Shit.

That's the only word my brain seems to be capable of recognizing when I wake to find myself utterly naked and trapped within Jimin's muscular arms. I lay entirely still as I process the events of last night.

"Shit!" I shout.

I am immediately horrified as Jimin begins to stir.

"No!" I shout, before quickly realizing that more shouting isn't going to have the desired effect.

I resign myself to facing the situation head-on just as Jimin opens his eyes, fixing me with a genuine smile. My heart melts at the sight and I groan internally. This just got so much more difficult.

"Good morning beautiful," he tells me softly.

One of his hands begins tracing small circles into my hip bone as he openly admires my disheveled appearance. But, of course, this is Jimin and he can't seem to keep his lips away from mine for long.

Thankfully I recognize the way that his eyes seem to glaze over, giving me the necessary time to find a quick, if not rude solution. I shove my pillow into his face.

I scramble from the bed rather inelegantly, taking the covers with me. It won't do anything for my modesty, but a girl can try, right?

Also, I'm not really in a fully cognizant state of mind either.

Jimin looks utterly offended that his kiss has been deflected, but that is quick to change as he noticeably misconstrues the meaning behind my actions. I can see it in the way his eyes light up playfully.

"Oh," he says mirthfully "you want to play hard to get!"

He laughs as he reaches for me, but I am too quick and easily sidestep him. My modesty isn't so lucky. He manages to get a good enough grip on the blanket enshrouding my form that my speedy withdraw leaves me utterly in the nude. His eyes darken almost immediately.

"If you wanted to play this game, all you had to do was say so, love," he says huskily as his eyes hungrily devour me.

If I had a panic button, now would be the time to press it. He leaps from the bed in a nimble show of grace that my poor human limbs can't even begin to match. I do my best to avoid him but to no avail.

It isn't long before Jimin has me right where he wants me, crushed against his muscular chest. I don't think I could be any more aware of the distinct lack of clothing between us.

"You're so cute when you blush," he tells me, voice dangerously throaty, as he leans down with obvious intentions of capturing my lips with his own.

It is enchanting, the way that his lips part and his eyes close. It almost causes me to forget that I am supposed to be resisting.

"But why?" I ask myself. "Why am I resisting?"

Oh, right. Fairy Prince. As messed up as reality is for me right now, it's still a debbie downer. I manage to pull away at the last moment, before fixing him with a gaze of my own. A stern one.

"Jimin," I say firmly. "What happened last night..."

I trail off, unsure of how to word it. Do fairies even have customs regarding this kind of thing? Who's to say that I'm not misunderstanding the situation? Who's to say that fairies even have committed relationships? Aren't they supposed to be free-spirited and capricious? At least Jimin seems to understand the mood now, waiting patiently for me to speak with a look of confusion on his face.

"What happened last night shouldn't have happened," I tell him bluntly.

His posture suddenly becomes rigid as his eyes begin to squint in anger.

"What are you saying?" He barks. "Are you telling me that last night was a mistake?"

"Jimin..." I sigh. "It was a mistake. Surely you know that too. We barely know each other, and you're not even human. It shouldn't have happened."

"But it did," he argues passionately "and you are no stranger to me. You see, I've known you for a very long time. And now I've come to know you in the way that a man knows his wife. We are not strangers."

He reaches out for me, fury raging in his eyes like an inferno. I throw my hands up as if to defend myself from whatever may come next as I stumble backward. I am almost certain that I hear a throaty, thunderous sound emit from his throat. I am done. This is it. I am certifiably a goner. His hands startle me as they slam into the dresser behind me.

"Jimin! It happened, and it was nice. But moving forward... We really just need to forget that this ever happened."

"Oh hell no." He growls into my ear.

The shiver that runs down my spine as he nips my earlobe gently is not in fear, and I am enthralled. The air that he exhales tickles my ear tantalizingly

"I'm not forgetting anything. Not the way you writhed beneath me as I fucked you senseless, nor the way you screamed my name, begged me for more..."

At this point my hands now rest uselessly against his firm chest, my last line of defense has failed me.

"Nice isn't the way I would describe last night, and you're crazy if you think for one moment that I'll allow you to ruin such a beautiful experience by calling it a mistake."

Jimin seems to be intent on conquering all of my senses if the way that his mouth travels the column of my throat is any indication.

"Even crazier if you think I'll let you go like this. You're definitely my woman now."

I can't help the shiver that runs down my spine in response. How long can I honestly deny him? Last night only proves that he's correct. It's only an inevitability, my heart will belong to this man. Even though he's not a man. I don't understand any of this, to be perfectly frank, and it's all too much and too frightening.

Nevertheless, I have never been one to go down without a fight. I push him away, not even paying any attention to my current state of undress as I dash into the master bathroom, locking the door behind me. My head is a jumbled mess right now, and Jimin isn't helping in the slightest. When I'm near him it's too damn difficult to breathe, let alone think. I sink against the door, falling to the floor slowly.

I don't even truly know this man, so why can't I seem to control myself? This whole situation is irrational, illogical, and I am not behaving like myself. I can't remember the last time I let anyone close enough to me that they could affect me in this manner. As a matter of fact, I don't believe there has ever been a last time. For as long as I can remember it's been just me, on my own.

