“You both will be there for however long it takes you to find the people that attacked the family. You need to understand that, even though technically the entire family is in danger,” Tony speaks slowly as he pulls up a number of documents and pictures to display on the large screen in the small office, “There seems to be a targeted member, specifically Princess Y/n L/n. She’s next in line for the throne and was the main victim when this whole fiasco started,”

Bucky let out an audible sigh and pushed off the floor to ceiling bookshelf he was leaning against, “If this is a royal family, why don’t they just get their own military or guards to protect them?”

“Good question terminator,” Tony smirks, jabbing a finger in Bucky’s direction for emphasis, “Unfortunately, her guards were part of the attack, so this is an inside job, and you both need to be extremely careful with who you trust in to tell info to. I’m sending a few other agents with you so you won’t have to be everywhere at once but, just be careful. I’ll send both of you the full report and briefing file, your flight leaves tomorrow, blah blah blah please get out of my office so I can sleep.”

“Someone’s a little grumpy today,” Nat mumbles as she heads for the door, Bucky right on her heels.

“Morgan has a fever and I stayed up with her all night while she puked up about five pounds of dino nuggets,” The tired father grumbles back, fingers digging into his temples to relieve however much pressure possible.

The sound of Natasha’s chuckles fade as her and the burly soldier make their way out of Tony’s office, leaving him to nap away his exhaustion. 

========================

The cold was awful, long lasting and sinking deeper into your bones with every second that passed. You hated the winter. It didn’t matter the amount of layers you put on. As you stared at yourself in the mirror, your eyes matched the temperature of your skin, cold, almost lifeless. The gown that hung from your shoulders did little to keep what futile body heat you had, the itchy material adding to your discomfort.

“Princess, are you ready?” The gentle voice of a maid startled you out of the intruding thoughts.

“Yes,” 

You weren’t. You weren’t ready to allow a group of strangers to protect you. If you couldn’t trust your own guards, your own people, how could you let these outsiders into your home?

“They’ve arrived and your grandmother requests you come as quickly as possible,” Her tone was filled with pity, pity for you. 

“I’ll be right down, thank you. You may leave,” Your voice (thankfully) didn’t waiver as you dismissed the woman from your room.

When did this become your reality? Why were you being hunted for something you couldn’t control? You didn’t want this. You didn’t want the responsibility of ruling a country. You couldn’t handle the stress that came with it. As much as you hated to admit it, you were too soft, too fragile. The council was right, especially after the events that had taken place a fortnight ago. 

The sound of a car door slamming shut woke you from yet another failure to control your thoughts. A quiet sigh left your lips as you make your way to the main foyer. Your heart is hammering violently against your chest, there was a strange ache in your bones that went along with the ice. It didn’t take you very long to reach the entrance hall as you knew plenty of shortcuts to take. You spotted your grandmother standing patiently in the middle of the room, your sister and main advisor at her side. 

As you approach, she gives you a kind smile and holds her hand out for you to take, “Góðan daginn ducky, you look lovely” 

The nickname makes your heart warm, a tiny flame in the freezing cold that resides in you. “Góðan daginn Oma,” You take her hand in yours, the action provides little comfort as the doors to the castle open and a chilly breeze enters along with a group of rigid looking soldiers. 

Your frame is tense and a metaphorical wall seems to apparate around you. Your grandmother made a move to welcome the guests- no the intruders, into your home. 

“Agent Romanoff, Agent Barnes, thank you so much for agreeing to help us,” her accent was thick and you had a quick moment of wonder for whether or not they would understand her clearly. 

“Truly it’s no problem Princess Alda ,” The woman replied, bowing lightly in respect. 

Princess... The title left a sour taste in your mouth. Your grandmother was a queen, the most accomplished ruler in your countries history. She deserved more than just princess. 

“These are my lovely granddaughters, Princess Y/n and her younger sister Princess Freyja. They are very grateful of you to be here for us,” She smiles up at the two agents leading the pack, her eyes shining with glee. 

Your grandmother was too hopeful for her own good. 

“velkominn, thank you so much for coming,” Your sister jumps into action, Freyja was always too excited to meet others, the confines of the castle always making her anxious, just like you. 

Agent Romanoff greets her softly, bending down to her height and offering a hand to shake, Agent Barnes decides to stay silent and only responds with a small nod. You decide to stay stoic, silent as the two heads stare at you expectantly. There is an awkward moment of stillness before your Oma glares at you and you have no other choice but to dip down into a curtsy. 

“Thank you for coming,” You mutter, wasting no time in standing back up straight, head held high. 

Again, the woman is the only one to properly respond to your actions, and you can’t help but shoot a quick glance at the man. 

How rude. 

“We should start discussing the arrangements, if you don’t mind Princess Alda,” Agent Romanoff speaks, her tone even and professional. 

“Just Alda is fine, miss Romanoff,” Your grandmother nods and gestures for the group to follow her, “This way my dears,” 

The study in which the meeting takes place wasn’t exactly built for this many people. It was small and old just like the rest of the castle, and completely incapable of comfortably holding the group of twelve that now crowd into it. Your grandmother, sister, and self stand behind the desk as the others gather before it. Agent Romanoff takes it upon herself to be the first to sit, manners be damned. 

“Agent Barnes and I have read over and discussed the situation thoroughly,” she begins as your grandmother also sits, you and your sister remain standing, “We understand that you believe your family is under attack, is that correct?” 

Your grandmother nods silently, miss Romanoff takes that as a sign to continue, “We’ve been hired to protect your family, which is a reasonable request, but we noticed when looking over the report and evidence, that the attack was focused on the eldest princess,” 

You immediately notice the shift in the room, feel your Oma tense at the confession, hear the gasp that left your sisters mouth, “Haddi, take Freyja to her room,” You speak before you can stop yourself, your voice comes out stern and you notice a light waver. 

