Queen Glaciana Frostborne Alpineglow's Arc

Chapter 7 of 33

The three days passed like melting ice. On the morning Victor would arrive, Glaciana stood in her hall and rehearsed. She had written the speech herself, folded it small, and tucked it inside her sleeve. Her people filled the pale stone hall below the blue banners. They had come to see what their queen would finally say. She had ruled without a king through three winters. Today she would end their doubt. A horn sounded from the gate. Glaciana's heart struck once, hard. The great doors opened, and Victor walked in wearing his crown. Sapphires caught the cold light. His heavy blue cloak dragged snow across her floor. He did not smile at the crowd. He kept his eyes on her and crossed the whole hall without slowing, the way he had crossed a ballroom the night they met. The elders stiffened. Whispers ran through the room like wind. A foreign king, in his own crown, standing in their queen's hall. Nobody had told them. Glaciana felt every eye turn between the two of them. Victor stopped at the foot of her dais. "Queen Glaciana," he said. Just her name. He waited for her to speak. She drew the folded speech from her sleeve. Her hands were steady. She looked at the careful words she had planned, then looked at her people, and set the paper down on the arm of her throne. She would not read it. "You have asked me for a king," she said. Her voice carried to the back wall. "Here he is. This is King Victor of Alpineglow. I chose him. He chose me. We will rule together." The hall went silent. Then an elder near the front pressed a hand to his chest and bowed his head. Others followed. The whispers turned into something warmer, a low murmur of relief. Glaciana had feared shock, even anger. Instead she saw shoulders drop all across the room. Victor climbed the two steps and stood beside her. He took her hand and turned to face her people, so they would see the two rulers as one. "No more secrets," he said, low, only for her. "It's done." "It's done," she agreed. Victor blushed down at Glaciana and she looked down at their joined hands with her face blushing back.