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“I wish I’d been able to see him rule. He was twelve when I… when the queen took me.” He looked down. “The queen’s magic kept me alive, but I know centuries have passed. Everyone I knew and loved is long dead. I always wanted…” He stopped again, wrapping the blanket tighter around his shoulders.

When he did not speak again, Gytha asked, “What did you want?”

He swallowed. “To not be forgotten.” He met her gaze, his eyes haunted. “Every memory I ever shared with someone, every time I heard my brother laugh, every time my mother sang, every time my father put his arm around my shoulders… they’re all gone, and all memory of them is held only in my mind, and my memory was fading. All the warmth of those memories was slowly disappearing, replaced by ice.

“You shouldn’t marry me, Gytha. I have nothing left: my name has been forgotten off the face of the earth, my family is dead, my palace is far away and probably occupied by people who never knew I lived at all. I have no home to bring you to, no skill to provide for you other than what little I remember of a prince’s education. I have nothing to offer you.”

“I didn’t ask for anything.” Gytha put her hand on his, and when she felt him trembling with cold, her heart twisted inside her, fury and pity and determination mixing into something new. “I’m not going to beg you, Alexander; you already agreed to choose me, and I will hold you to your word.” She met his gaze again and said softly, “You were good to me. Let me be good to you.”

He nodded jerkily.

The door opened and one of the goblins peeked in. “It is time.” His voice was like broken glass and ice. He opened the door wider. “Come now.”

Chapter 15

Alexander dropped Gytha’s hand and stood, his movements a little stiff.

“Can you walk?” the ice goblin said. The question was not sympathetic; there was an edge of irritation in his voice.

“Yes.” Alexander straightened painfully and followed the goblin into the hallway. Gytha caught up the lantern and hurried after them.

“I can carry it, if you like,” Alexander said belatedly. “They usually don’t let me have a lantern.”

Gytha handed it to him, and he held it a little to the side so that the light spilled in front of her feet as well as his.

The goblin led them through a series of corridors and then out into a vast courtyard under the open sky,an enormous black expanse full of sparkling pinpoints of light. The air was as cold and still as death.

A thin layer of snow had fallen since they had last been outside, making their steps creak and squeak softly. The goblin said in his rough voice, “You will not see them at first, but your friends are near. Be of good courage.”

Alexander looked at him in surprise. “I thought you…”

The goblin’s eyes glinted dangerously. “You are not the only one who suffers under Queen Javethai,” he hissed softly. “There was little chance for change until now. The lost prince has returned, and the queen has much to answer for.”

Gytha’s mouth dropped open.

He waved them toward a high wall of ice blocks which glowed softly from the inside. An enormous archway led into another courtyard even larger than the first, nearly full of ice goblins. At the far end of this enormous space stood a dais like the one from a few days before, but even larger. Five lanterns stood on each side of the dais, casting flickering light over the whole front of the courtyard. Queen Javethai stood silently on the top step of the dais, her eyes fixed on them. Even from this distance, Gytha shivered at the hatred in that gaze.

“Follow me.” The goblin led them through the crowd, which parted before them with soft, grinding murmurs. Alexander held his head high and proud, as if he were not afraid. Gytha tried to follow this example, but her eyes were continually drawn to the dais, where the queen still stood motionless.

At last the goblin stopped at the bottom of the steps. “Go.” He motioned them upward toward the queen.

Alexander raised his eyes to the ice goblin queen and a shudder ran through him. Nevertheless, he raised his chin and strode up the steps toward her.

Gytha began to follow him, but the queen said, “Stay,” and ice crept up over Gytha’s feet and ankles, binding her to the ground.

“Yes, Your Majesty?” Alexander set the lantern down and bowed courteously to the queen.

The queen gave a faint sneer and tossed her head, throwing her iron gray hair over her shoulder. She spread her arms wide and looked at the crowd. “I have been generous, haven’t I? I have been patient.” Her voice rang out like the crack of ice breaking upon stone, clear and merciless. “For three nights, a foolish human girl has tried to steal my betrothed! I was patient and generous, allowing this greedy, opportunistic farce to continue.

“Now, bear prince, choose whom you would wed!” Her voice rose, bright and hard. “I don’t think you can even pick the human out of a crowd, can you? What good could a human do you here? Choose now: me, Queen Javethai the Glorious, or the common, worthless human?” She gestured broadly at the crowd, inviting Alexander to look out at them too.

Any hint of a murmur in the crowd quieted. The silence was eerie. Chills crawled up Gytha’s back, both of cold and of terror. This was not natural, and there was no free choice to be made.

Alexander turned and looked over the crowd. There was an odd stillness in his expression, a blankness that Gytha had not seen before. He swayed as if a wind gusted, but there was no wind.

“Yes?” the queen said.

“I don’t…” he whispered.