"Come with me, Viggo," the Snow King said. "I will show you to your new home." The man followed him slowly across the icy wastes to the palace of ice that lay before them.
The palace gates were made of winds, and as Viggo entered, he heard the winds behind him change. He tried to turn around and leave, but the winds that guarded the gate blew only inward. Escape was impossible.
"You cannot leave," the Snow King told him. "You may gain your freedom or you might die. You belong to me until then."
Viggo turned around and the ice around his heart grew thicker as he gazed at the Snow King's dwelling. The walls were made of driven snow, icicles grew from the ceiling and the arctic air seared Viggo's lungs with every breath he drew. There was a lake of frozen, cracked ice where the King had his throne and held court among the polar bears who served him. The whole palace was lit by the beautiful Northern lights, but their fire was as cold as the rest of the Northlands.
"Please," Viggo begged, "let me go."
"You may earn your freedom," the Snow King said coldly, "if you can spell a word among these ice shards." He showed Viggo a silver-gilt frame which contained hundreds of splinters of ice.
"What word?"
"The word that means how long you will be mine. I've told you already." The King's arctic eyes glittered. "Of course, you are likely to die before you work the puzzle. My toys cannot tolerate my love for long and they leave me. If you figure it out, I will give you your freedom and the whole world." He turned to walk away. "No one has ever solved the puzzle. Follow me, Viggo."
The King led Viggo to his bed which was covered in white furs. He quickly disrobed and ordered Viggo to do the same. Viggo obeyed, but one corner of his brain was questioning why he was doing whatever this creature of ice asked of him. But the lucid part of his mind was small and quickly being overwhelmed by the ice spreading from his heart.
"Look at me, Viggo."
Viggo stared at the marble body before him. The Snow King seemed to be a perfect facsimile of a human male in form, but his skin was so pale he seemed bloodless. The only visible colors were the peridot eyes and the golden hair.
"Have you ever lain with another?" the King asked. Viggo shook his head, oddly embarrassed by his lack of experience, and intimidated by the chilly perfection of the Snow King.
"No matter," said the King, pulling Viggo forward for a kiss that tangled their tongues together. Viggo gasped as the cold tongue slid into his mouth. The King slowly pushed the man backwards onto the bed.
Viggo's skin was a tawny color from summers spent working outdoors, but wherever the blond King touched him, the color in his skin leached away. Soon the ice creature had covered all of Viggo's skin and the man was as pale as the Winter King. But every touch brought both fire and ice to the mortal in his arms.
When the King finally took him, Viggo felt himself pierced by a shaft of ice, and the frost around his heart grew thicker. But his blood was boiling with a desire that frightened him. The King stroked Viggo's manhood with a brisk rhythm and Viggo cried out as his orgasm gushed out under the King's hand. The Snow King came a moment later as he emptied himself into Viggo's unresisting body.
Viggo lay trying to regain his breath, but the King rose from the bed, "I have business to attend and I must not use you too much, for my love is freezing to mortals such as you."
"Not freezing," Viggo mumbled, "burning."
The King looked startled and then reached out to cup Viggo's face. He stared intently at the blue-eyed man. "What can you see, with your eyes as frozen as the Moon? Can it be that you truly see me?" Viggo tried to drop his eyes, but the King held him in his gelid green gaze. "No matter," said the King after a moment and he left the palace to bring strange snow to the southern lands.
Viggo adjusted to life in the ice palace. He had no concept of how much time had passed, and the lump of stone that his brain had become was not curious. Deep down, however, he sensed that it had been quite some time. His skin grew paler until it took on a blue tint from the cold. He would have died long ago from the extreme conditions in the Snow King's dwelling were it not for the passion that the King ignited in him which prevented him from freezing. Somehow he knew, though, that while the King's touch kept him alive for now, it was slowly killing him.
Viggo spent his days in front of the ice frame trying to arrange the prickly shards into the word that would set him free. His fingers were as numb as his brain as he tried to remember all the words he had ever heard. He managed to spell "cold" and "death," but the word he needed eluded his frozen mind. He had a vague memory of the Snow King whispering something in his ear, but his ice-curdled brain could not grasp the fragment. He rearranged the splinters until his fingers bled and then he would stare dazedly at the only spot of color in his pale existence.
The polar bears kept Viggo well supplied with fish and the King occasionally brought back fresher fruits for Viggo to eat. Those were the good times, when the King came home well pleased with himself and his work. Then he would cover Viggo's body with icy kisses, bringing Viggo to the peak over and over again without release. And then Viggo would tremble and shake from the hot frozen touch of the King and beg the King to take him. And after the King had allowed them both to find completion, the King would hold Viggo in his frosty embrace and tell the man stories of all the places he had seen. Viggo delighted to hear these travelers' tales about snow-covered mountains with strange wild names, things that he had never imagined growing up poor in the attic in Copenhagen.
