Miss Frost Says I Do

by Kristen Painter

  I laughed. “Too late. We already know vampires are real.”

  Sin grinned. “Well, some of us do. Which one do you want to see?”

  “I don’t care. Whichever one starts next is fine with me.”

  “Then that’s what we’ll see.”

  Turned out to be Three by Night. We—meaning me—loaded up on kettle corn, Junior Mints, Raisinets, Swedish Fish, and Sno-Caps. Plus, a large cherry slush. Sin got nachos and a Coke. He also helped me carry everything up to the royal box, where we settled into the plush recliners and disappeared into the movie for an hour and forty-five minutes.

  It was blissful. But when the movie ended, reality came crashing back. The credits rolled on by, but I stayed in my chair.

  Sin looked over. “Are you okay?”

  I shook my head, on the verge of tears for no reason I could name. “That was fun, but I am still incredibly stressed, and I hate it.”

  “I hate it too. So let’s elope. We can get a flight to Vegas and be married tomorrow.”

  I smiled at him, the urge to cry wiped away by how understanding he was. “I would love that, but it would cause more problems than I want to think about.”

  “I had a feeling.” He brushed a strand of hair off my cheek. “Babe, you’re never going to make it through this without some help. We have a contractor for the apartment renovation. Why don’t you hire a wedding planner to help with the rest?”

  I groaned. “Royals don’t do that. For one thing, it would mean an outside influence on a royal wedding, which would be frowned on big-time. For another, it’s not tradition. I mean, we already have people for everything, so it’s supposed to be easy, but…” I shook my head. “It’s so not.”

  Sin pondered that a moment. “What if you didn’t exactly hire a wedding planner, but you just happened to bring a friend in who just happened to be really good at organizing this kind of stuff?”

  I squinted at him, amused by what he was suggesting. “You’re not even officially a royal yet, and already you’re figuring out ways around the system? You’re going to do just fine in the North Pole. Do you have someone in mind? Because it sure seems like you do.”

  He grinned, then shrugged a little. “There’s only one person I can think of who could wrangle this wedding business into order. I’m sure she’d be happy to leave Nocturne Falls for a trip to the NP if you asked. But I have a feeling you already know who I’m talking about.”

  At the same time, the same name came out of both our mouths.

  “Birdie Caruthers.”

  I owed Juniper, the elf who’d taken over for me as manager at the toy shop in Nocturne Falls, for getting Birdie on the snow globe so quickly. I’d have to send Juni a pound of Aunt Martha’s famous eggnog fudge as a thank-you. That was always well received, whatever the occasion.

  Birdie, being the awesome and amazing person she was, needed no convincing to make the trip to the North Pole.

  When her squealing subsided, I was still laughing. My smile was making my cheeks hurt. “You’re sure they can spare you at the station? Can you even get the time off?”

  She waved the question away like I was silly for asking. “Oh, honey, for one thing, I’ve been training a girl to take over for me while I’m up there for the wedding, so I already have someone to fill in. This’ll be a good chance for her to get stuck in. Secondly, I have so much vacation time squirreled away that this trip is going to make me money. Now, how do I get there?”

  I gave her the rundown on getting a flight to Anchorage, then where to find the portal that would lead her to the NP. All with the promise that I’d have transportation waiting. Which I would. I just had to put in a request for one of the guys from the vehicle pool.

  “That sounds great. I guess I’ll see you in two days, unless there’s some issue getting a flight, which I don’t think there will be. How many first class seats from Atlanta to Anchorage do you think they sell, anyway?” She laughed, cheeks rosy with happiness. “This is going to be a blast.”

  “I’m so glad you think so.”

  “My dear, planning a wedding is no different than running this station. You’ll see. You just let Birdie take care of everything.”

  “That’s my intention. See you soon. And thank you.”

  She winked. “You betcha.”

