Chapter One

Elerick had given little thought to his supposed bride. Somewhere in the decades since Eos made her final prophecy, he’d forgotten about it entirely. He’d assumed the humans had as well when they’d stopped bothering him over every strange birthmark on their bodies. If he had stopped to think about it, he might have realized that the mortal would, at some point, be an infant.

When he looked down at the squirming pink lump in his arms, he felt... nothing. But that was hardly unusual. He had no reason to feel any fondness toward this child that wasn’t his, that he had no connection to, save the mark on the babe’s shoulder. Maybe. The child wouldn’t stop wriggling long enough for Elerick to get a good look at the thing. It certainly looked like his mark - the many-pointed snowflake that decorated both the walls of the Frozen Palace and Elerick’s own skin.

When he put a hand over the child’s mark, it was cold to the touch, even through his leather gloves. Elerick hadn’t been cold for... a long time. Not for centuries, millennia, even. Not since he’d been a scared boy who’d nearly frozen to death. He didn’t like to think about that period of his life, though, so he simply choose not to. He wasn’t like his brothers. Like Draeden, who made his pain known in the most violent ways possible, or Carlean, who turned his sorrow into more productive things. No, he was the King of Winter, with a heart of ice. Unmovable, unflinching, eternal. Frozen solid.

He turned the child over to get a better look, and the mother let out a squeak. The poor woman looked like she’d been dragged to the Burning Palace and back, with dark rings under her eyes and her greying hair going every which way. She had four other children, or so he’d been told. He had yet to see any of the little gremlins, and that was probably for the best. Elerick didn’t know what to do with one of them, much less the whole brood. The mother’s fingers twitched, as though she ached to take her son from him. Elerick eagerly returned the swaddled lump to her.

“My lord,” Valur said, from his right. “Shall I make arrangements to take the child back to the Frozen Palace?”

He had, of course, insisted on making the trip out to this little town with Elerick. Ever since he’d latched onto Elerick centuries ago, he hadn’t been able to get rid of the ice sprite. At least he’d proved to be useful, obediently serving Elerick and managing the palace in his stead. Valur was comically out of place in the humans’ tiny sitting room-slash-kitchen. His pale hair was neatly slicked back and his back was straight at ever. The crystalline earrings he wore must have cost more than the house and everything in it, to say nothing of his silk shirt and patterned waistcoat. It was hard to say whether his clothes or the pointed tips of his ears unsettled the humans more.

Elerick could only imagine how he looked, in his fur-lined jacket and diamond-studded crown. This. This right here is why he didn’t like wearing the damnable thing, but Valur insisted. Something about how he hadn’t appeared publicly in a few hundred years - an exaggeration, to be sure. It had been a single century, at most.

The mother clutched her child close to her chest. The father wrapped an arm around them both, as though that would protect them, should Elerick decide to unleash his full divine wrath. Luckily, for all involved, that was more Draeden’s methodology.

Elerick could have taken the child then and there. He could have kept the boy locked up in the Frozen Palace until he determined the truth behind the mark. Then, if it turned out to be genuine, he could make the boy marry him, once he was old enough. It would have been easy to insert himself into the boy’s life and gain his affection while he was young and impressionable. But to do would have been... unconscionable at best. Monstrous at worst. Whether the mark meant anything, whether the prophecy meant anything, the child should have a choice in the matter.

“That won’t be necessary.”

The mother sighed in relief for one whole second, before rounding on her husband. “See? I told you it was nothing, but no, you just had to go and alert the whole town. Honestly, the king’s bride, in a place like this. And our son, no less.”

Elerick didn’t bother to correct her assumption. He’d never felt the need to discuss the details of his private life with mere mortals. She had no way of knowing that he preferred the company of men. Except for Carlean, who was, in his own words, not picky, that was true of all his brothers. Why Eos had insisted on using the word bride, he’ll never know. Maybe she thought it sounded more dramatic. Oracles were funny that way.

“That may not be entirely accurate, either.” He would never admit it, but he knew as much about this bride business as they did. He wasn’t there when the Oracle made her prophecy - none of them were I - and she never provided more details. If Eos knew anything else, she took it to her grave. “Until we can be certain, we should monitor the situation. Valur?”

“Yes, my lord?”

“Ensure that this family is well-cared for. Arrange for a monthly stipend, and regular wellness checks on the boy and his mark.”

“W-we couldn’t possibly-” the mother started, but Valur didn’t answer to her.

“For how long should this arrangement be put in place?”

“Until his twentieth birthday. Then, if no other candidate has come forward, he will join me in the Frozen Palace. This is my decree, as sure as the winter snow.”

Elerick held out a hand, and for one second, his mark appeared above his palm before disappearing into a flurry. The poor humans shivered as divine power spread from his fingertips, forming a slab of ice, his words etched into it for all to see. This magic wasn’t for show. It was binding. Once the spell was cast, his decree couldn’t be changed or challenged. It’s why he didn’t like to make these sorts of official announcements, but this... Maybe this warranted such drastic measures.

“I will see it done,” Valur said with a deep bow.

Elerick nodded and tugged on the heavy winter jacket he didn’t need to wear. He could have paraded through the town in his undergarments and not felt a thing, but it made the humans more comfortable when he pretended to be one of them. A futile endeavor, to be sure, given the divine cold that radiated off his skin. (Or so he’d been told.)

“Before we take our leave, I must ask one more thing,” Elerick said. “What is the boy’s name?”