Adgar came to an abrupt stop as he stood in front of the Infirmary door. The king prayed silently, pleading for the gods to protect the queen, his beloved wife, from death's unforgiving grasp. As he slowly reached for the doorknob, his hand wavered.

Why isn't he opening the door? Olaf thought as he stood next to the king.

As if hearing the guard's thoughts, the king broke free from his trance—grasping the doorknob tightly—and opened the door.

The emotions that had gripped the king earlier had come back full-force as he took in the sight before him. At the end of the room, his unconscious wife and daughter were lying supine on adjacent medical beds. Although the princess did not appear to have any injuries, the queen wasn't as fortunate. Numerous trails of blood ran across her nightgown, smearing it a deep shade of scarlet. What troubled him the most was the blood-soaked bindings around the woman's neck.

The doctor attending the queen looked up. "Your Majesty—"

"What is Anna's condition? Has Idunn's bleeding stopped? Will they live?" the king interrupted frantically.

"Anna is perfectly fine. She doesn't have any injuries, yet I am unsure of why she is unconscious. It's presumably due to exhaustion or stress from the recent events," the doctor reassured.

He then paused and lowered his gaze. "The queen, however, has suffered a deep incision on the left side of her neck, severing a major artery. Although the bleeding has slowed significantly after the bindings, her pulse is becoming increasingly faint by the minute." The man cleared his throat before respectfully meeting Adgar's bloodshot eyes.

"I'm so sorry, Your Majesty. There is almost no chance she will survive. Even with Queen Idunn's magic enhancing her resilience, she has already lost too much blood."

Adgar hurried over to Idunn's side, clasping her soft hand in his own. Rivers of tears flowed unabashedly down his face. Gods, no! Stay with me, Idunn! Please, I… "I love you," the king whispered forlornly and placed a gentle kiss on his wife's cheek.

It was but a few moments later when the Queen of Desera drew her last breath.

At that precise moment, the king's whole world came crashing down. Something snapped inside him, filling his soul with waves of insurmountable grief. His queen had a heart of pure gold, selflessly putting others before herself on countless occasions, and yet her life was selfishly snatched away by death.

Adgar would never be able to see Idunn grace him with one of her radiant smiles as her chocolate brown eyes twinkled with unbridled joy. He would never be able to see his wife stroll in the gardens, a look of absolute bliss on her face as she indulged in the wafting aroma of her favorite flowers—marigolds. He would never be able to see her do...anything, for that matter.

If only I had been there to protect you, he thought regretfully for the second time.

The king was interrupted from his musings by the sound of a door opening.

"Doctor, what is the status of…" the Captain of the Royal Guards broke off after receiving a loathing glare. "Oh, King—"

"Captain Vern," Adgar spit out venomously, "tell me, I beseech you. How is it that you and the rest of my guards egregiously failed to prevent some fiend from entering my castle and murdering my wife?!"

The captain's faced paled noticeably, struggling to hold back tears as his entire being was consumed with dread. He had served the Royal Family for over a decade, and thus hearing that the queen had died struck him. The queen's energetic, sometimes childlike demeanor had grown on the captain, to the point where he considered her as a younger sister.

Vern kneeled down. "I am beyond sorry, Your Majesty. Seven of my guards who were supposed to attend their posts on the southern side of the castle had failed to show up during the nightshift. This left the entire corridor along the south completely unguarded, allowing the two intruders to make their way to the Royal Bedroom."

"Bring me those insolent guards, right now!" the king demanded furiously.

"My guards have searched their homes, but none of them were found. We suspect that their absence was no coincidence and that they may have been conspiring with the two assassins who broke into the castle."

"Treason!? My guards, of all people, have committed treason!" Adgar grimaced before letting out a sorrowful sigh. "Arise, captain. You have served us well throughout the years, and I know you genuinely cared for my…" The king fought back his tears, but a rogue one managed to slip down his cheek.

Once Adgar regained his composure, he inquired, "Are the two men you spoke of imprisoned, or were they killed?" He could not care less for the lives of those devils, but Adgar knew he could interrogate the men to find out where their allegiance lies.

Vern slowly stood up. "The two assassins are dead. As the leader attempted to strike the crown princess, he was burnt to ash by the child's sorcery. The other man killed himself in fear of being subjected to the same fate."

King Adgar's expression changed from solemn to a mixture of shock and pride. "Anna is gifted with magic as well? I suppose that is fitting—she always did take after her mother."

