Snow

"You can go see them anytime you'd like," Michael said that first day, only hours after David had been led down one hallway after another to a maze of rooms he was told to call his own, the image of Alec walking away still strong in his mind. "And I'd--I'd love to show them to you." He sounded shy and sure and perfect and David hated him so much it scared him. The chair he was sitting on cracked and splintered but didn't fall apart. It just hung there, frozen and broken. He waited for Michael to say something, to do something--he'd seen what was in his eyes earlier--

and heard his quick intake of breath, but Michael surprised him.

"I'm sorry," he said, and sounded like he meant it. And then he'd left, closing the door quietly behind him.

A group of people came to see him later. They were dressed elaborately and spoke in measured tones, not pleading but almost, and the moment David looked at them he saw they'd been told who he was. What he could do. He saw what was in their eyes. They called him "Your Highness" carefully and stayed clustered in a knot by the door. They talked and talked, words about who he was, who he was supposed to be, and he grew tired of listening, turned away and looked back out at the gardens. Eventually they left. He heard their robes rustling, their voices fading.

"They're worried," someone said and he looked toward the door again, saw a woman standing there. He'd seen her before, with the others, but hadn't really noticed her.

"I'm Judith," she said, and her voice was kind, her smile warm, her gaze welcoming. "We all stood here, talking, and never introduced ourselves, did we?"

He shook his head, then looked back out the window again. The blue yellow sky of the desert garden still glowed brightly. Judith didn't leave and when he glanced over at her again she was looking at him very carefully, and the way she was, that careful expression, as if she was looking through him, down past everything and directly at him, made him think of Alec. He folded his hands together.

"I suppose it doesn't matter," she said. "I know who you are and now you know who I am. Do you want to know what they're worried about?" Her expression was still kind but her voice was a little sharper and that reminded him of Alec too. He thought about snow, about the quiet it would bring. He could almost hear it. When he still didn't answer she moved closer, kneeling down beside him as he sat in the still broken chair.

"They're worried about what you might do," she said and now her voice was very calm, precise.

"They don't know that you've been here for quite a while and the land--" She pointed toward the gardens. "Still as it ever was. Whatever power you have, it's not as it was, not here. But where you were," she paused for a moment and looked directly at him and in that moment he knew she was the reason why he was here. "Did you know it's still bound in snow? Oh, it doesn't fall anymore but all that did when you were young--it's still there. It's never melted and the land is still locked in winter. Your brother and sister would give anything to have you back with them, don't you think?"

"If you were going to send me back," he said slowly, carefully, "you would have done so already. But I'm here instead and you're the reason why, aren't you?"

She looked startled for a moment, but only for a moment, and then she said, "Yes. I'm why you are here. I found you, told the King."

"I was happy," he said softly and thought about her arm, lying so close. He could touch her easily and watch her face change. "I had--I had a home."

"The King needed to know," she said and didn't move but the softness in her eyes had faded away completely. "Every advantage that can be found is his by right. He deserves no less. And if you--if you dare to try and hurt him--" Her voice was proud, fierce. Frightened, and when he heard that he understood why she'd stayed.

"So you've come to tell me to be careful," he said and heard winter in his voice. "To warn me not to forget where I am, why I'm here. You, who told the King about me. You, who made sure this is where I'll forever be." He paused and then let one finger brush against her arm, whispered, "I'll be careful. I won't forget. Not ever."

He looked back out on the gardens again. Snow wasn't falling yet but he could hear it, feel it building. He closed his eyes and waited. He heard Judith's footsteps cross the floor, moving away.

Out in the hallway Judith stood silently by herself, waving away the servants that fluttered toward her. She thought of Alec asking for her promise, of his voice cracking when he asked her to be careful with David. He doesn't understand how things are. She had expected sadness, a fragile spirit matching all the stories she'd heard, a beautiful prince doomed to bear a curse. She hadn't expected such anger, such grief. She hadn't expected that David would love Alec as Alec loved him.

She would have to be very careful indeed.

Chapter Eleven