The princess's skin was nearly as cold as the snow itself when she took my hand. A sadness fell over me for I supposed it would not be long before Manoj sent for her.

It would be no summoning of the physical, but rather of her power, power without which she could not sustain her corporeal form.

This would not do. She needed to warm up. I found myself acting more human than fairy as well as I rubbed her shoulders gruffly as I remember having done in my youth.

"Come on. You must will your wings on your own now."

To my surprise, she opened my arms then came into my embrace. Such boldness.

With a sigh, I held her then warned, "I cannot warm you without using my wings and that will attract the night Fae. Come. You do not shed fairy dust. It's safest if you do this instead."

But instead, she held me. It was a foolish thing for I suspected that I might have felt nearly as frigid as she did herself. I did not mind the cold as I knew how to retain some of my warmth and slowly use it. So there was nothing about me that should have fueled her to hang on.

Manoj would take her, I reminded myself. And then I tried to answer the question of Why would that be so bad? Manoj had a right to do as he saw fit, with either of us.

"What's so funny?" she asked.

Had I laughed? The thought occurred again, and a chuckle left me. "Just, anyone seeing you from the front will see a regal queen. But from the back?" I said, slipping my hands down to cup her bare ass.

She eased back, striking me across the chest. But then she stared up at me.

"Have you changed your mind?"

I had not. A simple shaking of my head said as much. She was not angry, however, instead, she retrieved the kilt and handed it over to me. "We'll match."

Again, her focus lay on strange things.

"Princess...." It was hard to admit but I owed her this honesty as I hadn't been forthcoming in warning her about Manoj. "Do you think perhaps, your lack of rage against me is why you haven't fully realized your fairy powers yet?"

She leaned away. "I'm sure it's not."

The next attempt at climbing was the worst yet.

I went behind her and held her waist. It was rather easy to lift her. I even considered throwing her out into the snow, but another thought occurred, could she survive with nothing to block her from the wind?

"Just hold still," she said, gripping the wall. "You've been a big help.

I looked up at her and blinked myself awake. As per my words, from the back, nothing was left to the imagination. Especially when she put one leg up and gripped the snow wall for dear life.

"Where have you gone?"

Despite my better judgement, I put a hand on her backside and she looked down at me.

"Perhaps I can catch the top if I ride your shoulders."

She didn't see the eyebrow I raised at her, but it was there.

Instead of arguing, I allowed just that. It was in this that I came to find that she wasn't entirely cold. The warmth pressed to the back of my neck had me chuckling to myself.

I wondered how we'd appear to someone else.

"Princess?"

"Go a bit to the left. It's so close."

After doing as instructed, I tried again, "If you cannot get your body temperature regulated, perhaps we should remain underground.

"Nonsense." Her knees tightened around my neck, and she tried to ease up. Moments later, she sat on my shoulders again. "Blast. Almost have it. Can you help?"

I wasn't sure what she had in mind but I ran both hands up her leg and back against her ass.

"That's not what I meant."

I didn't appreciate the tone. "You have me here carrying you like a mule. Please, let us reconsider this."

"You're doing this to make fun of me."

"Untrue. Because if I wanted to do that, I'd simply mention how wet you feel against my neck—"

She lost balance and slipped. It was by luck that I caught hold of her legs in time. Finally, I knelt, and she dismounted and stood with her back to me.

I expected some verbal retaliation, perhaps another meaningless lecture on how princesses behaved. Nothing. She said nothing, she did not turn or move beyond crossing her arms.

The behavior puzzled me but not as much as when she turned on her heels and began to walk.

She took one final step and vanished.

I blinked. After my body knew to respond, I rushed to where I'd last seen her to find a hole. Peering down it showed the fairy queen, resting firmly on her rump.

Princess.

I jumped down with a sigh.

She seemed unharmed because when I approached, she stood and gave me her back yet again.

"Princess, are you all right?"

She refused to answer. Even though she was cross, I realized something else, it wasn't as cold down here. No doubt she'd want to climb up. This was a den of sorts, which meant one thing, elves. Better elves than goblins. It would be a great way to travel.

"We can reach the fates this way," I insisted but she moved further into the dark. What was the best course of action?

I jumped back up then returned, praying I could make peace with this slighted queen.

