Dedicated to: Fancy_Irish_Turtle

"Even the highest of walls will crumble when met with the hammer of time."
-Catalina Grayson

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With each bite, she felt a small morsel of her strength returning. Being fed by her enemy proved to be both humiliating and quite effective.

Slowly the bowl emptied and her stomach filled. Iolas scraped the sides of the dish with the spoon, ensuring that nothing went to waste, as wasted food was something this nation could not afford.

"That's the last of it. Good, the poison should kick in soon."
He smirked, making her eyes go wide.
Adelaide panicked and attempted once more to fruitlessly sit up.

"I'm only joking."
He reasurred through a laugh, setting the empty bowl down.
The smirk on his face told her he was telling the truth, so instead of making a big, angry scene, Adalaide forced herself to relax, settling back against the pillows.

"A joke like that is in bad taste for a criminal such as yourself." She said coolly, but her eyes shot him daggers.

"You are so polite to me. I wonder what polite words you would have for the man who had you in down that snow 2 days ago."
He shot back.

Her mouth opened to gasp, but no sound came out.
Adelaide's pale skin went even paler as the memory of that night struck her like a cannonball against an old city wall. The events of that night had been fuzzy up until just now, but it all came rushing back like the snapping of a bow string.

Frozen, she stared blankly ahead as she relived it in her mind. She could feel the dirty giants hands on her neck as he pushed her down into the bloody snow, smell the putrid odor of battle, blood, and his unwashed form as it overtook her senses.
The tugging and tussling of her skirts was all to real, as was the pain of his hands as the gripped onto her thighs.

"Oh God!" She shrieked.
Panicked, adrenaline pushed aside her disability, she sat straight up to violently push the blankets off of her.
To overwhelmed by the incident to care or even remember about propriety or Iolas's presence in the room, she began tugging her skirts upwards in a state of total panic.
This revealed a set of bruises in the middle of her thighs in the shape of two very large hand prints.

"Oh God!" She shrieked again.
"Was I...? Did he...?" Her two questions came out in a terrified rush, and real tears streamed down her face.

Something inside Iolas snapped, seeing her state of absoulute fear, he realized he had made a terrible mistake.
Gazing at the fear-stricken girl before him, her body pale as a sheet, and her cheeks slick with tears, her body wracked, for the first time in his life, it struck the selfish Prince felt the smallest twinge of guilt, noting that he had gone too far.

"No! Nothing happened."
He jumped up quickly, reaching down to grab the blanket and cover her.
"I got to you before he could do anything else, I swear it."
He reasurred, all traces of humor gone from his voice.

"Shhhhh. He did not violate you."
Iolas did his best to soothe the hysterical woman, something he had no clue how to do.
"No brute shall ever touch you like that again. I swear it."
Pulling the blanket all the way back up, he grabbed her shoulder and gently pushed her back down.

"I know my word does not mean much, but I for as long as I am here, I will do everything I can to keep you and your honor safe."
After the words were out of his mouth, Iolas wondered why they sounded more like a promise of his own, rather than a reiteration of his father's order.

Adelaide's headaches and weakness began to subside after three days of intensive bedrest. Iolas waited on her hand and foot, as promised.

When he was not bringing supper, he sat in the bedside chair silently, leg slung over the armrest in the most unbecoming, ungentlemanly manner, watching over her to ensure she didn't slip back under involuntarily.

For hours on end, they avoided eye contact, or worse glared awkwardly at each other. Every now and then, the prince would slip back into his hostile and sarcastic ways, and Adelaide endured more 'helpless maiden' jokes than she thought appropriate.

On the third day Adelaide could take her confinement no more. Desperate to be free from the tower she was kept in like some fairytale maiden, she felt well enough to walk and had her mind set on seeing the entirety of her temporary sanctuary from the horde.
With the support of a staff she had found under her bed, the queen slowly clambered out of bed and pushed herself to her feet.

As soon as Adelaide's feet touched the ground, Iolas was by her side.
"Princess, I don't think you're strong enough for this, I think it's best you get back into bed. I'll send for some tea."
He advised.

Adelaide narrowed her eyes defiantly at him as she gripped tightly around the staff.

