"No matter how long the Winter, Spring will always follow."
-Anonymous
-x-
Jax looked over at the hooded figure that was on the horse next to him, she looked like a flower out of her homeland with her olive skin peeking out from the garment she wore. He was raising his brow at her with some humor. Her breath fanned out more than his because she wasn't part of the snow that was her new environment. How different they were and yet how similar. Fierce and a fighter he would have normally been extremely attracted to her. But because of what she was...
Forbidden, dangerous, high-handed.
Sneering at her, Jax reached over and stopped her horse so that his towering frame could loom over hers. Body in muscle mass coiling down like the lion that she was named after, his breath fanned her face in hot waves and he swore the scent of pine and lilac would knock him off his horse. More intoxicating than any scent something of his world could produce.
"You've been silent this whole time, not a single question or plea about how to escape my sword, Nora?"
With each bobbing move, Nora felt the cold nip at a different part of her body. Where warmth once lied she was now uncomfortable. The cotton was keeping her warm but yet her toes felt like they were directly on the ice, her fingertips paler than they had ever been. She looked so foreign against the snow and while Jaxon's skin was dark as well, it had never seen the sun. It was so much paler than her own. Looking him over from beneath her hood she only looked away when she caught the sneer thrown her way, moving to hold her chin high as her horse was jerked towards his own.
The horses were like nothing she had seen. Their ribs were sinking into their body and she swore she could see their heart thud against the cage. Their mouths were riddled with bits of skin and stretched muscle, seeing their teeth as they huffed against the cold. They were pure death on hooves, her own white-haired one ghostly against the frost.
His black one haunting.
As he loomed over her she could swear she felt a shadow towering, but with the lack of light it couldn't be possible could it? Swallowing as she tilted her gaze so that she could meet his own dark orbs she just stared at him for a moment as his words settled into her bones. Locking her jaw slightly she just narrowed her eyes in the slightest before her plump lips parted to let some of her swirling breath breaks apart his own as it cast down over her face in a mix of charcoal and mead.
"I am not here to beg for freedom, Jaxon. I volunteered myself if you remember." Her voice was even out of place in the frigid flakes, feeling them beginning to form on her eyelashes. "What is waiting for me? You seem nervous? Isn't a King meant to rule and not his four old crones?" Her head tilted as she tucked locks of hair behind her ear.
Ever curious as her fox.
"He is and used to until his predecessor became a tyrant and started murdering people including his wife...they talk who says I actually listen? They told me not to come and meet you - look what I went and did?" He smiled at her and watched as she accepted the abuse of the cold, she didn't beg or snivel as most women would. Before her only one woman had half as much of a fight and he was learning that Nora was warm embers even after she had been kicked down.
Smoothing his hand down his horse, the coldness of his skin touching the rough hide of the steed. Untouched by the ice insomuch was that they couldn't feel it but they were the beacons of death. If you saw one of them then that meant that a Prim was sure to follow bringing ice along with it. His had been with him since he was a boy and he had given the white one to Calla as a gift though he would never admit that Nora looked better upon it than she had.
"Considering you broached the topic; there are a few things that you will need to know. Once you are out of my eyesight what little roam you have to go will be tender at best. There are those who would kill you against my word just to what they will see as please me...unspeakable things just because of what you are." Jax just reached over and smoothed the hood back so that he could smooth his hand over her hair. Ice seeping away from her into his own palm as he did so. Watching her, making sure that she was unharmed telling himself it was so that he could harm her later.
Ignoring the tiny flutter inside of his chest.
"Still with me or do I need to be prepared to swoon you into my arms do let me know now so I can be ready." Sarcasm dripped like water falling off an icicle.
"What you went and did?" Cracking a smile at him she just looked away from him momentarily with the slightest of smiles. He acted like it was all his idea when the furthest his mind went was to continue abusing his fiancee in front of her brother who was likely to kill the king on the spot. But as his hand reached out to move her hood her eyes were moving back to him dangerously until she realized what he was doing, feeling the ice particles on her skin fade away.