  We hung up our respective globes, and for the first time in a long time, I let out a sigh of relief. Birdie was going to be exactly the help I needed. I’d get her a room in the palace close to mine. Which meant I needed to let Ezreal know so he could take care of the arrangements.

  As the new palace steward, it was his job to organize such things. Since he’d been promoted to the position from his former job as my father’s office manager some months ago, he hadn’t had any guests to deal with.

  Birdie would be his first. I guessed that’s what you’d call a baptism by fire. Not that Birdie was difficult. Not in any way, shape, or form. But she was a genuine character and definitely had her own opinions about things. I thought Ezreal would enjoy her.

  And I had no doubt that she would enjoy Ezreal. The half winter elf, half ice troll was the kind of guy Birdie would probably refer to as eye candy. Although, she was seriously dating Jack Van Zant, so I didn’t think she’d do more than flirt a little.

  Either way, it would be interesting to see her in action in the North Pole. I wasn’t sure how she’d handle this level of cold. She was a werewolf, so the chill shouldn’t bother her too much, but then again, she was a Georgia girl and used to the heat.

  Well, the palace had a vast supply of warm clothing for any guest who hadn’t packed properly.

  Birdie would be fine. I’d see to that personally.

  For the next two days, Sin and I played hooky from wedding-planning duties. Any appointment that came up, we canceled with an excuse. We also made ourselves scarce, spending time holed up in one of our apartments (which were across the hall from each other), bingeing some TV series we were behind on, playing with the cats until they were tired of all their toys, or sneaking out and taking long drives in the crawler to the polar forest just to admire the beauty and stillness of the place.

  One night, when we were supposed to be auditioning quartets to play at the ceremony, we canceled and took an evening drive to see the northern lights play across the sky. We brought a picnic basket full of goodies from the kitchen and sat for hours, watching the twisting ribbons of color brighten the heavens.

  We both knew we were shirking our responsibilities, but those two days of downtime were magical. We were reminded of why we fell in love, and the time off was like a giant recharge of our collective batteries. Having Birdie on the way helped too. But the break from the wedding madness couldn’t have come at a better time.

  Instead of sending a driver for Birdie, Sin and I picked her up in a crawler. Not only because she deserved the personal touch and I was eager to see her, but because Sin and I had arranged a little surprise for her.

  I threw my arms open wide when she came through the Anchorage portal at the travel station on the outskirts of town. “Birdie!”

  Her eyes lit up when she saw me. “Hi, Princess.” She hugged me right back.

  Sin collected her luggage. One bag and a carry-on. “Is this all?”

  She nodded as she released me. “What did you expect? I’m not Zsa Zsa Gabor. Not that you probably have any idea who that is.”

  Sin gave her a look. “Hey, I’ve seen Green Acres.”

  I laughed. “Eva Gabor was in Green Acres.”

  “Well, I’m not her either,” Birdie said.

  “No, you’re not a Gabor sister, but you are a snappy dresser. I expected you’d have more luggage too.”

  She grinned. “I plan on doing a little shopping while I’m here. I don’t have many winter clothes, so I just brought the basics and figured I’d pick up whatever else I needed. You do have shopping up here, don’t you?”

  “Do we? Oh, you just wait.” I was so thrilled to have her here. “Welcome to the
North Pole, Birdie. Come on, we’re going to give you a little tour on the way to the palace.”

  I let her sit up front with Sin, then I narrated all the important sights and locations as we passed them.

  She was enthralled, which I loved, because it was important to me that she liked my kingdom. What could I say? The role of future ruler was really settling on me. And I loved this place, even more so now that I had Sin here with me.

  In that moment, I could’ve burst with the love and pride I felt for my home and my life and the man I was going to share it with. The wedding planning was a giant pain in the backside, but Birdie was here, and we would get through this.

  Before I could blink, Sin and I would be married and living our day-to-day life. I needed to find a way to appreciate all the moments that were coming up, because they weren’t going to be repeated again.

  The thought calmed me and filled me with a new resolve for what lay before us.