"Iolas if you ever refer to me as princess again, I will personally behead you. Then you will see just how strong I am."
She seethed at him.

"Mildred!" She called out to her handmaiden, who stayed in chamber in the next room, and within seconds the kind, brown haired woman had appeared at her door.
"Yes my Queen." She curtsied.

"My day clothes please."
Adelaide asked kindly.

Mildred gave the prince a quick, worried look, but dared not question her order. Instead she went to the closet and pulled one of the few dresses Adelaide had managed to bring with her.

Iolas stepped outside to allow Adelaide privacy to change. Slowly and painfully her maid helped her dress. Mildred gently brushed through tangled fiery red locks and braided them up, lastly she attached Xander's golden crown atop her head and tied a deep purple cloak snugly around her neck.
With a curtsy, she left.

"Well well well, there was a person hiding under all that orange mane." Prince Iolas joked, stepping back inside.

"Your one to talk, carrot top!" She rolled her eyes. His hair was cursed with the same fire as hers, though his shade was deeper, more crimson.

Gripping her makeshift staff, she used it to walk towards the door.

"I'm going to inspect the castle, you can stay here and preen over yourself like the pompous peacock that you are, or you can show me the grounds." She called back to him, not turning around, as he was gazing at his reflection in the mirror of her dresser.

"Nothing would please me more than to watch you slip and fall all over that accursed ice, but sadly, our current fates are intertwined, if something should happen to you, my head is as good as gone, and frankly I'm quite attached to it, so sorry highness, where you go, I go."
He walked up beside her and held out his elbow for support.
She ignored it, pushing the door open with her free hand.

"Fine be that way. But I don't want any arguments when you collapse and I have to carry you back to your chambers."
He said shaking his head.

"You will do nothing of the sort!" She shrieked. The idea of being scooped up in his murderous arms brought forth her gag reflex.

She took a breath when she saw the long flight of stairs that awaited her.
"There are...so many stairs,"
she said nervously.

"Piggy back?" Iolas offered teasingly.

Adelaide's face was reflected by the disgust that would next fill her voice.
"No thank you! I'd rather throw myself down."

The two slowly made their way down the spiral staircase, Adelaide struggled with every step and Iolas internally debated whether or not to throw her down the stairs and spend the rest of his life on the run.

"Every time I step outside it seems colder than the last," Iolas complained, rubbing his arms for warmth. Adelaide gazed out over the frosted over hedge maze she and her brother used to play in as children.

"I can't wait to return to my sunny, warm, snowless island home." Adelaide rolled her eyes, turning towards Iolas.

"How are we to fortify the castle?" She asked, gazing at the ivy-covered walls of the poorly maintained palace. Iolas looked it over as well, his eyes sweeping down every turret, every open window, every crumbling brick.

"This castle is in a horrific state. Nothing about Aelford was prepared for an invasion, princess. We're going to have a difficult time barricading all the doors and windows. Being a summer castle, it has large doorways, and paneless windows."
He shook his head. This was a place for royal's to vacation, not fend off an enemy army.

"The palace is not much, but the wall surrounding it is a different story. If I had to guess, I'd say the castle was built by one of your ancestors, and the wall itself, another."
Theorized Iolas.
It was a correct assumption, King Bartarr died before the construction of the castle was finished, and the wall was the project of his daughter, Queen Esme, who modeled it after the wall in the tale of her youngest son's favorite story, the Trojan Horse.

"The wall needs some repairs, so I'd say at best we can manage to section off some of the castle and demolish a turret. Using the stone from that, we'd be able to reinforce walls and fill in doorways. This castle is in a terrible state. Much like your army. This kingdom was not prepared in the slightest for an invasion. We have your peace loving brother to thank for that."
He shook his head, placing a hand against the giant stones that lined the wall surrounding the small castle.

Adelaide's blood boiled at the ill-mention of her brother. Her anger and sadness showed in her face, and Iolas' features softened.

"Oh Adelaide, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. So sorry, I didn't think."
He apologized.

"You never do." She spoke quietly turning her back to him.

Iolas placed his hand on her shoulder, causing her to flinch.
"Actually I've been doing a lot of thinking these past few months. The dungeon is a quiet place, perfect for thinking." He sighed.

