Marcos shivered against the cold.

Just because he had been born and raised in the winter kingdom, didn't mean he had an immunity to the climate.

He and the other guards seemed to agree as they uneasily hiked through the vast snowy lands, their attention on full alert.

The King had assembled a hunting party. And to the guard's dismay, the Princess had also been brought along.

For some reason, she had shown up to the throne room with white lines under her eyes and lower lips. Her dress had been traded for something close to what the men were wearing and the only word that Marcos thought of when he saw it was...fierce...

Marcos wasn't sure how to describe it. The foreign dignitaries and members of the King's council were keeping a clear distance from her.

She hadn't even been given a weapon (what idiot would have done that?). So Marcos was still unsure of why exactly the Princess had shown up excited and ready for the hunt. She surely must have realized that no one would give a foreign princess, who was a prisoner to the Winter King, a weapon to hunt with?

She still looked happy, and painfully, the job of watching her and making sure she didn't run off into the vast forest fell to Marcos, Felix, and several other guards.

If one looked at the ensemble from a distance, they would have wrongly assumed that she was the leader of this group, based upon the number of men who had been stationed around her.

The King dutifully was ignoring her.

Marcos either had to ask for a pay raise or request to be assigned to the border. Even the border, and keeping watch for threats from there, seemed like a better job than watching this free-spirited princess.

A cry of excitement and surprise could be heard from the men up ahead. Lumi immediately stopped, her eyes narrowing.

Marcos put his hand on his sword. Not for her safety, but to stop her if she should aggressively reach out and try to take it. He noticed many of the other guards doing the same thing.

To their horror, she began to lower her body to the ground. She turned to the guards, her hands beckoning for them to imitate her.

"Princess," Marcos hissed, "We are not a part of this hunt."

"What?" She turned back to face him in confusion.

For god's sake. She didn't even have a weapon! Was she planning on strangling the hare?

Marcos had a sudden horrific image of her doing just that.

"You were allowed to come, but not participate."

Lumi's eyes flashed to him before quickly turning to face back towards the men who were now running fast in the opposite direction.

"But they'll catch nothing if they do that," she whined.

"Then they'll catch nothing," Marcos said, exasperated.

He wanted to strangle not only her, but the guards who were smiling at him as he argued.

They were welcomed to join in at any time.

She continued to glare at the men ahead of them, "Why are they so clumsy?"

Before Marcos had time to comment on the observed hunting technique (after all, the King was a part of those 'clumsy men') a flash of movement was caught in the corner of his eye.

He saw at the same time, the princess move towards it, a breathless gasp of delight escaping from her.

"No, princess don't-,"

To Marcos' unimaginable shock, a glint of metal spun through the air. All the guard's eyes followed with its motion, watching in horror as whatever it was the princess had thrown, cut through the air, and landed in the white snow.

Did she miss?

Marcos felt a sick feeling rising in him as the men ahead of them cautiously approached the spot.

They were further ahead, therefore, were quicker in reaching the point than the guards.

Marcos could tell already, from the looks that rose on their faces as they stood and stared in their direction that one- the princess had in fact been carrying a weapon this whole time, and two- she had thrown said weapon over 50 yards in length with clear accuracy to take down the hare they had been hunting an hour for.

* * *

The air was very quiet as the men around the table sat and stared at the King.

He was staring intently at his wine, swirling it, before taking a small sip and repeating the motion.

It seemed no man wanted to state the question, but the question had to be said.

Finally, to everyone's relief, it was Wilmot who spoke first.

"My King. We need to talk about what happened at the hunt this morning."

The King continued to look at the glass in his hand. He tilted his head, his eyes still not moving away. Wilmot sighed and continued.

"Your life was in danger. The summer girl should not have been brought along- if only to help secure your safety-,"

"She took down the hare."

All the men's eyes were focused on their King as he raised his own upward.

"She took down the bloody thing..." the King's voice trailed off, an odd tone in his words.

"Y-...yes..." Wilmot said, suddenly unsure of where the King was going in his conversation.

"You're saying she is a danger to my safety when she is able to take down a creature that none of my guards, men, or even myself were able to kill?"

He leveled his stare at the council men before him.

Wilmot though shook his head, "Her hunting skills are impressive. I will acknowledge that, my King. But it's that skill that could have been used against you today. She could have easily thrown that knife at-,"

"Me?"

There was an awkward silence as the King stared at Wilmot. The man only nodded his head.

"What would be the plan after that?"

Wilmot blinked in surprise.

"The plan?"

"She gets the knife to my chest- I'm already wearing heavy clothes, but let's say it does manage to kill me- and so, with one knife in hand she now turns to the ten guards and additional ten men who accompanied me. And then?"

