With that eerie sensation I can’t quite shrug off, Pruinn brings us right up to the very front of the ruins. The structure has been fossilized in the freeze, preserving the abraded stone. I can’t make out where any windows or balconies may have once existed, but the general shape of a hacked off rooftop and reaching walls still remain.
Pruinn jumps off the driver’s bench of the cart and comes around, holding a hand up to help me get out. “This is where your map ends, Your Majesty,” he tells me, just as a grin widens over his face. “So let’s go find your heart’s desire.”
Somehow, Pruinn managed to find an opening so we could actually go inside the remains of the castle. It’s now nothing more than a shadowed cavern, collapsed in some places, the rubble frozen stiff.
It’s awful—like walking inside the chest of some giant beast long-since perished. Mist swirls around in here too, so the only real difference from outside to inside is the way our steps echo ominously. As I walk around, that tingling sensation happens again—the one that feels as if I’m being observed. As if the castle itself is watching me, finding me lacking.
Well, I find it lacking too.
“I hate to disappoint you, Sir Pruinn, but this is definitely not my heart’s desire.”
We stop just inside the middle of what I’m guessing used to be a grand entry hall, the ceiling at least thirty feet up, now covered in ash-colored frost.
Turning around to look at him, I clasp my hands in front of me. I’m travel weary, filthier than I’ve ever been in my life, and now all I have to look forward to is…the journey back.
“I don’t know what I was thinking, letting you bring me here,” I say, my tone gone as brittle as the ice chips beneath my feet. “I hope you’re happy. You’ve just proved how much of a fraud you truly are, and now we’re at the end of the world for no reason.”
My anger runs frigid and cold.
“This isn’t my heart’s desire,” I say again, spinning around to gesture to the ruins. “Why did you bring me here? This is a shattered and severed land that has no hope of ever becoming what it once was.”
Just as I have no hope of ever becoming what I once was.
A throat clears behind me, making me go rigid. “Actually, Your Majesty, that’s where you’re wrong.”
I whirl around at the new voice, eyes flaring wide at the two men standing before me.
The first thing that stands out to me is how thoroughly ill-fitting they are in this forsaken detritus, because both of them are impeccably dressed. As if they aren’t in the middle of ruins but ready to step into some sort of royal celebration.
The second thing I notice is the men are nearly identical. A thick curtain of hair down to their shoulders, the same height, even the same stance. The only difference I can pick out between them is they each have moles dead center in the middle of their cheeks, yet on opposite sides of their faces.
“Who are you?” I ask, taking a startled step back. That sensation of being watched comes back full force, making the mist in the air seem denser as it curls near my side.
“I am Friano, and this is my twin brother, Fassa,” the man on the left says, the corresponding mole on his left cheek. “We are pleased to make your acquaintance, Queen Malina Colier.”
I glance warily at Pruinn, but he’s simply watching me with an encouraging look I wish I could slap right off his face.
“How do you know who I am, and what are you doing here?”
Friano grins, showing a row of perfectly even teeth. “You are the queen of Sixth Kingdom. Of course we know who you are. Tales of the beauty of the Cold Queen have stretched even here.”
My brows lift in surprise. “Are you saying that you live here?”
They both nod in unison, and this time, Fassa answers. “We do, Your Majesty.”
“How is that possible? No one can live here. This place is utterly desolate.”
“Ah, yes,” Fassa replies brightly. “Brother, if you could…？”
“Of course.” With a nod, Friano lifts a finger in the air and spins it around, and like a wave rippling through our surroundings, the castle transforms.
Within moments, gone are the ruins, and in its place is Seventh Kingdom’s castle restored. Slick gray walls, dazzling blue windows, and black marble that’s whole and polished beneath our feet. What was the stripped off bones of a cavern is now a revived and elegant entry hall.
It’s like a timepiece turned backwards, reversing all the damage that had been done and returning this place to its rightful glory.