We walked up the icy pathway, through the courtyard and past the blue fountain. There was a large set of double door leading into the palace. Erik stopped in front and said something to the two guards, who were even taller than the other giants and looked as though they’d been sucking lemons. One stepped to the side, eyes still straight ahead, mouth still in a tight, displeased line. The other grabbed the silver ring set in the left side door and pulled, drawing it open so we could pass through. He didn’t look at Charlotte or I once, as if we didn’t even exist.

We followed Erik through, and found ourselves staring down a long corridor. It was like being inside a chunk of crystal. Light reflected off the ice walls, making it almost blindingly bright. I tipped my head back to look at the chandelier hanging above us. It was made out of cunningly carved bits of ice that sparkled in the sunlight like a million tiny diamonds.

Beside me, Charlotte’s breath was coming in white clouds, and she hugged herself and shivered, “Wow, it’s freezing in here.”

I hadn’t even thought about that. To me it was, well…room temperature in here. Erik stopped long enough to shrug out of his heavy leather jacket and hand it back to Charlotte, who thanked him profusely. He smiled at me,

“Ready?”

I nodded, and he took us down the corridor. Up ahead I could hear the sound of trickling water, the low murmur of conversation and classical music playing. We rounded the corner and the throne room came into view. I actually stopped, and Erik turned to ask if I was okay, but I couldn’t even form words.

The throne room was massive. There were groups of people standing together, all dressed in sweeping skirts and fur jackets, drinking crimson colored wine and laughing and talking quietly amongst themselves. Along the side of the room was a huge oak table that looked as though it might collapse under the sheer amount of food it carried. Just staring for several seconds I spotted roast turkey on a silver platter, crystal bowls full of Caesar salad and a multi leveled, white frosted cake. My mouth watered.

At the end of the room was the throne on a raised dais, a huge chair carved out of solid ice. The back shot up in spikes, and there were carvings on the clear surface down either side and on both arm rests. The woman that sat on the throne drew my eyes instantly. There was a lot going on in the room, people laughing, calling out to one another, even a team of fur clad musicians in the corner, but no one was more eye- catching than the Queen. Her face was perfect and pale, as if it were etched out of pure ivory. Her lips were bright red and her black lashes tipped in frost. Her hair was pulled back in an elaborated braided updo, and a white headdress curled around her face and rose up out of her pale hair in jagged peeks.

Erik took my hand gently and gave it a reassuring squeeze, “Don’t worry, she’ll be ecstatic to see you.”

I nodded, and he started to walk into the throne room, so I squared my shoulders and took a deep breath and followed him. Charlotte trailed after me, remarking on how beautiful everything was. As I followed Erik through the crowds, my sneakers making tiny squeaking sounds on the floor, the people we walked by began to fall silent. I had the uncomfortable sensation that everyone had begun to notice us, and now they were all turning to stare.

It was intimidating, walking through crowds of marble-skinned, blonde haired giants. It seemed like every single one of them was staring at us with bright blue eyes, weighing in, judging, analyzing every bit of us. What could they be thinking?

At last we were in front of the throne, and Erik gave the Queen a low bow, bending at the waist and dipping his head towards he floor. I tried to copy him, but mine was more of a clumsy head bob than a bow. That was alright though, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to bow to anyone. It seemed too medieval. Upon closer inspection I could see the carvings on the throne were faces, detailed to the point of being eerie. Men and women with their mouths wide open in silent screams and war cries. The arms of the throne were two ice warriors, crouched in battle, spears at the ready. The Queen’s arms rested on their backs.

She regarded Erik coolly, giving him a slight nod back. Her eyes slid across Charlotte without even really looking, and came to rest on me. To my surprise her red lips curled at the corners in a smile, and she stood up abruptly. I stiffened, making myself stay where I was as she descended, her white fur cloak spilling down the stairs after her. She stopped in front of me, and I held my breath. Queen Eira’s eyes were aqua blue, and I almost felt mesmerized by them. She reached out and put a finger under my chin, tilting me face upwards. Her hand was cool on my skin, cold actually, and I blinked in surprised. When was the last time I’d felt cold?

