The Summer King and His Winter Bride-Chapter 23: A Proposal

The fire in the grand library burned low, while King Casimir studied her in the firelight as Queen Caroline sat on the sofa with her legs on a pillow and her arms crossed as though the weight of the world was pressing against her.

"If you leave the Winter Palace, you will have to appoint someone to rule in your stead."

"I know," she replied hesitantly, exhaling sharply.

Having him say it aloud made her feel like she was surrendering her crown to someone else.

Which she would literally have to do even if the courts were to be united.

"You must choose someone close to the royal bloodline, someone loyal to you not just the court and its nobles."

Her jaw tightened, "I have considered this."

His eyes sparkled with amusement. "You need help?"

"How kind of you to offer, Your Majesty," she replied.

"I believe you need help making the choice."

She hated it but he was right.

He ran his finger along the spines of old books as he spoke.

"Lord Edelwise, your cousin is far too hungry for power, he would see the throne as his own and people his own to command."

Caroline agreed, "he is clever but too ambitious."

Casimir pulled a book out from the shelf and glanced at the cover it was a book on of love written in poetry by a winter king for his bride.

"Lady Genevieve of House Rellmont, is your mother’s cousin. A widow as well past her prime but well respected in the eyes of the court."

"She is capable," Caroline admitted.

"She is also loyal to you," Casimir added. "She has no children to place above your claim, no husband to sway her choices and she has spent years managing estates in the northern provinces. She is your best bet as regent."

"You certainly have been considering this far longer than I have," Caroline noted.

"Anything to quicken the pace at which you make choices my lady," Casimir commented.

"Pray what is the rush?" She wondered out loud.

"Well if I believe we need to hasten our decisions if we are to unite against the other courts to usher in a reign of peace and equality amongst our subjects."

"And end the curse?" Caroline reminded him.

"Yes that too," he remarked sarcastically, "if at all it exists and really works."

"I have been considering everything Caroline, including the fact that you do not wish to leave."

She sat up straighter then.

"We both know my place is here." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Yes and you would find a way to remain here if you could but we both know you cannot." He replied frankly.

Casimir then opened the book glanced at its pages and set it aside. "Your place is with me."

"You assume too much." She muttered under her breath.

"Do I?" he voiced out stepping closer to her.

She then stood up, ignoring the way he towered over her. "I am Winter’s daughter. My people need me to be here."

His expression was unreadable as he said. "And my people in the Summerlands do not?"

Caroline opened her mouth, to argue further but he cut her off.

"You accepted my proposal," he reminded her. "You agreed to be my queen. Yet you wish to rule from afar?"

"My being here does not mean I wish to abandon you." She countered.

"It means you do not want to rule by my side where the crown rests. If you wish to marry me you will rule beside me from my realm not yours." His voice was low now and edged with a rawness that caused the hair on her skin to stand.

The fire continued to crackle merrily as though unperturbed by the tension that was clearly evident in the room.

"So you ask me to leave everything behind me and accept a foreign land and people as my own?"

"Yes as you have been groomed to do so all your life, you will be allowed visits here whenever you wish I hope they will not be often though."

He stopped for awhile and massaged the temples on his forehead. As though the argument were giving him a headache.

"I could not bear it if you left me for so long," he admitted, looking at her a vulnerability in his eyes.

"I would ask you to trust me," he said quietly looking away from her.

She then stared at the flames as though it held the answers she needed now.

"Lady Genevieve will be my regent then," she decided finally.

Casimir exhaled slowly then came and sat beside her.

"We leave at first light tomorrow then?" He asked her gently. Hoping she would consider his words.

She closed her eyes as though she had just agreed to walk through the flames with him as his proximity made her feel warmer.

"Caroline," he said her name as a quiet confession before he continued.

"I should have apologized sooner but I did not, your father’s death should not have happened on my lands and under my rule. I am sorry I failed you then." He swallowed hard.

"I can only promise you that I will do my best not to fail you in future." He said quietly as though making an oath to her was the only way he felt he could redeem himself in her eyes.

She had been prepared for so many things in life political games, whispered doubts, but this? The stark unguarded sorrow in his voice for a moment threw her off balance she had not been prepared for that.

"You think an apology will change things between us?" She asked her voice swift but gentle.

"No," Casimir admitted. "But I could not bear to let you go without saying it, without promising you I would do everything I possibly can to ensure you are never hurt by another loss ever again."

He stepped closer to her now, slow and deliberate as though afraid she would recoil back in horror but she did not move. He gently cupped her cheek with a tenderness that threatened to pull down her icy walls entirely.

Her lashes fluttered and her breath caught in her throat. His touch was careful as though reverent that he was threading on sacred ground and in a way he was.

"Come away with me, Caroline," he murmured, his thumb tracing the curve of her cheek.

"Be my queen and stay with me forever in the Summer Court."

The fire crackled brightly then as though trying to answer on her behalf the heat a pale comparison to the heat blooming throughout her entire body as he touched her.

Something had shifted within her and this moment only sealed it.

She had made her choice.

Slowly, she leaned into his touch and whispered, "yes I will."