I try to imagine what Granny might have had to say about the situation were she still with me, but try as I might I simply can't. By the end of her lifetime, my Grandmother had become a stranger to me and my heart breaks with the realization.

"Evie, please open the door," Jimin begs from the other side.

If the volume and clarity of his voice are to be any sort of judge he must be leaning against the door himself.

"I promise that I will keep my hands to myself, but we need to talk about this. You can't just leave me after last night. There are things you need to know."

I don't respond. I am determined to ignore him for the foreseeable future, despite how surprisingly miserable the idea alone makes me. I need to take the time to sort all of this out.

"Evie, please. I'm begging you. Don't shut me out. I know how overwhelming all of this must be for you but-"

"No, you don't," I yell as I stand, yanking the door open in anger. "You couldn't possibly begin to even imagine how I am feeling right now, so piss off!"

Jimin reaches for me, grabbing me as I try to walk past him entirely. I wince as I notice the hurt in his expression. I am just about to unload on him again when I notice him visibly pale, stiffening in an instant. Even his hold on my wrist has become rigid.

Despite the raging inferno that had only just been simmering within me, I am forced to admit to myself that I truly do care for Jimin after all. The realization is like a slap to the face, one that is brought about by the way that my fire, my anger, vanishes in seconds only to be replaced entirely with the softest and most earnest of emotions.

Worry, for him no less.

"Jimin, are you okay?" I ask softly.

"Shh," he implores quietly.

He pulls me into his embrace, but this time it is vastly different. It is a protective one, and he forcefully buries my face into his chest, almost as if to shield me from seeing something frightening.

Unfortunately, it only serves to frighten me more.

Suddenly I hear the sound of something shattering, and I try to break free to take a look at whatever it is that Jimin is cautiously backing us away from but find myself unable to lift my head in any manner. Nor can I seem to open my mouth to speak. Actually, I find that I am very sleepy, oddly enough. And my last thought before I black out is that Jimin must have been using magic and that I will definitely be giving him a piece of my mind later.

~NARRATOR POV~

"You don't belong here," Jimin says.

There is a barely suppressed rage hiding beneath his words as he speaks to something that remains unseeable, despite his best attempts to force the damned thing out with his aura. He knows it's here. He can feel it, just like the time in the flower shop when he'd caught Evie. There's no way that such a sturdy chair could suddenly just break on its own.

"One could easily say the same of you," came the response from the shadows.

Jimin's eyes flicker about, assessing the room for the direction of the voice. It's creepy dual-toned timbre echoes throughout the room for minutes after the sentence has been uttered.

"You have broken Fae law, Crown Prince Jimin. I wonder what the King and Queen will have to say about it, you taking a human to wife, I mean. Will they be pleased? I think not. Perhaps the sword hanging over your head is a mercy then. Shall the two of you perish together? I can easily accommodate such a thing you know. Together. Forever. Doesn't that sound wonderful?"

Jimin's anger rises, nearly reaching the boiling point, but he forces it back down. It is highly unlikely that the creature is here to attack, especially since he seems so keen on talking. Ever since the King of the Winter Court broke the most salient tenant of the natural order his people have been rather less prone to conversation after all.

Magic always comes with a price, a fact that Jimin is harshly reminded of by the sudden rush of near anxiety-inducing levels of energy that comes crashing through his body. Lucky that simply this was the cost of his spell, if Evie is to sleep now, he would not be sleeping later. Hardly a concern. But then again, the weight of the price is always determined by the severity of the spell. Or in the Winter Court's case, the crime. And one of the most unequivocal laws of magic is to never harm others. An ancient rule, one that was written into the very thread of all things magical, but the Winter Court had broken it.

The Fairy Court, not unlike magic, is a dual-sided coin. Just as evil must exist for the sake of good, so too must the Winter Court exist for the Summer Court to thrive. All things must exist in balance. But the Winter Court was not always truly evil. No.

If the Summer Court is life and light and laughter, then the Winter Court is meant to be, and was, death and dark. And yet only for the sake of rebirth. Once, all things flowed together in a breathtakingly beautiful weave of togetherness. All things different converging upon the same destination. But Jimin messed up. Jimin grew too close to that which he should not have, and as a result, he altered the natural flow of a humans lifespan.

This had enraged the Winter Court. All things must die when they are meant to. The beautiful symphony of unity was destroyed by a discordant note, delivered by one foolish, foolish prince. For the first time that any Fae could remember, the Winter Court took matters into their own hands, and the result was nothing short of a tragedy. To use magic to kill is the worst of crimes and the Winter Court had, from the moment of the crime, become monstrous beings driven only by animalistic rage and led by the few who retained some semblance of their intelligence. Priests, they called themselves. Their goal? To rewrite the balance entirely.

And their primary targets are none other than Evie and the fairy Prince that held her. Jimin shifts, lifting Evie up and into his arms. This beings presence is nauseating, and a threat to Evie's very existence. The knowledge makes Jimin's hair stand on end. But in a moment of perfect clarity, Jimin finally understands why this creature is here.

"You won't frighten me," Jimin spits. "And I honestly don't give a fuck what Mother or Father have to say. You won't touch her. I'll kill every last one of you if I have to. Don't make me shift the balance that far."

The harsh, maniacal laughter that echoes in his mind fades slowly, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth. They needed to leave, and now.