The Queen smiled, wider this time, “Oh, child. You look so much like her.” She drew her hand away and took a step back. My stomach was twisting itself in knots, and it took a few seconds to work up the courage to speak, “Who, your…Majesty?”

She smiled, and I wasn’t sure if I’d addressed her properly and she was pleased, or she was amused at my ignorance, “My daughter, who passed so long ago. You share both her name, and her likeness. You have no idea how long I’ve waited to see you, child.”

Her daughter. Was that who I shared dreams with? Maybe they weren’t dreams, maybe I was having her memories. I wanted to burst out with a million questions, but something in the Queen’s face made me keep my mouth shut. She was examining me, a small smile playing across her lips. “Oh child,” she whispered, “my child, you are home now.”

The throne room was totally silent, save for the quiet strains of classical music from the musicians. I had the uncomfortable feeling that the entire court of Jotun were waiting with baited breath, straining to hear what the Queen was saying. She stared at me for what seemed like an eternity, and then turned back to her throne. I let out a deep breath, and my shoulders slumped in relief. The Queen addressed Erik,

“Very good work. Take her to the corner bedroom,” she peered at Charlotte now, as if she was seeing her for the first time, “What’s she doing here? Who is this?”

I cringed as Charlotte stepped forward and said brightly, “Hi! I’m Charlotte. I’ve never met a Queen before. It’s nice to meet you.”

A faint echo of laughter traveled around the room, the Jotun were hiding their smiles behind pale hands. The Queen lifted one blonde eyebrow at Charlotte, and then frowned at Erik, “I told you to just bring Amora.”

“She wouldn’t come without her,” Erik shifted from foot to foot, looking uncomfortable.

Queen Eria waved a dismissive hand at him, “Well, now she’s here, so take the little one back home.” Two stern-faced guards in leather jerkins and chainmail began to make their way toward us.

I stepped forward now, indignant anger taking over my awe of her, “Excuse me,” I put my hands on my hips and tried to make my voice stern. I hoped she wouldn’t hear it shake, “my only condition when I agreed to come here, was that Charlotte stays with me.” The Queen was staring at me with wide eyes. “I don’t intend to let you throw her out of here. If she goes, I go too.”

For a moment the Queen’s face was blank, and my ears were filled with the sound of my heart hammering against my rib cage. I’d done it now. She was about to stand up and blast me into tiny pieces with her icy rage. Slowly, a smile slid across Queen Eria’s face. Her eyes lit up, softening her features, making her look more like a human and less like a wrathful snow goddess.

Her laughter was low and throaty, “Amora, my dear child. You have all the fight and spirit in you that I could hope for in a daughter.” She gestured at the guards, “the girl stays! Away with you now.”

They turned and marched back to their posts at the back of the throne room.

“Erik,” Queen Eria said, “take Amora and her friend to their chambers. Feed them, cloth them. Get them anything they desire. You’ve all had a long journey and I’m sure you’re exhausted.” She smiled at me again, “rest now, child. You’re finally home.”



Erik gave us a miniature tour on the way to the bed chambers. He showed us the great hall, where they had feasts, which was basically a massive room with six long oak tables and a big marble fire place. Everything was bathed in dancing rainbow lights. When I asked why, he instructed us to look up, and Charlotte and I both gasped upon seeing hundreds of reflective crystals hanging from the ceiling.

He also pointed out the servants quarters, and told us we were never to go down that hallway. We passed a few of the servants in the corridor. They had the same features as the frost giants, pale skin and white hair, but they were much smaller, and didn’t have the same noble bearing. They ducked their heads as we passed them by, and I stared after the last one – a skinny woman dressed in a white sleeveless robe.

“Are they human?” I asked.

Erik, who was walking in front of me, didn’t turn around. He didn’t answer me either, and I jogged to catch up with him, “Erik?”

