Time and space vanished around Leanna, and her legs gave way beneath her. On her knees, she reached a hand to Finvarra, the other quavering at her heart.

"Fin..." she whimpered. She would have screamed his name, but she... she just couldn't.

Machina's dark giggle rumbled in the empty spaces of black around them. "What is there to fight for now? He cannot give you his heart and the curse cannot be broken." Kneeling down behind Finvarra, she rested her head at his shoulder and leaned into him adoringly. "His beloved circus can't ever go home."

Beside Leanna, Inara touched her flaming horn to the ground repeatedly, desperately, but the darkness was overwhelming and reaching hands ate away at the encircling light. Through their connection, Leanna felt Inara trying to struggle against her agony at losing Krinard, at never being able to go home. The sadness and doubt clouded her magic, and her circle of light drew closer, her magic waning.

"Why are you even here?" Machina asked, a purr rumbling in her throat as she leaned into the crook of Finvarra's neck. "After all he's done to you?" She lifted black lashes. "After he killed your mother?"

"Don't listen to her, Leanna!" Inara begged in her continued plight to dispel the surrounding blackness. "Climb on! Do not suffer our fate!"

Yet, frozen at Machina's words, at the sight of the blade through Finvarra's heart, at darkness trumping light, Leanna could only stare at all the magic she ever believed in, vanish.

"We are not so different, you and I—and I don't just mean this body." Machina turned her gaze to Finvarra's crystal. "Funny thing about these crystals, it binds our souls, yes. But just as my darkness bleeds into him, his agony, his guilt, his anger seeps into me," she said, stroking the black jewel with her human hand. "It is a cycle, you see. Sadly, your poor mother's heart could not withstand his sorrow... It was his grief and anger that made her sick. It broke her heart."

Leanna fought to ignore the words, but the pieces of this horrid puzzle began to make sense and the floor felt to vanish beneath her. Clearly she recalled her mother's broken heart, the many nights she cried uncontrollably from the nightmares that plagued her mind. Leanna remembered her own dreams of blood and murder, the terrifying screams and moans of all the girls that had lost their lives—girls she had never met yet saw so vividly. She had always known the deep sadness in her heart was not hers. Those dreams and the subsequent pain in her heart had been Finvarra's anguish and woe.

And just as her mother was bound to him and his sadness had broken her heart, Leanna realized that,

"He broke my heart, too," she whispered.

"And robbed you of a normal existence, of love, of joy. He took away your life, just as he took away mine," Machina said softly, a quiet lullaby in the heavy darkness. Machina gritted her teeth in feigned pity. "Poor, poor innocent. Had your soul not been so clean and pure, had you been more like your sisters, perhaps this never would have happened."

"I'm so sorry," Finvarra said, barely a whisper. "I didn't know—"

He sucked in a gasp and clutched the blade as Machina shoved it a little deeper to silence him. Feverish, he trembled, the iron through his chest rendering him incapable of a breath, of any magic at all. "I'm... so... sorry."

Numb, Leanna lifted a hand to her chest, to where the crystal had been for most of her life but was no longer. Her fingers paused upon the bruised skin. Just as her mother had worn the crystal and Finvarra's sadness broke her heart, it was Machina who wore it now. But sadly, Machina's evil was powerful and Finvarra's agony only fed her darkness.

Leanna's hand dropped from her chest slowly, her broken world coming back together in a new way... the only way. Something more was needed to spark Finvarra's magic, she knew then.

She gazed around at the black fog obliterating the Big Top—something worse than losing his circus.

She glanced at a lifeless Krinard—something worse than losing his friends.

She looked back to Finvarra, the fairy king brought to his knees—something worse than losing his life.

"Please, Leanna," Inara pled. "Once her evil overtakes him, I won't be able to defeat them. I won't be able to get you out of this. You must come now!"

At this, Leanna gazed down at the darkness edging her toes. She lifted her eyes back to Machina's through the ever falling ashes.

As if linked by a common thread of being, hunger swelled in Machina's stare, awareness of Leanna's decision brimming in her eyes. Her blade slowly withdrew from Finvarra's back and snakelike, she rose.

"Go with Inara," Finvarra rasped weakly, his arms trembling as he fought to keep himself upright. "I will keep my magic from her for as long as I can." He lifted his head and looked to her through damp strands. Straining, he blinked and the black of his eyes faded to a murky gray. Beneath it, Leanna saw traces of the blue she loved. "Go!"

