Dedicated to: GretchenBearer

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"Your cold blood cannot be worked into a fever; your veins are full of ice water; but mine are boiling, and the sight of such chillness makes them dance."
-Emily Bronte

Adelaide was not granted a restful slumber. Her dreams were haunted by the death of her brother, the death of her men, and the death of her Simon.

Their deaths played over and over again in a nightmarish loop. The first time Adelaide could do nothing but stand helplessly in the tower as she had before, and watch as her brother and her courtier were killed repeatedly, but as the loop continued, she realized she began to have more power over the dream, and began fruitlessly to try and change its brutal ending.

She soon began to dreamt herself running down the mountainside, screaming as the snow beat her to the barracks. The worst time was that of when she was trapped under the ice with Simon, his hand entwined in hers. They couldn't see each other, they couldn't speak and they could hardly breathe, and Adelaide had to feel the warmth leave her betrothed's hand as he died, doomed to lie frozen in the ice for all eternity.

She screamed.

Iolas's voice permeating her head injury induced haze.
"Wake up, Princess. You're safe now. Everything is going to be alright."

Adelaide opened her eyes slowly, waiting for the strange room to come into focus. A beautiful silk canopy hung over the mahogany bed, and Adelaide assumed they had made it to the summer palace.
She recognised her mortal enemy's voice and a frown found its way onto her lips.

The back of her head was extremely sore and tender. The young queen groaned in pain, bringing a hand to the source of the discomfort, she gently massaged it.

"Finally, you're awake. It took you long enough." Iolas's arrogant voice threw daggers into Adelaide's soul.
She turned her head to see Prince Iolas seated in the chair beside her. One leg slumped over the armrest in a rather unruly fashion. His usually pristine white trousers were stained with mud and caked with dried blood.

"You!" She hissed, jerking upright. A decision she immediately regretted, as it sent shooting sparks of pain throbbing into her temples.
"Ouch!" Adelaide grimaced, leaning back down onto the soft feather pillows.

"If you would have stayed behind me like I told you to, that wouldn't have happened." Said the evil prince, tapping a riding crop against his boot.
Adelaide glared at his smug face, hatred steaming from her body.

Glancing him up and down, she quickly concluded Iolas wasn't there to kill her, at least not at the moment, for if another murder was his intent, he could have easily done it himself, or even easier, simply have left her on that icy, blood stained ground to die.

She could tell that in that moment, he didn't want to see her as much as she didn't want to see him.

"I didn't ask for your help, In fact after what you almost did to my brother, you are the last person on earth I would ever ask for help from, so don't expect any gratitude from me!" Adelaide answered menacingly.

Iolas cocked his head sarcastically.
"Well actually Princess, you did ask for my help, so, here I am."

Adelaide actually growled at him, wanting so badly to march up out of the bed and strike him across the face again, like she had months ago, after the palace guards had finally caught his murderous self. She remembered the satisfying tingles that had courses through the flat of her hand afterwards, and wished more than anything that her current disablement would allow her a second go.

"What are you doing here?" She asked instead, words coming out in a hiss.

"Your welcome for saving your life. It was no trouble at all to carry your unconscious body on horseback while trying to outrun barbarians. No trouble at all."
His voice was riddled with mock sarcasm and annoyance.

"I never asked for your help!"
She gritted her teeth.
"I never wanted your help, and I'd appreciate if you'd leave my quarters."

Iolas grinned in a sly way.
"Actually, Princess, you did ask for my help. Your little messenger boy trotted into my father's throne room and begged for our help, and my father, gracious man he is, sent me."

Adelaide struggled through her throbbing headache to remember the final messenger yet to return, the one she never expected back. She wondered to herself why King Eren would send his youngest son, who had betrayed the trust of both of their kingdoms.

"When I sent that messenger, I was expecting a general, or an older prince, not the lying, manipulative, murdering, scum of the kingdom!"

He smiled again, appearing rather unfazed by her insults.
Gazing up at his twisted smirk, Adelaide couldn't believe that she had ever been in love with this... monster.

"Look Adalaide, I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me to be, but frankly, saving Aelford is a suicide mission and my father didn't want to waste any of his precious heirs on this lost cause...,"
He paused to roll his eyes.

"So he sent me instead. Now see here,
y father didn't send me because I redeemed myself, nor did he send me because I am his best military leader. I was sent because coming to Aelford to help you is a suicide mission. I'm the expendable, disgraced son who has his titles stripped, and I don't get to go home and retake my birthright until this country is safe, or I'm lying wrapped in a funeral shroud. So like it or not princess, you're stuck with me, because I'm as good as dead if you die, are harmed in any way."

Iolas looked genuinely stressed, and for a moment Adelaide decided to believe him. This didn't stop her from remaining extraordinarily angry.

"Fine,"
she scoweled.
"but you will not refer to me as princess even one more time! I am queen now. Show me respect or I shall have you flogged!"

Iolas' face turned dark as he stood up and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him and stomping down the marble hall.

Adelaide was unexplainably grateful for the troops Iolas brought with him, but it seemed to her like a cruel twist of fate to have them escorted by the young former prince. Adelaide let sleep consumer her once more, thankful for the lack of imminent death in her life if even for a moment.

Outside her room Iolas kicked at the pillars, lamenting Adelaide's newfound attitude. The princess was no longer the naive and easy to manipulate little girl she used to be. No, she'd grown confidence and an impossibly annoying sass since the death of her brother.