“They’re half and half,” he grunted, avoiding my eyes, “half human, half jotun.”

Realization hit me. “Like us,” I gestured to Charlotte and I, “they’re like us you mean.”

“Not like you,” Erik still wouldn’t look at me, “you girls are different, you’re special. You were part of a project set forth by the Queen. You have soldier blood in you.”

I fell back a bit, continuing to follow him at a slower pace. Charlotte and I exchanged a look. She didn’t look as excited as before. What did that mean? I had soldier blood in me. I had dreams about being in battle, about killing people. So the Queen was creating an army. Was she going to send us into battle? Were we just bred to fight and die for her?

And what about Charlotte? She was hardly a fighter, she was tiny. She was probably the same size and weight of most of the servants around here. What if the Queen tried to make her into a servant? I marched after Erik, fists clenched at my sides. What had I gotten us into? It was bad enough that I was in this bizarre situation, now I was dragging Charlotte down with me.

“Your room,” Erik stopped in front of a set of white doors with curling inscriptions decorating the front. “Go ahead.”

I grasped the silver handle and pushed the door open. The room was big. Bigger than any bedroom I’d ever seen. There was a king sized canopy bed with red satin sheets in the center and multiple silk pillows. The furniture was done in cherry, the dark wood contrasting with the bright ice walls. There was a beautiful, cream colored chase lounge on one side, and a stand that held a silver bowl of fruit.

Charlotte and I walked in and stared in total silence, too shocked at the extravagance for words. There was even an old fashioned vanity in the corner with a round mirror that held silver backed brushes, perfume bottles and face powders.

I finally found my voice, “Oh. My. Gosh.”

“Yup,” Charlotte’s eyes were huge. “Wow.”

Erik smiled, “you girls enjoy. There’s a rope pull just beside the bed. The servants will get you anything you want. There’s night dresses in chest of drawers and clothes in the armoire. I’ll come get you tomorrow and give you the full tour.”

I turned on him, heart in my throat all of a sudden. This was it? “What now?”

“Sorry?”

“I mean, tomorrow, we get the tour, and then what? What happens next?”

He hesitated, “And then, I guess you’ll start your training.”

“What training?” I swallowed hard, “like, fighting?”

Erik nods, “Don’t worry, you’ll have the very best teacher…”

“I can’t fight!” My voice was high with panic, “are you kidding me? I’ve never even punched a guy for getting fresh before. You think I can kill someone with a sword?”

Images from my dreams flashed in front of my eyes. Could I kill someone with a sword?

“Don’t worry,” Erik’s voice was low and reassuring, “I doubt you’ll see much action.”

I just stared at him, and he sighed, “you’re Amora. The Queen thinks of you as her own blood. She won’t sacrifice you a second time.”

“A second time? What?” I stepped in front of him as he made his way to the door, “No way you’re going to just say that and walk away. What did you mean by that?”

He sighed, “I just meant that she sent her daughter into battle and she died. It happens all the time in war. She’s the Queen, but she’s also a mother. She’s been consumed by her guilt for years.”

I crossed my arms over my chest and frowned, “So I’m like…her second chance or something?”

“That’s a good way of looking at it,” Erik smiled, “you have nothing to worry about. Goodnight ladies.”

I watched him shut the door behind him. Charlotte walked over to the bed and flopped onto the covers, “Oh my gosh, this is so soft. I can’t believe this place!”

“Me either,” I muttered. “And I’m beginning to wonder if this is a giant mistake. No pun intended.”

Charlotte wrinkled her nose, “Nice one. Well, what are our other options? You can run away and hide from Fire giants for the rest of your life or you can stay here and be pampered,” she sighed, “I’m not a fan of the servant thing…”

I frowned at her, “don’t worry. I’m not about to let them do anything to you.”

“Then I say enjoy this,” Charlotte wiggled her arms and legs across the bedspread, “Oh man! This is so soft!”

I wandered over to the drawers and pulled a few open. There were white silk night gowns in the top drawer, panties in another, socks in another. “Wow, this is full of clothing.”