A sad smile arched her lips as she remembered staring into those very blue eyes, as she remembered every kiss and caress, every confession of love, every instance he trespassed onto her dreams...

Yes, she remembered all of these things. But of all, she met his stare and said, "Remember when you said Death would not be enough to free you from the agony of losing me?"

Finvarra's breath caught. Eyes wide, he reached for her. "No, Leanna! Don't!"

Leanna thrust herself into the darkness, for his best, for all of their best.

The ethereal hands of the fog reached for her as if wishing to stop her madness. But in coming face to face with herself, Leanna knew it was too late.

Before a scream, Machina's metal hand clutched her neck.

Before her heart beat again, a loud crushing conquered the sound.

And before a breath left her lips, a shock of pain stole it away as metal hands tore her heart from her chest.

Leanna thought everything would fade to black when she died. Yet staring into Machina's eyes that brimmed with victory, there was only light. Beams of white stretched outward from behind Machina, piercing the enveloping darkness.

With her hand still around Leanna's neck and the other holding her beating heart, Machina turned to Finvarra at a rusted slow. Her grip around Leanna loosened, dropping her to the ground. Eyes wide, she stared at Finvarra bathed in radiant light.

Blond strands whipped wildly in the icy winds that sent the fog whirling around them and aided him to his feet. All the poison obliterated from his being, his moonlit glow expanded and coalesced with that of the crystal. A tired smile spread on Leanna's lips. It was like the dual rising of the sun and moon, and the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Machina's stronghold on the darkness weakened and Inara was able to cut a path of light to Leanna. Riding up beside her, Inara touched a pulsing horn to Leanna's hand. "I will keep you alive for as long as I can. Hold on to my horn!"

Leanna curled weak fingers around the flaming horn that didn't burn her skin. Prickles of coolness coursed through her body, Inara's magic pulsing through her like a heartbeat.

Rapt by her obsession, Machina failed to see Inara keeping Leanna alive, just as she failed to notice the crystal at her chest growing brighter. Spellbound as if watching the coming of an angel, she lifted trembling hands to Finvarra, Leanna's heart cradled in her palms. It beat once and again, and then beat no more. A broken sob left Machina and tears spilled from her eyes—human tears. "It is complete now. I have everything of her, don't you see? I am her. You can love me," she sobbed. "Finally, you can love me!"

Finvarra lifted his face, eyes of blazing stars boring into Machina. Chest heaving, he raised a hand to her. Tendrils of white snapped from his fingers and whipped around Machina's neck. Machina's head snapped back with a shriek. Vapors hissed from where his frosted magic shackled her arms and feet.

Wrenching the ghostly whips with an echoing gruff, Finvarra yanked her before him. Machina gasped sharply and her body grew rigid. Eyes wide, she looked down to where Finvarra's bare hand pierced her chest. A broken sob slipped her lips and Leanna's dead heart fell from her fingers.

A shaft of blinding fire burst from Finvarra's crystal and he arched back with an echoing cry—a chorus of agony, of lament, of pure love as his magic enveloped them in white fire. The ground jerked violently and the fog exploded with frantic shrieks as darkness and light burned together.

Machina's screams swelled to a strangled cry of centuries old agony. The surrounding black whirled to a funnel, all the evil sucked back into her mouth. Deafening moans and ghostly hands clawed not to return to the evil abyss within her, but Finvarra's encircling light chased them back to their hell.

Clawing wildly for release, Machina dug human fingers and metal nails into Finvarra's arm. But he withstood the ache of her iron and shared in her pain, holding her there, watching her body convulse and head whip side to side as dirt seeped from her pores. The metal fragments stitched onto the body rusted and the skin charred, until her body dissolved around Finvarra's hand, blowing away as curls of ash, springs, screws and an echoing cry.

A mechanical heart remained in Finvarra's palm. The metal sizzled, burning his palm, but in spite of the pain, Finvarra opened his eyes. Looking to the culmination of his nightmare, he closed his fingers to a fist and crushed the heart.

Light shot back into Finvarra with a hush. The raging winds tamed and whisked away to their nothingness, dragging away the remaining smoke until only Finvarra's Circus remained.

Seeing the ragged remnants of her beloved Big Top, Leanna let out a trembling breath. It was over. But in feeling each breath grow harder to take and each blink threatening to be her last, she knew other things were close to being over as well.

