Cold War

Leo 

"Mother, I know you wish to remain Queen. You know, I wish very much not to become King. Should you reenter your lapsed betrothal to the Earl, we shall all three get what we want," Leo laid his plan straight and plain. No more mind games. No more Duke. They were free of him.

 His mother looked down at him from the King's throne. The Icy Queen was dressed all in Black, as was proper for a mourning queen. She wore a lace transparent black gown with Black pearls and black icy crystals about the frills. She had a finishing ruff in black diamonds that glimmered like a black ice snowflake. Her shawl was thick black fur, perhaps wolf, and wrapped around her neck like a serpent. She looked far too free to be in true mourning. 

"You are very wise, my son, and it is a good plan... However, you fail to account for the Avidians Court," the Queen quizzed. 

"The Avidians?" Leo puzzled.

"Yes, The Avidians. The people were so anxious to be rid of their monarchy that they ended the bloodline. How do you think they would feel to see their exiled Earl raised to King?" the Queen questioned.

"King Consort," Leo corrected.

"You think men in power know the difference?" the Queen quizzed.

"But Uncle Earl can't have children..., not by you, I mean," Leo reminded her. He could see from the tension in her lip and lines of her forehead of his mother's once icy face that he had struck a nerve.

"Right you are, Little Prince," Earl's voice rang out from the end of the hall. 

"Uncle, I didn't know you were here..." Leo let out. He was beginning to realize he had miscalculated. 

"Now I am, Little Prince. I have no legitimate children, so the crown will still pass to you after your mother's passing," Earl exposited. He was dressed in matching black regalia. He had dyed his feathers black as well. A common custom among Avidians. He looked a common crow.

"I know that, but there is more time, time to find alternate solutions," Leo panicked. The Duke wasn't the only man in his mother's ear.

"Little Prince Leo, you will be King one day. But not now. For now, I shall rule in your father's name. That will keep the peace, best I think. The people will not want a wedding. And the Orres..., my brothers, will not be pleased," the Queen confirmed. 

"Should they wish you less to be unwed? Surely they will demand you be returned to their care," Leo let out. The battle was already lost. Now he must pick up the pieces.

"I am no prisoner. I am the Queen of Kelton Anne WellesOrre," the Queen declared, having swapped her father's and husband's names about.

"Nevertheless, it will spark a new war," Leo warned. This was bad.

"I'm counting on it. And we will need the Avidians on our side when the Royalists strike, think you not?" Earl added.

"I see. But Mother, answered me this one question? Do you love him? Uncle Earl, I mean?" Leo's question broke through his mother's icy armour. She was unguarded. Earl looked squeamish.

"I do," the Queen finally answered. "I do, but I also love my children and my people and my kingdom. There is more at stake here than you realize. You are but a boy playing diplomat. Our independence is fragile as ice," the Queen declared. She is Earl's or he is her's. Either way, same outcome. 

"And your heart is frozen, mother. You endured 23 long years married to that monster. You deserve to be free. You deserve to be with the man you love," Leo begged. That broke her false demeanor fully.

"This is folly! Your father was a hero and a king. I loved him well. You would do well to never speak such folly in my presence again. And do not poison your sisters with this nonsense. I shall not hear of it. Out of my sight. I am in grief," his mother dismissed him. The Ice Queen once again froze over.

"My Queen," Leo bowed with steely resolve and retreated.

 She had one in this first battle, but there were cracks in her icy armour. Leo had enemies on all sides. And he was about to make some more with his next alliance. The war was afoot. The war for his mother's frozen heart and for their shattered kingdom.