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The Next Step is Still the First

Author: Freakzilla
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

My healer, had been what he wanted to say. It had been easy at first, when she was just that. But now that wasn't the whole truth anymore. She was his life-savior. Also, she showed him how to fly a kite, and gave her first kiss to him. Like a butterfly, he didn't really feel it, but the sight of it was nurturing to the soul. Then this hug... when he concentrated, the warmth nearly reached his skin, even if it was only a memory. This day had changed him. Maybe it changed her, too. But he wouldn't know, cause he pushed her away afterwards.

Instinctively, he knew that she was the one to call him in his deep sleep. Called without a name, but full of hopes. Would she have called the earl the same way she'd called her patient? After how he treated her, it was unlikely. But pushing her away was the right thing to do. Yes, the right thing.

"Nathan?" A hand waved in front of him. "Did you just space out for real?"

The prince looked like he couldn't believe it. His eyes w

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Two Civilized Adults

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Stop Laughing!

    "Aston was acknowledged as a prince, yes, but his mother isn't the queen. Maybe that's why the earl hates him less. Waiving his right to be an heir could play a part in it, too." Nathaniel deliberately made it seem like he wasn't sure about the earl's motives. He was the patient now, so being too clear about the earl would be a flaw in his acting.Prince Aston being illegitimate son was new to Katherine. She wasn't a citizen of the Icelands to begin with, so it was natural not to know some dirty details. She felt a bit of schadenfreude and happiness to have spotted a weakness of that unlikable man. Counting the two factors together, this could be a reasonable explanation for the earl to not hate the prince. Maybe the prince, too, didn't like his family, and with that, they felt sympathy for each other.Pondering, Katherine lightly tapped her lips with her index finger as her gaze got unfocused. If it was like this, there was no reason to fear the earl being part of the

  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Reaching the Capital

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Meeting

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Betrothed

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Epilogue

    Five years later"Your Holiness - Uh, ah, Majesty, I mean!"Leaning on the newly-built rails atop the dome of the palace, with the view of the Capital in the background, Katherine scolded lightly: "Shht, Hazel, she just fell asleep."In her arms rested a baby, maybe a few months old, with a tuft of black hair and fair white skin. If she opened her lids, angelic blue eyes would blink up innocently at the viewer.Hazel's head appeared at the end of the staircase leading to the roof. Apologetically, she bit her lip and whispered. "I'm sorry, your Majesty. A letter arrived from Dragsa, and Prince Patrick hurt his knee while playing. He's on his way here.""Dragsa...," Katherine muttered and stretched out a hand to take it. "I wonder what they want. They were very quiet in the latter years."Lowering her head, she took a glance at the paper. Instantly, her brows furrowed, later followed by a deep sigh. "I almost expected it. What a shame."Her gaze wandered to the west, in the direction of

  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Glass and Obsidian

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Traveling Home

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  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Reunion

    Katherine woke up feeling fresh and well-rested. The plush cushions under her head were like soft clouds, and the blanket bore just the right amount of heat. The air smelled of salt and herbs, an unusual but welcoming combination."Hmmm." With a blissful sigh, Katherine stretched. She didn't feel so good since they resided in the hut in the Icelands with King William, his mistress, and son. Did she only dream of that long, arduous journey to a mountain in Dragsa?"You're awake." Her eyes snapped open when she heard that voice. It was undoubtedly the deep timbre of her husband, Nathaniel. And there he was, sitting next to the bed in a cushioned chair, a gentle gaze in his eyes.Eyes that rested strangely deep in his pale face. A face that was bare of the slight smile that sometimes tugged on the corners of his mouth when he looked at her. Instead, he seemed solemn, exhausted, plagued by a deeply hidden sadness that he maybe wanted to hide. Yet to her eyes, his feelings were an open

  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Dark Thoughts and a Cold Heart

    Deep satisfaction brought some power to Katherine's exhausted body, yet she did not like the feeling at all. The guilt over hitting an innocent civilian clouded her mind, together with the question if it was the right thing to do. Trapping Ethan in the other dimension was too easy. It didn't feel right.Days and nights she'd dreamed of how to take her revenge, how she would torture him and finally look into his eyes when he died. Now, she'd acted impulsively, and the results were anything but what she imagined. Yet, should she have let the chance slip by?When she'd heard him giving orders, she'd finally stopped in her path because she felt like a coward who ran from the only real battle she'd sworn herself to fight. At first, she only wanted to observe and hid where the canyon's wall stood out a bit, just in earshot of Ethan. But the opportunity was too good. She didn't know how her smart and cunning cousin could act so dumb. It didn't match his usual approach, yet maybe

  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Sandcastle

    It was Ethan. He stood just outside the rift, his usual harmless smile on his face, and the hands hidden in the pockets of his dark trousers. "Kitty. Fancy meeting you here."If Katherine had been raised in any lower class than aristocracy, she would've spit in front of his feet. Even so, her face soured as if she'd bitten into a raw lemon. "I don't... fancy it at all."Stepping aside to give the rest of the dark stream free access to the rift, she noticed that Ethan'd brought two helpers who lingered in the back nervously. The white lab coats outed them as researchers. She glanced them up and down and decided not to ask where Ve was. After all that happened today and with her magic nearly depleted, she wanted nothing more than walk away from this whole mess.So, she did just that. Turned around and walked along the canyon that was now almost free of the dark substance.After a second of surprise, Ethan called after her: "Hey, don't you want to know what I'll do with this? Aren't

  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   Entering the Rift

    Meanwhile, the Duke of Sleipnir got comfortable on the edge of the cave. Shortly after he'd disposed of the corpses by sending them into the rolling dark river below, some of Loki's staff came over. They were shocked to see only one person left in the cave. "Um, your Excellency, where... where is the leader?""Hm?" Ethan turned and blinked. "Oh... he... how should I put this? He was too enthusiasistic when he saw his experiment finally succeed. Look, the brilliant result of all his hard work is below this cliff. He didn't want to wait anymore and took everyone to follow him down. Which might have been the wrong decision, so to say."The staff carefully crept closer to the cliff, and when he saw the darkness below, though it was more a creek than a mighty river now, his eyes widened. "Do you mean to say the leader is...?""Dead." Ethan nodded unemphathetically. "Most likely."Unexpectedly swiftly, the staff got over his shock. For a moment, he pondered, then asked: "But the experiment

  • How to Make the Ice Prince Fall   In the Moonlight

    "Ahhh! It hurts! It hurts! You're tearing me apart!" Nathaniel felt the unusual urge to roll his eyes. He never knew that his magic was such a sissy. First, it asked for his help, and now it screamed like a pig on the slaughter bench because of a little pain. And why could it even feel pain? Its body was nothing but insidious black smoke that appeared like a black liquid in its compressed form. There were no tendons, no bones, no flesh, and no nerves - in short, nothing that could hurt. "Shall I stop pulling then?", Nathaniel asked sarcastically in his mind. Well, if that magic of his wanted to go by itself, all the better for him. "No, no, no! Please don't let go! Don't let goo-oo-ouuuuuuch!" It felt like mentally pulling on an elastic band, Nathaniel decided. Somewhere where he couldn't see, something else was pulling the other end, turning the band longer and longer. It got harder for him to hold on with each passing second. Then, with a last loud howl fr

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