A Crown of Snow and Ice: A Retelling of The Snow Queen (Beyond the Four Kingdoms Book 3) Read online

  “Maybe one of you two could have a medical emergency?” I mused aloud. “I could send one of the guards for a doctor and, in the chaos, I might get a chance to slip away.”

  But one glance at the faces of the Eldonian princesses made me abandon the plan. Neither of them had the dramatic streak necessary to pull off such a deception.

  I sighed. It looked like direct was the only way to go. I strode back toward the door and then paused.

  “I’m going to see what I can find out. Would either of you like to come?”

  Emmeline and Giselle exchanged looks, but neither of them spoke.

  “Very well, then. If I manage to escape, I’ll send someone back to rescue you.”

  “I’m really not sure…”

  I didn’t wait to hear the end of Giselle’s sentence, pushing the door open and striding confidently out of the room. I could have sworn one of the guards sighed at the sight of me, and I had to suppress a smile.

  “I wish to see Lord Treestone.”

  The guards exchanged a concerned look. I put my hands on my hips.

  “Well? I assume you can’t leave your post, so call for someone to escort me to him.”

  Still nothing.

  I gave them my best royal look. “I’m not accustomed to being kept waiting.”

  After another silent exchange, one of the guards shrugged and called down the corridor. A young boy appeared and was charged with fetching more guards.

  The three of us waited in silence for their arrival which took less time than I would have liked. Reinforcements were apparently to be found in close proximity to our room.

  The two new guards looked somewhat skeptical when told they needed to take me to Lord Treestone’s study, but neither actually protested. I had intended to take the opportunity to learn something of the layout of the castle, but it turned out to be so simple that study was hardly needed.

  The small building had two floors, each boasting rows of rooms off a single corridor. Presumably a larger receiving, and possibly dining, hall could be found off the front antechamber. Not many people moved about, but there was enough activity to suggest that the rooms were being used for the purposes I would have supposed given the basic layout. It was certainly nothing like the sprawling single-story palace I had grown up in.

  We arrived at a closed wooden door, and one of the guards knocked, disappearing inside for a quiet conversation with the occupant. When he returned, I was gestured into a spacious study decorated in dark wood with black metal accents.

  The man from earlier—Lord Treestone, apparently—sat behind a large, neat desk. If he was surprised to see me, he didn’t show it.

  “Princess Celine. This is an unexpected visit.”

  He didn’t offer me a seat, but I took one anyway. Like everything in the room I had left, the padding on the chair was slightly worn but comfortable. I looked around, noting the rows of books and ledgers, and the general lack of adornment. When my attention returned to the noble in front of me, I found him watching me with a look of interest.

  I folded my hands in my lap and waited for him to speak. One of my older sisters had led a network of spies for years, and I had picked up a few tips from her. I would take any opportunity I could to keep this man on edge.

  “What can I do for you, Princess Celine?” he said at last.

  “Besides the obvious, I suppose you mean?”

  A small smile twitched one side of his face. “Certainly let us leave aside anything obvious.”

  “Very well. I should like to know what has happened to my people. We had rather an entourage, as you must know, and two of the guards were in fact Lanoverian and not Eldonian.”

  “You show great concern for them.”

  My gaze turned icy. “I have great concern for all my people. As every royal—and noble—is obligated to do. If you have harmed them, you will find yourself with a stronger enemy than your own monarch.” I looked around the room again, still amazed he had brought us to his own home. “Since clearly you have no fear of him.”

  The man seemed to deflate slightly, running a hand lightly across his face. “Fear…no, indeed. We seem all too short of fear these days.”

  My eyes narrowed. He sounded disappointed and defeated. Not at all like someone taking advantage of a weak ruler.

  Looking back at me, the noble sighed. “I have no wish to find myself or my kingdom at odds with yours. Your people—along with the Eldonians—were left bound but otherwise unharmed. We didn’t want them following us, but we have no quarrel with them.”

