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The bear shuffled forward and stood heavily in the middle of the room on all fours. His head hung down, and Gytha thought he looked terribly sad.

“Dance!” the woman cried. Several servants, all with that strange gray complexion, filed in through the far door and stood silently watching.

Then there was music, though Gytha could not see where it came from. The bear rose up on his hind legs and shuffled forward and then back. Side to side.

The music was quick and sharp, but his movements were slow. Was he resentful? Sad? Furious? Or merely exhausted? Gytha couldn’t tell.

The show, such as it was, went on for what felt like hours. The bear continued his sad dance, and Gytha watched him awkwardly. She listened for his voice, but he said nothing. His eyes never met hers.

At last, when Gytha’s eyes had filled with sympathetic tears, the queen cried abruptly, “That’s enough! I am tired of this poor entertainment. Go away, bear!”

The bear dropped to all fours again and shuffled to the side, where he lay down with his sad, dark eyes on Gytha’s face .

“Prepare food for my guest!” cried the queen to the servants. The servants hurried away, and the queen turned her full attention to Gytha.

Her eyes were a cold, silvery gray, and even in the warm light of the many lanterns and chandeliers, her skin had a gray-blue tone much like that of the servants. Had she been that color before? Gytha was sure she had been alabaster-pale before, a more human tone.

“Do you know who I am?” she asked.

“No.” Gytha shook her head.

The woman shot a poisonous look toward the bear before looking back at Gytha. “I am Javethai, Queen of the North! Shall I assume you know the rules of your stay here?”

Gytha hesitated. “He told me, but I would like to hear them from you, too, if you don’t mind,” she said carefully.

Queen Javethai laughed, and the sound was sharp and brittle. “Clever girl! For a year and a day, you will stay here in my palace. Food and drink and entertainment will be provided for you, and no danger will trouble you.

“A man will come to your bed in the dark for a year and a day’s worth of nights. He will neither speak to you nor touch you, and you must neither look at him nor touch him.

“I shall assume the bear told you that if you persevere, he will be rewarded with something he desperately wants, and you will be allowed to go home safely.”

Gytha nodded. “Yes, more or less.”

The queen laughed again mockingly. “You are an innocent, aren’t you! Let us assume the man has no ill intentions, shall we?”

Increasingly uneasy, Gytha nodded again. She knew it sounded ridiculous. But Alexander could be trusted, couldn’t he? He would not have asked her to do it if he thought the man had bad intentions .

“Let us also assume that for so many nights, you are able to resist your curiosity about the man who shares your bed.” She raised her eyebrows in challenge. “No touching, no looking, no word of reassurance from a stranger in the dark. You must be a brave soul!

“At the end of the year, what reward do you think an enormous white bear would want?”

The girl’s eyes turned involuntarily to the bear, who lay with his head on his paws and his eyes locked on her face. “I hadn’t really thought about it,” she admitted.

“Well, first he will eat you, of course,” said the queen carelessly. “But beyond that. What do you think an intelligent predator might desire?”

“Why would he eat me?” Gytha’s voice cracked.

Queen Javethai laughed, a bright, tinkling sound like ice crystals. “He’s a bear! Of course he wants to eat you. But he wants you fattened up first.”

“But you’re feeding me.”

The queen’s red lips pulled back from her sharp, pointed teeth. “Far be it from me to prevent you from making your own foolish choices.” She lowered her voice conspiratorially. “The bear and I have made something of a bargain or a wager. A contest of wills, you might say.

“If I win, I will make you my heir, bequeathing you all my extensive lands with their snowy beauty, and all my servants with their skills in the working of metal and stone. I am not human, as you are, so I will live many human lifetimes, but if you like, I can give you long life too, so that you live long enough to enjoy it as ruler, not merely heir. I will make you a princess with magic in your fingertips and ice in your heart, strong and cold and powerful.” The queen’s eyes gleamed.

“Of course you will also be treated as befits a princess even while I rule. ”

Gytha swallowed. “That is a kind offer,” she said carefully. “May I ask what exactly the terms of the bargain are?”