She rolled her eyes and brushed his hand away. If he wanted pity, he wasn't getting it from her.

"Don't waste your breath telling me your pampered tale of woe Iolas. I won't buy it."
Adelaide gritted her teeth.

He was hurt that Adelaide would assume he was a pampered prince whose daddy let him off easy. He shouldn't have been surprised, he knew how much Adelaide disliked him.

"Pampered..." she heard him laugh under his breath.
"It wasn't even close, highness."
He began to complain.

"I wasn't even put into the city prison! The nice, clean, well lit prison. Oh no.. My father had me placed deep below the palace in the dungeons of olden times. The filthy, musty, dark, cold, wet, isolated and centuries old dungeon."
He stated dramatically.
"The kind of place you puts things to forget them, but of course in easy access to my 8 sisters and brothers, most of whom came to mock me weekly. The food was barely edible, and my cell was a more like a dog cage. Don't think I didn't suffer, dear Adelaide, because I did, and I hope that pleases you!"

He crossed his arms and turned away from her. Deep down, Adelaide knew Iolas was being honest, those circumstances sounded much too horrendous for even Iolas to make up.

Outwardly, she kept a straight face, no emotion. She felt no pity for him. He committed a crime worthy of being put to death. The only reason Iolas was alive was because Adelaide's brother had taken pity on him. His royal status was the only thing that had saved his life. Xander had been wise enough to understand that the diplomatic relationship between their two countries would not be helped if Iolas were to be put to death on Aelford soil. So he instead sent him back to his own nation to be dealt with for his crimes, and what crimes he did commit indeed.

He was a thief and attempted murderer.
She bitterly thought.
He had stolen her heart, and convinced her to marry him, only to betray her and try to murder her brother. All so he could take over Aelford for himself.
She found it to be a power hungry plot from a jealous prince with too many siblings ahead of him to ever have a chance at ruling his own dynasty's throne.

They walked in silence, slowly she hobbled along till they we reached the camps of the villagers who she had moved to the safety of within the castle walls.

White tents covered almost every inch of the garden. Blending in almost perfectly with the white snow that has yet to cease falling from the sky since the day Xander died.
Her people lived cramped inside the tents, staying out of the ever present cold. With little medical supplies and the ground too frozen over for any herbs to be grown, falling ill or dying was too strong a possibility.

Adelaide looked to the castle walls, up at the guards standing posted in strategic positions.

Each bundled up tightly in blankets or huddled around a fire. More than half of them dressed in the blue uniforms of the Isles.

"I have my men on a constant watch. We'll see those bastards the second they find us."
He nodded.

Adelaide was comforted by the watch, but Iolas' certainty at the Vikings finding them was disconcerting.

"Your men have been temporarily relieved for recovery. The siege didn't treat them well and we need them fed and strong as soon as possible. My men have four hour rotations. I've also recruited all of the tradespeople from your citedels evacuees to assist in reinforcement of the palace. A few of my men are in the process of picking the most defendable wing of the palace and from there we'll start tearing down the weaker parts, if that's okay with you."

Adelaide nodded. After all, buildings could be rebuilt, but people could not be replaced.

"In the event of an attack, women and children will be moved into the wine cellar. Or at least, one of them. There are three wine cellars, only one of which will be underneath the part of the castle we will be fortifying. This being a holiday palace, there was no black powder in the storerooms, although that doesn't seem to matter as there are also no cannons. Fortunately, someone in your family had a real passion for archery, and there's more bows and arrows anyone could ever need. There are two catapults and five manned crossbows we will be putting as high as we can. It's not much, but we can only hope it's enough."

They walked further along the wall and he showed her all the different weapons of war he had put in place.
Some of them were down right ancient, like the boiling kettles of water and oil over the gates, and even some quickly assembled catapults.

The queen was impressed, she wouldn't have thought to do any of that.

A wave of woe struck her, and she was hit with the sudden, crushing realization that if Iolas and his troops had not arrived, she wouldn't have known to do any of this and her palace would have likely quickly fallen to the enemy.

