Noblefrost

AUTHORS NOTE: If you haven't read chapters 1 and 2 please read them first, or this wont make any sense.

CHAPTER III

Ashlynn woke up multiple times during the night. Sometimes she’d have to pick Mr. Dragon up off the floor or readjust the covers. She was shattered in the morning when Alaric woke her up for breakfast. She refused to get up for a while until Alaric said “Ashlynn you have to get up, we’re eating breakfast with my mother, if she doesn’t like you, she’ll lock you away in a tower somewhere. She only sees you as a pawn she can use to get what she wants, she thinks it’s generous she’s even letting you live like a normal person here!!” the panic in Alaric’s voice while he admitted his mother’s intentions is what truly woke her up. She opened her eyes to Alaric with his hair tied back properly, with hair gel, and he was wearing the fanciest suit Ashlynn had even seen anyone wear. She would’ve laughed if it wasn’t for the pure panic in Alaric’s eyes. “Son of a- “she groaned, sitting up and rubbing her eyes. “I made you this dress weeks before you arrived in preparation for today” Alaric mumbled shyly. “Made??” Ashlynn exclaimed. “Yeah, I like to sew in my free time” he replied, gesturing to the sewing machine. “This was my first time making a dress like this, so I’m sorry if it doesn’t look great, I just wanted to include some of my mother’s favourite things, like the colour blue and snowdrops and-“Ashlynn interrupted him with a laugh, her own little revenge for yesterday. “Alaric, its beautiful, there’s no need to freak out” she giggled. The dress was a pastel blue, with long sleeves. It covered up most of her skin, with a small slit up to about her thigh, to help with walking in a tight-fitting dress. There was a snowdrop embroidered under the left shoulder. The material was comfy, and still looked amazing. “I didn’t know you could sew” she breathed, still taking in the dress. She delicately hopped out of bed and wondered into the bathroom to try it on. Luckily for them it fit her quite well. She left the bathroom and gave Alaric a little twirl. “Thank goodness it fits” he sighed, “next time I make you something I’ll need your measurements” Alaric looked at the time and immediately started to panic “Ashlynn!! Quick put on those shoes, my mother will be at the table in 5 minutes!! We cannot be late!” he squeaked, quickly putting on his own shoes. He grabbed Ashlynn’s hand and started rushing through the palace halls. “A-Alaric! Slow down! I can’t run in heels!” Ashlynn spluttered, almost falling over. “Sorry!!” he whispered, slowing down to walk. He was squeezing Ashlynn’s hand a lot, a tell-tale sign that he was nervous. His anxiety only filled Ashlynn with fear. He was obviously terrified of his mother. They walked into a large room with a long table in the middle. There was a large crystal chandelier above the table. At the head of the table was an older woman, her faded blue hair tied up in a bun. She had a stern look on her face and a diamond crown on her head. She was wearing a blue dress as well, this one short sleeved and more flowy. “you’re late” she announced. “Sorry mother” Alaric whispered, before leading Ashlynn towards the table. They sat on the left side, with Alaric closer to his mother. They sat in silence until his mother said “I didn’t expect someone from inferno to be able to look… decent. Keep this up and maybe I won’t have to be embarrassed about people seeing you with my son” Ashlynn won’t lie, her comments stung a little. Ashlynn was too afraid to say anything to this woman, and for once it seemed, Alaric was too. Both of their futures lay in her hands, one tiny wrong move and she could smash them in front of their eyes. Just as Ashlynn felt like she might break down crying a maid hurried into the room. “queen Christina, King Ishaan is here to discuss the alliance” she stated. Ashlynn held her breath until Christina left the room before standing up. “m-my father??” she asked the maid, who nodded in response. She thought she’d never see him again, since she rarely even saw him when she lived in Inferno. She… didn’t want to see him again. She felt her hands push against the table as she thought about all her father had done to her. She felt hot as she scowled. The thought that her father came to Noblefrost without even telling her, just to prove he hates her. “Ashlynn!!” Alaric cried, pulling her from her thoughts. Her hands had almost burned their way through the table, and Alaric was gripping his hand in pain. “What the hell was that??” Ashlynn stared at him for a moment. It had been years since she’d let her powers get the better of her. Without saying a word, she ran back to their room, and locked herself in the bathroom. She sat in the bath and tried to hold back her tears. She’d never actually hurt someone she cared about with her powers before. Hold on, cared about. She frowned. No, Alaric is just some guy she’s being forced to marry, she doesn’t care about him! Right...? her thoughts went wild until there was a knock at the door. “Ashlynn...? its Sarah. Alaric told me you were here, are you alright?” she called. Ashlynn unlocked the door but didn’t open it. Sarah stepped into the room. “What happened?” she asked. “I… My father. He’s here in Noblefrost and didn’t tell me” Ashlynn started. “I started to think about the things he’s done to me. I got angry and sorta blacked out. When I came back to reality Alaric was on the floor and I’d burnt holes in the table. I panicked, so I came here”. Ashlynn sighed, twirling a small flame between her fingers, practicing keeping it under control. She was sitting in the bathtub, with her knees pulled up to her chest. Sarah stepped into the bath and sat opposite her. “Why don’t I give you that piercing? To take your mind off things” Sarah suggested. Ashlynn looked up at her and gave her a small nod.

