The air in my lungs thinned and my hands clawed at my chest. I could feel Mama's biting fingernails against my cold flesh and I heard her whisper the name deep inside my ear.
I couldn't believe it had followed me all the way here. I scuttled back on the carpet.
"I believe that's what stories call him here... You have already heard this one, Acel?" Herr Leopold chuckled before meeting my eyes and losing the laugh.
"Didn't you say you were much too old to believe in them anymore?" Régine asked.
My mouth shut into a twisted line as I curled my legs in on myself.
Belle laughed softly to herself. "In Artois, the story says the Prinz was good, Herr Leopold."
Our storyteller threaded his fingers through his beard and tugged on it. "That part, I think, is up to whoever tells the story, frauline. But in the end, it is just a story. There's no real Konigin and no Cursed Prinz." Herr Leopold patted me on the head while smiling down at me in a gentle way. "There are some things that are without explanation in this world, but here is one simple truth: no man or monster can walk around heartless."
And there is no such thing as the face-stealing, heart-devouring Netvor, I added for my own peace of mind.
And then a thunderous knock ruptured the silence.
The door burst open and two snow-covered figures stepped over the threshold as it creaked back on the hinges.
"What's the meaning of this!" Gerard asserted himself loudly, his knuckles going white.
"Sorry for barging in," one of the snow beasts called.
They brushed themselves off and silence fell over the room.
Régine stiffened, her eyes fixed upon Yvain Lalumiere as he took off his shiny black boots and tossed them outside. He slammed the door shut with a subtle grin.
"My brother, Perrin, needed a pair of new hunting gloves, and I thought I'd drop by to work out a price with Herr Leopold." Yvain clapped a hand on his brother's back as the younger man slowly unwrapped a scarf from around his face.
He crossed the room and shook Gerard’s hand before proceeding to Herr Leopold and Régine. My eldest sister glared at him from across the room as Perrin trailed behind.
"I went to see you, Monsieur Leopold, but I heard from your neighbours that you were over at the Picoux's."
Herr Leopold nodded forgivingly before he went to Yvain's brother who was awkwardly shuffling at the side.
"Only a madman would come all the way out in this storm for a pair of hunting gloves," Régine hissed under her breath.
Yvain smirked as he sat himself adjacent my sister. "True, it would be mad to go back out there until the storm calms down. If it's all right, Monsieur Picoux, we shall only intrude upon your hospitality for a short while."
Gerard nodded graciously and slumped back against his chair.
"Might as well get comfortable, Giena, you wouldn't want to force them out," Belle added, her blue iris peeking out from behind her book.
Régine sighed and wedged her sewing supplies between her and Yvain. "Thank you, Beauty. Of course I wouldn't want to do that."
I picked myself up off the carpet and slowly walked to the window, my eyes trailing after the snowflakes as they whirled around in the air and then latched onto the ground. However, towards the left of corner, a black blur moved against the backdrop of white.
It was too small to be anything larger than a child and I squinted.
"What are you doing out there?" I whispered to myself with a puzzled look, although I was careful not to speak too loudly and draw attention.
However, my confusion quickly dissolved when I saw him waving at me, his mouth open and eyes wide as the storm winds swallowed the boy up between the white flurries.
Lem.
Something was wrong.
Before anyone had a word out, I was tugging on my boots and throwing my cloak over my shoulders. I pulled on the handle and ran out the door with Régine screaming after me.
And then I was out in the storm too.
The tree line was barely visible through the white winds. Immediately after leaving the shelter of the Picoux's home, my face was blistered by the sharp shards of ice that pelted the town.
Snow and wind ripped around my dress, stinging my stocking-less legs. "What’s wrong?" I shouted, but the storm warped my call.
Lem pivoted against the winds, his body appearing unnaturally still while the wind tore ravenously at my skirts and snagged my hair with its invisible claws. His eyes fell on me as the winds swirled through him indifferently.
"Do you need help?"
Lem held my gaze as I tried to make out his expression through the ever-changing parts in my hair. Suddenly, he withdrew into the storm which ate his body whole. I swivelled back around, creating a pit in the snow where my heals dug, only to discover that I could no longer see the lights from the village. Snowflakes clung to my clothes and melted into my skirts until the cold began to bury its gnarled claws into my skin. However, after looking down I sighed in relief and clutched my throbbing heart.
Footprints.
They were too large for a woman or child, but perhaps the right size for a man. Without a doubt, they would lead back to town in this weather.
The story of Herr Leopold's and the storm had gotten to my fears, but everything was alright now. People made footprints, storms settled, and there was nothing to be afraid of in the forest. Not now, at least. No man or animal would be out in this weather.
I flew into a mad dash against the raging storm, my toes aching from the cold and the nuggets of ice that had worked into the soles of my shoes. The cold even sank into the walls of my throat and they felt wretched from use.
Fresh footprints meant that whoever left them was nearby.
"Monsieur?" I croaked, my face flushed from panting. "Can you hear me?"
The footprints began to twist and turn on what was once a straight path, and I almost missed them. They were strange now.
There was a large imprint in the snow where a body had fallen; no body remained, thank goodness, but it looked as if he had crawled across the snow.
"Monsieur? Monsieur!" I cried out again for his sake.
I spotted a dark shape amongst the swirling white, but as I approached, there
It was the stench of death.
It only took a few more steps for me to be in touching distance, and I finally saw the body lying in the snow.
A deer.
What used to be a deer.
I staggered back and stared in horror at the body. The animal hadn't just died, it had been slaughtered.
Shreds of its flank littered the snow and soaked the innocent white in red. The deer's large glassy eyes were forever frozen open. What had it seen? I followed the footprints of a man to the bloodied carcass of a deer. What did that mean?
"Where are you?" I screamed out into the nothing.
I was answered, not by a voice, but a sharp chirping. I squinted through the thin icicles forming on my eyelashes and saw the tiny bundle of fur and spots huddled closely to the stomach of the dead deer.
A pair of glassy black eyes blinked back at me as a fawn reared its head, ears twitching. The pleading look yanked me to my knees.
What cowardly hunter would kill a mother? Was it the man I had followed here?
"Where are you?" I rasped. Frost crept further down my insides and left hard trails of frozen flesh along my throat.
The fawn chirped but couldn't move. I couldn't leave them. I wouldn't. But then who was going to find me?
I repressed a shiver and the notion that I was slowly freezing to death and prepared to scream again, however, I was interrupted by the crunch of feet amongst the snow drifts.
The wind peeled my eyelids back and a massive silhouette came to a halt several yards away. I heard a howl, but I couldn't tell if it was human or not.
"Get- get back!" I cried, and tripped over the deer's body. The shadow drew nearer, its cape snapping in the wind. And all I could think about was the Cursed Prince, doomed to hunt down those lost and unlucky victims for their hearts.
My unlucky heart.
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