellios nuzzled Lucy's cheek and its forked tongue flicked across her nose and the blonde didn't react in the slightest. "Well…"

"What would your wife say about this, King Igneel?" Erik asked.

"She came from the same place," he said. "She knows what's happening right now."

"True, but I've met her. She was glad to be the first one chosen, because it meant she could figure out which prince she thought was the most handsome and then use her assets to ensure she would be picked."

"Hey, don't talk about my mom that way!" Natsu's hands flickered with roiling flames.

Erik put his hands up and smirked. "I'm not saying anything bad about her. Queen Grandine is a wonderful woman. All I'm saying is, she wanted to be a queen. And she fell in love with King Igneel here after they were married. But she was at least attracted to him."

"... Don't talk about my mom that way either," Natsu muttered. "So gross."

Erik turned his attention to Igneel again. "If Lucy isn't chosen by anyone, she'll be sent back beneath the Waters and banished from her home," he said. "That's what happens to all the noblewomen who come as prospective queens, but don't marry a prince. Are you honestly telling me that your wife would want you to force a woman to marry Prince Natsu, when she knows that refusing him with no other offers of marriage means she'll be exiled?"

"Why would someone choose that?" Igneel asked.

"Ask her for yourself."

Lucy felt their eyes on her, but her will to fight had died. All she cared about was whether Erik would accept her. She hadn't gotten an answer though. And now he was talking as if there was only the option of being chosen by Natsu or returning to the Waters.

"Lucy?" Igneel asked.

"I want to marry for love," she said, staring at the ground. "I just want someone to see me for me, and Erik was the only one who even asked to see my magic. He… He understands what it's like for people to hate you for no reason. So, if he won't marry me, then I'll go back. I'll take my exile."

After a pregnant pause, Igneel sighed, but it was Natsu who spoke. "I don't wanna marry you, Luce. Not if it's something you don't want." His brows drew together when a sad smile lifted her lips. "But I don't want you to get banished or anything, either."

"Well, it appears that's what will happen, if she's telling the truth," Skiadrum said.

"She won't," Erik said. He lifted her chin and chuckled quietly. "No, you won't have to be my ward either. Ask me again."

Her eyes shined with happy tears when she saw his smile. It was more than just a quirk to his lips or a bare twitch into a smirk. It was full and bright and dimpled his cheeks. "Will you marry me?"

"Hell yes."

"This was a complete waste of time," Skiadrum said with a scowl. "If you were planning on doing this from the beginning, then why-"

"Father, shut up," Ryos sighed. "While I don't think it should have been handled this way, I can concede that someone should have the right to choose who they marry." He gave Lucy a small smile when she turned toward him. "Even women."

Skiadrum glared at his son, then at Igneel when the king and prince from the Fire Kingdom started laughing. "Oh, he told you, Skittles!"

"Where are you getting these names from?!" Skiadrum screeched.

Lucy bit her lips to hold back a laugh. It broke free a moment later when Igneel jumped across the room and put Skiadrum in a good-natured headlock and tousled his previously pristine hair. Cubellios' snout pressed against her cheek, turning her attention back to Erik.

"You're not the only one who wants to marry for love," he said softly. "And no one has ever treated me the way you do, except for the last Frost King. He saw who I really was, and he helped me learn everything that I know." She wondered if that included his very colorful language. "It did. When it was just us, his mouth was worse than mine."

Lucy blushed when Cubellios squeezed around them, pushing her closer to Erik. He cupped her cheeks and his lips hovered over hers. Was he really going to kiss her right then, in front of everyone? Still, he was smiling. It was the first time he'd looked so happy, like the dreary cloud surrounding him couldn't touch his soul no matter what.

"Ack, Igneel you… stop that!" Skiadrum shrieked.

"Ryos, you're mine!" Natsu cackled.

"Stay away from me, Natsu!"

"I'm all fired up!"

"That's my line, son!" Igneel laughed.

The scuffling and shouting from the men who were supposed to be regal and composed faded away as Erik's lips finally met with hers. He tasted the same as the night before, exotic and intoxicating, and just like the first time they kissed, there was nothing that could stop her from melting against him.

"Oooh," Natsu and Igneel crooned.