"Finvarra," she said, barely a whisper. She closed her eyes for an added moment, gathering strength. A familiar scent filled her lungs then and she blinked open to Finvarra's crystalline eyes gazing down at her, pooled with worry.

"Oh, you foolish, meddling girl," he said, his voice strangled with emotion. Kneeling beside her, he took her into his arms desperately. The wound at his chest had healed and only soft skin and a gentle scent comforted her. He pressed a hand against the opening at her chest and a white hue illuminated his face. Coldness pricked the skin around her injury, but Leanna still felt her strength fading. "I will fix this. I promise you, I will fix this. Just please don't leave me."

"Her heart is dead, Finvarra!" Inara told him. "It is too late to heal her. She needs a heart!"

Frantic, he took Leanna's free hand and pressed it against his chest. Though he was healed, the skin above his heart was bruised. Under her fingertips, Leanna felt a heartbeat, but the melody was slow and erratic. "Take my heart. It is damaged, but it is a heart. Take it, please," he moaned desperately against her lips. "I need you to live..."

"Wait, the crystal!" Kioyo voice came in from behind them. In a brush of white and snow he appeared beside them, crystal necklace in hand. He looped it around Leanna's neck and shifted back a slight, golden eyes wide and concerned. At Tomas' urging, he moved back beside the remaining troupe that gathered slowly around them.

Finvarra cupped a trembling hand over her crystal. "I give you my heart, Leanna. It is yours. Do you accept it?"

Hearing the words of a dream come true, Leanna nodded weakly. "Yes," she said barely, too weak to say anymore.

A broken breath left Finvarra. Bending his head, he neared her lips to seal their vow with a kiss.

"Finvarra! No!" The ground trembled under the thunderous voice that echoed as the sweetest of melodies and most frightening nightmare.

All eyes snapped to the voice—to the most unlikely of people standing in their midst, streams of sunlight bathing her in its gilded fingers. Finvarra pressed Leanna against him, his body tense and alert.

"You cannot give her your heart. Not yet," Minerva said, moving forward to the sweet jingle of bells. Her vibrant colors were replaced now by a white chiton, a coined silver belt at her waist. Flowing locks of black hair rippled down her shoulders and back, no longer hidden under a bandana. Her red lips were the only traits to remain of the Minerva that Leanna remembered.

Leanna made to speak, but her chest locked and trapped her words under wracking coughs that sprinkled blood onto Finvarra's skin. Losing feeling in her limbs, her fingers loosened around Inara's horn.

"He must do it now, Minerva," Inara said, her voice weak. Sustaining both of their lives was taking its toll.

Ignoring Minerva's warning, Finvarra turned back to Leanna intent on a kiss. Before a blink, Minerva was beside him, a glowing hand alit on his shoulder. Eyes of white fire stared down at him and she shook her head.

Leanna gazed up through her fading sights at the woman she called friend, but was so much more. "M..Minerva... I'm cold," was all she could say.

Kneeling down beside Leanna, Minerva placed a hand where Leanna's heart once was. Warmth spread through Leanna's body and she coughed repeatedly, assimilating this heat that intensified all color, scent and sound.

"Who are you?" Finvarra asked her, his voice gruff and anger in no way discreet. "You're not—"

"A vampire?" Minerva shook her head. "I pretended to be whatever I needed to be to stay within your circus. I am a guardian. You don't think the elders would have sent you to this realm without some guidance, do you?"

A cool breeze whisked past. Leanna shivered at the iciness that nipped her skin through the rips in her nightgown. Still looking unconvinced, Finvarra brought Leanna closer to his being as if scared the breeze or Minerva would take her away.

Cradling her in his arms, he stood. In a brush of white and ice, the Big Top faded into whiteness. A blink, and Ellie's butterflies appeared overhead. They no longer draped the ceiling, but hung down as tangled messes of wings, cloth and strings. The canvas too had been slashed, but thankfully the tent still stood.

Turning in place, Finvarra slid a scrutinizing gaze along the remnants of the tent. His gaze focused on the tears on the canvas. Leanna noticed webs of ice slowly form over the rips, thin threads of spider silk weaving the fabric closed.

Deeming the rest of the tent safe, Finvarra stalked to the bed. Singlehandedly, he moved the blankets aside and lay Leanna down. Though gentle in draping the blankets over her, his face was stern and his eyes dark and frigid.

