ANDORRA SAT still on Tofu, processing the information. Sir Nohx's father is in the Royal Court. It wasn't possible - he had died. Andorra had watched him die in the human realm. She had seen the life go from his eyes.

Only... she hadn't seen that. She hadn't seen that at all. She had left him there without killing him herself, knowing that the daeominem would finish the job they had started. She had been so confident he was dying.

And now, now he was here, in Anlithamy. He had somehow gotten in, and he wanted to meet with her. Demanded to meet with her.

Her throat constricted painfully. "How do you know that?"

One of the guards stepped forward, his head bowed low. "My Rali lives in the Winter Court still. He is feeding me the information as it comes."

Andorra didn't want to even begin to understand how that worked, not right now, not even if the thought of having a connection with an animal that deep was interesting to her. She glossed over that thought immediately.

"I need to go. We all need to go." She felt herself moving without thinking, opening up the gate. "I'll bring us back to Hornwell. Or, should we go right to the Royal Castle?"

"It isn't tradition," another guard said hesitantly, but there was no more tradition. Not when Noah's father was here, in Anlithamy. Something was wrong, she could feel it in her bones. She could feel heat burst up from within her, and the anger that came with it was sudden.

"We will go now." Her words were final. "We will go to the Royal Castle and find out what he wants. We can make the trek from the Northern Mountains to Hornwell another time." Tofu moved within the gate, and she turned to look at them. "We need to go in the in-between. All of us."

Her heart hurt for the fact that Callum wasn't here. Callum would know what to do. Callum would be able to handle this.

Andorra closed her eyes and swallowed the lump in her throat. I can do this, too. And she knew she could.

Oberon moved in the in-between. It seemed like he spurred on the others, and Andorra accommodated for the extra people as they gathered into the gate. Holding it open felt heavy for a moment; she hadn't held this many people in the in-between before. She spent no time at all opening the other side to the Royal Court, stepping out into the backyard like the Princess she was supposed to be.

Chin raised high, she dismounted off of Tofu, moving forwards towards the one place she really didn't want to be. Just thinking about the last time she was here made her stomach drop and her throat tighten with anxiety.

"Princess, we should wait."

She spun on her heel, looking the guard in the face. "Wait for what? I'm the Princess. I'm the one he wants to speak with. I will not be waiting."

She wasn't sure if he meant to wait for the Royal Counsel, but she wasn't entertaining that. She marched forward, Oberon trying to keep pace beside her. She didn't wait for the rest of her guards to dismount their horses.

The fire in her chest pushed her forward. It burned, almost to the point of pain, but she ignored it. Let the pain fuel her as she opened the back door and slipped in, taking in the sight around her. She didn't have a clue where to go. Not a clue of where Nohx's dad was. She let her gaze sweep across the open hallway, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Foolish," she muttered. She opened the gate and pulled herself in, Oberon in tow. And, because she wanted to be extra safe, she pulled in the next closest guard.

When she closed that side of the gate, the other guard froze. "What's going on?"

"We're going to find Nohx's father." She pictured the old Clan Leader, his angry, spiteful face. The way he had taken one look at her and deemed her unworthy. She willed the in-between to bring her to him, and it did. Right there, on the other side, sat the man at a large desk. He was alone, leaning back in the chair, just waiting.

Andorra opened the other side of the gate and stepped through, watching as Nohx's dad startled at the sudden intrusion. He sat up quickly, almost knocking himself from the chair, and then he stood.

"Princess." He looked at the two guards Andorra had with her, his gaze seeming to pause on Oberon. "You've finally arrived."

There were many questions that begged to be answered. How did you get over? Who is helping you? What do you want? She struggled to keep them at bay as she stood taller. "What is it you wanted to talk about?"

Nohx's father grinned as he stepped away from the desk. "There are many things I want, Princess. But what is more important is, what do you want?"

It was a trick question. It had to be. "I'm not sure I know what you're alluding to."

His grin grew larger. "I have some secrets I know you want. Like, for example, who let me into Anlithamy without the help of the little Princess. Or, how about the fact that in less than a days time, the gate to Anlithamy will be wide open. Wide enough for the Sun Clan and the Daeominem to come on over."

Andorra felt herself stiffen. It was impossible; it had to be. "I would say that would be impressive for a man like yourself."

"I could call it off, you know." He took something from behind his back, and Andorra felt her knees weaken immediately at the sight of the crown in his hands. A golden crown. It gleamed in the sunlight, seeming to glow in the room. Nohx's father twirled it in his hands, careful not to let it drop.

So many questions filled Andorra in that moment. Is that the Golden Crown? How did he get his hands on it? Or, is it just a golden crown, meant to confuse her? She struggled not to let the questions show on her face, but it was hard for her to focus.

