Heir to the Ice Queen (Book 1)

Ch. 29

     "What is so important that you need to disturb my resting time Hudson?"

     "Well your majesty, I wanted to ask you if I can be your hand and apart of the royal winter court when all of this has washed over."

     I was not expecting that at all from him.

     "No," I said without even having to think it over.

     I turned and started to walk away when he ran in front of me and opened his mouth again.

     "Wait your majesty, give me a chance. I have herd your speeches and I have seen up close what kind of person you are. I know what you say is true and not just more words filled with false promise just to get what you want. And I stand by that, I have pledged my sword and life for you. I was the first to do so-"

     "You have courage, I will give you that. But you are young. With no experience, and no knowledge on how to mend together this broken season."

     I looked at him, his strong chest filled up with air as if he was about to speak but he knew better than to interrupt me. Although I replayed the first time I met him, his friend was crying and begging for mercy but he stayed put and held his ground, a true knight in training. And yes he was the first to pledge to me when we were in summer and because of that I know he will be true to his word.

     "Despite that you have time to learn. And my instincts tell me that you'll learn fast."

     "I will my Queen," his shoulders eased from the tension.

     "When we leave tomorrow I want you and my knight to gather the rest of the men and send half of them to the east of me and the others to the west. Summer warriors will be in the center behind me. This will be the formation from now on. If there is a surprise attack then the knights are more equipped with handling it from escalating better than the warriors. Is that understood?"

     "So we're shielding the warriors from harm when if it were the other way around they wouldn't take an arrow for us?" he asked uncertainly.

     "And in there position right now why would they take anything for you? You have attacked their villages, raided their homes, burned their land and killed their innocent. Their emotions are still fresh, I would say they were stupid if they forgave you so easily. But right now they are pushing their hatred down because of me. I am trying to unite both seasons in order to defeat our common enemy. Right now they are our new alliances that we need to protect. They don't know winter, they don't know the land nor how to fight properly on it. And you need to get along with them, all of them. Is that understood?"  

     Hudson wore a serious face, not one of anger or frustration because I was not favoriting winter over summer, he understood that I was serious about my word. He didn't take more than a breath to reply his answer. 

     "Yes me Queen," he said with a bow. And then we went our separate ways. I saw him start to head to where Liam was resting. He raised his blonde eye brow as Hudson sat so casually beside him, but he didn't offer more than that. That boy sure does have confidence, it'll either get him killed - or punched in the face.

     When I was back with my friends I let politics out of my head for the rest of the night and decided that I would enjoy myself, regardless of what was going on. Nuri felt extra affectionate tonight and didn't leave my side. Nor did he want me to stop petting his fur. It was really cute actually, feeling the rumble in his chest as we played and knowing he was happy this far from home. And I know he was adapting to winter climate just fine, he didn't mind being in the slow, from the looks of it he rather enjoyed it.