Once I went against my own convictions, I tapped her shoulder. Nothing. I tapped it again. Then a third and final time to which she whipped around with her mouth set to curse me.

When her eyes took me in, however, she swallowed down her anger and smiled. "It suits you well."

I looked down at myself and this useless kilt. "I do not wear dresses."

"It's not a dress," she attested. "It's a skirt." She had the nerve to untie it from my hip then turn it around. "And it goes this way."

Once she was satisfied, I took her in. She beamed but only in her brilliant smile because she still appeared cold despite the mild warmth of this chamber.

"Now that you've gotten what you've wanted," I attest, "may I make a request?"

The smile widened and I prayed I would not regret this.

Moments later saw us standing across from one another—hands held up in a fighting stance. To be fair, only I held that stance. She, on the other hand, looked at me doe-eyed.

"One strike," I begged, motioning her to attack.

She cocked her head to the right. "I do not know that this is a good idea."

"You lose nothing from it," I insisted. "Simply charge me. I'll steel myself and you strike me across the face as hard as your beautiful little arms will allow. All right? Go."

She didn't move.

My frustration sounded with a sigh. "Princess."

"All you want to do is fight me." Despite muttering it so softly, the words reached me without trouble. "I suppose that's all we'll ever do. Fight."

She sounded her defeat with those words, I with lowering my hands.

When I opened my mouth to demand that she shake off her useless human hesitation and start acting like a fairy—any of which would revel in injuring someone permissibly for sport—she looked behind her.

"Oh? What's this?" She plucked something up and attested, "How beautiful." Sucking in a deep breath, she moaned, "And warm."

But I saw nothing beautiful or warm in her hold—she'd picked up some dirt and that was all.

I approached with caution. "What is it you see?"

Much like someone hiding treasure, she gave me her back and stepped further into the dark and plucked up yet another.

"These are perfect. They keep me warm just fine. Now we don't have to fight."

I jumped up above her head then landed before her. As suspected, she held rocks—cold rocks, I'd wager.

That meant she was playing a trick. Or....

"Princess, you must put those back—"

"Nonsense. I haven't felt this warm in ages. What's the alternative? Arguing with you until you bait me into making a strike against you and perhaps even killing you by mistake? Absolutely not. Therefore, I most certainly will not put them back."

This woman!

"Majesty, if—"

"Then leave me alone since I'm such a bother!"

When she marched past me, I stood facing the other way. I hadn't said she was a bother—though she was. Maybe it was the grit in my voice.

But this would not do. If she was seeing something I was not, that meant her power level was too low and this was a simple situation.

"Majesty...." I turned and hurried along beside her even as she picked yet another clump of dirt up. "This is a trap."

"Nonsense. And if it were, so what? I command many creatures, even ones I don't know."

"That could very well be true," I argued, "but you forget that we are near the lake of the Forgotten. This part of the forest is my domain and has been for near a thousand years. In that time, I've cultivated all manner of rough elements in one area meant to do one thing...cause suffering."

She slowed in her stride and turned to peer up at me. Despite the darkness, my power afforded me some sight. I could believe she thought that dirt did too, because she stared right into me.

"So how do I know that's not your intent with me as well?"

I had no answer.

"You say that I'm useless, that you do not find me attractive, that I'm not much of a fairy queen, yet you continue to put me through this rather than allow Manoj to take his power back and set me free. Isn't that what you'd suggested he would do?"

In a sense, I supposed it was.

"Then why not say that directly unless you were insulting me for sport?" Before I could utter a word, something else caught her eye and she eased me aside. "I'm still a fairy queen and I've found a solution to the heat problem. Once I've gathered enough of these, I will return to that den, then make my way back up to where our things are then out. Excuse me."

I let out a sigh, grumbling, "Foolish—"

"Then allow me to be foolish then," she yelled, "you bastard."

My body twitched. I had to will myself not to form my lance and smack her clean in the back of the head with it.

And why was I doing this anyhow? This was why she was so weak; everyone was always helping her up. Even her husband had turned her into a Fae when she needed.

Abandoning her was best, I concluded. Yes. Best if she learned the hard way.

She hummed as she walked, and I listened to it as it grew further and further away.

"Oh! You're an even bigger one. Come here, you—"

"Gladly."

Her scream tore through the night and I slapped my own face. "Damn this woman."