"Your Highness?"
Another knock echoed from the hollow wood of her bedroom door. Cinder was surprised she could hear the continuous knocking of a somber Iko over her weeping sobs deep into her feather pillow. She lifted her head just above the cushioned surface ― not to respond to the worrisome calls pleading with her, but to take a shaky breath her tear-drowned lungs appreciated.
Advisor Torin's acid words left no room for interpretation. King Garan Lihn and Queen Adri Lihn of Iceland had died on their journey home, leaving the greatest country left in the world without ruler. Cinder could practically picture the pedestals Iceland's greatness stood upon tumbling into dust along with the rest of the kingdom.
Despite her and Winter's obvious distress, Advisor Torin continued with his speech like the ever-efficient advisor he was. Their carriage was found upturned in the eastern mountains, buried beneath a storm of white and red snow. Cinder ran off to lock herself into seclusion before he could continue with any more details.
The isolation let her scream into the covers of her bed without feeling guilty about burdening the others in the castle. It wasn't a strong feeling; mostly her mind could only focus on the painful thoughts of all the little things she'd lost.
Her father would never again give her a warm kiss on her forehead before she retired every night. As a family, they would never take another trip up to the northern shore enjoying the few weeks of summer by collecting colored shells on the beach. She would never hear another of her mother's enchanting stories of magic and legend that kept her imagination open even as she grew older.
She recalled her mother's favorite story to tell Winter, one she used to ease Cinder to sleep only years before.
Once upon a time, her mother began with her sweet voice, there lived a lonely snowman.
The snowman used to be quite happy, for the world around him was covered in snow. He could have snowball fights and build igloos and make as many snow angels as his heart desired.
However, the snowman soon realized there was no one else to share his fun. He had no one else to throw snowballs back at him, no one else to tell him secrets under the igloo's roof, and no one to make friends with his many angels.
Across the mysterious forest of changing seasons, he often heard voices of laughter and fun. He found himself compelled to travel to the forest's edge, but could go no further. The heat would make him tired and ill, forcing him to run back into the snow as quickly as he could.
Saddened by his lack of company, he traveled the land of winter in search for friends. He reached the end of the world where the land turned into a lake as clear as glass without luck. Losing all hope of ever finding a companion, he stumbled onto the slipper ground, one step taking him far out into the lake's center.
In the glistening mirror lake, he caught his reflection of snow and cold. The sad state he saw himself in brought tears to his eyes. Tears as frozen as the flakes that fell from the sky overhead.
"Why are you crying?" The snowflakes around the snowman whispered.
"I'm all alone," he sniffled. "There's no one in this winter to be my friend. If I could travel to the world of summer, I'm sure someone would be my friend."
"Why can't you travel to the world of summer?" A thousand tiny voices asked.
"Because I'll melt into a puddle."
His tears fell harder around his snow-packed legs until he felt he could never travel back to land again. But as the tiny voices grew silent and the snowman's loneliness filled his heart, the lake began to glow.
The snow seized to fall replaced by a warmth hanging in the air. As the heat spread, the lonely snowman looked up from his crying to find his reflection had changed. No longer was he covered in snow with coal eyes and a carrot nose. His feet had elongated with five toes on each while his stick hands thickened with flesh and nails.
He smiled into his reflection, real teeth shining behind his real lips. With glee, he shouted and jumped finding himself a real boy. He marched to the forest of changing seasons and crossed without melting. On the other side, he found a village of children his age laughing and playing. The lonely snowman – now the friendly boy – spent the rest of his days in the village where he was never alone.
And he lived happily ever after? Winter always asked.
Of course, their mother said with a snuggling hug for each daughter. You see, the snowman found The Mirror of Reason which can melt any cold in the heart or mind . . .
Cinder's head jolted off her pillow at her mother's words. The weight deep in her chest quivered as well, as if sensing the discovery Cinder had made. Through her grief, the freezing of her body continuously spread until her tears became grateful rivers of warmth.
With the loss of her parents still nipping in the back of her mind, Cinder composed herself enough that only her puffy eyes could reveal how she spent her evening. Once she confirmed Iko was no longer loitering outside her door, she snuck out into the hall as quietly as she could. Her soundless footsteps carried her to the massive library in the castle's west wing just a few doors down from her parents' bedroom.