Charlotte bounced off the bed, and bolted over to where I was standing, “No way! Let’s see.” She opened the armoire and we both gasped at the sheer extravagance of the fur coats inside. At the bottom were leather boots of every size.

“I guess they just stock it with every shoe size,” Charlotte picked up one of the boots and examined it. “Cool.”

We ended up spending the rest of the night exploring the room, discovering the huge marble tub in the bathroom, and the spa shower that shot out streams of water at different pressures. Charlotte dug through the drawers and found a number of different colored silk shirts and dresses. Finally, when it was well past our bedtimes we donned the white night gowns and crawled into the massive bed.

I lay there awake for what seemed like forever, listening to the soft sound of Charlotte breathing. Even at night the ice palace wasn’t totally dark, the walls seemed to give off a faint glow, as if they’d soaked up light all day and were now leaking it bit by bit into the dark atmosphere. I stared at the underside of the canopy and wondered if I’d make the right choice.



The next morning I was woken up by a good deal of loud squealing. A door slammed, more squealing and then someone was bouncing on the bed shouting my name,

“Megan! It’s you! It’s really Megan!”

Charlotte groaned and rolled over, but I sat straight up, eyes wide, heart in my throat. My fingers uncurled from the sheets when I saw who it was on the foot of my bed.

“Amy!”

Amy was awake and bright eyed, dressed in a silvery blue sleeveless dress and a black fur wrap. Her long blonde hair was braided and coiled at the neck, reminding me of the Queen’s hair yesterday. “You’re finally here! What took so long?” She was grinning like a maniac.

“Hi Amy,” I rubbed sleep from my eyes and peered around her at the other girls. Margaret, Becca, Stacy and Alicia were hanging back, considerably more reserved than their ring leader. They were all dressed in similar gowns and fur wraps. “Hey girls.”

They smiled at me, and the tallest one, Becca, gave me a wave. I turned back to Amy,

“It’s a long story. I was kidnapped by fire giants first.”

Amy’s eyes went huge, “No way. What was that like? Did you fight them off?” Her face was flushed with excitement, “we’re learning to fight. Everyday. It’s so much fun! Our teacher is Leif the Queen’s son, and he’s kind of harsh, but he’s incredibly hot, so that sort of makes up for it.”

I rubbed my eyes and tried not to yawn, “The Queen has a son?”

“Yes,” Amy grinned, “he’ s totally drool worthy. We’re going to our lessons in like, ten minutes. You should totally get dressed and come with us.”

Beside me Charlotte rolled over and opened her eyes, blinking sleepily at Amy, “Oh, hello.”

Amy smirked at her, “Boy, are you lucky Megan has the guts to stick up for you. Now you get to stay in the palace. I mean, without being one of the servants.” She snickered, and climbed off the bed without noticing the dirty look I was giving her.

The others had spread out and were wandering around the room as she spoke, and now one of them, Margaret I think, said “Wow, Megan, your room is way bigger than anyone elses.”

Amy shot me a narrow look, “Yeah, no kidding. And everyone has been talking about your arrival non-stop. What’s the deal? What did the Queen say when you arrived?”

Charlotte said, “You don’t know yet? Amora was her daughter and Megan looks just like her. Erik said she was almost like the Queen’s own blood.”

“What does that mean?” Amy looked at me warily and I shrugged. “Well anyways, get your lazy butts out of bed and come watch us train!” She tugged the sheets off us, and Charlotte groaned and rubbed at her eyes.

“Alright, hold your horses,” I grumbled, climbing out of bed I made my way over to the chest of drawers and rummaged around until I found a loose fitting white blouse and a flowing black skirt. It would have to do. “Don’t look, I’m changing.”

“Toss me one of those dresses,” Charlotte said, and I grabbed a long black one and chucked it at her.

The girls turned away, looking up at the ceiling or checking their hair in the vanity mirror while we shrugged into fresh clothing. I tied my hair up into a messy bun, deciding I’d take a shower later.