He walked out onto the balcony of the tower, allowing the cool air to wash over him. The war had been difficult for her, even in such a short period. There was ice behind those big, green eyes now, and her fierce rebellion was going to make it difficult for Iolas to protect her, he knew it.

Breathing deeply, Iolas had found himself thriving on the fresh air, spending as much time as he could basking in what little sun there was, feeling the air through his hair. The cell he'd been forced to live in didn't have much in the way of nature, and it had taken a while for his eyes to grow used to the light after spending so long in a cramped cell lit only by a small torch. Iolas had grown accustomed to the mildewy lifestyle much like the rats he slept with at night. Iolas threw a glance in the direction of Adelaide's door and grimaced. Soon enough, she'd be back on her feet. That meant the days of being able to confine her to one room of the palace were numbered.

Iolas cursed his father for allowing no loopholes to slip through, meaning he was forced to see this through to the end. He had no doubt in his mind that his father would hunt him down to the ends of the earth if he tried to flee and mount his head on a pike for all the lands to see. Iolas knew he had no choice but to stay by the queen's side and fortify this pathetic excuse for a castle. He knew there was no way the dilapidated wreck would survive a full-blown Viking attack in its current state.

Iolas he realised there was a complete possibility that Adelaide would murder him before any Viking got the opportunity. It was impossible to miss the murderous glint in her eyes as she saw him as she awoke. Iolas reflected on how different the princess looked, now that she was queen. The six months they'd been separated were good to Adelaide. She wasn't as gangly as she used to be. Even under the thick, unflattering woolen dress ensconcing her form, Iolas could tell that Adelaide had grown into her angles, and turned them into voluptuous curves. She had been thinned down by the siege, the lack of rations clearly taking a toll on her body, she had felt much too light in his arms as he had carried her up the stairs and to her chambers.

Her face held a bitter sort of sadness, her cheekbones stuck out from her face, making her look powerful. There was no longer any colour in her cheeks or a glint in her green eyes, her childlike happiness sucked out of her by the cruelest winter of her lifetime.

Iolas' army had squashed the small rank of Vikings sent after the queen, but he knew it wouldn't be long before the entire army marched across the lands and knocked on the door of Isenbrok with intentions far darker than asking for a nights accommodation.

They were going to have an all out war on their hands. Admittedly, he had no idea how to fight in a war. He had only ever been entrusted to break up dens of thieves or squashing pirates who dare enter his kingdom's waters.

At the time of the last war, Iolas was fourteen, much too young to be entrusted with any duty more serious than bringing the knights their armour. Whenever King Eren required military assistance, Iolas' older siblings were first to the call.

Loud footsteps echoed through the halls. Iolas turned to see Lieutenant Briggs clambering up the nearby staircase. Iolas' second in command, Commodore Ascot followed suit. Briggs balanced a tray of food in his arms, clearly struggling and feeling the pressure from his superior watching his every move.

"A meal for Her Majesty,"
announced the lieutenant with a nervous nod. He was a gangly boy, a new recruit. Iolas gestured in the direction of Adelaide's room.
"Don't just stand there like some kind of slapped chicken, bring the woman her food."

Briggs' face paled and he swallowed a lump in his throat. Iolas sneered at him and gestured once more at the lady's room.

"Sir...in her current condition, it's likely the queen will require assistance."
He explained.

Iolas rolled his eyes and sighed.
"I'm not stopping you boy, hurry up and get on with it!"
Iolas berated the boy, his opinion of him lowering with every word.

"Sir," interrupted Ascot, old, battle-hardened and authoritative as ever. "Your father did specify that you were to attend to Her Majesty in the unlikely event that she fell ill. I do believe it was in fact an order."
Ascot folded his arms over as Briggs offered the tray to the prince.

"The old man really knows how to push my buttons, doesn't he?"
Snarled Iolas, snatching the tray off the young Lieutenant and stomping off in the direction of the direction of Adelaide.

Upon opening the door, Adelaide's eyes fluttered open.
"What do you want?"
She spat, glaring at Iolas.

He glared back, the tension between the two of them thick enough to slice with a dagger.
"I'm here to help you eat, since my father thought it appropriate to order me to wait on you hand and foot, lest he have to come and murder me himself."

He sat the tray down on the foot table moved next to the bed, and Adelaide reached out to take a spoonful of the hot, mushy green soup in a fine china bowl. Her hands were more unstable than she expected, and more soup landed on the fine bedspread than made it into her mouth.

Iolas scoffed and yanked the spoon out of her hand, refilling it and offering it to her.

"No thank you," she declined.
"I am most certainly not hungry enough to warrant your help."
She turned her head away from the offered spoon. As if on cue, Adelaide's stomach growled like a mountain lion.

"Are you sure about that, princess?" Iolas grinned, waving the spoon around slowly like one would for a small child, finding an unexpected enjoyment in her helplessness.

With a defeated whine she took the spoon into her mouth. Iolas smiled as he fed her. This arrangement certainly was a lot nicer when she wasn't talking.

*****

A/N: Happy Tuesday Everyone!
I hope you enjoyed this new chapter.
Bedding Camp has been officially pulled from Wattpad, with the exception of a small sample.
I have to do this because of my writers contract, and awesomely enough, I have seen a significant boost in sales since then. (YAY!)
What do you think of this book? Let me know in the comments. I can't wait to read what you think. :)

All my love
-QueenOfGeeks