THE CHILL of Icewood dove beneath Andorra's layers. She felt a shiver race up her spine, and she turned to look at Nohx. She wasn't surprised to find his gaze stuck on her already, his eyes so blindingly white that it made a smile begin to curve against her lips.

The cabin stood in front of them, and for the first time in days, Andorra felt at home. Actually, for the first time since she had become Queen, she felt like the rest of the world dropped away, and she was nothing more than a girl standing beside a boy.

A boy who grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.

"I've missed you," was all Nohx said. His voice was low, so low Andorra felt it race against her skin and leave goosebumps in its wake. His eyes seemed to eat her up entirely, starting at her face and traveling down her skin, across her jaw, following the path of her coat zipper and to her toes. "Let's go inside."

Andorra found she didn't want to go inside. She wanted to stay right there, breathing in the crisp winter air and feeling it sting against her exposed cheeks. Her brain could barely seem to remember how it had felt in Maine.

"I want to build a snowman," Andorra said in response. The snow was falling in flurries around them, and the night sky was too cloudy to see stars, but Andorra wasn't quite ready to go inside.

"A snowman?" Nohx moved so that he was standing in front of her, grasping both of her gloved hands. He brought them to his mouth to press a kiss against them. "Just like old times."

And now, Andorra could remember it. She could picture her and a young Nohx rolling snow, laughing when it toppled off of the bottom ball, grinning when they finally finished. Young children, exhilarated from the snow and the freedom of being carefree.

A different world. A different life, for the two of them.

"Let's get started. I'll do the bottom, and you do the middle." Andorra bent down, building her first snowball, then patting more snow onto it. Nohx watched her affectionately for a moment, a soft smile stretching across his pale face.

"I'm going to light a fire inside. Get it warm first. I'll be right back."

Andorra didn't bother looking up from her snowball. "Don't be too long!" She hollered in his direction. She had her snowball big enough to begin rolling it against the ground, grinning as it picked up more snow. She ran it in circles around the front yard, then widened her space to continue building. She felt excitement race in her heart, wishing genuinely for the first time that she had grown up in Maine instead of California.

She could only imagine how much fun this would have been with her human parents. She could picture her mother smiling, a coffee cup in hand on the porch. Her dad would have been right there in the yard with her, helping.

Andorra braced for the feeling of homesickness that usually took hold, but she felt nothing but fondness and love. Her smile was soft and nostalgic. She missed them, but for the first time, it wasn't a cavernous longing that threw her into a dark, sad state.

She looked up when she heard the front door shut. Nohx jogged towards her, his face open and loving as he approached her. He rubbed his hands together, looking at her handiwork. "You're certainly making... something."

She looked down at her lumpy snowball, which was beginning to reach her mid calf. "Hey, it's not done yet. Focus on your own snowball." She humphed in good nature. She continued pushing her snowball until it grew and grew, and by the time it reached her thigh, Andorra took a pause.

Nohx was already almost finished with his, and much to her chagrin, it looked nearly perfectly round.

"What? Admiring my handiwork?" Nohx grinned over at her, and then he lifted the snowman's middle, placing it on top of her snowball. "I know, I know. It takes talent."

Andorra shoved his shoulder. "You're so humble."

His bark of laughter made her cheeks warm and her chest tighten. She wanted this so badly. Wanted this, the love between them, to never change. She wanted it so suddenly that she felt her heart squeeze as she looked at his laughing face.

How long had she wanted this? Wanted this version of Nohx, wanted this chance to love him and to be loved by him?

She didn't even warn him as Andorra wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his mouth, swallowing his laughter. He grabbed her hips, lifting her and spinning her in a circle. And it was like they were kissing for the very first time, with the intensity and the desire, all wrapped up into one. She found herself clamping onto him, breaking away to breathe, marveling as he looked up at her with shining eyes.

"I love you," she blurted out. "So, so much."

Nohx settled her down on her feet, but tightened his hold on her. He took her in, the sight of the woman he'd loved for his entire life, and felt like his chest was going to burst.

"I love you more," he promised as he kissed the top of her head. "Marry me. I don't care about the Festival of Stars. I don't care about the caste system. Let's have our human wedding so you can be my wife."

Warmth rushed beneath her skin. She could hear her own heartbeats in her ears. "I want to. So badly, I want to. Do you think that anyone would care? How would that work? Would you become King?"

Nohx kissed his way down her temple, across her cheeks, and he pressed a little kiss to the tip of her red nose. "I don't care if anyone knows. No one needs to know. Just us, if you want."

"I think Obe may be hurt if we leave him out," Andorra teased.

