Palace of Versailles, France
Early January 1838
The snow began before dawn.
At first, it was barely noticeable. Thin flakes drifted quietly through the darkness, carried by a wind soft enough that no one inside the palace heard it against the windows. The gardens beyond Versailles slowly disappeared beneath white, the paths fading first, then the hedges, until the world outside looked softer and quieter than it had the night before.
By morning, everything had changed.
The first thing Elsa noticed when she woke was the light.
Winter mornings in Versailles were usually gray and dull, but this morning the room looked brighter. Not warm, just brighter, as if the sunlight had somehow multiplied itself overnight.
She sat up slowly, still wrapped in the blanket around her shoulders, and looked toward the window.
Then she froze.
Snow.
Real snow.
Not the thin layer that disappeared before midday. Not frost clinging to the edges of the gardens.