Humming low in her throat she closed her eyes and felt the bit of warmth reach her core, moving her body like a wave as it wound over her before she opened intoxicated eyes to find his carved out features staring right at her and explaining what it was they were walking into and if she was still present with him. Feeling her horse step slightly towards his she found her leg pressed against his between the two steeds, her warm nature doing the same to him as he had done onto her.
Reading even through his thicker clothing and swearing she saw his skin darken by the slightest tones as if kissed by the sun. Staring up at him with her chest moving up and down like she was out of breath she just remained there for a long moment in thought, finally running her tongue over her teeth in a sharp inhale.
"I hear you."
Pulling on her horse's reigns she parted from him again, the touch still there lingering somewhere deeper than the surface of her skin. There were next to no legends of the two beings co-existing aside from during the separate seasons, but whatever had happened just then told Nora one of many things; It wasn't the first time that had been felt.
"So, for lack of better terms, you have to keep me chained to you at all times, hm?"
Jax had to look at her twice to catch her words fully; she was as quick with her tongue as she was with how quick she was on her feet. Narrowing his whiskey hues at her he just sat straighter upon his horse unable to contain the chuckle that came forth. First, she had been curious about his Kingdom, and then she had brought forth to words the things that he wouldn't say outright.
"To me at all times? No that's boring and tedious to me to make sure you aren't pissing off anyone at all moments of the day. You get a room close to mine and some space in the castle what you do when I can't see that encroaches into your word at the treaty now doesn't it?" Shaking his head slightly the wisps of his longer hair skimming his ears the sensation made him roll out his body.
As his head moved to the side the fog started to pull back from one of the far-off angles of open land, sitting neatly in its dilapidated form was the east sentry line of the castle. Not bigger than one of his suite rooms it was the halfway point between where they had parted ways with her brother and Calla and home. The shine in her eyes had become dull and Jax knew that she was tired. Even if the words or request would never come to being.
"We stop there for the night and continue in the morning can you keep up?"
There was something unappealing about having her own room. The opening to being murdered in the middle of the night, all the horror stories about the women of their tribe stabbing one another to prove themselves worthy of their king. So many folklore horrors told as a child around a campfire so they would behave - but she knew internally some of it was real.
She had seen it in Calla's eyes.
Looking ahead to the black stoned castle piece she just looked to him and nodded, keeping her lips tied for the moment due to many things working through her body. The absence of heat, the sick of her stomach from their touch, and her worry about her brother. She had been without him for 9 years and promised she would never part again. And yet here she was in the middle of the Frost at the side of their largest known enemy.
As they crossed the lands she pulled her hood back up and kept at pace with Jaxon, sliding down only when he gestured and then making her way inside, spotting a cobwebbed fireplace in the center of the wall. With hasty fingers she sprung logs from her fingers and lit them on fire, a large sigh of relief leaving her lips.
Feeling even the slightest bit better. The slightest bit of home.
Jax was sliding a dirty rag over his sword cleaning it for something to do other than just stare at her, his brows lifted up as the fire came from her fingertips. He knew of rumors of how much power her kind had but it didn't mean that he had witnessed anything that instant in his life. Prims were slow-building, the power thickening with an ease that was almost like how he seduced someone.
The thought of seducing Nora Brŭshlaya into his bed was all too appealing even if he didn't want it to spring to his mind. Of her tanned skin in his red silk bed, thrashing that mane of onyx hair against his pillows as he made her writhe and pant his name. Lips curving dangerously he set the sword down so that it was propped against the table so he could really look at her. The cloak was shed and used as a blanket for her. It was then he noticed how bare her manner of dress was. Lack of it seemed more appropriate because she was anything but.
Getting up in a groaning manner the movement to get his mass up and moving wearing on him as the night wore on. He went to one of the hutches that were there for the visitors of the court one being just him but extending to more female guests as his kind was forced to have women protecting them. Pulling out a white linen shirt, black leather pants, and grey suede hunting boots for her he just walked over to her the pile on his palm extending towards her.
"As opposed to freezing to death and starting a war I thought you'd perhaps like these." Eyes taunting and daring her to say no.
As she began to warm near the crackling flames she shed the cloak and set it over the side for something to sleep on later. She was thankful that at least her buck's hide was used for something and not left for rot, but every time she touched its weight she felt a bit of heartbreak.