But sometimes, the King of Winter came back from his forays to the lower latitudes in an icy rage. Sometimes the other Incarnations interfered with his work, like the time the Fire Queen had sent her lava to melt the blanket of snow that the King had carefully placed on a mountaintop. Those times the King took Viggo to bed without care. He would briskly prepare the man and then ride out his anger and lust in the yielding human body of his captive. Those times, when he was finished, the King would pull out and leave Viggo there, naked and alone, without a word of comfort. Viggo always responded to the King and found his own pleasure as well, but after the King left, Viggo would curl up, desperately trying to find warmth, vaguely ashamed that his body always rose to the King's hunger.
One night, the Snow King came home more enraged than Viggo had ever seen him. The ice creature froze two polar bears and blew up the ice lake with his power, as he ranted about those who had defied him.
"How dare that puny bishop presume to challenge me?" he shouted. "That was my glacier, I placed it there! How dare the others grant the pitiful mortal's pathetic plea?" The second polar bear turned into a large ice sculpture as the King directed another bolt of boreal power at the animal.
Viggo tried to hide before the King could turn his savage rage on his vulnerable human flesh.
"They granted me dominion over all matters of ice and winter when I accepted this task! They had no right to interfere with the lawful duties of the King of Winter!" Another shaft of power hit the throne, exploding it into a shower of ice crystals. With that, the King's rage seemed to be expended, for he ranted no more. But it had only turned inward, to become colder and more deadly.
"Viggo, come here," the King ordered.
Viggo came slowly out from behind the pile of ice where he had taken refuge from the King's fury. He trembled at the glacial tone of his captor's voice as he stood before the King.
"Drop your pants and turn around."
Viggo's hands were shaking at the fastenings as fear blossomed in his mind for the first time since the Devil's glass claimed his sight and his heart. The King made a noise of impatience and ripped the garments from Viggo's shivering frame. He turned the mortal around and bent him over. Viggo was too frozen to resist and the dread surging through him weakened him further.
The Snow King entered Viggo with one brutal thrust of his frozen member. Viggo bit back a cry, for he had never been taken so harshly.
"Move my glacier, will they?" the King ground out as he assaulted the human. "I will rape their land until it is barren and will grow no crops for generations." He gripped Viggo's hips so tightly that darker bruises flowered on Viggo's already blue skin. The man was still gasping with pain from the invasion for which he had not been prepared, when he felt the familiar fire in his blood as his body answered to the King's need.
The Snow King slammed into Viggo one more time before his orgasm overtook him and he spurted his freezing seed into Viggo's aching body. The King pulled out abruptly, dropped the man onto the ice and left the palace without a backward glance.
Viggo lay on the ice shivering from pain and his own unsated desire. The King may have been cold to him at times, but the winter creature had never been actually cruel to his human prisoner. Viggo's mind was still as dark as a stone and the ice around his heart thickened further, but finally his human reflexes woke up and his body responded to the abuse it had taken. Viggo began to cry, the lost hopeless wailing of a soul abandoned.
As sobs wracked his body and salt tears streaked down his face, Viggo huddled on the ice, still naked, with the tatters of his clothes around him. At last, the tears flowing out of his eyes loosened the shard of Devil's glass that had lodged there and then washed it away. When his keening had ended, Viggo pulled his tattered clothes around him and looked around.
Viggo gazed at the Snow King's palace with clear eyes and saw the truth behind the beauty. For the dwelling was beautiful, but as cold and barren as its master's heart.
The man stood and walked to the frame with the ice splinters. Viggo quickly spelled several words that he remembered from his previous life. It seemed that his renewed sight was thawing his brain as well. Still, he could not remember the word that the Snow King had whispered to him when they first met, but his hand hovered over one word in particular that he had made. It was "love" and Viggo's awakening mind flashed to green eyes and shared passion.
Viggo spent the day pushing the ice shards around, sorting through every memory he had of the Snow King. He was obscurely surprised at the large amount of thoughts he had retained about the winter creature. After hours of examining every fragment of memory, his mind stumbled across a phrase, "mine for Eternity," and Viggo realized that he had the key to his freedom. He quickly found the ice splinters to spell the word "Eternity."
Viggo was exhausted and he fell into sleep on the icy floor. He awakened to find himself wrapped in a fur cloak and the Snow King was gently stroking his hair. Viggo refused to look at the King.
"Viggo, I'm sorry."
"I have something to show you," Viggo said as he rose to his feet. The Snow King followed him.
Viggo stood before the frame of ice, containing the word he had finally managed to remember. He turned to the being beside him and gestured, "Eternity, I spelled it. You promised you would let me go."
The Snow King nodded slowly, his blond hair rustling as he seemed to shrink in upon himself. "I keep my word. You are free to leave. I will take you home."