Nohx bent down, kissing her again, this time slower. He took his time, his hands coming up to tangle in her hair, tilting her head so he could kiss her perfectly. His tongue slipped between her lips, deepening the kiss, stretching the moment.

When he pulled away, Andorra was smiling up at him with tears in her eyes.

"Should we finish our snowman? Make him our single witness?" Andorra joked, but there was something serious in Nohx's eyes as he looked down at her. His throat bobbed as he swallowed hard, and then he let her go slowly, untangling his fingers from her hair.

Andorra's smile began to fade when Nohx took a step away from her. But before she could reach out, she felt her heart stop beating all together.

Nohx knelt down, so slowly, so precisely, and then he was on one knee. Looking up into her eyes, his face serious, and Andorra couldn't seem to breathe. She felt stunned, frozen in time, as Nohx reached into his pocket and pulled out a box.

Her hands flew to her mouth.

"Andorra. I don't have the words to properly explain just how much I love you. I've been thinking a lot about what Sivelle revealed to us about who we are to each other, and while being your soulmate is everything I could have ever wished for, I think I would have loved you regardless. I love you, regardless of our bond. I love you despite our bond. My mother gave me this ring, and she told me that it had belonged to you in a previous life. And now I think it's time I return it to you."

Andorra was definitely crying. Her tears clung to her face, frozen against her skin, and her heart was racing in her chest. She wanted as Nohx opened the box, revealing a gorgeous ring, and he plucked it from the box to offer it to her.

"I want you, Andy. You have absolutely no idea what you do to me. You're the sun in the morning, the stars at night, the warmth in this cold existence. You have no idea how much you have saved me."

Tears fell down his own face as he stared up at her, at the love of his life. He couldn't begin to fathom what he had done to deserve her. His Andorra. His Andy. His everything. She moved one hand from her mouth, shaking as she took off the glove and offered her bare hand to Nohx. Andorra watched as he slid it on her finger, his touch lingering against her skin for a moment before he bent and pressed a kiss to the back of her hand.

"Noah," she choked out, but Nohx stood and cut her off, wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly to his chest. He gathered her warmth in his arms and pressed his face against her golden hair, and he let himself relax into her.

"No matter how many years I spent pining over you, I never once thought I would get to be with you. This was supposed to be a dream. A secret desire that I would think about and never act on. And yet, we're here together, Andy. Andy, my Andy."

He was rocking her, rocking them both, crying into her hair. She squeezed him tightly, her own tears dripping down his exposed throat. "Noah, you have no idea-"

He moved to cup her face. Despite his tears, he was grinning widely at her, so blatantly happy, not hiding an ounce of his emotions. "Our snowman needs a head."

Andorra felt herself smile. She pulled on her glove, vowing to stare at her ring later, and she turned back towards the half finished clump of snow. "Alright."

By the time the snowman was finished, Andorra was positively freezing. She let Nohx gather her in his arms and carry her into the bedroom. She took off her gloves, pressing her freezing fingers against his cheeks, and he stole a kiss or two.

He set her down in front of the bed. He took his time unzipping her jacket and pulling her free from the bundles. He unwound her scarf. He untied her boots. He grinned up at her from his kneeling position at her feet, and gripped the back of her thighs.

Andorra looked down at him, at her fiance, at the love of her life. She weaved her hand in his dark hair, sifting through it softly. "We should discuss Kaeberon and Anders," she murmured. She didn't want to, not really, but she was the Queen.

"Not here. In this cabin, in this wood, we are Andy and Noah and no one else." He kissed her knees, and then made his way up her thighs. "You're my fiance in this cabin. And we have nothing to talk about, except how much you love my ego."

Andorra choked on her own laughter at that. She would have kept laughing, but Nohx was kissing up her thighs, getting dangerously close to somewhere else. She felt her cheeks suddenly get hot, and she found that Nohx was right: they didn't need to talk about any of that.

"So humble," she joked, tightening her hold on his hair when his grip moved towards her hips, fingers resting on her ass.

"If I was humble, you wouldn't love me as much."

"I think I want your ego to show me just what you can do on your knees like that." Nohx's eyes lost their focus as soon as the words left her mouth. His mouth curved up into a wicked smile as he leaned forward.

"It would be my pleasure," he purred. And much to Andorra's delight, his ego was absolutely, completely warranted. Especially in their bed. 

* * *

lmao sorry i KNOW you want a spicy scene

but hahahaha i can't write one istg 

also im trying not to make the story rated r 

maybe one day ahhhhh

anyway. enjoy some fluff <3

xoxo