Queen of Ice

Chapter One: Of Lights and Ice

On the day of my sister's sixteenth birthday, she was prophesied to defeat an evil queen and bring summer back to our land once more. If that had happened, it would be Valeriya, the Chosen One herself, penning this narrative. Alas, dear reader, you are stuck with me.

Who am I, you may ask? A solid question, for sure. I am Valeriya's older sister, though I have no hope of inheriting her crown for reasons that have followed me my entire life. I have red hair and tons of freckles and stand at an unfortunate height. As for my character . . . well, I will let you be the judge of that.

-

"Are you ready, Val?" I stood outside the door connecting my sister's chambers to mine, bouncing on my toes.

"Give me a second to breathe, will you?"

I grinned and crossed the room to the window. The castle grounds spread out before me, covered in snow, and beyond that, the city of Zhadbolsk. The city of a thousand lakes. The capital city of Renaliya.

The door opened, and I turned. "Is this good enough?" Val tried to sound exasperated, but her face betrayed her - the way her eyes were shining, the way she couldn't hide a smile. She was as excited about this as I was.

My sister was dressed in a plain grey dress with dirty boots on her feet. She wore a ragged black cloak that I had no idea how she attained. Her hair was in a tight bun. If I hadn't known it was her, even I might not have looked twice. "Perfect. Me?"

She surveyed my brown dress, my dark cloak, my bushy red hair forced tightly into a braid down my back. "Good. I think. What are we doing again?"

"Oh, no you don't," I said. "You're going to be too busy for me tomorrow. This is your birthday surprise." Though she rolled her eyes, she was grinning. "Though I will say . . . you might want to grab your skates."

She gasped, her eyes widening. "Katya!"

"If you waste any more time, we're not going to be able to go at all!"

Val squealed and ducked back into her room. A moment later, she came back with her skates over her shoulder, hidden by her cloak. "Are you sure we should do this?" There was hesitance in her voice, as I knew there would be.

"Yes, I'm positive."

"But what if Mama or Papa finds out?" Her eyes were wide, brown and worried. I tried to ignore the stab of pain that shot through my heart at that word. Mama.

I couldn't dwell on myself. Not tonight. "What are they going to do - confine you to your room?"

Val blinked, then let out a surprised laugh. "I guess they can't, can they?"

"Not if they want the realm to be saved and summer to be brought to the land once more!" Val went to slap me, and I laughed as I dodged her. "Let's go, before you lose your nerve."

We ran through the darkened hallways, whispering and giggling probably a bit too loudly. Our family had an entire wing to ourselves, and the tsar and tsarina would be downstairs entertaining the guests for several hours more, at the least. It was rare that the entire Renaliyan court was under one roof, but when it happened, very little sleep was had. That was to mine and Val's advantage, as there was no one to stop us.

We took the servant's staircase, clattering down through the kitchens to the courtyard. The hulking trees cast shadows on the snow. "Where from here?" Val asked, grasping my hand and panting.

"Now, we hope the key I stole earlier works," I whispered.

Val let out a breath. "You stole a key?"