CHAPTER IV

Ashlynn was less nervous this time, as Sarah had smeared an oily substance on her ear, that she said would numb the pain. Turns out she lied. “OW SARAH!!” Ashlynn yelled, holding her ear, that now had a snake earing in it. “Sorry!! But hey, it worked, didn’t it? You stopped shaking enough for me to pierce your ear!” she laughed, while Ashlynn stared at her. Alaric rushed into the room “what happened? I heard Ashlynn scream” he paused looking at Sarah giggling and Ashlynn scowling. She’d let go of her ear, so Alaric could see the earring. “ah” he sighed, sitting down on the floor next to Sarah. “Ashlynn the wedding is in two days” Ashlynn’s heart sank. She’d worked so hard to forget the reason she was in Noblefrost. Now Alaric wanted to talk about it. “Oh... yeah...” she whispered in return, pulling her knees up to her chest again, though she wasn’t in the bath anymore. “Sorry… I just can’t get it out of my head” he looked at the ring on his finger sadly. They both knew they were losing all their romantic freedom. “Heyy, cheer up guys! Why don’t we show Ashlynn around the islands Al!” Sarah held her hands out to the pair. They accepted, allowing her to pull them up. The trio left the palace once again, Ashlynn on high alert as they walked through the town. They made it to the edge of the floating island without any injuries, by some miracle. Alaric smiled and then bowed at the girls before taping his foot on the ground. Water gathered between the mainland and the small island before freezing into a bridge. “ladies” he said before they all started laughing. He made a bridge between all the islands until the finally made it to the last one, an actual island in the ocean. Ashlynn was almost speechless. “I’ve never been this close to the ocean before…” she breathed, brushing her hand against a statue of a knight before sitting next to the water. She gently dipped her fingers in the water. “Really? Why not?” Sarah asked. “Well… cause water makes it difficult to use pyro magic” she demonstrated showed how she couldn’t produce and fire from the hand that was wet. “Oh… I probably shouldn’t tell you that…” she squeaked, thinking back to all the things her parents had said about the people of Noblefrost. “I promise I won’t use that against you Ashlynn” Alaric smiled, watching Ashlynn turn back to the water, dipping her whole hand in. Alaric smirked, before lifting the water up in front of Ashlynn. Her eyes widened as a fish swam in front of her eyes. She reached out her hand to touch it, but hesitated. “Go on Ashlynn, you can touch it, nothing will happen” with that reassurance she reached in, watching the fish swim away from her hand, now submerged in water. Alaric lifted more water, now surrounding the small island. Ashlynn walked around, her fingers brushing against the water. She paused next to the statue. “who’s this?” Alaric froze and all the water splashed down soaking them all. “y-you don’t want to know” Ashlynn looked at him, her hair dripping wet, as she wiped the water dripping down into her eyes away. “Why not?” Sarah and Alaric exchanged glances. “Well, my mother will probably tell you anyway eventually…” Alaric sighed “lets head back to the palace, I’ll show you his portrait”

“This is King Fallon, the Last king Of Noblefrost before the islands split into the 4 nations. He’s pretty much my mother’s Idol, even though he killed thousands during the battle for independence, including- ““King Kasai” Ashlynn interrupted. “The first queen of Inferno still recognised him as the king, even though he died before inferno was formed” she fiddled with her hair. Staring at the portrait of the man who killed her ancestor gave her goose bumps. King Fallon was killed by the first queen of sundew, and the age of Noblefrosts tyranny over the island died with him. Because of this Sundew was the most popular out of the 4 nations, except in Noblefrost. Thousands of years later some of the people still feel like they’re better than the rest of the world because they’re connected to two elements instead of one. People like queen Christina promoting that mindset only made things worse in Noblefrost. “Alaric. What are you doing here?” a stern voice called from behind him “Mother!! I didn’t see you there! Ashlynn was asking about Fallon” “You will refer to him as king Fallon young man, and you will respect the man who fought to protect our kingdom with his life” Alaric nodded and kept his gaze on the floor. “She was asking about… King Fallon… so I brought her here to tell her the story” Queen Christina looked at Ashlynn and Sarah, who were both still soaked, with a look of disgust on her face. “And why are you all… wet?” this time Sarah decided to answer, more confident than Alaric when talking to Queen Christina “We were on the island by the ocean, the one with King Fallon’s statue Milady. We all fell in” she bowed, hoping her added respect would keep Queen Christina from being too upset. It worked... to an extent… “Do better Alaric, you are royalty. But this type of behaviour is to be expected from scum like you.” She hissed, gripping Ashlynn chin and pulling her head up so she was looking her in the eyes. “You are Lucky your father is threatening war if any harm comes to you by my hand” she pushed Ashlynn’s head to the side when she let go of her chin. She turned to leave but before she took the first step she glanced back at the trio. “The kingdoms best chances are with an alliance right now. But Mark my words, Ashlynn, the second I get the chance I will take back what’s rightfully mine”

AUTHORS NOTE: I should've put this after chapters 1 and 2 but Noblefrost is SUPPOSED to be a cliché. If anyone reads this and wants to know more about the idea of noble frost and my reasons for writing it I'll make another post about it.