Every time she heard one of the weeping servants, she ducked out of view and waited for them to pass. Few traveled as far as the west wing in light of the news, but being so close to where her parents rested only weeks before made her jumps even more heart-stopping.
It had been over a month since Cinder had ventured to the world of wall-to-wall books and documents of all sorts. Half the library was redesigned as a study with globes and maps as old as the world itself. The rest was leather-bound records of stories that helped Cinder escape the harsher bits of reality.
Without a real organizational system, it was a wonder how Cinder knew where the one book she searched for was hidden. She recalled the silver spine lacking a title or name and pictured its location a floor above the fireplace. No wear shown on its flawless cover, though the discolored pages told its real age.
Swinging out one of the many ladders attached to the bookshelves, she swept herself over the brimming fire and ascended to the second floor shelving. Even standing just feet above the live heat, Cinder felt nothing but the cold in her chest and leather binding beneath her fingers.
Upon finding the silver book, she pried it from the compressed space between its neighbors. She barely was able to slide back down to sturdy ground as she flipped page after page. Her mind processed the many lines of scrolled ink as it flew by, searching for one page in particular.
She braced it open once a line fit in sync with her memory. Two pages of faint ink with sketches of snowflakes and a small snowman where space allowed. Turning a few pages before the story she knew by heart, she found the lore in which the story was created and perhaps the only answers to the mystery surrounding her.
The Mirror of Reason is a legendary lake that is said to be found in a mountainous region at 'the end of the earth'. Though there is no known place where this phrase may be referring to, speculators have hunted the Arctic and Antarctic regions in search for the magical lake.
While many believe the lake to grant wishes, the legend states merely that it can melt any frost in the heart or mind. Similar legends from the same era indicate a type of curse brought on by magic users that could freeze someone's heart and turn them completely to ice. They referred to it as 'The Touch of Frost'.
Bewildered and frightened by the information she was learning, Cinder dropped to the floor where she could scan through the pages faster. The phrase had to be somewhere within the stained pages of nothing but winter themed myths – and it was. Near the end, there was an entire section titled The Touch of Frost which Cinder laid open on the carpeted floor.
The Touch of Frost is a curse that appeared in the age of the Vikings first mentioned in The Tale of Winter's Witch a ghost story taking place in Europe's mountainous region. In the story, a witch cursed a beautiful maiden who hiked the mountain the witch called her home. She froze over the girl's heart and sent her tumbling off the mountain.
Afterward, the girl thought herself to be fine but slowly her body grew colder and colder. Unbeknownst to her, her heart was turning completely to ice. Eventually, her hair grew white and she could no longer move she was weakened so much by her shivers. After snowflakes appeared in her irises, she turned completely to ice where not even the following summer's heat could thaw her.
Cinder sat back and stared down at the open book feeling raw and hopeless. She thought of the witch's story and the image of the Snow Queen in her bedroom appeared instead. The night before wasn't a dream. The Snow Queen had cursed her with the Touch of Frost.
Consider this my coronation gift to you, little princess.
The queen's words felt like poison just bringing them to mind. She knew about her parents' death – coming all the way down from the moon just to curse Cinder would be pointless unless she took the throne. The Snow Queen wanted her dead in one of her attempts to end their kingdom permanently. And this time, she was succeeding.
But Cinder refused to hand her kingdom over, she refused to roll over and die on the queen's whim. It may have been legend, but she believed in her mother enough to at least hope The Mirror of Reason was real.
She would not lose everything to Queen Levana Luna.
Scrambling to the other side of the room, Cinder hunted down a map and began searching for the end of the world.
Thank you as always, reviewers and readers! I was very happy you had sympathy for Cinder and Winter's parents, but don't fret. There are many flashbacks that include them.
Silverleaf15: Thank you for the compliment! On to your question, Iceland's position on the Earth allowed it to keep having four seasons. This, in turn, helped them maintain steady farming and trade which other countries lost. There are a few more countries not under Levana's rule, but they don't thrive in the same way Iceland does. We will see some of those countries in a few chapters as well as a clearer explanation.
Cheesehead101 and may96, thank you for your reviews!
As for the rest, please review!