FROST- Jotun Chronicles #1

Ice and Wine

“What do we do now?” I heaved Lief off of me, grunting in disgust, and his limp form tipped over the edge of the bed and flopped bonelessly to the ground, “oops.”          

                Charlotte rubbed her temples, staring down at him, “think we’ll get in trouble for knocking him out?”

                The idea was alarming. He was the prince, and it was our word against his. When he finally woke up that is…. but the Queen knew he was rash….

                Charlotte was already moving, grabbing Lief’s arms, no, she was pulling off his shirt.

                “What are you doing?” I watched in astonishment as she yanked Lief’s shirt over his head, jerking him around roughly. Would he wake up? Apparently not. He flopped back down, eyes still shut. There was a red stain where he’s been lying before Charlotte had moved him.

                “Is his head bleeding?” I said nervously, “is it bad?”

                Charlotte looked up at me sharply, “He just tried to kill you, Megan. He was going to kill you and dump your body in the moat.”

                “I know…I just…” I didn’t know how to explain it. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of anyone dying in this situation. It was underhanded and shady. There was no honor in it.

                Where the hell did that come from? Screw him. I blinked as Charlotte began to peel off her shirt. What the hell? She wiggled out of the oversized sweater, revealing a white tank top underneath and a pair of black shorts. She bent over Lief and struggled to pull him upright into a sitting position.

                “Here, help me prop him up.”

                I moved to help her, feeling stunned. Placing my palms on his naked back, even to hold him up, made my skin crawl. Charlotte yanked the sweater over his head and maneuvered his arms into the sleeves, struggling with him as he flopped around, his head rolling to one side to rest on his left shoulder. Finally she had both arms in the sleeves.

                “Okay, lie him down,” Charlotte instructed. I obeyed, mouth dropping open as Charlotte leaned over him and undid his belt buckle. My jaw snapped shut, and I resisted the urge to ask her what the hell she was doing as she tugged his pants down over his hips, sliding them down his legs. She even took his socks off, leaving him in white boxer briefs. She shoved the clothing at me, “Toss this in the fire.”

                I took the bundle, standing up so fast that it made me a little dizzy, and shuffled over to the fire, which was just orange embers by now. While I built up the fire with whatever paper I could find and gradually added on kindling, I darted looks at Charlotte over my shoulder. She was collecting the glass chunks from the floor, dropping them into the neck of the bottle, which she was holding upside down in her other hand. I turned back to the fire, which had finally flared to life, and slowly fed it Lief’s clothing. The fabric took forever to catch fire, and when it finally did it stank.  Charlotte grimaced, walking over to throw the doors open to let the room air out.

                “Okay good, now hold this,” she thrust the bottle neck at me, “be careful not to let the glass shards fall out.”

                 I took the bottle gingerly. It was sticky underneath my fingers. Charlotte grabbed Lief’s arms and dragged him towards the door, grunting at the effort it took. It was actually impressive, considering he was double her size.