Adelaide felt herself becoming shaky, and sat down on a granite bench next to the entrance of the hedge maze. Memories of Adelaide and her brother chasing one another through the maze danced through her head.

"Are you alright?" Iolas inquired in what seemed like genuine concern, sitting down beside her and pressing his hand to her cheek.

"I'm fine."
She replied, batting his hand away.
"Iolas?"
Adelaide called out quietly after a moment of awkward silence.

"Yes?" He answered, not meeting her gaze.

"Thank you. As much as it pains me to admit it, you have done a more than adequate job. You seem to know about all this, and I..."
She paused, clearing her throat.
"less know about all this."
She motioned around to the guards and weaponry.

"Keeping my people safe is my only priority now, thank you for helping me. Thank you for giving my army a fighting chance."
She said, her starting to cloud over.

He didn't argue, or boast, or claim he was doing it to save his own skin, which is what she was expecting. Instead he smiled slightly, but for the first time, genuinly.

"Ok. I would like to go back to my room now."
She stated, pushing her staff into the ground and trying to stand up, but with no avail, for her legs only quivered and gave out from beneath her.

Iolas began laughing, loudly.
"Told you so!" He boasted like a child, before standing up and scooping her into his arms, bridal style.

"Unhand me!" She shrieked, arms flailing, but growing more fatigued by the second.

"I think it's sleepy time for you your highness."
He quipped, still laughing like a madman. With giant steps he began carrying her to the castle. Ignoring her calls for guards, and when those calls went unanswered, he next ignored her direct and urgent orders to be put down.

"I need to get some more food in you, I have saddles that weigh more than this." Laughed Iolas.

By the time they reached the foot of the spiral staircase, she was too exhausted to argue or fight, instead she found herself turning into his shoulder and falling fast asleep.

Every day after her first walk, much to the argument of her unwanted companion, Adelaide would insist on walking around the castle. She kept her trips short though, not wanting to exhaust herself like she had the first venture. She knew better, and found it better to be on her own feet than to have to be carried in his arms like a small child.

Iolas insisted almost incessantly that she eat more, and she did, for he threatened to carry her down to the kitchens himself if she didn't.

He would sit there, watching her like a hawk until she ate every last morsel. Her guards were of little use, she called for them to have him removed several times, mostly out of annoyance, but with most of the Aelford guard were still relieved of duty, it was always Isle guards that came when she called, his guards, and he would simply wave them off every time.

Iolas barged into her room in the morning, as unannounced as usual, adjusting his silken neck tie and shooting her a sly grin.
"Are we ready for our daily stroll?"
He asked, hand outstretched.

"Good morning, Prince Iolas."
She seethed formality, narrowing her eyes at him from the dresser where he sat.

"Morning, .....Adelaide." He replied, arrogantly dismissing her title. Adelaide rolled her eyes for what felt like the seventh million time that week. Over the last week in his company she had become accustomed to his blatant disregard of respect for her stature, and had stopped threatening to flog him for it.
She stood up and took his arm. He seemed to be in a particularly good mood that day.

"You're looking better. Less pale like death, or as if you're about to drop dead in my arms. " He smirked as Adelaide's face erupted into a frown. Iolas had changed much in the past week. He'd gone from grey, rocking her with iciness, to sarcastic remarks at every turn, and constant teasing. The sly grins were getting more than annoying, and Adelaide thought that she preferred the iciness, and almost missed it.

She stood up on her own, and walked toward the door. Iolas held out her walking stick, but she waved it away.
"I won't be needing that today,"
she said.
"I'm confident that I'm ready to walk on my own."
It was true, she was feeling much better on this day, and though she'd never admit it to his face, she knew her forced increase in meal rations had played a large part in that.

"Well look who's all ready to ditch her sea legs." He smirked, pulling her cloak off the rack and starting to tie it around her neck. She grabbed the ties and yanked them out of his hands.

"I can do it myself, I am not a child!" Adelaide cried in annoyance, feeling as if he would do anything to belittle her.

"Hey, easy there. I am just trying to do my job."
He held his hands up in surrender.

Adelaide glared at him, but still took his arm when he offered it.
The two strolled through the grounds and Iolas whistled cheerily.

