Wicked Hunt

Chapter Two, Part I

Halle: A Court Of Ice

Princess Halle Laurel darted down the stone steps, eager to be at her future husband's side when the Commander arrived. She'd only been in Verlic for one day, and she needed to make a good impression with King Clive Palisade.

As she emerged into the hallway that would take her to the throne room, she passed by the king's son, Bruce. He was leaning against the wall, carving something out of a chunk of wood. Wearing a striking ebony shirt and matching pants, he looked every bit as intimidating as his father. Halle slowed down, reluctant for the confrontation.

"Is this where I'm supposed to be?" Halle asked carefully. "Your father said something about the presentation of the new members of the Watch, but I was not sent for." There appeared to be few servants in the great castle, something Halle was not accustomed to. In her old home, the kingdom of Rodantha, the royalty was waited on constantly by servants. They were dressed, fed, and even bathed by them. In Verlic, the icy highlands of the northern reaches, there were few people in general, let alone servants to do her bidding.

Bruce gave her a once over, a smirk playing over his lips that made Halle's face warm. "You're wearing that to the presentation?"

Halle immediately glanced down at her grey silken gown with a lavender shawl over her shoulders. She blinked. "Is... is something wrong?"

"You weren't sent for," Bruce said, "because you weren't wanted." He got off the wall and shoved the wooden block into his pocket. He kept the knife out though, examining the glinting blade. "I'd run along back upstairs if I were you, little dove. This is no place for innocence." He strolled past her and vanished through the doorway she had just come through. Halle noted that he was not going to the presentation. She knew Bruce was Clive's illegitimate son and wanted to feel a pang of sympathy for him. Wanted to but did not.

Slowly, the princess crept up to the cracked door at the opposite end of the hallway and poked her nose through the narrow space to see the Great Hall. . Pillars held up the ceiling with tapestries depicting the Palisade ox on a field of white fabric. Two torches resided in iron bracers on either side of the two steps that led to the throne. . It was a far cry from the golden chair her brother King Dominic, sat in at his castle back in Rodantha, but Halle doubted Clive cared one jot about all that. The throne was important not because of its appearance. It was only made important by the person sitting in it.

And that person had seen Halle's face peeking into the Great Hall. His beady eyes stared at her pointedly, pinning the princess to the spot. Halle swallowed and debated stepping back and running back upstairs to the safety of her room, but then quickly shoved that idea from her mind. She was supposed to be a queen in a few days. It was time to start acting like one. Setting her jaw, Halle pushed the door open and stepped into the room. It was quiet, Clive and the ancient medic, Maddox, the only two present. Both men stared at her as she slowly approached the throne, noticing that there was only one.

"Your Grace." She dipped into a polite curtsey and straightened; her hands clasped before her. She did not know Clive at all, only spoke with him briefly upon her arrival last night, and he'd seemed stoically polite, but she had heard of his sternness.

"Step aside," Clive commanded with a jerk of his head. "If you must watch, move to the side of the room."

Seeing it as a triumph that she wasn't sent away, Halle quickly moved to the opposite wall. She smoothed her dress down and curiously looked toward the open double doors at the front of the room. She had barely pressed herself against the wall when they burst open. A tall man wearing a billowing cape and dark armor strode into the Great Hall, a grave look on his face. He was surprisingly handsome with his dark eyes, tanned skin, and fit build. Halle felt her face grow warm as she watched him from beneath the curve of her lashes. Carefully, the man approached the throne. She did not have to guess who he was.