"He's learning when to be silent," explained a dark voice from the side and Lyana startled slightly.
"Your Majesty ..." Involuntarily she took a step back. "You come to your dungeon quite often for a
king."
His eyes flashed briefly with amusement. "That's because I have a very special prisoner in there."
The sun princess' heart seemed to skip for a moment. "I suppose you wanted to assure yourself that I am still alive?"
"Almost." The king waved someone over and shortly afterwards a servant appeared with a plate of
food. It smelled seductive and only now did Lyana notice how hungry she was actually. "You are
already much too thin anyway, so it would be no wonder if you freeze to death. I should at least
make sure that you don't starve me beforehand, otherwise all my efforts would have been in vain."
The food was brought to her cell and Lyana couldn't believe it. Was this the food served as a prisoner? There was a wonderfully fragrant roast and fresh vegetables. Even the plate was still warm.
"Eat up. I hate waste, "warned the king. "Oh, and princess", he came closer to the bars and again his
gaze became so cold that the plate almost fell out of her hand. "If you try to spy out my subjects again ... I will kill you myself." With that he left again and the princess sank to the floor with her plate. She knew he was serious. He had just left no doubt about that. The guard, too, had moved away from her again. Probably out of fear of drawing the wrath of his master on himself.
So she was all alone again. She had eaten all of the food out of sheer fear, even though she had lost
her appetite.
Tired and exhausted, she lay down on the bed in her cell and snuggled into her coat. How she would
love to lie in her own soft bed in the Sun Kingdom now. Surrounded by people she loved. Would
she ever see her family again? Slowly the tears began to run down her cheeks until she finally cried
herself softly to sleep.
The next day Lyana was woken up by the twittering of birds. She opened her eyes carefully, but yesterday hadn't just been a bad dream. She was still in the ice kingdom.
Slowly she sat up and wrapped her arms around her legs. She couldn't give up. There had to be a way out of here. If at least she could get out of this cell. But only one could decide that. So she made up her mind and put everything on one card. "Guard?" She called out loud and went to the cell door to look for the young man. "Guard?"
The man approached her again only very carefully. "You wish, Your Royal Highness?"
"I want to speak to your King!" She tried to use a decisive tone and hoped he didn't hear the fearful
tremor in her voice.
"Are you sure?" That didn't sound like a good idea even to the young subject.
"I want to speak to King Ulric immediately!", Lyana repeated and this time the guard nodded and
disappeared.
Only a short time later, she heard steps approaching her cell. So the time had come. Now it was all
or nothing.
"You wanted to speak to me?" The king appeared in front of her cell with a very annoyed look.
"I ... I hope you were already awake," Lyana began uncertainly. Having this big scary man in front
of her made it hard to stay calm.
"That seems to have occurred to you very late. Your luck that I was already on the hunt this morning and have just come back from it."
Still, she hadn't pulled him out of bed. "I want to get out of this cell!" She burst out with her request.
That only seemed to amuse the king, however. "So? And why exactly should I do that? I don't know
how prisoners are treated in your kingdom, but here they are put in a cell."
As she suspected, it wasn't going to be easy. "That may be true, but I'm not just any prisoner. You
said that yourself yesterday. I also assume that you usually ... kill most of your prisoners quickly. So
I seem to be worth more and what kind of threat do I pose to you? I couldn't escape this castle even if I wanted to. However, I am quite able to do without both the coat and the food and then you would no longer have any leverage."
The corner of the king's mouth twitched slightly in annoyance. "I have to say, you do know how to
negotiate for your young age. There is only one thing you are wrong with. I never take prisoners."
Lyana swallowed, she knew what he meant by that. She herself had witnessed it yesterday.
"Anyway. Let's say you are as indispensable for my cause as you say, what exactly would your
demands be?"