  Birdie shook her head as we passed the town square. “This place is magical. I mean, I know it’s literally magical, but it’s like a Christmas dream come true. You two are so lucky to live here.”

  I smiled and put a hand on Sin’s shoulder. “We are.”

  Sin glanced back, eyes gleaming with the same kind of pride I felt. “We sure are. But we’re really glad you came, Birdie. This wedding stuff is getting to Jayne.” He shook his head. “I can’t have my baby stressed out like this.”

  Birdie looked at me. “Bad, huh?”

  I sighed. “It is. I’m sad to say that nowhere in my years of training to take the crown was I prepared for the chaos of a royal wedding. And it goes without saying that I love my mother and my aunt beyond words, but they both have big visions of what this wedding should look like, and I don’t know how to tell them that their ideas don’t jive with my ideas. I don’t want to hurt their feelings. I know how excited about this wedding they are.”

  Birdie was nodding enthusiastically. “Honey, you just leave it to me. All they can see is how much they love you and want you to have every good thing possible. They just need an outside opinion to show them that sometimes less really is more. And letting the bride have her day her way means everyone’s happy.”

  “Well, good luck.” If she could actually achieve that, I’d make her an honorary citizen of the realm.

  Sin turned the crawler away from the palace and toward our predetermined destination.

  Birdie didn’t miss a beat. She pointed. “Isn’t that the palace over there?”

  “It is,” Sin answered. “But Jayne thought you might want to dive into the wedding business right away.”

  Birdie turned around so she could see me, and her face lit up. “Are we going cake tasting? Please say we’re going cake tasting. I could go for something to eat.”

  I laughed. “No, not yet, but that is on the list of things we need to do. I think there’s already an appointment set up too. But right now, there’s something much more pressing.”

  “Oh?” She seemed riveted. I guess she really was cut out for this.

  “I need to give my approval to the Crystal Carriage that will drive me, then the both of us as a married couple, through the streets. The approval is purely ceremonial. No royal in the history of the carriage’s use has ever not approved it, but it still has to be done. I wanted Sin to come with me to see the carriage, then I thought you might get a kick out of it too. Is that all right? We’re headed to one of the transportation buildings where it’s stored.”

  “All right? It sounds wonderful. It’s a very romantic piece of North Pole history, isn’t it?”

  “It is. My parents rode in it when they were married, and my grandparents before them and so on.” I looked at Sin. “And someday, our children will ride in it with their spouses.”

  I could see him smile in the rearview mirror.

  Birdie put her hand to her cheek. “You’re making me misty.” She dropped her hand. “But I’d still like cake. Just saying.”

  “There’s cake at the palace, I promise. And it’s an all-you-can-eat, twenty-four seven, situation.”

  She turned back around and sighed a happy sigh.

  But when we pulled into the parking lot of the Transportation Division, I could tell she was a little underwhelmed. The simple metal buildings were enormous but didn’t look like a whole lot. They were about as utilitarian as, well, any other government storage buildings might be.

  I leaned in. “It gets better inside.”

  Her surprised expression told me she hadn’t expected me to pick up on what she was thinking. “Oh, I’m sure, Princess.”

  We went into the third building on the left, where we were met by Tianna Silverleaf, head of the Royal Transportation Division.

  She bowed. “Welcome, Your Highness, Consort Sinclair, and your guest. I am honored to show you the Crystal Carriage for your approval.”

  “Thank you, Tianna. This is Birdie Caruthers. She’s our wedding advisor.”

  Tianna smiled and clutched a clipboard to her chest. “How lovely to meet you, Ms. Caruthers.”

  Birdie’s entire being expanded slightly at her new title. “And you.”

  I gave Tianna a little nod. “We’re ready when you are.”

  “Then let me lead the way.”

  She tapped a code into a keypad on a nearby door, then opened it and stood waiting for us to come through. “Welcome to Hangar Nine.”

