I WAS CROUCHED down in the snow beside Edva and behind a few branches of pine a few minutes later, beyond the invisible magic barrier. My purpose for being there was loose and held little weight on its own, but I was throughly enjoying the quiet.

After I had told Edva about me being Adam's destiny, the Faerie was even more confident that his solution would be the right one.

Not to my surprise, Adam had grumbled about it.

I had ignored him.

He should be damn well grateful. We now had a promising lead but all he could think about was me being out there alone. I refused to see it as it sounded. I could not understand why he could not see that I was doing what I was solely for his cause.

He could not see past Edva and his charm.

Is that...not what I had wanted? For him to dislike the idea of me being with someone else?

I suddenly shivered —and I wondered if it was entirely because of the cold and winds.

My focus was forcibly on capturing an Icen, and I assumed the Faerie's was too, but out of nowhere he murmured, "...That human man feels something for you."

I paused, and tried not to react. It was a thought that I had pushed back since we had left Earth and had arrived on this Plane. It was obvious that Adam felt something there in the meadow ( I wistfully now counted it as a vision, considering all he had said about me being an Eve. If those points had been true, then that meant he could feel the way he had about me eventually ), but what about me? What did I feel? I thought I knew at first, but...I no longer had a grasp on my answer.

What if I ever wanted to feel something else —or feel that warmth for someone else? I could not do that with a predestined binding.

It was as though I could not settle for one option.

"What do you mean?" I said quietly to the Faerie.

"He hates the way that I look at you," Edva chuckled softly, still staring ahead at the spot intended for a wandering Icen. "And the way that I speak to you."

"It is likely the fault of the magic," I dismissed.

"He is under a spell?" the Faerie said in surprise.

"I...I am unsure," I answered truthfully. "But Fate has taken it upon itself to entwine us."

"Oh," Edva chuckled. "You are opposed to a mate?"

"He is not a mate," I said through my teeth. "It is not that kind of magic —I would know. Besides," I breathed, "...Dreamcatchers do not receive mates."

My kind chose their life-partners for themselves. It was not as though we possessed any love or yearning with which Fate could work. Our way was efficient and unproblematic, in my eyes. Perhaps it was that entitlement of freedom that was now making me uneasy about whatever Adam and I were supposed to be.

Edva did not say anything in response to my statement, or a single word for a moment. Though his amusement remained, in that wide smile. "...Whatever he is," he then murmured, "you are running from it."

My muscles tensed but I did not allow myself to think about it. Even if the Faerie was right about running away —I had my reasons for doing so.

"Is that such a crime?" I muttered.

The Faerie shrugged, before turning his head slightly to look at me. He stared for a moment, and honestly, it did not feel as flattering as a certain someone else doing it. Yet I still let him lean in closer, until I could feel his frozen breath on my mouth and nose. "...By the way, if you would like to send him a message," he quipped, "I would be more than willing to oblige."

A weak smile tugged at my lips. I was not oblivious to his blatancy. It began with holding my hand but I had noticed the other advances. I decided that I would indulge him, just a little. Just to distract myself.

"If I am completely honest, I had doubted that you were interested in anything beyond bedding me, Edva," I said, adding a bit of a sultry lilt to my voice.

He grinned slyly, and his pointed ears twitched. "How perceptive of you." Then he paused. "To be clear, though, I do not bed anyone...I fuck them."

I drew a breath and bit my lip, actually contemplating it. He would wreck me thoroughly; I knew that. But it was not as though I had experience anyway —I had refrained from that sort of thing ever since I had moved to the Gamma Plane all of those years ago. I just could not let myself go with a mortal.

Nor would they understand why.

And deep down, I already knew that I would not accept Edva's invitation. I did not want it —not like this.

"Wait. There," the Faerie then whispered as the pine trees near us quaked and shook off snow. He raised his bow, drawing the arrow back silently.

Then he fired.

A beast definitely fell.

"Quickly," he breathed, firing another arrow. "It needs to be separated before the others in the pack have a chance to attempt to save it. We cannot harvest Icen blood out in the open, for all to smell."

I nodded, rising to my feet.

I moved out from behind the pine tree and moved towards the downed creature. The mound of snow and pine and icicles shuddered in pain. I almost opened my mouth to reassure it that we would not end its life; that this was for a good reason.

After making my way to the Icen, I leaned down and determined a rough estimation of its age. It was not a pup, nor was it full-grown. I drew a breath and raised one open-palmed hand. As I clenched my fingers into a fist, the ground beneath me trembled. Shards of ice then shot out of the snow, and converged above like the peak of a tent. I relaxed and settled on my knees. My magic would mask the smell of the beast's blood.

The vile I then took from my pocket was made of glass and silver. I placed a hesitant hand on the Icen, needing to search for where Edva's arrows had pierced.

I found one of the arrows embedded in its side. I abruptly yanked it out, eliciting a wail from the creature. I bit my lip, guilt welling up inside of me. "...I will be quick," I promised, holding the vile to the stream of ice blue blood. "I will not hurt you further."

I avoided contaminating the glass by keeping distance between where the blood flowed and my hand. It dripped in a steady stream, while the Icen whimpered.

"I am sorry," I murmured. "This is for...someone else."

Reminding myself as well that this was for a good cause, I hissed and futilely urged for the blood to flow quicker. The vile took another half of a minute to fill. The blood was almost luminescent and shimmering in the glass, alluding to its magical properties.

