The boy stared at Cinder for a long while, only the winter wind making sound between them. Noise from the town just around the corner seemed so far off, like it belonged to a different world than the one she and the boy were on. Silence carried on and made her feel more insecure about her thoughts with every second it lasted.

She knew she was being foolish – there was no way the Snow Queen could have made the order.

The boy's unbelieving look only confirmed her fears that she placed together two unrelated events because of her own paranoia. Two days ago she was cursed with The Touch of Frost – two days ago the mysterious order was made. An order under the name of a constellation meaning 'The Queen'. It must have just been an unusual coincidence.

However, no matter how deranged her accusations seemed to be, a persistent voice in the back of her head kept insisting that it was the only thing that could be true.

Suddenly the boy turned to the street and began stalking away from her at an alarming pace. He was running away from her. Not that Cinder could blame him, after all she had just suggested that Queen Levana sent two shipments of portscreens – whatever those were – to the Iceland palace for no good reason. Cursing herself for making him think she was crazy, she found herself chasing after the boy.

"Wait–" she called out, then abruptly cut herself off when the boy stopped in front of a sled. She recognized it as the same sled she saw earlier, after ramming into the phantom-person who disappeared before she could apologize. He threw back a blanket covering two, strapped-down boxes in the sleigh's seat.

From his coat pocket, the boy pulled out a small knife with an engraved hilt. Cinder made out some of the Norwegian letters – a P and an R – and found herself wishing she had spent less time on Greenland's indigenous languages and more time on the ones of Iceland's allied countries. It was not the first time Advisor Torin's firm insistence had steered her wrong.

Confused by the boy's strange actions, she soon realized he was muttering under his breath. "It can't be . . ."

Sliding the knife through the tape sealing the boxes, the boy ripped open the top one and tore apart the wrapping. Hidden by crumpled paper and packaging, a flat, clear rectangle rested lifelessly until the boy lifted it into his hands. Roughly, though Cinder thought the item should have been treated with care, he examined every inch of the object with a furrowed brow.

Then – his eyes widened, finding what he was looking for. He plucked a small, nearly invisible circle off the rectangle's surface and glared at it between his thumb and forefinger. A grimace darkened his unusually colored eyes as he squished the circle in his grip, sending a shower of sparks to the ground. Cinder jumped back from the startling array, though she never realized she had leaned in with the boy to analyze the mysterious object.

"Tracker," he mumbled as if it were a curse. Dropping the rectangle back into its box, he unlatched both from the seat and lifted them with ease. Not giving her a word of explanation, he carried them into a narrow alley darkened by the shadows of buildings. Throwing them to the ground, Cinder gave out a light gasp as he began stomping on the boxes with his foot.

"And just what do you think you're doing?!" a nearly hysteric voice cried out. At first Cinder thought it had been her, as she thought the very same thing at the very same time, until she realized her voice was not as high-pitched. She also realized, it was the voice of the stranger she bumped into earlier on the very same street.

Strands of her hair fell into her eyes as she spun, hunting for the stranger who was nowhere to be found. "Destroying the trackers embedded into our packages," the boy answered as if the person stood right next to Cinder.

"Trackers?! What kind of delivery have you gotten me into?"

The voice seemed so close, and yet, Cinder could not find a person anywhere who it could belong to. The streets had cleared as the sun rose to mid-day; everyone found their ways to where they were going, the only stragglers mulling around the square. Becoming frustrated, she faced the direction she was almost positive the voice had originated from and waited.

"They shouldn't be a threat once their destroyed." The boy said, smashing more of the hardware with his boots. Shattering glass mixed with short-circuiting wires in a rhythmic sound Cinder willed herself to mute as she listened for the stranger's voice.

"I knew going down that mountain was an awful idea."

Cinder's eyes widened, catching a screen on the sled's helm glow to life with the words of the stranger. It was the sleigh, the sleigh was the stranger, the sleigh could talk. Vaguely, her mind recalled how hard she had struck her shin earlier and the seemingly outlandish idea began to make sense.

Her attention was then pulled away to the boy dusting off his hands as he approached, finished with dismantling the boxes and their contents. Amidst his thorough destruction of the trackers, his hood had fallen to his back and revealed his dismantled black hair. His skin was olive in tone, one not many around Iceland possessed. Nor was Cinder or Winter's for that matter.

Seconds too late did she realize she was staring, and that he was staring at her staring. Quickly her eyes found the toes of her boots – oh, why did she let him see her face?

"Thank you, by the way, for saving me from treason. And, you know – death." She let her eyes find him again in enough time to see his hand outstretched before her. "I'm Kai."

Hesitating, though not as long as she thought she would, Cinder fit her own hand within his. "My name is Cinder."

After finishing her sentence, her breath hitched realizing what she just said. Not Princess Cinder, not Her Royal Highness, not even Cinder Lihn of Iceland. It was the first time in her entire life that her name rested alone, standing on its own two feet.

And it felt so wonderful.

Only after the words slipped out did she remember everyone in Iceland knew Cinder as the name of the Princess, but luckily this traveler – Kai – did not know the names of the royals. If he did, he would not have given her such a sweet smile in gratitude.

"If only there was a way I could repay you for saving my life," he said hoisting himself onto his sleigh, who grumbled complaints as he prepared to set off.

Her heart skipped a beat – could it be that easy?

"There is," she found herself saying. "Take me up the Northern Peaks."

Kai's joking manor fell faster than an avalanche down a mountainside. "Sorry?"

"You're a traveler so you know the way, don't you? Besides, going by sled would be much faster than walking."

"Uh," his eyes escaped her expectant stare. "I don't think that's such a good idea."

She could see the words he refused to say hanging in the air. I don't think it's such a good idea for you, a naïve, young girl, to travel to such a dangerous place. She held her tongue before pointing out that he wasn't much older, and she had been through far more in the past few days than most experienced in a lifetime. She had met the Snow Queen, for crying out loud.

Fed up with being treated as helpless – and incidentally, useless – Cinder rolled her eyes and crossed her arms hoping the firmness in her voice made him realize how stubborn she planned to be on the matter. "I have a map and compass, so I'm going with or without your help. The only question is whether or not you'll be kind enough to assist me."

Taken aback, Kai only blinked at her with his mouth stuck forming a word he would never get out. Like scales weighing back and forth in his mind, she could see the dilemma causing confliction to appear on his face. She expected the sleigh to chip in with her opinions at any moment, but it seemed the contraption was shocked into silence.

Exasperated, Kai finally sighed and held out a hand towards her, her beacon of hope. "Get in."

The journey begins . . .

I am so excited for the next few chapters with many characters meeting and interacting! Thanks to everyone who is keeping up with this story, you are loved and appreciated.

Cheesehead101: I need to find that! Thanks for telling me!

Lady Jo Editor Extraordinaire: Me too! And thanks for another fabulous review!

Another thanks to everyone reading and reviewing, as usual. Please keep it up!