  “In that case, you can only hope someone came along quickly enough to prevent them freezing to death.”

  He shrugged. “It’s a well-traveled road.”

  His unconcern rankled, but relief still filled me. The knowledge that we had not left a pile of dead bodies behind us lifted a cloud from my mind. Assuming he told the truth—and I could think of no reason for him to lie about it—he had once again confounded the expectations I had built of our abductors—the alleged robbers. I decided to change tack, leaning forward slightly and fixing him with an encouraging look.

  “I cannot speak for the others, but I, at least, am uninvolved in whatever is happening here in your kingdom. Tell me what it is we should all be afraid of. And what you seek to gain with our abduction. Let us work together. If you mean me no harm, there is no reason for us to be enemies.”

  He leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “You’re not what I expected, Your Highness.”

  “Neither are you.”

  Something shadowed his eyes for a moment, and he looked away. I was used to being overlooked and underestimated, but something told me he wasn’t as familiar with the role of robber and kidnapper.

  “I must think on this situation,” he said when he looked back at me. “We will speak more in the morning.” Raising his voice, he called for the door to be opened again, and the two guards from earlier reappeared.

  As they led me back the way we had come, I looked around for some means of escape, but nothing presented itself. The few people who had still roamed the halls earlier all seemed gone, and only our footfalls could be heard. I saw only one face—a young girl who watched us and who I was sure I saw in two different places during our walk—but she made no response to my smile on either occasion.

  All too soon we arrived back at my assigned room. It seemed patience would be required, after all. I sighed. Patience had never been one of my strengths.

  The next day, despite his words, Lord Treestone failed to send for me. Meals were delivered to our room, but my requests to be taken to see the noble were denied. Emmeline and Giselle’s calm only further exacerbated me, their stillness driving me to ceaseless pacing.

  The sun outside had begun its descent when a creaking filled the air. My first glance went to the door, but it remained firmly closed. After a wide-eyed scan of the rest of the room, I noticed a small section of the wall creeping slowly open. Emmeline and Giselle both remained unmoved, positioned far from the new opening, leaving me to greet whoever appeared alone. I recovered one of the knives from my boots, unwilling to wait entirely unarmed, but the figure that appeared was small enough for me to drop my defensive stance.

  The girl looked contemptuously at the other two princesses and approvingly at my dagger. It took only a second for me to place her as the girl I had seen in the corridors the night before.

  “I thought I liked the look of you,” she said in a low voice. “And what you said to Uncle, too.”

  I raised both eyebrows. “Lord Treestone, you mean? Were you listening to our meeting?”

  She grinned. “I’m always listening. At least when there’s anything int’resting to hear.” She paused, glancing again at Emmeline and Giselle. “Come on.” She stepped back inside the secret passageway, gesturing for me to follow.

  I paused for only a moment, looking at the other two with raised eyebrows. Once again, neither made a move to accompany me, so I disappeared into the darkness
on my own.

  “I’m Cassandra, by the way,” said the girl’s voice, just before she pulled back the shutter of a small lantern. A narrow passageway appeared around me, the walls rough and unadorned.

  “Celine,” I said, although it seemed unnecessary if she’d been spying on me since my arrival.

  “I know.” Cassandra took off at a brisk walk, and I trailed behind.

  “I’m surprised they locked us in a room with a secret passageway,” I said as we wound our way through the walls. I was kicking myself for not examining the room for just such a possibility. There must be an opening mechanism hidden somewhere inside.

  Cassandra looked back at me and grinned. “I don’t think anyone else knows they’re here. It’s a very old castle, and no one seems to want to explore it but me.”

  “Why did you come for me?”

  She stopped abruptly, and I nearly collided with her back. Spinning, she surveyed me with a creased brow before nodding once. Resuming our forward progress, she spoke over her shoulder.

