Arctic

I don't know what Foeslayer must have said to her mother–but ever since our fight, the guard around her mother's house has tripled. I watch them patrol below the window, and wonder if this is another one of Foeslayer's ways to keep me under her claws.

She wouldn't let me leave her, even if I wanted to.

I haven't slept in too long. My brain feels raw around the edges, and I can't seem to keep my thoughts in one place.

We wouldn't have been this way if we could have just stuck to my plan. If we had left. We'd be happy–alone in the middle of the ocean with no one else to tell us what to do.

There's a picture of Foeslayer by her desk, covered in dust from lack of use. She looks young, maybe three or four years old, standing by her mother with a grin on her face. I wonder what we'd have thought of each other if we'd met at that age.

A cold wind blows through the window. I look back down to Mother's latest letter.

You know, you're the reason your father left me, Arctic. If you hadn't been such an intolerable menace, he would have stuck around, I just know it. You idolize him, but you want to know the truth? He was a backstabbing two-timer who ran off with the first dragon who would take him. He hungered after power he could never have, and here you are: following in his footsteps, despite all I've tried to teach you. I can see him in your greedy little eyes. You never knew how to stay in your place. But I will go to any extent to show you–who's in charge. To bring you home. Because I love you.

I rip the letter in two, and throw it out the window. Foeslayer is gone for a few more hours, and come hell or high water, I'm going to see Queen Vigilance.

***

"What do you mean I can't leave?" I spit. "Do you know what I could do to you? I am the most powerful–"

The queen raises her eyebrows. "You're going to want to think very carefully about what you say next, little prince."

I scoff. "What are you going to do? Throw me out? That's what I'm asking for." I could fend for myself, all alone in the woods for long enough to let this mess blow over. I could do it. I'm strong–if I could survive a blizzard alone, surely I could survive that.

"I could make your life a lot more miserable than it is now," she says quietly. Takes a sip of her drink. "Here's how I see it, Arctic. You're too rare of a commodity to let you get out of my kingdom. If you don't give me your magic, your dragonets will, and if they don't, then their dragonets will after them. They'll make my kingdom prosper as yours has–and I'm prepared to fight a war to finally give my kingdom the upper talon for generations to come. The IceWings have been this continent's superpower for decades–even with their silly rules. The things my tribe could achieve with your power cannot even be imagined."

"I don't want dragonets," I hiss. And if I did have them, I would never let them work for you.

Vigilance stands up with a mildly bemused expression. "Guards. Escort Prince Arctic back to Prudence's estate. I think we've said all we need to say."

***

I don't have any means of checking the time–but I'm sure as I walk in that Foeslayer won't be back, nor her mother–and I won't have any need to ever let them know about my little outing.

I'm not seriously going to leave. I couldn't do that, couldn't bare to be without her, even now.

But I needed to know if I had an option. Or if I was good as stuck here no matter what I wanted. And now I know the answer.

But when I walk into Foeslayer's room, I find my girlfriend waiting for me, pacing back and forth.

"Arctic!" she cries, throwing strong wings around me and hugging me close. "Oh, thank the moons. You're okay."

I push her away, shaking out my wings. "Don't suffocate me," I snap.

She scoffs. "Are you kidding me? I've been worried sick for hours because you were gone to see the Queen without me! I thought–I thought–" she buries her face in her talons. "I thought you were leaving. Couldn't you just have left a note? What were you doing?"

"I was–" I look up to meet her eyes, then realize something is missing. It takes me a moment to realize what. "You're not wearing your protection earring."

She blinks. "I... didn't want any jewelry. I went to fill out the paperwork, Arctic, to enlist in the army, and I thought it would make me look... I don't know. Like I was–like I was pampered, or something, or afraid to get my talons dirty. My mother was already there, it would have just made me look worse–oh, three moons, I can't beleive we're having this argument. I didn't wear the earring! For one day! Is that really that big of a deal?"

I seize her talon in mine. "Is that really that big of a deal? Foeslayer–do you have any idea what my mother would do to you if you didn't wear that earring? You complain about me going to visit the queen, and you're putting your life at risk because you didn't want to wear an accessory!"

She hesitates. "What do you mean?"

"She'll use her magic–she'll do anything to get to me." I grab the earring out of her jewelry box, and thrust it at her. "This is the difference between life and death. This isn't about you." You have to wait this out, Foeslayer. You have to live with the monster you made me.

"I thought–Arctic, come on. You're being paranoid," Foesalyer says, raising her eyebrows. "Isn't your mother really into all that don't-use-your-magic stuff?"

"She's threatened it before. I know she would."

"Okay, okay," Foeslayer says, still a little tensely. "Fine. Look. I'm putting in the earring." She hooks it through her ear, exaggerating each motion. "Message received. But if it's so necessary, why don't you make yourself one? What–do you think I can't defend myself?"

I stare down at my talons for a moment. She has a point.

Because–I promised myself that I wouldn't cast another spell after everything that happened.

I don't know how much of my soul I have left to lose.

Because–

"I can use my magic to fight back. You can't," I say sharply. I'm not that despondent yet.

She doesn't seem entirely satisfied with that answer–but she doesn't try to counter it either.

She buries her face in my chest. This time, I don't have the strength to push her away.

"Let's get out of here," she says softly. "I'm gonna have to do some training, but I've got a good position now. And I've got this friend, Braveheart–he's the only one who still talks to me. He won't turn us away."

I blink. For a moment, I think I must be dreaming. "But–but–what about the guards?"

She looks up, grinning. "I think I can take them."

"Foeslayer, we can't just–" as I say it, I turn it over in my head. We could cut off the strings. Sure, it would be uncomfortable. But there would be no more awful dinners, no more eavesdropping, no more creepy haunted house.

We could try to save what's left of us.

"I'm in," I say, smiling for the first time in weeks. "Let's leave. You and me."

"Together. Against the world," she says, her voice just the slightest bit shaky.