Queen Diamond closed the door to the small chamber once Prince Arctic and Whiteout were inside. Arctic stood protectively close to his daughter. Queen Diamond noticed and did not ask Whiteout to remain outside with guards during the negotiations.
Instead, she spent several long moments appraising her granddaughter. Despite Whiteout's dark body, the bright blue eyes, elegant narrow face, icy blue-white wings, long claws, and spines along her back all clearly came from her IceWing father.
"She is yours," Diamond observed flatly to Arctic. Then to Whiteout she asked, "Tell me, do you have powers?"
"Don't we all have powers?" Whiteout asked the queen. Queen Diamond turned her gaze sharply to Arctic for a moment, betraying her confusion, then looked back to Whiteout.
"I mean animus powers. What powers do you have?"
"You are afraid of Nightwings," Whiteout told the queen bluntly, then blinked and shook her head slightly as if something were wrong with her words. "And Darkstalker. He haunts your nightmares. But you have some time. They are only threats, for now."
By the moons, Arctic thought. My spell for her speech to sound normal isn't working right. Her words make sense, but this conversation still isn't normal.
Queen Diamond looked shaken.
"How do you know? Do you read minds?"
"Not exactly. Not in the way Nightwings usually speak of it."
"But you understand Darkstalker?"
"I hate Darkstalker," Whiteout intoned automatically.
Thank goodness for that part of my spell, Arctic thought. It will help the queen accept her since she hates him, too.
"Yes," Whiteout continued. "And I understand many things."
Queen Diamond was silent for several long moments, calculating something. She turned back to Arctic.
"You're willing to hand the NightWing tribe into my talons? In exchange for being allowed to live here again?"
"In exchange for Foeslayer. Whiteout stays with me. If I am allowed to come home to the Ice Palace, she stays, and through her you get the animus bloodline back in the royal family. If you banish me, you also banish her and all the possible future animus dragons that should belong to the IceWing royal line. So, where is my wife?"
Queen Diamond did not answer.
"Is she alive?" Arctic demanded.
"In a manner of speaking," Diamond finally said with a smirk.
"What does that mean?" Arctic practically bellowed.
"Please, do you really think a NightWing could live here? How do you expect her to live with you in the IceWing palace? I will grant her freedom to return to the Night Kingdom in exchange for your information that will end the war."
"I know you used your magic to bring her here," Arctic hissed. "What have you done to her?"
"I used my magic to keep her alive," Diamond hissed back in a harsh whisper. She forced her voice into something more gentle. "Son. I wanted you to come home. You know I've wanted you to come home, all this time. I love you. And I knew that she had you completely wrapped around her talons, because she kept you living somewhere as awful as the Night Kingdom. I knew that if she were in the Ice Kingdom, you'd follow her here.
"Now," Diamond's voice took on a more commanding tone, "you stay here with me, in the Ice Palace, where you belong. When the war is over and your precious dragonet Darkstalker is dead, then Foeslayer gets her freedom. As I always intended. So… give me what I need to defeat the NightWings."
Arctic hesitated. Did his mother really kidnap Foeslayer for no other reason than to lure him back home? Had she intended to grant Foeslayer her freedom all along?
Had he just offered to betray his wife's entire tribe… for nothing?
Agonizing minutes passed in silence. Arctic stared at the icy floor, tormented. Had he walked into a trap, led his daughter into a trap? He looked helplessly up at Whiteout. She had been studying Queen Diamond intently, but turned to meet Arctic's gaze.
"Mother's not dead," she said softly. "That much is true."
"See?" Diamond sneered. "What are you waiting for?"
Arctic exhaled a long breath that he hadn't realized he'd been holding.
"You really wanted me?" he asked.
"Of course, my son," Diamond said silkily. "All of this was for you. Foeslayer doesn't belong here, but she can have her freedom. You can finally be a hero by setting her free, ending this war, and ridding Pyrrhia of a dragon who never should have existed."
Arctic swallowed.
"What about Whiteout?"
"She may prove useful," Queen Diamond said cryptically.
"Darkstalker's powers and mine are equal," Arctic said. "With me back among the IceWings, we can surely win."
"You know the rules about using magic as well as I do," Diamond said. "We only use our powers once, for the good of the tribe. No one may know differently. We need the information you mentioned outside."
Arctic groaned inwardly.
"I… I need time to gather my information. To present it appropriately," Arctic stammered.
Queen Diamond rose to her full stature and glared down at Arctic.
"Welcome home, son," she said simply. "Don't disappoint me."