  “I like the look of you, even though you’re a princess.” She wrinkled her nose. “You’re certainly nothing like our princesses. When Uncle didn’t send for you today, I thought I’d better take matters into my own hands.” She shrugged. “He isn’t a bad person, you know. He’s just cautious. Too cautious.”

  A small snort escaped me, but she didn’t seem the least offended.

  “I know kidnapping you all probably doesn’t seem cautious, but he’s getting desperate. He debated forever about doing it, and then you heard what he said when you first arrived. If he’d been there when the prince escaped, he would have called it off. Now that the plan has gone awry, he doesn’t know how to proceed.”

  I refrained from asking how she had overheard that conversation. There weren’t any hidden passageways in the middle of a courtyard.

  “So, when you asked him to tell you what was going on,” she continued, after a brief pause, “of course he wanted to think about it. And he’s been thinking about it all day.” She ducked into a small alcove. “He’s going to think about it so long that the royal guards show up, and how’s that going to help anyone?”

  I refrained from pointing out that the royal guards would be of some help to me.

  The alcove turned out to be almost a small room, and the girl had obviously turned it into a hideaway of sorts, decorated with threadbare rugs and cushions. A small collection of lanterns and several old books stood on a small wooden shelf.

  The girl plonked down onto one of the cushions, and I did the same. My travel dress was already in dire need of a wash, so I didn’t think a bit more dirt could hurt it at this stage. Still, I felt a passing pang for the gown. I wasn’t sure if it would be able to be salvaged after this adventure, and it was one of my favorites—worn to impress during my expected arrival at a foreign court.

  “Well, then,” I said, once we’d both settled. “So tell me. What’s going on?”

  Chapter 4

  Cassandra opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She frowned. “It’s a bit complicated.”

  “I’ve started to get that impression.”

  She grinned wryly. “I suppose the problem is that we don’t know what’s going on. Which doesn’t make a very good answer to your question. My uncle’s been trying to find out what’s going on for three years now, and we can’t get any real answers.”

  “We? I suppose you’re deep in your uncle’s confidence.” I gave her a dry look, already knowing from her talk of spying this wasn’t likely the case.

  She grinned back at me, not seeming in the least offended. “I am when I can convince him to include me. As for the rest of the time…well, I have my ways, as I told you.”

  When I raised an eyebrow, she rolled her eyes.

  “You’re looking at me like you think I’m young enough to still believe in the Snow Queen or something. I’m a lot older than I look.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “How old are you?”

  “Thirteen.”

  “Thirteen?” I snapped my mouth shut before I admitted I had thought her no more than ten.

  She sighed. “Yes, I know. I’m short. I look young. I’ve heard it before. Can we move on?”

  “Please accept my apologies and the erasure of all future doubt.”

  By the rueful shake of her head and the twinkle in her eye, I assumed she recognized my dry tone. Thirteen was certainly a lot older than ten, but it wasn’t that old. Not really.

  But I couldn’t help but like her. A lot. And she carried herself with an assurance that made you forget her age. I shook myself. And what did it matter, really? I didn’t exactly have other allies leaping out to assist me. I could hardly have turned my nose up at her if she had turned out to be ten.

  “The rest of the kingdoms all agree that something strange is going on in Eldon,” I said, turning back to the matter at hand. “But I have to admit, I’d hoped you Eldonians might have more of an idea of what exactly it is.”

  She grimaced. “Well, it’s cold now, for one. Really cold.”

  I rolled my eyes. “That much I’d managed to figure out for myself.”

  She shrugged. “That’s where it all started, anyway. The winters got longer—and colder. Spring and autumn are basically gone now. And we barely even have anything that could count as summer. The south-western part of the kingdom—our woods—are the warmest part. But it even occasionally snows down here now. At least we haven’t turned into the ice sheets of the north. Yet.”

  “And no one knows why?”

