Chapter Text
It was finally time after three years of trying she had proved herself to the old king. He finally accepted her as the best choice for his son and the next queen of Berk. She was very careful to make sure he was unaware of her plan.
For years people said the prince would doom the kingdom, many had tried to remove him from the throne by various means. But Astrid’s parents had the only sure way they thought of. Have their daughter marry the prince then kill him and take over and fix the problems she had dealt with in her childhood. Crime and corruption had hit all-time highs and were slowly destroying the kingdom.
Astrid for some reason had yet to meet her to-be-husband but her father-in-law said she would be meeting him tonight. Stoick had removed his son from the public eye a little after he turned 15 for an unknown reason.
A pair of servants named Ruffnut and Tuffnut were giving her an admittedly interesting and informative tour of the castle.
“And this is the entrance to the dungeon that held the vindictive Redran Deathra of the old world,” Tuff informed dramatically, waving his arms towards the large stone gateway with polished steel doors.
Astrid hummed, the story of how the king had captured the most wanted person in the kingdom six years ago was unknown. There were theories but very few confirmed details.
A little chittering sound came from a hall to their right. Ruffnut rolled her eyes and walked toward the noise only to be pounced on by a small green and red blur. It scrambled off her and ran down the hallway.
“What was that?” Astrid demanded, concerned by the creature inside the castle.
“Um, it was a-“ Tuffnut started to reply but was cut off by a voice from the hall the creature ran down.
“Sharpshot there you are, I was so worried about you,” A male said.
Astrid turned to see a man with auburn hair wearing a leather chest plate over a black shirt and light brown jeans with a few leather straps wrapped around, his left leg was amputated, and half of his calf was replaced by a metal prosthetic.
The little winged thing climbed up him sinking its claws into the leather so it wouldn’t hurt him. It wrapped around his neck and started rubbing its head against his cheek purring happily. He giggled mumbling something about it being lucky that it was cute.
“It was a dragon,” Ruff said once the guy was out of view and earshot.
Astrid turned to her flabbergasted. Dragons were murderous creatures that killed with no regard for the damage they made. That was part of the reason Redran Deathra was so powerful and feared. And some maniac had one as a pet! In the royal castle no less.
“No one has died and fewer mice are running around,” Tuff shrugged, doing a horrible job at reassuring Astrid about the maniac dragon guy.
The tour ended hours later in front of the dining room. Ruff opened the door and Astrid froze. The dragon guy was sitting next to Stoick ignoring the pointed glare being set his way. He was dressed in a formal green shirt, black pants and black vest.
“Astrid,” Stoick greeted her, the dragon guy looked up in mild interest, his emerald green eyes fixed on her. “This is my son, Hiccup.” Stoick gestured to him as if there was anyone else in the room he could be talking about. “Would have introduced you two earlier but I couldn’t find him,” Stoick muttered. Hiccup rolled his eyes in response.
The dinner went okay, small talk was exchanged and it wasn't too awkward. Stoick left them alone to get to know each other while he made a few small arrangements for the wedding.
“I'm sorry Sharpshot scared you earlier. He tends to run around without thinking about whether he’ll scare someone. He isn't dangerous but I do get why you reacted the way you did. If he bothers you too much let me know I’ll do what I can to keep him off you,” Hiccup turned to her, Astrid couldn’t identify the emotion in his voice, and he wouldn’t make eye contact with her.
“I wasn't scared. I was concerned about the staff's safety,” Astrid corrected him, strolling out of the dining hall. Astrid pushed the door open but froze as he spoke again.
“I'm sorry I assumed what you were feeling. I’ll do better not to in the future.”
Astrid closed the door not looking back to see the emotional tears in his eyes. Her thoughts were all over as she walked to her temporary room. All the things she was told about him didn't match up yet. Her parents always painted the prince as a cold uncaring person. While she had difficulty deciphering emotions she could tell they were there but masked behind a face of indifference. And he did care in some way if she were to believe his words. Maybe she didn't need to kill him but it was too early to truly rule that plan out.