"What."

Now Lumi was able to hear a tone in the voice.

The tone of shock and anger.

King Lucas rose from his bow. "My Kingdom is the least of the four. We have always struggled to pay your price. The amount you put over our heads is too high-,

"The amount of my men's lives is too high?" There was a dark amusement in the cold voice.

Lumi remained silent, watching the events.

She turned to find the winter guards staring at her in shock.

One caught her attention. It was a gesture that could have been a twitch, but just the slight movement of his head to the side, his wide eyes staring at Lumi, told her enough of what he was trying to convey. No.

She only smiled before turning back to face the conversation.

"I do not want your daughter. What makes you think I would accept."

"She is very beautiful," King Lucas paused to let King Theros' eyes inspect her. He said nothing. Only cool silence hung between them. King Lucas cleared his throat.

"I do not want a Queen."

"She does not have to be your Queen."

The sentence stayed there for processing.

"What?"

King Lucas turned to his daughter. She smiled up at him. The gesture was enough to make him regret this whole encounter. But he had already started. He could not undo what was done.

"Summer Kingdom is not looking to make claims into your own lands, Winter. She does not have to be your Queen. Use her in whatever way you see fit. Even if you acquire a Queen, she will still be yours."

"Princess." Lumi stepped forward as the voice addressed her, "you have agreed to this?"

Lumi nodded, "I am yours, King Theros."

"You are only mine if I so chose."

"Or if I so chose," Lumi countered back.

Several of the winter guards gasped behind her. King Lucas quickly pulled her back, stepping in front to cut her off from sight.

"I have nothing left to say, this is what I have brought. Do you accept?"

The mass of shadows moved. Echoing of steps could be heard as each one descended down the throne.

Finally. Finally, Lumi was able to match the voice with a face.

He was the most handsome man she had ever laid eyes on.

Every feature was in place- perfectly structured.

But the structure of his stature was like it had been constructed from a block of ice.

Lumi felt a wave of coldness radiate off of him.

Light blonde hair fell into glacier eyes as he stopped in front of her to stare down.

"King Lucas."

Lumi watched her father jump from the closeness of the voice.

She took a step closer, bracing herself against the cold. She hoped he did not mistake her shivering for fear. She was not shivering from fear.

"Yes?"

They stared at one another, not breaking eye contact as the Ice King whispered, "I accept."

* * *

King Lucas sat stunned in the carriage. He had departed hours ago. He had left her.

Left her.

A part of him had actually rationalized that no King of the north would actually want something from the lands of Summer. Much less a free spirit such as Lumi. He had somehow managed to convince himself on this trip that he and Lumi would both come back. Together.

And yet here he sat.

The carriage seemed dark and empty without her there talking and aweing at every passing by thing. It seemed as if the whole world was more empty.

King Lucas' eyes could not break from where he looked. To the place of his departure. The Winter palace that had long ago left his field of vision.

She was gone.

He had seen the look in the King's eyes as he stared at Lumi. The flash of something...dark. He had left her there.

Lumi, of course, had not seen it. The girl seemed infatuated with everything. King Lucas winced, wondering if she really did understand the situation. Wondering is she really did know that she was forever lost to him now.

With that thought, a startled jerk came over him as he felt tears come to his eyes.

King Lucas blankly stared at his hand, looking at the drops of his sorrow.

He felt a hollow laugh come over him then.

Maybe both he and his daughter had been ignorant of the situation this whole time.

* * *

Lumi had been quickly dismissed from the throne room after her father's departure. She was following a guard to her room, a place she noted, that was on the opposite side of the palace life.

"Can I go outside?"

The guard remained quiet. Lumi continued to stare at him, waiting.

She asked her question again.

No response.

To the guards' exasperation, Lumi began a series of pokes and prods on his arm, trying to get his attention.

"Can you hear? I know how to communicate without speech," to demonstrate this point, she started to move and twist her hands in a form of various and confusing ways.

The guard finally broke.

"I don't know if you can go outside....Princess...."

"Just Lumi is fine," she chirped.

The guard seemed to narrow his eyes at her. He couldn't tell if she was hyper or just stupid.

"It's actually Lumikki but everyone calls me Lumi. It's a very old traditional name within the South lands. I think I might be the only one who has it. No one wanted to copy me. You know, some people do that when they have children- they name their own child after a royal but for some reason, no one wanted to name their child Lumikki!"

The guard felt his eye twitch at the bombardment of words upon him.

"And you?"

He shrunk back from her inquisitive gaze.

She seemed to press closer to him, "What's your name?"

"I'm just a guard."

"Everyone has a name," she pressed.

The guard sighed, finally grasping that perseverance and stubbornness might go hand in hand with this girl.

"Marcos."

"Oh, I've never heard of that name before!"

He winced at the loudness of her voice. She was the complete opposite of their King, and he felt deep pity suddenly at her situation of being tossed off to him.

"Your room," the guard seemed to breathe a sigh of relief as she entered it. It was bare and very minimum. She looked around and yelled in delight to the guards' surprise. He had been told to put her in a servant's chamber, something not fit for a royal, but she did not seem to notice or mind.

"It has a window!"

She quickly went to it, looking out at the scenery.

"Does it snow every day?"

"Well...no...."

She seemed disappointed in that, but the guard shivered at the unimaginable idea of having snow year-round.

"You are to stay here. Food will be brought to you. You are not permitted to leave. Doing so will incur the wrath of the King and will be seen as a direct violation of his orders. Punishment will occur if you choose to leave."

He repeated the words he had been told to say, taking note in his head to maybe ask the lead guard if she could be permitted to leave for perhaps an hour a day to go outside.

She turned to face him, a radiating smile on her face that took him by surprise.

"Thank you Marcos."

The guard said nothing and quickly shut the door on her. He put his hand over his chest, wondering what had just happened.

Shaking his head, he tried to clear it, explaining to himself that it must have been a summer magic thing.

Trust me, the chapters get longer (long enough that I wonder if their length is actually okay...) but I always start my stories off slow, so hang in there with me :)

I hope all of you are staying safe and well ♥

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