Reluctantly, I allowed my wings to fold against my shoulder blades. I lightly dropped back to the snow coated ground of the Grimwood. My boots crunched in the frost as I settled back on the earth.

Diandre's hand slowly let go of mine, his fingers sliding away like falling water.

"I've been wanting to tell you the truth for a while now," he said. "So that you would stop looking at me like that."

I blinked up at him, staring into his gray eyes.

"Like what?"

"Like I'm a monster."

The words came out soft, broken, and Diandre turned his head away from me so that I couldn't read his expression. But I knew the mark of contorted pain very well. I opened my mouth to say something, anything, but his back was to me and he was already walking up to my family's house.

I followed him silently, bracing myself for what I was going to hear. Diandre sat down on the steps of the front porch, the wood creaking slightly under his weight. I settled down beside him. We sat there for a moment, staring into the endless abyss of dead trees. I stole a glance at his face, but it was now placid like the surface of the frozen lake beyond us.

"It all started here in this forest," Diandre began. "That day in the snow." A ghost of a smile tugged at his lips. "After that snowball fight." Like a mirage, it suddenly disappeared. "I had no idea that they were watching. They had always been watching. Biding their time."

"It was the sprites, wasn't it?" I realized aloud.

Diandre nodded. "Yes. I had no idea that every time I went into the woods with you, they were waiting for the right moment." He took a breath. "And to think that moment was when I had ventured back to find my hat in the snow."

I remembered watching his back fading in the swirling white winter three years ago, and my heart panged.

"As I searched, I grew lost inside the Grimwood as the sun went down." Diandre continued. "I was all alone when the sprites surrounded me, and that deep in the forest, no one could hear me cry for help." His eyes misted over. "No one could hear me scream as they tortured me."

"Diandre-" I whispered, but he cut me off.

"I don't remember much, just seeing tattooed arms beating me over and over again." He swallowed hard. "You can probably guess who it was."

The Master's advisor: the tattooed sprite.

"They would break my bones, torturing me until I lost consciousness. When I would wake up, they would hurt me all over again." Diandre shuddered.

"I'm sorry." I whispered. I bit my lip as my imagination conjured images of the horrible suffering. I could picture thirteen year old Diandre, sobbing helpless in the snow as the sprites hurt him.

" I still have the scars, you know." Diandre said softly. "They haven't gone away."

For the first time, I could see faint lines beneath the white of his T-shirt. They were so subtle, almost unnoticeable, and I couldn't help but gently reach out and rest my hand on them. I took a breath as I carefully lifted the fold of his shirt, his eyes never leaving mine, and I had to restrain myself from gasping in horror.

Diandre's torso was sliced with fading bruises and fierce scars that were healing into stark, painful lines. They were everywhere.

My throat closed as my fingers touched the mutilated skin. Diandre flinched slightly, as if my touch had summoned dark memories. I drew away from him, and his shirt fell over the scars once more, concealing them from the world.

"Dragons," I murmured. "How could they do something like this to you?"

Diandre took a deep breath.

"They did it because they needed me to obey them," he replied. "They needed me to unleash a beast. They needed me to awaken the troll beneath the bridge."

My eyes widened at the memory of the hulking, bellowing creature that had caused the very ground to tremble.

"But I refused; I knew what a creature like that would do to Winter Court. It could destroy everything. So I begged the sprites to kill me." Diandre's voice was heavy with the burden of his words. "But they told me that if I didn't do as they said, they would hunt you down, Marissa. They vowed to kill you. They promised me that they would make your death slow. The things the tattooed Sprite said he would do to you scared me beyond belief. I was afraid to die. But I was more afraid to lose you."

He met my eyes, his gaze unwavering. "I'm so sorry, Marissa. I really am. But I couldn't afford for them to hurt you." He stared off at some invisible point in the distance, someplace that I couldn't visit. "Your father made me promise something a long time ago." He said. "Back when I was young." Diandre smiled slightly with a low chuckle. "I was so young, still just a child. I was only about six years old when I decided to ask your father if I could marry you one day."

My heart froze in my chest.

"Of course your father laughed. But he made me vow that I had to protect you, to save you no matter what it took. I think back then, he somehow knew that the sprites would grow stronger eventually. He said that if I wanted to be worthy of you, I had to keep you safe. I couldn't let anything happen to his daughter." The smile on his face wavered slightly. "It was a hell of a responsibility for a six-year old, but as I was laying there broken in the snow, I understood what your father had meant. So I let the sprites drag me beneath the bridge, and I did exactly what they had asked."

Diandre looked down at his boots.

