Prologue
I woke up, to my great surprise, inside of a small room containing only a cot and a small table with two chairs. Groaning, I rolled over and stared at the white wall. How was I alive? I was supposed to be killed by my king. Instead it appears that he locked me away in here but for how long? I had a feeling that it had been awhile but when I looked down at my arms and hands, I wasn't a different person. I guess that would have made it too easy on my king. Even if I had saved him by killing his family, I suppose it wouldn't heal a wound to create another one. I almost felt sorry for him.
"Are you awake?" a voice called from out of nowhere and I blinked. It was a different language than the one I was used to speaking but with the extensive training I had with the different languages from my king, I was able to make out what he said and the dialect.
"That depends on what you're going to do with me," I replied and sat up. It was cold outside of the bed covers but that didn't matter too much. I'd been through worse.
"For today," the voice said coming closer and I focused my eyes on the piece of wall where the voice was coming from. "I just plan on asking you some questions." The wall opened up, much like our secret passages, and a man came walking through and settled on one of the chairs.
"Do you know your name?" the man started and I shrugged. His brown eyes didn't even flicker at the movement.
"Do you know where you are?" He questioned and I raised an eyebrow.
"How am I supposed to know where I am if you haven't told me?" I scoffed and pulled the covers up higher. I didn't like the fact that he seemed way more interested in my mental state than most people.
"So you have no idea who you are and where you are?" He continued and started to put up a hand to run it through his fair hair but stopped himself. He was stressed, interesting.
"I know what my name is but I'm not allowed to give it to you," I answered truthfully enough and he frowned.
"What do you mean by that?" He asked.
"My king wouldn't allow me to give out my name as if it's a piece of candy. I only tell it to people I trust," I yawned and pulled the covers even closer. Why was it so cold?
"You don't trust me?" he seemed surprised by this and I smiled at him.
"I don't trust anyone but my king," I shrugged.
"Who is your king?" He quested out towards me and I blinked. A telepath? Acknowledging the link, I dragged it towards my mind and put it in a small corner.
"My king is Aiden of the Arctic," I whispered into the link and his eyes widened.
"The fabled king that killed his entire clan for his bastard child," he stammered and I watched with amusement how his face grew into a bigger disbelief when I nodded.
"Why is it so cold?" I asked and his disbelief disappeared.
"You were lying to me," he grasped at the only remaining straw he had left. "It wouldn't be so cold to you if you were used to it."
"Where did you find me?" I retorted.
"In the ice," He replied not getting it.
"Then I probably have hypothermia. I'm not like you. I get cold when I'm sick, not hot," I explained carefully and burrowed down into the covers. It was too cold for me to stay awake.
I woke up, again, in a much different room. This one was nice and warm with machines beeping around me and looking like a laboratory in my brother's workshop. The thought of him made me cringe and I searched for a human to talk to. When I didn't find one, I sat up gingerly and looked down at the needle in my arm. It wasn't too far in but it was in my vein and if I tore that it would be a problem. I could see how it could help though but that didn't mean I would leave it in my arm. With a careful tug, I was able to get it out and set it gently on my night table. The next thing to go was the annoying beeping noise which immediately flat lined when I took off the patches on my chest. The man I had been talking to earlier ran into the room and stared at me for the longest moment before turning off the machine.
"That wasn't a very smart thing to do," he announced and sat on a close chair.
"I don't like needles," I replied and his eyebrows went up.
"You had needles in Aiden the Arctic's time?" He questioned incredulous and I nodded.
"Only for the King and his family though. Everyone else had to do without," I shrugged and put my thumb on the droplets of blood oozing out of my veins. For a brief moment, I wondered where my tattoos were and then sighed. My king had taken them away when he told me that I was no longer welcome in that place. The only one that could give them back was a descendant or someone of equal rank. I examined my almost translucent skin and traced the path where the tattoos would have been. Up my arm, over my veins, to my sleeve and under the shirt I was wearing, down my stomach and down my legs to the very bottom of my feet and then I would trace them back up to my neck where they swirled onto my face...
"Is there something wrong?" He asked and I looked up and him, mildly shocked to hear his voice.
"No...I'm just missing something," I sighed and let my hands fall into my lap.
"Can you tell me more about the time that you were with your king?" He queried and I glanced over at him.
"What would you like to know?" I replied and he pushed a button to make the bed bend forward. Picking up the pillows, he fluffed them and settled me onto them before I could deny the treatment. I had never liked being handled in such a way.
"The government, the people, the customs, we would like to know everything," he offered and I looked at him for a long moment and shook my head.
"Do you really? It'll be a long story to tell. Are you sure that you're up for it?" I replied and looked at him. He nodded and I settled against the pillows.
"Where to start...well, I suppose I could start with where I was born. It was in a small city in the middle of the Arctic which wasn't the Arctic then but rather a place called Valence. It was a beautiful place with trees that went so high that no one could ever touch them..."