With thunderous movements, she turned her head and furrowed her brows to the center of her nose. Why were they so obnoxious? So uncourtly in their steps and mannerisms. Curling her knees into herself she rested her cheek against the top of one and lingered at the moment while it lasted. Before she knew it, bits of hay were poking into her bare skin and she hissed slightly before staring up at his shadowed face.
Coming to a stand in one graceful movement she was touching the leather clothing and trying to understand it. Items of such were so foreign to her that she had to really look it over and see where her limbs would go. Holding out the shirt she tilted her head and then peered over it at him, giving a sneer of her own.
"They look so... uncomfortable." The world was more pronounced with her slight accent seeping through, wrinkling her nose as she looked down at her body, the vines and leaves beginning to move around and back into her ribs and spine where they emanated from. Her kind was nature in every literal sense, and standing there in absolutely nothing against the fire she looked like the sun itself.
Raising her hands to pull the shirt down over her torso she peered down at her chest and pulled the shirt away slightly so it would sit low and more comfortable, grabbing the pants next with a handful of leather. Feeling the more comfortable hide inside gave her some bit of relief but still, it was foreign on her skin. As it reached up over her hips she found it a bit tighter than expected over her curves. His people were so much frailer, not as bountiful as her kind or curved.
Finally looking down at her bare feet she frowned; It would be hardest to cover her feet. Even now she swore she could feel the Earth beneath her heating at her presence.
"Can I wait to wear those until tomorrow?"
Making a strangled noise in the back of his throat when the material of nature began to slink back from her skin into her ribs he watched with a mixture of horror and fascination. Her curves were revealed without a second thought or care out of her mind. He could have for lack of grace touched her and enjoyed himself for an evening but all he would have is a whole night of discomfort as the thoughts burned into his mind.
Just like her brother on that vast expanse of greenery and lush life surrounding them he knew it was not just Nora in her being overflowing in the manner of annoyance. It was her brother too, it was all of them. Every single last mushroom worshipping creature. None of them seemed to deem clothes an importance for their survival nor dignity. Licking his lips slowly Jax found his frame to his haunches elbows resting on his knees as he prepared to ask his question trying to keep the husky timbre out of his voice.
"I suppose, but why is it you seem so disgusted by clothes Nora? I am guessing it's a Dŭrvos trait that you all share? Is your brother enticing Calla in the same manner as you are with me?" He purred.
"Why would we wear something that restricts everything we are so greatly? If I were to wear this at home when I shifted it would no longer matter. Whether to my true form, my animal form, or my miniature form." She watched him in an honest manner and then gave a small smile.
"My brother doesn't let everything out if that's what you're concerned about. He's always been a bit more conservative." Nora took a moment to look his features over and felt her smile that had been faintly on her lips fade entirely.
"The two of you..." She began and then stopped. It was none of her business what the arrangement of their marriage was, it wouldn't have been out of love. They had both made that clear from the meeting. So strange to see things done with the lack of. "What... exactly is it I'll be doing while in your kingdom? It isn't exactly like you all want me to plant a garden."
"We were never intimate if that's what you are insinuating...Calla's arrangement is much like yours, she was forced into it and she doesn't like it." Moving so that he was sitting against the floor his knee propping to a bent form he just watched her with careful ease always unsure of what she would say. What would be brought forth to her mind and lips? When she asked about his home the comment was so offhanded and amusing that a bark of a laugh escaped him and shook the whole building sprinkles of powder came down upon them.
As it framed her hair Jax looked away and shrugged a massive shoulder.
"You behave like a trophy; flit about as I tell you to and smile when it's' needed. Tell jokes if it's asked of you but most of all you keep me happy Nora. That's rule one in the Kingdom that was held over from my father. The Madness is still feared as if it can be spread through the air. Tainted bloodline and fucking all, you keep me happy and you escape the ice scythe the blade man has been very lonely in his job in the month that I've had the crown." When Jax looked back at her there was nothing but dullness in the depth of his emotions.
When it came down to it there was no reason to lie, it served no purpose other than an extra weight on his shoulders.