  She threw up her hands. “Who knows? Someone might. At least, we hope someone does. That’s what we’re trying to work out. But forget knowing what’s going on…we can’t seem to find anyone else who cares. Our harvests are barely existent. Trade with the other kingdoms has died. Feeding ourselves gets more and more difficult, and we’re relying more and more on stores from earlier, better years.”

  I worried at my lip. This lined up with what Lily had learned in Marin while we were there. With the exception of Trione, all of these kingdoms had been falling apart when we arrived, and in the case of Eldon, the destruction was coming in the form of ice.

  “And it’s not just a bad year?” I faltered at her expression. “Or two?”

  “Try three. And not even our oldest citizens can remember previous years this bad. Something is going on, and it’s not natural.”

  I glanced unconsciously down at my hands. Snow wasn’t the only unnatural thing going on in Eldon. But I didn’t think I could blame the godmothers for the kingdom freezing over. They weren’t in the business of starving entire populaces. This was more the sort of thing that happened in kingdoms that had turned their back on the godmothers and the High King they served.

  “I don’t suppose your king has done something really terrible lately?” I asked.

  “Umm…Like what?”

  “Something bad enough to curse your kingdom?”

  She frowned. “Not that we’ve ever heard of. King Leopold was always a good ruler.”

  “Was?”

  Her expression turned sad. “He’s just like all the others now. He doesn’t seem to see any threat. Or he doesn’t care. My uncle traveled to court last year to seek answers, but no one else seemed worried that we’ll all be starving to death in a year or two.” She looked at me. “And I don’t just mean us down here in the woods. If anything, we’re the least affected. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

  “No…” I said slowly, “it doesn’t.” But it did line up with everything I’d seen of Emmeline, Giselle, and Oliver. I could suddenly see how Lord Treestone had grown desperate enough to take drastic measures. Although…

  “How does abducting us help with any of this?”

  “Uncle thought perhaps the royals do know what’s going on, and they’re just not telling us. Or the king and queen and the crown prince, at least. Only the king and queen haven’t left the palace in months. So he thought if he could just get the prince to his castle, and make him
listen, he could convince him to tell us. Or, if not, that surely the king and queen care enough about their children to be roused to action. Uncle thought he could ransom them in a way. Guarantee their safe return in exchange for an investigation into what’s going on.”

  “So…what? It’s just bad timing that I got caught up in it?”

  Cassandra looked a little guilty. “I believe Uncle thought that the threat of Lanover’s reaction might move King Leopold and Queen Camille, even if nothing else did.”

  I rocked back, a little shocked. How far gone must the royal family be if Lord Treestone wasn’t sure they would react to the abduction of all three of their children?

  Cassandra examined me unhappily. “I realize it wasn’t the best plan. Unfortunately, it was the only one we could come up with.”

  I frowned, and her unhappy look deepened.

  "Is Lanover going to attack us now?”

  I started. “What? Oh. No. At least not after I write to tell them I’m unharmed. That’s assuming my people have even sent a message about my abduction yet.”

  I stood up and paced the small space. “I came here to find out what’s going on, but it’s obvious whatever is happening is coming from the north, so I can’t do much good down here.” I fixed her with my sternest look. “Which means I’m going to need your uncle to release me. And the others, as well, since I can hardly turn up at the palace without them.”

  Cassandra grimaced. “Uncle thinks we can’t risk just releasing you now that we’ve abducted you.”

  “Well, then you’ll need to help me escape.”

  Cassandra’s lack of surprise told me she’d already known this was where we would end up.

  “How much trouble will you get in if your uncle finds out you helped me?”

  She shrugged. “He won’t find out.”

  “All right, then.” I looked down the passage in both directions. “Which way is out?”

  Cassandra snorted. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

  I sighed. “Oh, of course.” I couldn’t deny that the need to bring the other princesses along would complicate things somewhat. Their motivation seemed to have diminished even in the months since we had all participated in the Princess Tourney together. They had at least been of occasional help then.