"Yes, her magic was a surprise, but a welcomed one. She may not have survived without it," the captain confessed. "Furthermore, I was able to recover one of the assailant's dagger. There was a snowflake engraved on the weapon's handle, and I'm fairly confident that the symbol matches that of Arendelle's."

The previous annoyance Adgar felt towards Arendelle was miniscule compared to the absolute hatred he now had for the kingdom. "Vern, notify the members of my royal council that I will be holding a meeting right now. Also, find out if there are any other traitors amongst my guards," he said through gritted teeth.

"As you wish, Your Majesty," the captain bowed before hurrying out of the Infirmary.

As the king was making his way to the Council Room, thoughts of war appeared in his mind. Those Arendelle scum will not get away with this. If a war is what they want, a war is what they shall get.

Upon arriving at the Council Room, Adgar opened the door and was met with a table full of lords and advisors, chatting loudly amongst themselves.

"Gentlemen," he stated solemnly as he walked to his seat at the head of the table, "as you may have heard, Queen Idunn was assassinated by a pair of men carrying Arendelle's symbols. Before this, the eastern and northern villages in Desera have been subjected to numerous barbarous attacks from Arendelle."

Adgar paused and sipped on a glass of water that was placed before him, trying his utmost best to conceal his emotions. "I cannot let these actions go unpunished. Our peace treaty was supposed to end our conflicts, but it seems that Arendelle is capable of only violence! So, I have thought it over, and I plan to prepare Desera for war."

Instantly, the room burst into an uproar as one side of the members voiced their discontent with the notion while the other side expressed their approval.

"Quiet!" the king bellowed. "If you wish to speak out your concerns, you will do so respectfully and in an orderly fashion."

"King Adgar." An old noble stood up as he garnered the room's attention. "I understand that you are grieving for Her Majesty's death, but it wouldn't be wise to let your feelings get in the way of your reason. Even if we disregard the fact that Arendelle's royal family has magic, our navy is only half the size of theirs. The bitter truth is that we wouldn't stand a chance."

"Is there anyone else in the room who agrees with Lord Varon's stance on the matter?"

A little over half the room stood up in support of the noble's position.

Adgar scanned the faces of those who stood up, shocked to see his spymaster among them. "Kai, you agree as well?" Adgar inquired in exasperation.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty, but it isn't probable that Desera will be successful should we go to war. Besides the points Lord Varon made, our closest ally, Corona, is still recovering from their recent civil war."

"You may be correct, Kai," the king sighed in defeat. He then addressed the rest of the council, "Moreover, in three day's time, a...f-funeral will be held." The monarch seemed as if he was contemplating something, before he choked, "You all are dismissed."

As the royal council members were leaving, the monarch remained fixed in his seat, dejectedly staring at the cup in front of him. I don't need their approval to avenge you, my love. But... I can't willingly throw away the lives of my people, knowing that we don't stand a chance in war.

"Your Majesty, may I propose a suggestion?"

The king looked up and smiled slightly. "Kai, of course. What do you propose?"

"Although we may not stand a chance against Arendelle directly, what if we took an indirect approach? I suggest we feign obliviousness towards Arendelle and their responsibility for Queen Idunn's murder."

After receiving a perplexed, aggravated look from Adgar, the spymaster added, "Let me elaborate. We could maintain our relations with the kingdom for now. This would prevent Arendelle from sensing our hostility towards them, benefiting us with the element of surprise. After some time has passed, I could travel to Arendelle under the guise of a noble, along with a score of guards, and build the Royal Family's trust. When the moment is right, we will assassinate the royals. This should cause Arendelle to fall victim to anarchy."

The king contemplated the proposal, considering all of the upsides and the downsides. Although he would have to risk the loss of some guards and his loyal spymaster, this plan would allow him to preserve the lives of numerous Deserians while providing the opportunity to take down Arendelle once and for all.

"I accept your proposal."

A/N Hi everyone, thanks for reading this chapter, and I hope you all liked it! Please feel free to leave a review regarding any questions or critiques you may have! Your comments mean a lot to me :) Also, I won't be able to update until around Christmas, but after that, I should be updating again bi-weekly or weekly.

Edit: Sorry you all, I actually may postpone the next chapter until early January. It's college app season over here, and I have 15 applications to finish :(

Edit #2: I hate having to do this, but I have to postpone the next update for a little longer. Sorry! :( Life just got extremely busy, but I will definitely continue this story when I get the chance! I have way too many ideas planned to just discontinue this story now ;) I hope you all are doing well! :)