Dancing On Ice

The Mad Heir

Kazimir was lost.

Again.

He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair and glared accusingly at the moonlit corridor in front of him.

Another reason he hated land and the buildings on it. There was no swimming out one window and in through another if you were lost. If you were lost on land you just had to keep walking until you recognised something or found someone to help you.

At one in the morning, there was no one to help.

Not in this section of the palace at least. He had managed to follow the queen all the way here and then had lost her.

What was she even doing up and about in the middle of the night, creeping around the halls?

And she still wore her necklace.

If only he could get a good look at that diamond. Or touch it would be better. If he could see if he felt a connection to the sea, it would make their life that much simpler. They would know where to focus their attentions. Certainly, stealing it wouldn't be so easy but they had tricks they could utilise as a means to an end.

He stopped and dropped back against a windowsill, looking down at the view below. It looked right down on the shoreline, the water breaking gently against the sand far below.

All he'd meant to do was go collect the chess set from the lounge they'd spent the day in and he'd happened to spot the queen alone and unaccompanied, passing by... he shouldn't have followed her all the way here. She had slipped from his sight and by the time he'd got to the corridor she'd turned down, she was gone.

Drawing in another breath, he closed his eyes, tilting his head back and listening.

If he could just hear anything out of the norm.

Any small change in the air.

A step. A shift of fabric. Anything to hint at others in this closed-off quiet corner of the castle.

His eyes opened.

He heard a voice.

Dropping his head to the side, he looked down the corridor, then pushed away from the window and drifted towards the voice.

A breeze.

A cold breeze touched his shoulder and tugged at his hair, telling him not to follow the voice but he continued anyway, turning the corner and finding an archway that led out to one of the inner gardens.

The flowerbeds were empty. The stone pathways dirty. The waterfall turned off.

He was right. This part of the castle was completely unused. Not just unused until guests arrived, it was completely deserted. No garden would be left in that state if people might come here and yet there it was.

He slipped into the shadows of the archway, waiting to check that it was safe to go on into the garden then froze.

Dalton walked into view. He looked furious.

He was storming towards the archway and Kazimir almost flattened himself against the wall when the queen appeared.

"What's wrong, Dalton, running already?" she asked, folding her arms. "You've barely even said hello to me."

Dalton stopped and Kazimir raised an eyebrow at the expression the prince was sporting. He was trembling with rage and he looked humiliated. Hell, one wrong thing said and he might burst into tears he looked so emotional.

Not what Kazimir expected, to say the least.

"What is there to say? I greeted you," he said, his voice steadier then his face suggested.