"I didn't know what to do. When I saw your family come running, that was when I realized just what was happening. I swear I had no idea what the sprites had in store for them. But it became clear when I watched your father die that everything was my fault." His voice hitched painfully. "I was just a helpless child. I had unleashed all of this onto you, betrayed your family. And when Hall and your mother were lured into the bridge, your mother looked at me and nodded. And she whispered to me, 'keep your promise'."

Tears were spilling down my cheeks now, and I could taste them as they gathered on my lips. My chest was hollow and numb. But could only listen silently.

"The next thing I knew, my magic hit the ropes, and the bridge fell. Just like that, your mother, Hall..." Diandre trailed off. "It's unforgivable what I did three years ago. I knew that everything you said about me that night as true. I was a Sprite now, and I deserved to be one. I deserved to be cursed. So I ran."

I wished I could take back those words I had screamed so long ago.

"I was wrong."

Diandre's head turned and he stared at me, his eyes wide with astonishment at what I had said.

"I was wrong," I repeated. "You've saved my life more times than I can count. No monster would stand by me after what I let happen to you." I wiped the tears from my eyes. "I was so full of hate, I let it blind me. I'm the one that needs to be forgiven." I took a shuddering breath. "After everything we've been through, you proved to me that I'm more cruel than I realized. I push people away because I'm afraid. I hurt people because I'm afraid. And I'm sorry."

Diandre reached out, taking my hand in his. The snow fell down lightly around us as the sky was swallowed in a black night that seemed to close us off from the world.

"Marissa, you push people away because of what I've done to you." He whispered. "And I hope that one day I can make up for the pain I've caused you."

We sat there on the porch for a long time, our hands intertwined as our minds wandered like the winter wind that swept over the frosted branches of the woods. I thought about our childhood for a while, our adventures in this very place.

It wasn't until Diandre's hand was holding mine, a strong reassurance that made me count on him indefinitely, that I discovered how much I had truly missed him.

A loud howl sliced through the silence, long and eerie. It floated through the swishing snowflakes, reaching my ears with a spine tingling sensation that made my the hair on the back of my neck rise unpleasantly. Then, a chorus of identical howls joined it, rising into the winter air.

"The wolves." I breathed.

The only wolves in the Faerie Realm belonged to Queen Mab. There were her spies, the eyes of her court that roamed the kingdom with a dominating authority. My skin crawled, goosebumps rising on my arms.

Diandre stood up, pulling me up beside him. His eyes narrowed as he scanned the dark tree line.

"We need to go back to the prince," he whispered to me. His voice was deathly quiet. "If the wolves find us, it'll be over."

I nodded silently, afraid that if I spoke I would be too loud. As Diandre began to creep across the clearing into the darkness, I reached a hand out and rested it on the wall of my house. The wood was fading with age, cracking under the pressure of years and years.

"Goodbye."

That was all I could bring myself to say. I couldn't fit the love, the compassion, the joy, or the warmth this home had brought me into words. All I could say was a simple goodbye. As I followed Diandre into the towering trees, the last thing I saw as I looked back down the winding path was the ever white flowers waving to me in the chilling breeze. Then my house was enveloped by the night.

We silently left the clearing, swallowed in the suffocating night. As the wolves continued to howl, the still Grimwood seemed to come alive with alarm. Birds burst through the treetops, their wings flapping with panic as they fled. All of the animals were scurrying into hiding while the trees seemed to quiver from their roots to their limbs. The long, pointed teeth of a tree nymph glittered in the darkness as she giggled and dissolved in a plume of leaves. Snow gnomes grunted at each other and hobbled towards cover.

I cursed as the howls drew closer.

"Did Mab sense our presence?" I wondered aloud.

Diandre gritted his teeth and pulled me out of the way as a stampede of crying elk thundered past us.

"I don't know," He replied. "But if she did, we're as good as dead."

I found my gaze drawn towards the direction of Winter's Palace. Obscured by branches, I could only make out its gleaming towers of ice. I imagined the queen herself, seated on her throne of snow and glowering out the wide windows straight into my soul. I shivered.

"Dammit," I swore. "Where's Glen?"

The trees surrounding us looked gnarled and unfamiliar. I didn't want to say it, but I knew. That sinking dread in my stomach meant one thing. Diandre and I were lost. The howls turned to deep calls, spreading across the Grimwood from wolf to wolf.

Diandre cursed. "They picked up our scent. We need to run."

I was about to ask him how it was possible to outrun a pack of ferocious hunter animals, but he was already dragging me behind him. We tore through the forest, our breaths escaping our lungs in short bursts of fear. I didn't want to imagine what would happen if we were caught. The wolves were gaining on us now, their cries growing louder as Diandre and I struggled through the maze of trees. Thoughts whizzed around my mind frantically. I shouldn't have wandered away. Because of my foolish emotion, Glen was lost somewhere in the Grimwood. Alone.