Wilmot frowned, "I understand your point my King. But the level of safety that was shown by bringing her-,"

The King stood abruptly.

All the other men at the table scrambled to stand also.

Before the King could walk out though, Wilmot again spoke.

Wilmot had been at the King's side since the beginning. Since the start of those long six years, when he had first ascended the throne.

It was probably because of the long time together, that the man was even allowed to speak so openly now. But he spoke, facing his King directly as he said, "We need to know why she is here. We need to understand the purpose there is in keeping her. Will she be sold? Will she be traded? Will you keep her as a mistress? We need to know. Your people need to know...my King."

King Theros stood stiffly in front of the door. He looked back to the table, seeing the uneasy truth that lied on each man's face.

"I understand," was all he said.

* * *

He did not even bother to knock on the door.

Lumi was not upset by it. It was his palace and she was his property. She had already concluded based on Marcos' screaming fit and then Macy's worried prattle, that what she had done at the hunt was wrong.

Therefore, he would come also to glower at her.

And maybe also scold and criticize.

Lumi was ready for it.

And true to her thoughts, after dinner was over, he came to her room, a full glare on his face as he entered and examined her.

Lumi was lying on the bed, staring at him sideways as she waved him hello.

"The knife..." he shook his head and closed the door, slowly walking to approach her, "where did you get it this morning."

Lumi blinked up at him, "Secrets."

He sighed, an exasperated sound as he sat on the bed next to her.

"You didn't let me keep my prize."

Theros shook his head. "Your prize?"

Lumi nodded, "It's a custom of my land to-,"

"Well we are not in the southern lands."

His dark voice cut off whatever words she was going to say next. She slowly rose from the bed, bending her knees and pulling herself tightly together.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, "I know...I shouldn't have-,"

"It was stupid," he hissed.

She looked up at him regret coming fully onto her face now.

"I know."

"I don't need another member of my council yelling at me, and now even Wilmot-," he cut himself off forcefully, standing and running his fingers through his hair aggressively as he looked down at her.

"Your father brought you here to pay a debt. Why did he bring you. Why did he think you would be a good enough payment?"

The question threw Lumi off balance.

"I volunteered."

He stared at her, his gaze going from anger to confusion.

"You...volunteered?"

Lumi nodded, "He was going to offer something else. Something about our lands or men from different tribes. But I didn't want you to have our lands. And I didn't want families to be separated. So I said I would go."

"Go and do what?"

Lumi shrugged, "I don't know. I didn't think that far ahead."

"Of course you didn't," he grumbled, "you never do."

Lumi suddenly flared. She stood up on the bed, for once having the advantage of height as she looked down at him, "well excuse me for wanting to help my country. Excuse me for wanting to relieve the burden from my King! I just wanted to help! If it wasn't for you and your stupid taxes-,"

"Stupid taxes? You think protection from the Galexious lands is easy? You think my men's lives don't come at a price? That the majority of those taxes that are given are not then used to provide for the wives and children of dead men!"

He had raised his voice at the end, standing also next to the bed to be face to face with her. They both looked at the other, breaths coming out fast and uneven.

"I've never heard of an attack from Galexious before," Lumi accused.

A barked laughter escaped from Theros, "and why do you think that? Should I let my men stop in their duty so you can hear a tale or two?"

Lumi swallowed thickly, "They really...do they really attack often?"

"All the damn time," he snarled. "Why do you think I have so few guards. Why do you think my lands could be considered the richest yet the poorest at the same time? It's because those heathens- those monsters keep trying to come in here."

Lumi stared down at her feet.

She knew nothing about the border of the Winter kingdoms and Galexious lands. She didn't know why there were always attacks. Or even what the people on the other side were like.

"Why?" she whispered.

Theros looked up at her. She wanted to shrink back against his broken stare as he said, "because they live in hell and the other side is paradise."

They said nothing as his words died away.

Lumi slowly sat back down on the bed, motioning for him to join her.

He sighed and crawled to be next to her.

"What are you doing," she whispered. He looked into her eyes as she reached for a strand of his golden hair, "what are you doing to me?"

He closed his eyes, pain crossing his face, "I should be asking you that question."

He reopened his eyes, watching her as she leaned in and kissed his cheek. He only stared, his gaze intense as she wrapped her arms around him.

"You can't keep me forever. Even I know that."

Theros' only response was to bring her closer to him.

"Well....at least for tonight," she mumbled, her eyes already closing and her head falling to land on his arm.

Theros watched her breathing even out. Slowly, he leaned forward, his lips moving to her forehead, then to her eyelids, before softly resting on her cheek.

He pulled back looking up to the ceiling, a silent curse rising from his lips as he leaned forward and wrapped his arms more securely around her.