She missed reading with him. She missed teasing him. Hell, she even missed fighting with him.
But whenever she accidentally made eye contact with him or looked up to find him looking at her, she'd be reminded of what he'd done. How he kept something so....so vital from her. And now, she couldn't stop herself from questioning every single thing that had happened between them.
Someone once told her that love didn't exist without trust, not just romantic love, but family love and friendship. No kind of love was real without trust.
And she couldn't trust him.
Some days it was easy. She barely saw him, and by the time he came to their quarters, she was fast asleep.
On other days, it felt like pure torture. She'd look up and see him watching her from the other side of the room. Or she'd find him reading a book in their room, his eyebrows knitted in frustration as he tried to figure something out. Her heart would skip a beat, and she'd find herself longing for what could have been. What should have been.
One morning, she woke up, and an unnatural light was coming through the windows. A light she'd never seen before.
She made her way to the window and looked outside, gasping a little.
Everything was coated in white. Little specks of white dust were falling from the sky.
Snow.
She'd read about snow. Seen the pictures. But none of that did the actual concept of it any justice. It was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
And it was everywhere. On the ground, on the trees.
"What are you looking at?" Lex asked from behind her.
She jumped a little; she hadn't heard him get up. "It's snowing," she said like maybe she was wrong.
"Oh, wow. Yeah. It's snowing," he said, joining her at the window. "Do you want to go outside?"
She was a little surprised. It'd been a long time since Lex asked her to do anything other than to pass the wine at dinner.
A part of her really wanted to say no, hoping to hurt him a little. But she didn't think it would, so she agreed.
They bundled up in their coats and boots and long-sleeved shirts. At the last minute, he draped a thick red scarf around her neck, and they made their way outside.
There was a group of kids playing in the big field behind the palace. Aria had seen them around; they were in the throne room for every single meal. She'd even tutored a few of them, but she wasn't really sure who they were or why they lived at the palace.
She took a few steps and watched in wonder as her boots sunk into the snow, leaving footprints as she walked. She bent down to touch it.
Soft.
She looked up and watched the snowflakes falling from the sky. On an impulse, she opened her mouth and felt a snowflake land and melt on her tongue. She closed her eyes and let a few more land on her face and hair before turning around to look at Lex.
He'd been watching her, but when she met his gaze, he turned away and looked around, taking the scene in.
After a while, he went over and talked to the kids for a bit. There were four boys and two girls, and they all seemed pretty young. Probably between the ages of six to ten.
Eventually, he made his way back to Aria.
"Who are those kids?" she asked, "How come they live here?"
"They're...they're orphans."
"Oh," she said, "I thought you said there was an orphanage in the village where you grew up? That's where the kids were sent?"
"It was," he said, looking over at the kids again. "After I became king, I moved them here."
"Oh," she said again. She couldn't think of a better response.
She looked over at him. His usually tan cheeks were red from the cold. So was the tip of his nose. Snowflakes landed in his dark, curly hair, and for a second, she wanted to run her hands through it.
She pushed the urge down as she went over to help the kids make something they called a 'snowman,' which really didn't resemble a man at all. It was just three different sized balls of snow with sticks for arms and rocks for eyes.
As she watched one of the girls place rocks on the snowman's face, giving him a smile, she felt something hit her back.
It was definitely snow.
She looked around and noticed that Lex and a few of the other boys were across from Aria and the other kids, making their own snowman. It had to be one of them.
She turned back to her own snowman, determined that her groups had to look better than Lex's.
Just as they were finishing up, she felt another ball of snow hit her in the back.
She turned around again, but again, Lex and the boys with him were focused on building their own snowman. Too focused, she decided.
"Who threw that?" she asked.
"Threw what?" one of the boys said, trying to keep from smiling.
Aria narrowed her eyes.
She turned back to her snowman, and not even a minute later, she was hit with another snowball.
"It was him," one of the girls yelled. "Your Grace! You should not throw snowballs at our lady; it isn't kind!" She couldn't have been older than six; her serious, exasperated tone made Aria smile. She was adorable.
"It was him?" Aria asked her, pointing at Lex.
"Yes, m'lady," the little girl said.
"Should we get him back?”
"I dunno, m'lady," the girl said, shrugging.
"Why don't you call me, Aria?" Aria suggested as she picked up some snow and formed a little ball.
She rose to her feet and took a few steps towards Lex. He and the three boys with him had their backs turned, working on their snowman.
It felt great to see the snowball hit him in the back of the head.
He turned and looked at Aria, who only raised an eyebrow and pursed