"...Nearly done," I assured.

The beast almost calmed down as it turned its head to study me. It sniffed, before reaching out to place a heavy paw onto my covered leg. I flinched, but it did not dig its claws into me or try to fight. I frowned, hesitantly reaching to stroke its fur with my other hand.

I looked into its eyes; those polished voids of black.

I drew an unsteady breath. Icen lived for many years if undisturbed —their growth rate was incredibly slow, even slower than Wytches and Elves.

Was it possible...that this Icen was the same one which I had encountered when I had been a child?

I then shook my head. No. As if it could tell me apart from other people —even I had enough difficulty telling it apart from every other one of its kind.

It was simply forgiving me for this selfishness.

"Thank you," I whispered, before lowering down to kiss the beast's forehead. "I will not forget this."

The beast whimpered softly and nuzzled its head against me. It made me feel even worse.

I made sure to finish quickly, before I lowered the ice tent and scurried back fo Edva. The Faerie and I did not wait to watch what the Icen might do —or how its pack might respond to its howl.

I did not wait to see what it might do to me either.

We bolted for the wooden and stone house, without a single glance backwards.

The humans looked up in surprise as we burst through the door; vaguely anxious and freezing.

Edva sighed after he caught his breath, before placing his bow and quiver by the door. His four wings flittered as they shook off flecks of snow.

Adam met my gaze as I came to a halt, causing me to gasp. His expression was rather serious —stony and unreadable. I slowly held up the glass vile, and the Icen blood glowed faintly in the dry warm air.

He rose to his feet, and made his way over. My breath stilled as he paused a foot away. Being this close to him again...I felt it. I felt that warmth. At a greater force. And I blushed as I remembered what I had thought of him mere minutes before.

What if he is not the only one? What if I do not want to be stripped of the ability to choose?

It was so uncomfortably obvious that I was meant to choose him —to be with him.

I was very aware of Georgia and Edva's eyes on the two of us —with the teenager sheepishly pretending not to stare, while the Faerie observed with unnerving intensity; his expression of vague smugness. He was probably wondering what I might do.

I understood that his offer still stood.

I glanced at him apologetically.

Adam noticed the staring too. His jaw clenched as Edva scoffed softly, smirking. And the soldier's gaze bore into mine, hard and dark. I blinked.

Him or me, his brown eyes seemed to say.

I glanced between them just to be sure. Adam did not react, and that was all the answer I needed. The fact that he would think I would pick someone —

My brows furrowed. My hand reacted before I could, and thrust the vile into his chest. He fumbled to catch it, before frowning at me as though I had done something wrong. It felt like an eternity before he spoke. "So...what am I supposed to do with this?"

"Drink it," I clipped flippantly, before turning away to take my previous seat.

"Wait, seriously?" Adam questioned.

"You heard the Dreamcatcher, human," Edva spoke up, leaning back in his chair. "Drink."

"That's all it takes?" the soldier said sceptically, uncapping the vile and sniffing it cautiously.

I rolled my eyes and sucked on my teeth.

"Actually," the Faerie mused, glancing at me, "you might benefit from only Purple being in the room with you. Drink it before you would usually go to sleep." He then looked out of the windows. It was twilight. "It would be wise to do that here, and not outside."

Sleeping here made sense —but I was concerned about his previous suggestion about me and Adam in the same room alone. I stiffened as I then said, "What?"

"He needs...something which reminds him of safety to be with him," explained the Faerie. "I realised quickly that it was not the other human," he remarked.

"Yeah, as if," Georgia snorted.

"I am also unsure of how his human body will react to the Icen blood," Edva continued. "Supervise him."

He then stood up to head for the small narrow stairs leading to the bedrooms. "I will prepare the rooms."

"Wait," I quipped, darting after him.

I followed the creature to what could once have been a landing, and two doors either side of a hallway.

"One room for each of us?" I guessed.

"One of them is a bathing room," Edva smirked.

My eyes widened slightly. "Tell me you do not mean to have me and the human man share?" I hissed. He said nothing. "Did you plan this?" I questioned.

The Faerie chuckled in amusement. "After seeing just how much of whatever the man feels for you, I thought it would be the natural order of things. He does need that supervision, by the way. The results can indeed be unpredictable."

"And if I refuse?" I huffed.

"Do you wish for him to recover or not?" Edva asked.

"I..." my voice trailed off. I did not mean to sound malevolent but I could not seem to bring myself to answer. Did I not want Adam to be cured? I definitely wanted for him to go back to the Gamma Plane. And I could not stomach the notion of being alone with him.

What if something like what happened in the cave, occurred again? What if we gave in and let ourselves be consumed by the warmth and desire?

This rickety house belonging to a kind stranger was most certainly not where I wanted that to happen.

Yet I thought about Adam's lips actually finding mine; about how that would feel —and it did not repulse me. Despite everything that he had already done.

I decided that it would not matter. The priority was curing his magic ailment.

I sucked in a breath, and fought off the growing gnaw of regret. "...All right," I sighed. "The human man and I will share a room."

Edva nodded, and tapped on the door of the first bedroom. "Then this is all yours." Then he turned to me, his smile widening and teeth gleaming. "...Of course," he said, towering over me by five heads now, "if you change your mind, I will be across the hall."

My breath hitched. "I do not think that I will."

"Only time will tell," he murmured. But as he walked away to the furthest room, I had an inkling that he was referring to something else.