Every time Jaxon spoke it felt like it was obliterating her soul piece by piece. Such a lack of... anything in their bodies. They had no regard for anyone outside of themselves. No respect for the land around them. They did not praise the life they were given, they did not worship the food they were so desperate for. Sucking the life out of everything that the Dŭrvos replaced.
When he laughed she felt foolish, turning her gaze from his like a scolded child to stare into the fire and the different dances it began to partake against the cobblestone. Moving to curl her legs back into herself she tucked her toes into themselves and rested her chin on her arms, rocking slightly against her heels.
He spoke of madness like it were a disease one was to be quarantined from, and it made her ever the more curious as to their lifestyles. One day perhaps she would have her own saplings to tell of her ventures in the Ice Kingdom. So long as she survived the Prims and their way of life for so long as the war need to be held off.
As he spoke of her death she just craned her neck to gaze at him, resting her cheek where her chin had once sat, her voice softer as sleep began to creep at the back of her mind, the crawling heat from the flames settling in her core.
"And if I fail... At keeping you happy? Then the only punishment is death?" The words a barely-there whisper as doe-like eyes bored into his own.
Jax killed pretty animals like her because he could. Snapping her neck would give him that madness that he feared and it would make him a monster. Making his hands curl into fists Jax just focused on her question his body going to a loose bundle of still steeled edges. He watched her from his lashes, the fire creating a new depth to her fey-like quality to her face. Is fear possibly etching itself into her eyes?
"Who is to say I can't come up with creative ways to punish you myself, Ivy?" He asked catching his tongue between his teeth to showcase just how much of a wild creature that he was. Anyone in his court could tell that he was only a fraction of anything from turning into a wild beast. One moment from losing it entirely. He let the silence tick on for several long moments before he found her eyes again.
"The punishment should it ever leave my hands Nora would be so torturous that you would regret the very air that hits your lungs, that you would beg me for a death that I couldn't grant and trust me...in my world, a kind death is the greatest gift I can give anyone. My mercy isn't a known factor to anyone even myself."
His answers always began as playful, it was something she took note of easily. Like he was trying to lessen the severity of the reality, or perhaps give her a cushion to land on before the knife was thrown through her. As she stared at him she felt herself growing tiresome, her eyes getting heavier by the moment.
Lying back slowly she closed her eyes slowly and arched her back, reaching over her head and pulling the cotton billowed shirt over her shoulders, thumbs tucking into her leather pants and pulling them down with a wiggle or two before she was bare again. A swirl of hay and snow that had fallen from his laugh and where she had once been lying was an arctic fox with wide dark eyes staring up at him with its belly showing.
Tail flicking it rose to its paws slowly and padded towards him carefully as to not startle him, peering at the leg on the stone ground and then back up at him as a small paw went to nudge at the mass of muscle slightly and cock its head to the side. In the frigid ongoing Winter, her animal form was a blessing in disguise, she had never known the reason for it until now. Perhaps it was all fate.
Jax watched as she stripped back down to nothing but she wasn't just staying in the bare skin that he would be dreaming about with furious lust, she changed into an arctic fox that was so small that it would possibly fit into one of his own massive paws. Looking at her as she padded towards him he had watched with wide eyes for a second before he had started to settle down with his hands behind his head eyes still open and watching her.
Nudging him with a gentle softness he wasn't used to feeling.
"You rode well into battle today little Brŭshlaya." He said voice starting to melt with slumbering peace.
With her ears almost as large as her body they flickered inwards and then outwards when he moved to lay down, eyes following his towering form before he spoke words so deep of a rumble that her hairs stood on end. Trotting silently against the hay on the ground it barely moved with her nonexistent weight. Just as if she were in her other forms she could bring forth the world at her fingertips. So turning her head slightly she just ran her tongue over his wrist that was slightly hidden by tumbles of dark salt and pepper hair.
When she pulled away from doing so a rose formed around his wrist and seemed to heat up his body to a temperature of comfort. Even with the ice in his bones, there was always something lacking in a body, a warmth it so naturally craved. Walking backward until it was over his mound of an arm it walked circles and then huffed as it laid down, its snout resting on the bulge of a bicep, eyes staring at him until they slowly drifted closed.
The faintest of sounds leaving the fox as Nora fell asleep warmer than she had been since crossing the line.
Even touching the Ice King.