The bear’s gaze still rested on her face, and she wondered what he thought of the queen’s words.

“The bear thinks you will be able to resist the fear and uncertainty of a man sharing your bed for the nights of an entire year and a day. If you do so, he will take my throne and much of my magic, and he will try to defeat me, to usurp my rightful place as queen. If he succeeds in that, which of course he will not, he will rule with an iron fist, mistreating my people and causing much trouble for the humans in the south.” The queen’s lips twisted in anger.

“Of course he would eat you before you saw your family overrun by ice goblins or the great wolves or even other white bears. You wouldn’t have to worry about seeing the devastation you caused. ”

Gytha frowned. “And if I do not resist the fear and uncertainty? What happens if I look?”

“Then you will see that he is a handsome prince!” The woman smiled at her, sharp teeth gleaming.

“A conniving, silver-tongued liar prince, with no mercy in his heart for my people. If you look, you will see the truth, and I will win the bargain, and I will enact justice upon the bear prince as I see fit.”

“So if I don’t look, the bear wins and he rules your people and kills mine, and if I do look, I see that he’s a handsome but treacherous prince who lied to me about the bargain?”

“Exactly.” Queen Javethai nodded, her eyes flashing.

Gytha bit her lip and snuck a glance at the bear. “Why did you consent to the bargain?”

The queen shot another murderous look at the bear before composing herself. “We have been at odds for two and a half centuries, and I was tired of waiting for him to give in. I am the queen! He has no right to hold out so long against me.”

The bear’s gaze felt like a weight on Gytha’s face, and she wondered what he thought of the queen’s words. The queen’s voice had a sharp air of impatience and annoyance, and Gytha had the feeling she ought not push too far with these inquiries.

Queen Javethai said abruptly, “You must be hungry! The food!” She clapped her hands, and one of servants hurried back into the room. The servant bowed and motioned toward the door. The bear remained motionless, his dark eyes inscrutable.

With a quick, imperious wave of her hand, the queen bid Gytha rise and led her through the corridors to the dining hall. The queen threw herself into the chair at the head of the table with an air of careless power and authority.

Cautiously, Gytha asked, “This is a grand room. Do you often have banquets here?”

The queen’s eyes flashed. “Not often. I will host no banquets until this contest with the beast is decided. I do not wish for interference in the game.”

Servants brought food for them in many courses. The queen ate in silence. Every motion was graceful, but she had a dangerous, mercurial air, as if she might explode into fury at any moment.

Gytha did not speak. The food was delicious, if strange, and she had been so hungry for so long that the feeling of fullness was odd and heavy. Soon her head was nodding.

“Wake up, child,” the queen said. “If you understand the rules of the game, we will begin tonight.”

With a start, Gytha woke and tried to gather her scattered, fuzzy thoughts. “Neither you nor the bear will pressure me to make a decision?”

“The bargain requires a free choice,” said the queen with stern dignity.

“What if…what if I can’t sleep because it’s unsettling to have a stranger in my bed? ”

The queen’s lips curled in annoyance. “If you pass the night without looking or touching, then it counts for the purposes of the magic.”

“Can I talk to him, even if he can’t answer?”

Her eyes narrowed, and she hesitated a fraction of a second before saying, “That is permitted.”

Gytha turned everything over in her mind. “Thank you,” she said at last. “I am rather tired. Will I see you every day?”

The queen gave her a cool smile. “Not every day, but as often as I wish.”

Drowsiness pressed upon Gytha, and she nodded again. “Thank you.”

At the queen’s gesture, the servants bustled Gytha out of the great hall, down the hall, and into her room. She let them stir the fire but protested their help getting undressed. She finally shooed them from the room so she could change in privacy.

She found the soft silk night shirt and silk trousers from the night before and pulled them on before slipping into the covers. She lay on the very edge of the pallet, nearly touching the wall.

Then she waited.

Nervous tension curled in her stomach, but she was too tired for it to keep her awake for long.