Adelaide was supervising the distribution of rations when a little girl, not older than four years approached her, a tattered doll in hand and tugged on the her skirt.
"Majesty?"
Her little voice called up softly.

"I'm terribly sorry!"
Her mother's eyes went wide when she noticed the small peasants hands on royal garment.

"It's all right." Adelaide held a hand up to stop her from pulling her child away. The queen knelt down onto the snow, lowering herself to eye level with the pretty blonde hair and piercing blue eyes of the sweet child. Features that reminded her so much of her dearly departed Simon.

"Yes my sweet?"
Adelaide spoke softly. The girl gulped nervously, as if gathering up every ounce of her courage to ask something very important.
"Y-Your Queeness..."
She began with a stutter.
"Can we go home soon? I miss my home." She asked, nervously wringing the arm of her raggedy dolly.

Adelaide tried her best not to let the sadness crack her voice. Your Queenness, she thought. How cute.

She took a deep breath, regretting what she was about to tell the girl. The whole crowd had stopped eating and how now turned to watch her. She looked up at Iolas, who stood as always directly beside her, he simply shrugged.

"I miss my home as well sweet child, but we can't go home... not yet. Right now some bad men are staying there, and it's not safe. But don't worry, once the bad people leave, we can go home. I promise." She explained, placing a gloved hand on her small and fragile shoulder.

Her little face clouded into confusion and sadness as her bottom lip pouted out, and next the child looked up at the unwilling companion who stood at the queens side.

"Is the brave prince going to make the bad men go away?" She questioned, staring up at Iolas with a look of hero worship.

Adelaide sighed, how she wanted to say otherwise, to discredit the vain man to her left. She wanted to say how there was no such thing as a 'prince charming', and not to put all her trust and faith in one like she had, the fables she had so loved as a child had aided to blind her to Iolas's treachery, but then Adalaide remembered how those stories had given her hope as a small child. The notion of honorable nobility, and gallant and charming princes had littered every fairy tale she was ever told.

She realized with a heavy heart that those fables were likely one of the few things that this homesick child had left to cling to, and who she to take them away?

She gave the small shoulder in her hand a gentle squeeze and looked up to Iolas, who was staring blankly at her, afraid of what she might say.
"I know in my heart that Prince Iolas is going try his very best to protect us, as princes are supposed to."

"Really?"
Her face lit up with a bright smile. "You really think he will?"

"Maybe, if you ask him very nicely...." She shrugged.

The girl bolted quickly and ran to Iolas. Wrapping her tiny arms around his legs in an embrace. His eyes went wide in surprise, and the whole crowd gasped, for unlike the sweet innocent little cherub that clung to him, they knew of what he had attempted to do her brother, their king, and you could say, despite the protection his troops offered, he still wasn't thought of with much warmth by her people.

"Mister Prince?..."
She mumbled into the legs of his pristine white trousers.

His gaze softened, and Adelaide could practically feel his heart melting by the expression he bore on his face.
He reached down and much to the queens surprise, scooped the peasant girl up into his arms, bringing her to his eye level.

"Yes little lady?" He smiled, and it was one of those mind bending, earth shattering smiles she remwmbered that he was capable of. A sight she thought she had long forgotten.

"Are you going to make the bad men leave Aelford?" The girl asked, unfazed by the weight of the fact that the arrogant, self absorbed prince was holding her delicately in his arms, her, a dirty, a lowly peasant.

"Like your good Queen Adelaide has just said, I am going to try."
He reassured her.
Adelaide was flabbergasted at what she just heard, and her jaw raped slightly just to prove it.
Those words; Good, Queen, and Adelaide, all in the same sentence.

"But for you, little angel, I promise to try my very hardest." He set her down and she ran off with the biggest grin on her small face, right back to her mother.

"Your treatment of that child was uncharacteristically kind of you." Adelaide commented later, once they were out of earshot of the peasants.

"I know." He shrugged, realizing it to be the truth.
"Since I put her down I have had the strangest desire to go round up a white horse." He finished with a chuckle.