“But Y/n-” “Now!” You cut off the younger princess and the advisor makes a quick move to usher her out of the room, “How dare you say such a thing in front of a child,” you bite. 

“I was just trying to explain to you the situation-” your eyes narrow at her words as you interrupt once again, “Explain to me the situation? I was there. I know the situation. What is important is how we’re going to stop it from happening again,” 

“Princess, I understand your stress-” “You seem to understand nothing Agent Romanoff,” You spit out in frustration. 

This woman... Thinking she knows what you’re feeling. Ridiculous. 

“That’s enough ducky. Let the woman talk, girl.” Oma’s voice is stern, the tone she only uses before you go too far with your words.

Agent Romanoff continues to go over the situation, what precautions her team, as well as the family, will have to take. Much to your grandmother's dismay, one of those precautions was making the entirety of the castles staff go on leave.

“They can’t be trusted due to the men who carried out the attack,” she says.

 She talks about the possible suspects and the possible reasonings for their actions (though you thought it was quite obvious). You wait patiently for the discussion to end, biting your tongue at every word the woman said. You were holding on by a thread and it was quickly fraying away with each passing moment. A few of the other agents decided to busy themselves with looking around the room, gently picking up random objects to inspect them before putting them back down in their original places. It made you nervous, especially when one agent decided to pick up a vase that was from some old chinese dynasty that you couldn’t exactly remember, though you knew it costed more than a few college tuitions worth, and almost dropped it before catching it clumsily and hurriedly put it back on its pedestal. 

“We’ll be looking after the princess ourselves, ensuring she’s safe at all times, our other agents will be securing the property-”

 “You need to assign someone to Freyja and my Oma,” You say vehemently, your eyes focusing on the two agents in front of you, “I may be the supposed target but they are my family and they need to be just as safe as I am,” 

Agent Romanoff stays silent, her eyes failing to show any emotion as she stared at your equally hard gaze, “Unfortunately princess, Barnes and I are specifically assigned to you.” 

“I don’t care. Change the assignment, You need to protect them,” Your blood was boiling, the thought of these people coming in and not even thinking about protecting your little sister and grandmother was ridiculous. 

The fiery haired woman sighed quietly and looked up at you with pursed lips, “I understand where you’re coming from, but we can’t leave you unattended. That being said,” she pauses and glances at her silent partner, “I think that Agent Barnes may be able to look after your sister, and one of our other agents could ensure the safety of your grandmother,” 

You mulled over the solution for a moment. Agent Barnes had said nothing this entire time and it honestly gave you an extremely uneasy feeling, you didn’t trust him with your little sister. He was too menacing for you to comfortably allow him to watch over the young girl who was known for how carefree she was. 

“I would be more comfortable if you were to look after her, Agent Romanoff,” your voice came out quieter this time, “please,”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” 

Before Agent Romanoff has time to speak, Agent Barnes beats her to the punch. The brunette broke his silence as he stood up from the plush cushions of the chair, his startling blue eyes roamed over his environment before landing on you. “I’ll look after you and Natasha will look after the others, no harm will come to the residence of this castle,” he spoke precisely, almost like he had rehearsed before he decided to speak, “Everyone clear out and start searching the grounds for anything out of the ordinary, bugs, cameras that aren’t listed... anything,” his gruff voice sent your hairs to stand on end and your whole body tensed in stress before relaxing with the meaning of his words. 

“Thank you, Agent Barnes,” you murmur quietly, your gaze only strong enough to hold a moment with the tall man across from you. 

The agent only spared you a quick nod before turning to you grandmother, “Back to the previous topic, we don’t know who’s behind this, therefore, the safest route of action is to put all castle staff on a momentary leave until we can figure out who did this,”

Her crinkled eyes widen in slight shock, “Don’t you think that might be a little excessive?” 

“Unfortunately no, at this point in time, there’s no telling who could have attacked the princess,” There was a silent pause as the room grew quiet between its four inhabitants. 

There was an uneasy buzz that krept its way up your back, the muscles tweaking and flexing as you ignored the incessant need to scratch the buzz away. You knew it wouldn’t be a good idea as the stitches still hadn’t healed fully and it would hurt like a bitch if you did. 

“Oma, we’ll be fine. The staff deserve a vacation,” you comment, lightly placing your hand on the delicate material of her dress. “I’m sure you can handle brewing your own tea for a bit,” 

The elder smiles fondly towards you and gives a small nod of agreement, “If that’s all agents, I’d like to get back to work,”

The two remaining outsiders award her quick farewells and leave the room. Before you get to the door to leave your grandmother alone to her own devices, the demure tone of her voice stops you, “Ducky, my love, please be respectful to those agents while they’re here. You know in that stubborn head of yours it’s for the best,” 

Your chest tightens in annoyance at her words, the feeling only growing stronger as you realize the truth behind them, “Yes Oma, I know,” 

“Good. Now, please go busy yourself and try not to pester than nice man too much,” she sings over her shoulder as she looks out the window, giving you a view of the young and jovial queen that still resides somewhere inside her.

You couldn’t help the small smile that pulled at your lips as you opened the door and exited the study. Leaning up against the outer wall, you sigh quietly, taking a moment to gather yourself and think of all that has happened in just the span of a few hours. Once your thoughts were a little more calm, you gathered yourself and began the journey back up to your room. You truly just wanted to sleep at this point. 

A familiar shiver runs up the curve of your spine as a menacing shadow encases your smaller frame and a deep baritone covers the weak gasp that left you.