"Erik and Lucy sitting in a tree!" Natsu sang.

"K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" Igneel added.

"First comes love."

"Then comes marriage!"

"Then comes a prince in the baby carriage," Ryos finished with a sigh from where he was pinned beneath the grinning Fire prince, who was pulling his hair into high pigtails.

Lucy laughed into the kiss and finally turned to the royal pile in the center of the chamber, only to see King Skiadrum vault from the ground and knock Igneel down in a most undignified way.

"From what the old man told me," Erik said, "Skiadrum and Igneel have always been like this."

"Really?" she giggled.

"Natsu and Ryos are the same way," he said just before Ryos used his shadows to lift Natsu off of him by the scruff of his neck, then tossed him across the room.

"And these people are the future of the other two kingdoms."

"We're all doomed," he chuckled. "I know."

.One Year Later.

Jude Heartfilia stood in the town square with the other nobles, watching the royal procession of knights arrange themselves into two perfectly straight lines. The Waters were abuzz with gossip of what was to happen that day, for the first time ever, but he didn't pay attention to any of them. The stone dais on its raised platform glowed a vibrant orange, and everyone present gasped and cheered when two men, one with red hair and the other with pink, appeared in similar red and gold livery. Just beside them stood a woman with shoulder length white hair and a gentle smile, holding a blue-haired infant girl on her hip.

"I present the Fire King and Queen, Igneel and Grandine Dragneel," the announcer called out to the crowd. "The Fire Prince Natsu Dragneel, and their newest addition, Princess Wendy Dragneel."

They smiled and waved wildly at the crowd. The king and prince's hands burst into flames, and everyone in the crowd was amazed when the prince shouted his greeting and a stream of fire flowed from between his lips. Finally, the Fire king and his son jumped down from the dais, then Igneel turned and helped his wife and daughter down the provided steps for all of them to stand beside it.

It glowed green next, and another two men appeared, both with black shoulder-length hair and wearing nearly identical black and silver clothing.

"I present the Earth King Skiadrum Cheney, and the Earth Prince Ryos Cheney."

Neither smiled, but kept their chins held high while the crowd cheered. Black wisps of shadows slithered up from the dais around their feet and latched onto their hands. The Earth King and prince hovered above the stone dais and gently floated down to stand beside the royals from the Fire Kingdom.

"... haven't seen her…"

"She probably ran off somewhere…"

"Shh, her father's right there…"

"... such a disappointment…"

Jude ignored the whispers around him and kept his gaze trained on the dais. He hadn't been near the front of the gathering, but not seeing Lucy's arrival just yet had him worried. What if she'd run off while on the land? What if only the Frost King and prince arrived, and they'd left her back in their kingdom? Was she happy? Was she safe?

Had her mouth gotten her into trouble again?

It felt like a lifetime passed before the dais glowed once more in an icy, chilling blue. The crowd went silent as the light grew brighter and brighter, until everyone's eyes closed against it. Jude kept pushing to the front of the crowd though until he finally stopped just before the royal guards that kept the nobles away from the entry point from the land above. The light died down and murmurs shot through the crowd when all that was visible was a large, vicious purple serpent, coiled around itself and rearing its head to gaze at them all. It seemed to send a glare across the gathered nobles until a young man with maroon hair and dark skin stepped around it.

"And finally, the newly crowned Frost King Erik Vivas," said the announcer.

He didn't smile, and there were no cheers for him as he stood with his arms crossed over his militaristic navy dolman jacket and his single functioning eye closed. After a moment, his eye opened and he removed his ermine-lined cape, then held it out for the serpent to take from him with its mouth.

"... what's going on?"

"... did she turn into a snake?"

"Who is this? Is he really the Frost King?"

"... He's so young though... Does that mean the last king died?"

Jude took a small step forward, pushing against the knights who set their swords in his path. "Lucy, where are you?" he whimpered.

The snake's body shifted and loosened, and everyone watched as a slender, feminine hand slipped into the Erik's. Moments later, the nobles saw Lucy with her hair unpinned and hanging down past her hips, wearing a glittering navy dress that hugged beneath her bust and flowed in swathes of sheer, pale blue fabric down to her feet. The cape that Erik had removed was draped over her shoulder and tied beneath her arm on the opposite side.