This joke was the first one to actually make her giggle, and the pure sound it didn't fail to surprise him. Looking over at her, he nearly did a double take, because for a moment she looked like her old self, the innocent girl he had come to wooe and then deceive. A small flush of color had returned to her cheeks, and her green eyes, which since his return had looked like a darkened forest, now shone like the brilliant emeralds that they once were.
Her striking beauty, which he had never thought to notice before, it caught him off gaurd.

"Your jacket..."
She noted, reaching out to brush the dirt from his side, where the child's muddy shoe had touched him.

"It's only dirt."
He shrugged, trying to hide his surprise at her familiar action.
A wall had broken between them, and that small child seemed to be the one who wielded the battering ram.
The tension between them, one that always seemed so heavy you could smell it, felt much lighter. From the corner of his eye he watched her, everything suddenly felt so clean, clear and strange.

Adelaide herself was again taken back.
"That is so strange to hear you say. If I can recall you used to bathe twice daily and change your attire double that."
She teased him for the first time, he had been almost obsessively clean.

"My the floor of my cell was nothing but dirt, hard, nasty dirt."
He shook his head.
"It got on everything, even my food, and it always seemed to choke the air. I got over my need to bathe and change every five minutes when I didn't do either for over half a year."

When he explained his time incarcerated, it didn't feel like the pity trip it had been before, instead it only felt like a simple explanation of a fact.
She realized, with a strange sort of loathing, that his time in the dungeon had in fact changed him, if at least a little, and she could no longer hate him with the intensity that she had before. This seemed to bother her, as her hatred for him was one of the few things she had left.

They walked for the first time in a comfortable silence for a few more moments before he spoke up again.
"How you spoke of me to that child was also quite suprising."

"Oh?" Adelaide raised a brow.

"I fully expected you to say that I was the sort of Prince whose story would involve going into cahoots with the dragon, rather than slaying it."
Iolas smiled, but their was a level of seriousness to his statement.

For some reason this caused Adelaide to smile again.
"That is where you are wrong, dear Prince," she grinned.
"In this story you are the dragon."

Soon it was time for Adelaide to return back to her chambers,
She pulled her cloak tighter around herself as they walked through the garden, passing several children who were having a snowball fight in the courtyard.
A snowball came whizzing onto our path and struck Iolas square in the stomach. The culprit, a small boy of maybe 9, came running over.

"My humblest apologies your Grace." called out one little boy fearfully, dropping to one knee. "I didn't mean to hit you, and I apologise from the bottom of my heart,"
He bowed his head in shame.
"You may have me whipped as you see fit my Lord." The boy declared with a slight tremble.

"You wished to be punished?" Asked the Prince, scooping up a handful of snow and packing it into a tight ball. "Very well then, start running."
He chuckled like a teenager and chased the boy, armed with the ball of white fluff, around the hedges of the garden. He and the boy started laughing, and as the boy ran away, Iolas gave chase. The two ran around the grounds laughing and playing.

Adelaide sat down onto one of the marble benches, watching the scene.

Out of nowhere, a ball of cold snow hit her square in the face, knocking her backwards and completely off of her seat. Iolas quickly stood up, solemn faced from the snow barricade he was crouched behind.

"I'm so, so sorry Adelaide!" He pleaded, hands up in surrender.
The children stopped playing and had all gone silent, watching in fear of what the Queen might do.

Adelaide got up onto her knees, and for the first time in months, she laughed; real laughter, genuine, wholehearted, loud and uncontrollable. The warm sound quickly filled the courtyard and struck the walls to be carried all the way through Isenbrook.

"Oh, you will be sorry!" She threatened playfully, grabbing a fist full of snow and tossing it towards him with as much force as she could muster. For a slice of afternoon, gone was her pain, her hatred, and turmoil, her only concern became pelting Iolas, and the rest of the children with snowballs.

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A/N: HAPPY TUESDAY EVERYONE!
I hope you enjoyed this extra super long chapter. It took me pretty much all week and I'm so happy with how it turned out.
Please dont forget to show it some love by tapping that pretty star.
I would love to see this rise up that historical fiction ranking as well.
I cannot wait to hear your thoughts in the comment section. Reading them is my favorite part of the week.

Till next time. All my love.
-QueenOfGeeks