“Ready?” Amy beckoned us to follow her out the door. Charlotte and I trailed after the girls, down several twisting corridors we hadn’t seen yet. Servants scurried past, heads bowed, and Charlotte and I stared. Amy and the other girls didn’t even seem to notice them, as if they were completely used to it by now.

Eventually the corridor ended in a set of heavy looking double doors. Amy and Stacy moved forward and pushed them inwards, and a wash of noise reached us instantly. Shouting, the clang of metal on metal, war cries. The room was large, with a domed ceiling that must have been over a hundred feet above our heads. It was plain and unadorned, save for the weapons that lined every wall, and the roped off fighting ring in the center. There were two people in the ring right now, a tall blonde boy with a barrel-like chest and a whip-thin girl who seemed to be all arms and legs. People in full chainmail and silver helmets were fighting with swords, filling the room with crashing sounds, and one side had been designated for archery practice. The zip and thunk of arrows reaching their targets could be heard faintly over the commotion.

My eyes snapped back to the ring in the center, to the slight girl and the thick boy she was facing off with, “That hardly seems fair,” I almost had to yell over all the noise.

Amy grinned, “You’d be surprised. They teach you how to use your opponent's strength against them.”

The blonde boy charged the girl, and she stepped back, stuck one foot and an arm out and effectively clotheslined him. He went down hard with a grunt of pain and stayed down when she planted a leather boot in the center of his chest.

Charlotte said from behind me, “That was awesome.”

“That’s what we learn to do,” Stacy collected her shoulder length blonde hair into a pony tail, eyes shining, “It is awesome.”

“Girls!”

A deep baritone voice made us all whip around, eyes to the front. A tall, broad shouldered young man was walking toward us. He pulled off his helmet as he came, shaking light blonde hair from his eyes.

“That’s Lief!” Amy whispered loudly, “Isn’t he hot?”

He was. There was no denying it. He had a strong jaw line and fierce blue eyes. In fact, as I watched him stride towards us it became apparent that everything about him was fierce. Aggressive even. I was almost bracing myself for when he got close, like I might be knocked over by his physical presence. Lief stormed over and halted just in front of me. I had to tip my head back to look at his face. He regarded me critically,

“You must be this Amora she always talks about.” His voice had a hard edge to it, it almost sounded accusatory.

“Yes,” I folded my arms over my chest, feeling uncomfortable.

He shifted his gaze from me to the other girls, “You lot get onto the practice floor. Pick a partner and start sparring.”

They walked around me and out onto the floor, but Lief stayed where he was. I shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot as his eyes drilled into me. He said in clipped tones,

“I guess you won’t be sparring today. Or fighting at all, ever.”

I shrugged, feeling my mouth draw into a tight line. What was this guy's deal?

I froze in shock as Lief took a step forward and seized my arm. His fingers bit into my flesh, making me wince. He hissed, “Let’s get one thing straight, half breed. You are not now, nor will you ever be my sister. We share no blood, we share nothing. Just because you’re the product of some twisted guilt-driven experiment my mother thought up, doesn’t mean you have claim to anything here.”

The room was spinning around me, and I blinked as my eyes started to water. Suddenly Charlotte was there, smacking at his arm like a maniac. “Get off her! Let go! You’re hurting her!”

The pressure on my arm was gone abruptly, and I staggered back a step. Lief looked at Charlotte, a smirk tugging at the corner of his perfect mouth, “You’re joking me, right? You didn’t even make half breed status. You’ll end up in the servant corridor before too long. Filthy blood, that’s what you’ve got. You’re a mutt.” He turned back to me, “watch your back, half breed.”

Open mouthed, I watched him stomp back onto the floor, yelling at one of the girls as he went to raise her guard higher.

“What the hell was that?” Charlotte’s voice was wobbly, and when I turned and saw tears collecting in her eyes I couldn’t stop a surge of anger from coursing through me. I didn’t care if the guy was Brad Pitt. Prince Lief and I were going to have a problem.