"Lucy," Jude breathed. He openly smiled up at her, even though she didn't look back him. But he didn't mind it. He was just happy to see the life in her eyes - so similar to her mother's - and that she still had that fullness in her cheeks that had been cause for many instances of pinching in the past.

"And the new Frost Queen Lucy Vivas," the announcer amended. Erik turned and waved the squat, stout man closer, and everyone stared in silence as the new Frost King whispered something to him. He looked from Erik to Lucy and back, then a wide smile stretched across his red, chubby face. "Now, this is wonderful news. Please refrain from celebrating too loudly, folks. It appears the Frost Kingdom has received its first heir, who is having a meal and sleeping at the same time. I have the honor of introducing you all to Princess Marie Vivas."

Regardless of anyone else's thoughts on the matter, Jude smiled. Tears welled and spilled quickly as he looked up at his daughter. He had a granddaughter. A beautiful, precious granddaughter that he would only ever dream of seeing in person. Jude knew how this worked. Lucy was now living her own life, and this was the closest he would ever come to being a part of it. His relationship as her father was dissolved the moment she left the Waters. Now he was just a nobleman who would gladly serve orders from her, as his monarch's wife.

Lucy looked right at him, and her smile brightened even further. Even though she was a queen, she was still the same girl. Jude relaxed just a little when he saw the way she tapped on Erik's arm and said something he couldn't quite hear, then pointed right at him. The Frost King's eye softened just a little and he nodded.

Jude watched with everyone else as the Frost King's magic soared into the air in a brilliant prismatic wash of colors. Erik's arm wrapped around Lucy's waist and he led her to the edge of the dais and down the steps to stand with the other royals.

The announcer handed Igneel the microphone, and the Fire King took several steps forward to speak directly to the crowd.

"For centuries, we have held the tradition of noblewomen from the Waters being sent to each kingdom in search of finding brides for our princes," he said. "And this tradition has served us well in the past. However, it has come to the kingdoms' attention of the repercussions of being returned to the Waters if no proposal is given." Jude's jaw tightened when he heard the uncomfortable murmurs from those around him. "So, to combat this barbarism in a society that should be an example for all, we have decided to change this tradition. Each year that a prince reaches the age of maturity, in every generation, he will come to the Waters to find a suitable bride."

"You're kidding me."

"This is ridiculous."

"Wait, does that mean I could actually have a shot?"

"We will no longer force women to marry our sons against their will."

"Oh, who cares? They're hot!"

"From now on, our kingdoms will be more… progressive," Igneel said, sending a smile over his shoulder to Lucy and gaining one from the blonde in return. "And we'll show respect to the women who have deserved it from us all this time."

"What about the princess?" someone from the crowd shouted.

"Yeah, are they going to try for a prince?"

"Does that mean she'll choose her husband?"

Igneel raised his hands to quiet the growing unrest in the crowd, but it was Skiadrum who silenced them all with a wave of shadows zipping through the town that chilled them to the core. He stepped forward and thanked the Fire King for the microphone, then spoke. "Frost Princess Marie will do as she sees fit, just as her mother before her," he said. "I believe we can all learn something from their example of open-mindedness."

"Three cheers for women!" Natsu shouted with a wide grin.

The crowd instantly joined in, until Erik rushed forward and growled into the microphone, "I swear to fucking god if you wake up my daughter right now, I'll-"

"Erik!" Lucy shouted. "Language!"

Jude watched the other two kings drop their heads to their hands in defeat, with helpless smiles taking root on all of their faces while Lucy came forward and pulled on her husband's ear, dragging him away from Skiadrum and back toward the large hissing - or was it laughing? - snake.

At least his daughter hadn't lost her spark of individuality. He could only hope that his granddaughter was the same. Then again, knowing Lucy, little Princess Marie would probably grow up even more outspoken.

Oh, the world was doomed. And oddly enough, Jude was fine with that.

.The End.

I'm not really sure how I feel about the ending there, but that was pretty much where I wanted it to go. I guess. I don't even know.

But I'm glad that I tried doing something different with this and just let myself run with it. I hope the last 21k hasn't been a complete bore to read.