"If this is a ploy from the elders, they cannot have you," he said in a maddening quiet. "I won't let you die."

Had Leanna a heart, it would have stopped in hearing those words. She lifted a hand to his face at once. Though Machina's darkness had been dispelled, Finvarra's look then was equally dangerous and his words frightened Leanna.

"Don't speak this way. I want nothing more than to be with you, but if I should have to go..."

The curtain flaps snapped, stealing the words from her mouth. "Let us hope that is not the case," Minerva said, appearing at the bedside. "If you will only let me explain why I am here."

Finvarra didn't look at her. He only stroked a hand gently along Leanna's cheek, his jaw taut. "You cannot have her."

"Minerva's lips pursed, flaming eyes keen. "I am not here to take her from you. The elders have never been against you, Finvarra. Had they, I would not be here. I would not have been here all of these years."

"I welcomed you into my circus, thinking you needed refuge yet it was all a lie. Now you are asking me to believe that the elders sent you here to help?" Finvarra scoffed bitterly, cutting her a nasty look that could still any heart. "Where were you when Machina destroyed this circus? When she tore out Leanna's heart?" His anger swelled and the winds outside howled as if wanting to tear through the canvas. "If the elders are so concerned, then why are you here now telling me that I cannot give her my heart?"

Leanna put a hand on his arm, her look asking for him to stop. In spite of it all, Minerva had been a friend. She didn't deserve this.

Gazing down at Leanna, a fury of emotions trailed Finvarra's eyes. He skimmed her jaw adoringly and his brows gathered as if touching her hurt, as if one more second and nothing would keep him from her lips. "Speak quickly, Minerva, or I swear to you..."

Minerva deflated with a sigh and sat opposite him at Leanna's side. "Machina was for you to defeat, Finvarra. I could never interfere, only guide you just as I am trying to do now. Giving Leanna your heart will not save her life," Minerva said, regrettably. "Your heart only beats now because of your magic, because of the curse. Sure you can give it to her, but essentially it is a mortal heart and it is damaged. Once it is within her body and the curse is broken, the heart will stop and she will die. But while I have given you temporary breath," she said to Leanna, "you can have life of your own once you make your choice."

"A choice?" Leanna asked slowly. "But I've made one... I chose to accept his heart, yet now you say he cannot give it to me."

Minerva's red lips curled to a grin. "That is because you have not heard the rest of the choices, my dear." She offered Leanna her hands and nodded encouragingly. Leanna slipped her hands into Minerva's, unwavering. She didn't know who exactly Minerva was, but she would not doubt now.

Finvarra remained close, shifting behind Leanna and supporting her against his chest. He smoothed his hands down her forearms, but Leanna was no longer sure whether he did it to coax her or himself.

"You will be given two choices," Minerva began. "It is not one many are given, so choose wisely as it can only be made once. Once it is made, it cannot be undone."

Leanna swallowed, the intensity of Minerva's stare dying her throat. Yet, feeling Finvarra's fingers squeeze her forearms reassuringly, she nodded certain that whatever the choices, they could weather it together.

"Machina was right when she said Finvarra's grief seeped into your mother and into you through the crystals. But just as he shared his sadness and woes with you, he can also share of his life. If he wishes to share his life with you and you accept, the bond created by the crystals will be solidified."

Finvarra's hands stilled upon her arms and Leanna too froze. To share in his life?

Minerva said to Finvarra, "The same way you offered her your broken heart, you must do so again for the sake of breaking the curse. But you must also offer her of your life."

She regarded Leanna then. "Just as you were going to accept his heart, you must accept his life. When his broken heart fails within you, you will die out of this human existence but be born again, faerie life flowing through your veins. That is the gift from the elders, the only way you can ever live in Forever. However," Minerva said instantly, cutting them both off before they had a chance to speak. "You can't ever enter this realm again. The places you wished to go, the normal life denied you will be no more. Your family... you will never see them again."

The luster of Minerva's previous words dimmed and Leanna exhaled. Though Finvarra had told her she would never see her family again, she did hope to one day return, at least to tell her father a proper farewell. To tell him that in spite of it all, he'd been a good father. A slight of guilt bloomed in her core and she curled her arms at her chest.Finvarra kissed the top of her head, his quiet affection telling of his understanding.