  Stepping into Hangar Nine was hard to describe. Not the building itself. It was in all ways a typical vehicle storage facility with several sets of large garage doors, overhead mercury vapor lighting that cast a blue-white gleam on everything, and a polished concrete floor that was easy to clean and showed off what was kept there.

  But the vehicles Hangar Nine held? That’s where it got interesting.

  Birdie’s small gasp was testament to that. She pointed. “Is that…what I think it is?”

  I nodded at the large antique red-and-gold sled closest to us. Its black leather seats were cracked and worn from age and its brass a little tarnished, but it was still a beautiful sight. “The very first one. Hasn’t flown in centuries, but it probably still could.”

  Sinclair shook his head. “Wow. That is really something.” He looked around. “How many sleighs are here?”

  “All of them,” Tianna answered. “When they’re retired, they come to us for storage and preservation.”

  His brows furrowed as he looked at me. “Seems like there should be a dedicated museum for that. Don’t you think?”

  I shrugged. “I guess that’s kind of what this is. Except it’s not open to the public. Which is sad, when I think about it.”

  Tianna wrapped both arms around her clipboard. “We used to give tours to some of the school and charity groups, but that hasn’t been for a long while now.”

  “That’s a shame.” Sinclair looked genuinely upset the tours weren’t still happening.

  “Why did they stop?” I asked.

  Tianna seemed more than happy to answer. “The superintendent of schools ended the program. That was before my time here, though. Maybe twenty-five years ago? But I don’t know why.”

  “Let me guess,” Sinclair said. “Budget concerns?”

  I made a face. “Not in the NP. Our schools are top-notch. No expenses spared.”

  Birdie frowned. “Then why cancel the tours? I would think the children would love to see this part of their history.”

  I had no answer. “We can certainly ask my father or my uncle. They should know. But we should get to the reason we came.” Especially since Birdie wanted cake. “The carriage.”

  “Of course.” Tianna gestured toward the rear of the building. “Right this way.”

  We followed her past years of sleds, some original crawler replicas, a bicentennial biplane that my uncle had once driven in a parade, a few other ceremonial carriages, and a custom-made Harley-Davidson Fat Boy, designed especially for my uncle, until finally we came to the one and only Crystal Carriage.

 
It was shaped like an egg on its side, covered in irregular facets that made it seem part gem, part shards of ice. The bottom half was frosted, but then turned clear at the midpoint, allowing the riders inside to be visible, although we couldn’t see inside right now because the carriage sat up on an ornate silver cage. That cage was supported by equally ornate silver wheels that were as tall as Sin. All of the silver bits were inset with more shards of gleaming North Pole crystal.

  There was nothing else like the carriage in all the realm. Or anywhere, I’d venture to guess.

  Tianna clicked a small remote attached to the top of her clipboard, and spotlights came on, making the carriage sparkle like an enormous jeweled brooch.

  “Butter my biscuit,” Birdie muttered. Her mouth remained open.

  I had to admit, it was really something. So many years had passed since I’d seen it in person that even my recollection of it had dimmed. “You can say that again.”

  Sin ran a hand through his hair. “We’re going to ride in that?”

  Tianna nodded. “While it might not look like it has an opening, there are gull-wing-style panels on both sides that allow access.” She smiled. “The lights show it off a bit, but when you see it in the sun—”

  Birdie snorted. “In the sun, that thing will blind people.”

  I chuckled. “Winter elves are used to the flash of sun on ice and snow. Which is probably why we like sparkly things so much.”

  “And sugar,” Birdie said. “It’s also kind of sparkly and looks like snow.”

  “True.” Boy, she really did have cake on the brain. “Maybe we can swing by one of the bakeries on the way back to the—”

  Sin cleared his throat. “Before you two start a carb-forward shopping list, maybe we can finish what we came here to do?”

  There was amusement in his eyes. I shook my head. “Such a taskmaster.” I looked at Tianna. “I just need to sign off on the paperwork?”

  “Sure, if you’re done with your inspection.”