"I do not wish for things to escalate into that kind of scenario." Emmelyn pressed her lips together. There was an uneasy expression on her face and she shook her head. Revelation upon revelation just came and she was still in disbelief that Raphael was a god.

"Perhaps the council of gods in Cretea may intervene," Loriel said. "I am sure that there are those who may be just and look at how Emmelyn was taken advantage of in the situation."

"Or they will not and turn a blind eye because that Ice Prince is one of them." King Mars spat.

Emmelyn suddenly narrowed her eyes and looked at Maxim in disbelief. "Hey…! How did you know all this?"

Loriel smiled mysteriously and replied, "I heard things through the grapevines."

His answer didn't satisfy Emmelyn's curiosity, but she couldn't force the man to explain further. This all sounded so mysterious.

Also… how did Maxim stay so young after all these years?

So many questions filled Emmelyn's mind. However, she set them aside because her most important priority now was her daughter. She must get to the bottom of this issue.

***

Right behind the door was Harlow whose heart was beating like thunder. She tried to be good and let the adults go to have a private talk, but she suddenly decided to follow them and listen in to the conversation.

This was regarding her, and her future husband. So, she really wanted to know what happened. When she heard Emmelyn and Loriel discuss the 'ice prince' and the fact that her mother knew the ice prince, suddenly made Harlow sick to her stomach.

Her fists were clenched together and she felt a rage consume her.

"Am I just some object to be bartered?" Princess Harlow's eyes flashed open and she stormed down the hallway. She understood that this Ice Prince asked her mother for the most valuable possession she had, and the man thought it was her?

How presumptuous! 

The idea of the council of gods making a proper judgment seemed almost too good to be true for Harlow. More than that, she heard her mother crying inside of the room and that enraged her even further.

"How dare they make my mother cry?" 

Harlow angrily stomped her way outside of the castle and stood out to see the night stars twinkling in the skies. Over the forest and in the hills, her dragon lay there, already too big to stay in the castle.

She pursed her lips and then went to her room. Harlow grabbed for her quiver, bow, and arrows. The young woman assembled fast and quickly on whatever came to her mind, the things that she could bring to a journey. There was an urgency in her actions, 

Harlow knew that if somebody were to see her then they would suddenly try to stop her. The Princess exchanged her dress and tiara for a practical outfit and then slung her bag along with her weapons.

Before anybody else started looking for the crown princess… and she knew that those in the ballroom would have already noticed her disappearance, Harlow rushed out of the castle and ran for the hills.

"I know my mother and father will want to do something about this," Harlow huffed as she finally saw her beautiful dark blue dragon slumbering in the hillside. She patted its back gently and started to wake it up.

"However, it's a personal matter for me and I refuse to only stand aside and wait for them to take care of it for me. I'm already eighteen," she said and watched Icecube's wings expand as the creature yawned and expelled a frost breath.

Harlow gently eased her dragon down on fours and then she clambered up to its back. She quickly pulled out a map for a moment and then started checking it with some difficulty.

"Cretea… isn't anywhere on the map, but considering that the person talking is the former king of Summeria, I can deduce that the location of Cretea is across an entirely new continent." 

Was this the adventure that Harlow had always wanted for herself?

Not exactly.

Harlow always imagined that she would be traveling the world and enjoying wondrous sights. She didn't think that she would be doing the chasing and hunting for an obnoxious man who saw her as his bride.

However, before Harlow could even make a decision and chart out a path for her and Icecube, the dragon suddenly took off into the air to the princess' surprise and she quickly held on to the dragon.

"Hey, I haven't made a plan yet." She coaxed the dragon to start landing or to at least stay still in the air, but somehow, Icecube started to move forward and then launched into the air and took off in a specific direction. 

Harlow had made up her mind to find the presumptuous man. Since she didn't know where Cretea was located, she decided to follow her dragon as it flew excitedly toward the east.

She thought maybe Icecube knew the way home. She didn't expect the journy to be really long and arduous. The dragon flew all the way to Summeria which was an entire continent away from Draec. However, with the help of the dragon, the nonstop flight made them finally reach their destination.

"You really seem to know where we're going huh?" Harlow said. She was lucky enough that she had packed some rations, and when they flew across the sea, she ended up fishing when her dragon flew low to the waters.

For some time, the princess experienced what it was like to collect drinking water from a rain cloud and she braved through the temperature of the night and day. It was a surreal and strange experience.

Harlow loved the idea of being outdoors and when they reached the nearest civilization, she immediately halted her dragon to buy some supplies and she loved the fact that she wasn't recognized as a princess.

  After several days traveling with Icecube, Harlow started to enjoy the view and she secretly hoped her parents wouldn't send a huge army to look for her. This was something that she needed to deal with herself.

At first, she was motivated by her anger and the indignance of being proclaimed as the future bride of someone but after traveling for some days and then finally reaching the continent beyond hers, she was filled with some passing regret.

"Ah, I wish I had told my mother and father before I left," Harlow sighed and crossed her arms.

She eyed the mountain peaks in the distance and they looked extremely intimidating and more than them was what lay at the top.

Mount Tempest held the Ice Castle and Harlow's dragon flew towards it.

.

.

____________________

From Missrealitybites:

I hope you enjoy the mass release today. See you at another event or mass release. ^^

PS: Golden tickets votes will be doubled during this month (until Christmas and New Year). So, if you send this book 1 golden ticket, the system will match it, and the book will receive 2 golden tickets.

If you wish to support me, you can send your golden tickets to my new werewolf book <The King's Wife Is The Alpha' Mate>. So,  it can reach a new audience.

However, if you really like this book and only want to vote for your golden tickets here, that's fine too.. I am grateful either way. ^^

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