"As for the other choice," Minerva revealed, a slow smile spreading on her lips. "You have found favor in the eyes of the elders, Leanna, and they have allowed me to meddle this once. Should you wish to remain in this realm, I can heal Finvarra's heart. With it, you will be free to live the life denied you by your illness. You can dance again, travel the world. You can live," she said, all the possibilities sparkling in her eyes like diamonds.

Minerva's words slowly settled in her mind, and Leanna leaned back against an equally speechless Finvarra. The choice was appealing, and there were so many places she had read in books that she had only dreamt of visiting. No longer would she be bound to a bed, watching life happen around her instead of to her. She would be independent, free to pursue a life of her own... of her choosing. She would be free, just as her dance had predicted.

It all sounded so right, yet, Leanna turned her head toward Finvarra and filled her lungs with his scent. "But I won't be with him?"

"Not at first." Minerva's lips pressed to a thin line, apologetically. "Only once the healed heart stops will you be granted passage back to Forever."

"But..." Leanna prompted her, sure there was more.

"But, if you decide this, the doorways between our worlds will close and will not open until your heart stops naturally. That could be a year from now, to a decade, to a century. There is no telling when."

The world stilled around Leanna and she could only stare. Behind her, Finvarra too kept to his silence. Were it not for him holding her, for the steadiness of his breathing, Leanna would have thought him a figment of her dreams.

Minerva rose. "I will give you time to think over your choices—"

"There is no need." Leanna sat up, decided. She'd thought the choice was harder, that a life of travel and independence would hold more appeal, but, "I know what I want. I choose to remain at his side."

Minerva arched a brow. "And you will forfeit this life and every adventure you've always wished for? You can see the world, fall in love with another should you wish. If in the end you decide not to return to Forever, the choice is yours. Choice is what you are being given, Leanna."

"And a choice is what I am making," she said, never having felt surer of anything. "I wish to remain by his..." Leanna cut off when Finvarra rose from the bed. In silence, he walked to the unlit fireplace. Crossing his arms over his chest, he didn't say a word though his frame was tense. Leanna's brows furrowed. Wasn't he happy she was choosing him?

"Like I said," Minerva said knowingly. "I will give you time to think over your choices." Pressing a kiss at Leanna's forehead, Minerva then swept through the curtains, leaving them to quiet and the fading melody of her bells.

Minutes after Minerva had gone, Finvarra had yet to speak. Hands at his waist now, he stared down to the shadows at the hearth, his unspoken thoughts hanging heavy in the air. Though few feet away, he might as well have been in Forever.

Leanna sat on the edge of the bed and gripped the cool necklace, her breaths a bit harder to come by. She didn't understand his silence and it hurt. A sinking feeling gripped her stomach and she looked up to him.

"Is it that..." she started to voice her glum prediction, but fear swelled in her throat and cut off her words. Asking would bring about the truth, perhaps a truth that would hurt her more than anything. She'd faced Machina, and death, yet the chance of his rejection was most frightening of all. But she wanted to know this... needed to know this.

Swallowing, she tried again. "Is it that you do not wish to share your life with me?"

Finvarra's hands slipped from his waist. "My life?" He turned to her, brows knitted and bright eyes narrowed disbelievingly. "My grief and agony broke your heart and kept you bound to a bed and you call it my life?"

He strode to her and crouched down, taking her hands in his. Boring his eternal gaze into hers, he confessed, "This is not my life, Leanna. However many years I have belong to you. They've been yours since I gave your mother the necklace." He lowered his eyes to their entwined hands, ashamed. "I didn't know my sadness would hurt her or hurt you. I never would have given it to her had I known. That is why I can't take this from you."

Threading his fingers into her hair, Finvarra grazed her cheek with his thumb, soft caresses that knotted Leanna's stomach and blighted out all of her doubt.

He said, "I want nothing more than to take you into Forever this instant, to share my life with you, to make life with you..." Meeting her eyes again, his previous torment rolled over his eyes. "But I deserve it."

His hands fell away, and Finvarra rose and stepped away from her. "I deserve to wait long years for what I've done. To watch you from an icy tower as you live the life I stole from you. You can have your adventures and see the world you only found in your books. I will wait for you," he said, his voice affected. "For as long as it takes."