"So, what is this? You're telling me you want to go to war?" Unleashing the Daeominem had to be a war tactic. Why else would any fae want that creature here, in Anlithamy? Andorra could hear the echoes of screams in her head from the Snow Clan base in the human realm. The real fear the snow fae had felt that night. The terrifying reality that was death at their doorstep.

And Nohx's father wanted to bring that here.

"I'm telling you I want to be king. And I have the means to do just that. It wouldn't be hard to take the throne, not while it's empty. Especially not while I have an army behind me. Imagine what a world it would be."

Andorra didn't want to imagine it, because she knew exactly how terrible it would be. She had seen the way his people had hated him, and there was no room for that here in Anlithamy. Not when the people here were still so divided after her parents had been in charge. She didn't want to imagine the hate that would fester here with this man in charge.

"You know as much as I do that you can't control the daeominem once they're here. They'll kill everyone in sight."

Noah's father grinned, a dark twist of his mouth that made the hairs on the back of Andorra's neck stand on end. "Who said I can't control them?"

He had to be bluffing. Andorra had never been good at cards for this exact reason. Even when just playing between her parents, Andorra couldn't stop her face from betraying her. But, he had to be lying.

"I think you'd be a fool to go through with this plan. So, you get the throne. Then what? Everyone is dead."

Noah's father tilted his head back and laughed. "I want everyone dead. I want everyone in here rotting beneath the soil. It's what they deserve for kicking us out of Anlithamy. It's what they all deserve."

Andorra held her ground, but on the inside, she was shaking. Death was not quite what Andorra was envisioning for Anlithamy, and certainly not at the hands of this man.

"You'd be making a mistake," Andorra hedged. She didn't know what else to say. It was as if her tongue was tied, trapped in her mouth, too afraid to say anything that would make him angry, and yet she also didn't know what to say to talk him down.

She should have killed him. It was the only thought in her head.

"I'd be making history, my dear child." He took a step towards her. "And now that my son is the Clan Leader, it will be easy to wipe out Anlithamy. What do you think Nohx has been doing this whole time? Sitting in his office looking pretty?" Noah's father laughed again, harder this time, the sound rattling around in Andorra's head. "He's been helping me."

Andorra didn't believe that was true. Despite Noah being the absolute worst in her book, he hated his father.

Or, did he?

Andorra took a nervous step back. "That would be foolish of him to do."

"Have you talked to your precious Princess Carling lately? Or, what about her sweet, defenseless daughter?" He stepped towards her again, slipping his hands into his pockets. "Or, how about your lovely Summer Court? The daughter was harder to catch, but she'll be a wonderful asset."

Andorra took another step back, her stomach plummeting. The air in the room felt too tight all of a sudden, like she couldn't breathe.

"Now, I had requested that you be downstairs when I arrived, but it seems you slipped out of your cage, you naughty thing. Not to worry though, since you came running right to my doorstep. I didn't even have to bait you with your pathetic little green haired friend."

Andorra couldn't breathe. Her eyes looked around the room at Oberon frantically, without saying a word. The Royal Counsel had come looking for her at Hornwell to kidnap her all along. It wasn't because she had been with Vulara. It was because they were trapping her, regardless.

"What, nothing to say now? What about your little friend there, the Winter Prince's son? Originally, I was going to take him, but he was too much like his father. The daughter will suit me just fine."

She wanted to scream, but there was nothing left in her chest. She took another step back, even though she knew it was cowardly. Her head swam with thoughts and ideas about what was going on, but it was coming up empty.

"And, imagine my surprise when I found out that you don't even like the Prince chosen for you. A shame, really."

A shame? Andorra felt her throat tight, and she knew the tears would come soon if she wasn't careful. Was he lying to her, or were her friends really in trouble? She couldn't figure it out. Was this all a game, or was he being serious?

"Why did you take them? For what purpose?" Her voice shook, growing small. Less like a Princess, and more like a fraud.

"Now, what fun would it be if I told you my secrets all in one meeting?" He swept up a hand, causing ice to coat the room immediately, covering the door. She turned to Oberon, ready to get them all out of there, but he was coated in ice.

It was like cotton filled her mouth. What was the point of having guards if they could be easily turned to ice? She turned to the other guard, finding that he met the same frozen fate.

"Who are you?" Her voice trembled, the fear working its way through her body. It was shutting down in fear, and she felt once again like the human version of herself, sitting in the cafeteria alone. She felt like she was back in that high school, going head to head with Shaniah.

"I'm the real Winter Prince. And I'm here to take back the throne."

* * *