"Those wolves are going to catch up to us!" I gasped, stating the obvious.

Bright eyes of amber bobbed in the darkness, drawing near. I could hear the paws of the wolves as they pounded against the snowy earth. Diandre sprinted beside me through the snow, his arms pumping at his sides.

"We can lose them behind those rocks!" He said, pointing at the jagged boulders in the distance.

The wolves barked and growled behind us, and I nodded in agreement. We had no choice but to hide. There were too many of them to fight on our own. I ran faster now, desperately determined to escape the beasts that were gaining on us. The rocks were just a few yards away. A few feet. A few inches. I leaped over them, my wings curling around my body as I crashed to the ground. Diandre landed beside me, and we pressed our backs against the tall boulders. The rocks formed a sharp, protective ring around us.

Diandre's eyes rested on a patch of flowers next to us. He uprooted the plants from the ground in a swift, fast movement.

"What are you doing?" I whispered fiercely as the wolves broke through the tree line. They paced the area, sniffing the ground as deep rumbles erupted from their throats. "Now isn't really the time to pick me a bouquet."

Diandre gave me a wry smile. "Once again, Marissa, you flatter yourself too much."

His fingers nimbly peeled apart the petals until only large lumps of pollen remained. Taking what was left of the flowers, he dumped the shimmering pollen onto my head. The fine grains sprinkled all over me, and he did the same to himself. Covered in the pollen, I understood Diandre's plan.

"You're masking our scent," I breathed. "Not bad."

We peered between the crags of the rocks, our faces pressed next to each other to get a good view. The wolves were snarling, their massive bodies rippling with agitated muscle. Their sleek, black fur gleamed under the stars as their frothing mouths snapped open and shut, showcasing their powerful jaws. Their teeth were longer than my fingers. I watched as their paws scraped against the earth in frustration, their claws drawing vicious sharp lines in the snow. I could only imagine what they could do to human skin. There were about six of them, their predatory gazes sweeping the clearing.

"Faerie flesh," One growled deeply with longing. "So sweet, lingering in the air."

Another ran its lolling tongue over its curled lips with a low snarl.

"I smell another," it rumbled. "An unnatural scent. An abomination."

"And to think that I just took a shower." Diandre grumbled.

The wolves gradually began to come closer to our hiding spot, their ears swiveling on their heads. I gripped my sword, not daring to breathe. I turned away from the peephole in the rocks just as a pair of yellow eyes squinted through it. I flattened myself against the back of the rock. I didn't move. Diandre was beside me, his eyes closed as he leaned against me. He looked eerily calm as the wolves began to sniff on the other side of the boulders. My eyes widened in horror as a long, black snout stuck itself through one of the cracks. It sniffed the air deeply, and I prayed that Diandre's idea would work.

"I can't sense them anymore." Came a low, guttural snarl belonging to the snout.

"Impossible," Another wolf growled. Even from the other side of the ring of rocks, I could smell its reeking, foul breath. "They couldn't have just escaped."

More loud sniffing was heard as the wolves surrounded the ring of boulders, pressing their noses against the stone.

"Nothing but loveblooms." One reported, its voice dripping with venomous frustration as it inhaled the pollen that coated Diandre and me.

There was a noise of jaws snapping and yelps of pain.

"What a disgrace," One barked, who I assumed was their commander. "We will have failed our queen if we afford the fugitives to get away. Scour every mile of the Grimwood if you have to. We cannot rest until they are found."

I could feel my blood running cold. Diandre had been right. Queen Mab knew that we had returned to our kingdom. And now we were being hunted.

The wolves were heard to be scrambling to their feet, and snowflakes fluttered into the night sky as they shook their black coats.

"We will find them," the commander growled. "Before the moon wanes."

With that, the wolves bounded off.

Diandre and I were still for a few minutes, not daring to move or breathe until we were sure that the wolves had disappeared into the depths of the Grimwood. Eventually, I heard Diandre sigh with relief.

"Thank the dragons," he murmured. "They're gone."

I nodded in agreement, my shoulders sagging against the boulder in wilted relief.

"We need to find Glen before the wolves do." I said determinedly. "I'd hate to think what Mab will do if she captured him."

Slowly, Diandre peered through the cracks in the rocks and stood up. His dark hair was swept into his eyes as he gazed around the clearing. I forced myself to my feet beside him, my wings stretching warily as Diandre's eyes visibly widened.

He cursed.

I turned around, my hand flying to my sword hilt.

"Well, well, look what we have here."

Diandre and I were completely surrounded.

Thanks for reading!
Feel free to vote or comment with any feedback. I'd love to hear thoughts or ideas!