Leanna stared at him. Attempting to speak a few times, she closed her mouth, speechless. "Adventure?" Pressing a hand to her lips, a wry chuckle slipped from between her fingers. "I am sitting here without my heart that was torn from my chest by a mechanical demon, after I rode here on the back of the unicorn to save the faerie king and his court. And you speak to me of adventure? I daresay I've lived my fill of adventures that can rival any found within any book."

Finvarra lifted thick lashes, the war between duty and desire clouding his stare. "Leanna," he started, pained, but Leanna shook her head and he said no more.

Walking to him, she stroked blond strands from his face, hoping the gentle touch could quiet his thoughts. "I've spent a lifetime alone, never belonging anywhere; always being told what was good for me and what I should want. I have found my place." She lowered her hands from his face and boldly slipped it into his shirt, coming to rest on the cool skin above his heart. "I know what I want, Finvarra, should you wish to share in it with me."

Finvarra exhaled a shuddering breath. His hand lifted just beside her face, hesitant, as if she'd vanish to smoke if he touched her. "This is your choice?" he whispered, his voice breaking upon the last word. "After everything, you still wish to share in this circus that is my life?"

Meeting his gaze with every dream and wish, with all the honesty and yearning of her soul, Leanna leaned into his touch. "Always."

Weaving a hand behind her neck and an arm at her waist, Finvarra crashed onto her lips, desperate. Leanna fisted his shirt, meeting him with equal vigor, no longer needing air to survive. Just the feel of him under her fingers, the promise of him, forever.

Tasting blood and ash in his kiss, she sighed. Never had she tasted anything sweeter. Finvarra drank in her breath and obliged her unspoken desires. Caging her in his arms, he lifted her against him and deepened their kiss. Their bodies shifted and aligned until flush against one another. For Leanna, it was still too far. A hunger kindled in her womb and she arched into him, burning with the aching need for more, for things she didn't know yet wanted from him, to give him, to make with him.

Finvarra's fingers tightened upon her and he broke their kiss slowly. "Will you accept my heart, Leanna Weston?" he murmured against her mouth, "Will you accept my life as yours?"

At her chest, the crystal grew so cold it burned. But gazing at this man—at the faerie king asking her to share in his life, Leanna embraced the ache. In that instant, living a life without him and death were one and the same.

"I do," she told him, watching the sight of him blur behind her tears. "I accept." Bringing him back onto her lips, they sealed their vow.

It was instant. The moment their lips touched, the crystals ignited. Clutching her tightly, Finvarra stiffened in her arms with a sharp groan. At once, Leanna bit her nails into his shoulders feeling her ribcage cave and the icy heaviness of a dead heart settle slowly within her chest. Her knees buckled under the agonizing pain that seized her lungs and refused all breath.

Together they crumbled to the floor where Leanna clawed at the open air for breath that would not come. Finvarra held her to him, coaxing her with breathless words and confessions of love as her body writhed desperately, flaring and fighting with the instinct to live.

But this heart within her did not beat, and her fight dwindled quickly. Her body dying, her arms fell lifeless to her sides, all feeling seeping from her limbs. Her body jerked with the last desires of life, but shadows danced along the edges of her sights, calling her to the place where her heartbeats had gone.

With Finvarra's angelic face above her and his dead heart withering within her, Leanna followed the darkness and closed her eyes. Her chest lowered with a mortal breath. Her last.

A tinkling shatter exploded through the darkness of her closed eyes. Leanna's body rounded up, a rush of ice coursing through her veins with a vengeance. She hauled in a wild breath, feeling her spirit burst like the crystals. It shattered into countless slivers, each containing pieces of her life. These fragments of her existence soared upwards, up through a sky of endless falling stars. Each of these stars that cascaded around her were memories—Finvarra's memories. They fell into her freely, just as the shards of her life soared into him.

Lost in this blissful exchange, the lines of reality and magic blurred and Leanna no longer knew the difference between rising and falling, between the end of her life and the beginning of his.

By and by, Leanna found the rhythm of her new breath. Now at the bed, she nestled at Finvarra's side. Lingering shivers still afflicted her, but Finvarra turned her into him and held her tightly against his body as if to will them away. Smoothing his hand along her back, he eased her from her tremors with trailing kisses on her eyes, her cheeks, her nose...

And they lay like this, together, no enemies in wait, no hearts broken, just joined by life, bound by love, and blessed by the snows that fell above them.

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Thank you for reading! As always, all votes and comments are greatly appreciated.