Thread: Winter's Kiss (Ursus Peregrinus & Candy_demon21)

Prince Nikolai Ily'ich Kostchei As his wolves backed away from the girl, the Prince simply watched. His conversation was disjointed, long pauses between speaking, as though the simple pace of conversation was something he couldn't recall. Immortal? I truly don't know. I don't age, I don't die, sometimes I forget to breathe. Is this half-life immortality then? He shrugged. If it was immortality, what was the point? Life without all but a snippet of what made life worth while left one strangely empty. Kolya was about to say something more, until he saw her toying with a piece of jewelry hanging about her neck. His eyes widened briefly, then narrowed once again. Memory was a tricky thing, after so long. It played tricks. Dredging something up from those depths was always difficult, but that locket was familiar. Then he remembered why, and his lips drew back in a death's head smile. No. No wife, no heir. I am alone in this place. I have a few servants... and my pets. They are all the company I require. He moved towards her, and there was a light in his eyes now. Sparks of blue glowed in those black depths. What of you? You mentioned your mother. Tell me her name, Odette. Or... let me tell you? Crossing the space between them, he grasped the locket in his hands and examined it closely in his leather-clad fingers. This close, she could feel the cold of his skin. Even through the gauntlets his fingers were icy. Your mother's name is Moriwin Elspeth, and if I had known she was in my kingdom, I would have sought her out long since. He released the locket and a soft chuckle escaped his lips. Now, I rather thing she will seek me out instead. Without giving her any more clue to his knowledge of her mother or the locket about her throat, he turned away and gestured for Odette to follow him. Come, let me show you my home. Leave those ledgers there, he gestured at a barrel, on the ground beside it rested the case with the valley's annual taxes. Pushing open a set of double door, bound in iron and of thick oak, Kolya led her into a garden. A frozen garden of snow-covered evergreens and ice sculptures. The sculptures, Odette could see, were of men and women. Some beautiful, others looking terrified. All of them exquisitely lifelike. There were many more men than women in the garden. A winding path led through, and the Prince moved ahead of her along it towards the inner keep. Behind Odette, a pair of the wolves waited at the entrance to the courtyard, barring any retreat. Moments later, a raven landed on a spruce branch near her, looking at her with one yellow eye. The Prince turned when it caw'ed and looked at her with a cold look. Some of my previous guests. Ones who were less than careful about offending me. Now, Odette... come here. Behind those dark eyes his mind was racing. Moriwin's daughter? Could it be? But that locket... HIS locket. Given so very long ago. For a moment he tasted the hot blood in his mouth as Gavril's sword cut his jaw. Remembered the fiery pain of the wound and the greater satisfaction as his own blade sank home to the hilt in the knight's chest. Gavril's shock as the sword pierced his lung and twisted, then cut deeper, slicing into his heart. Looking down at his hand, Kolya clenched and unclenched his left hand, remembered the way his rival had slumped to the ground, how his sword had stuck and he'd had to kick his body from the blade. He'd heard his cry, that shocked gasp fading into a whimper as his life slipped away. His prowess had availed him not at all, rather it had cost him everything. Yet now his beloved's daughter had come right into his hands of her own volition. What spiteful God set THAT chain of events into motion, Kolya wondered. tag