Viggo looked at the King through eyes that were at last free from the poison of the Devil's glass. What he saw made him hesitate. The King radiated a grief and endless longing as that of the winter craving the warmth of spring he will never know. Viggo pitied the ancient, terrible sorrow of the creature of ice, condemned to be alone for all time, shunned by mortals, who crave the warmth of gentler seasons and softer winds. He wondered if anyone had ever willingly spent time with the Snow King. The man remembered the nights when the King had set his blood on fire with the passion that lurked beneath the ice. And he thought to feel that passion one last time and perhaps give the winter creature something tender to remember him by.
"I would lay with you, a last time, before I go," Viggo said softly.
The ice creature looked stunned, then grabbed Viggo and crashed his mouth on the man's.
Viggo pulled away, and at the King's surprised look, said, "No, let me." And he brought their lips back together gently. The King stood as if frozen, but allowed Viggo to control the kiss. Viggo kissed the ice creature slowly and softly eased his lips across the King's frigid mouth.
"We do this my way," Viggo said.
The King considered and then nodded. Viggo let out a small breath of relief. He picked up the fur cloak and taking the King's hand, led him to their bed. The man worked at removing the King's ermine robes and snowy garments. When the King was at last naked, Viggo spread the cloak over the bed and gently pushed the King down upon it. Viggo shrugged himself out of his tattered clothing and lay down beside the King.
Viggo sifted the golden hair through his hands, before pulling the King forward for another kiss. Viggo broke from the kiss to find the King staring at him with a very puzzled look in his eyes. The man stroked the icy face and then began to kiss his way down the chilly body. His tongue trace hardened pectorals before flicking tiny nipples into frigid peaks. He followed the clean lines of the King's abdomen down to his strong thighs. Viggo kissed all the way along the long legs to blue veined feet which twitched when he ran his lips over them. The winter creature was moaning and writhing under Viggo's gentle torture. Viggo's own need was starting to overwhelm him.
Viggo crawled back up and knelt with his legs on either side of the Snow King's waist.
"Open me," Viggo panted. He saw a flare of boreal fire in the King's eyes before he complied with Viggo's request. Viggo moaned as the King's cold fingers breached him, and he felt both fire and ice.
Viggo slowly impaled himself on the cold shaft of winter. He ignored the King's pleas to go faster as he relished his control over the powerful Lord of Winter. Viggo's blood began to boil and he rode the King to completion before he put his hand on his own flesh and exploded from the tension of the deliberate pace.
The orgasm that washed over him was so intense that he could barely hold himself up on his arms as he watched the aftershocks cross the face of the being beneath him. Viggo saw again the loneliness in the cold face and he began to weep. As his tears fell, the ice around his heart shattered and the piece of Devil's glass lodged in his chest melted.
The Snow King was glaring at him, "How dare you pity the King of Winter? I can still freeze the very blood in your veins!"
But Viggo at last understood everything, and once his heart was free of the ice, he saw what lay in it. His tears continued to fall. He struggled to stop his sobs enough to speak and finally managed to say, "I do not weep for you, I mourn for me."
"For you! You have gained your freedom this day. What cause have you to mourn?"
"Because I do not wish to leave you. I would stay here, with you, if you will have me. I love you." And he placed a damp and trembling kiss of the mouth of the stunned Winter King. His tears splashed both faces and gradually Viggo felt the body beneath him lose its chill. Viggo opened his eyes in shock as he watched the pale icy skin turn to a warm rosy tint. The glacial tint of the green eyes melted into something resembling spring growth. Everywhere his tears had touched, the King had changed into something more human and the metamorphosis continued as he watched.
"What is happening?" Viggo whispered.
The King gave Viggo a radiant smile, and Viggo was startled again. That smile would have melted the splinter in his heart long ago, if he had ever seen it before.
"I was human, once, long ago," the King explained. "My service as the King of Winter hardened my heart and I turned into a creature of ice. I wreaked my cold vengeance on the people of the world. Your love has brought back my humanity."
"Are you still the Snow King?"
"Oh, yes, winter is a necessary part of the cycle of seasons. Plants need their long sleep in the ground; animals need to slow down and rest. But Winter will no longer be harsh without cause." The King pulled Viggo down for a warm kiss.
"I have tried for hundreds of years to find a mortal who could truly see me. None could, until you. I will have you," the King said, "as long as you wish to stay." And he captured Viggo's lips with his own once again as their passion rekindled.
Much later Viggo lay entwined with the man he loved, listening to his steady breathing as they rested together. Viggo could tell that the King was not sleeping because his fingers were still gently tracing patterns on Viggo's arm. Viggo brushed his lips against the King's ear.
"Yours," he whispered, "for Eternity."
Summary: Viggo saves himself. Sequel to "The Snow King".
Rated: R
Categories: Actor RPS Pairing: Sean/Viggo
Warnings: NoneChallenges:
Series: NoneChapters: 1 Completed: Yes
Word count: 3156 Read: 931
Published: 15 Aug 2009 Updated: 15 Aug 2009