Aleneo shivered as the cold air blew right into him. He got up from the bench and stood at the balcony's edge. The lights from the party shined down on the large estate garden in the back of the castle. Shadows flickered from inside and onto the green grass.
Another burst of cold air hit him. He shivered again and ran his already going numb fingers over his arms. It was still summer. It shouldn't have been this cold.
He peered out into the darkness. That same feeling he got when he'd neared the edge of the dark forest came back. It was stronger this time. He took a sharp breath and gripped the ledge. He looked down again, gulping as he tried to keep balance. The bottom moved back and forth. His vision blurred as he tried to get over the nauseating feeling in his stomach.
His grip tightened on the smooth concrete. He closed his eyes. When he was able to move without falling or throwing up, he backed away from the balcony's edge. He turned back to the large glass doors that would lead him back into the ballroom.
But just as he was about to go back inside, he felt something land on his cheek.
He paused before the door, the warm glow of the chandeliers covering him from head to toe. He touched his cheek where it had fallen. Another landed on his other cheek.
And then there were dozens falling on his arms.
When he pulled his fingers back, there was a spot of wetness. He looked up and gasped.
It was snowing.
He whipped around, his skirts billowing out around him. He didn't believe his eyes when the large flakes started dotting every inch of the garden and even past that. The line of dark trees that marked the start of the dark forest weren't even safe from the bright white that was slowly taking over everything.
He gaped at the odd sight. That same strange and unsettling feeling had him stepping back until he bumped into the french doors. He grappled for the handle and struggled to quickly twist it. The door popped open and a burst of warmth hit him. He was still staring in disbelief and amazement at the snowfall when he made it completely inside. He closed the doors. He leaned against the wooden frame, eyes still on the snowfall.
He noticed that there wasn't any music playing. He turned away from the doors and looked out at the ballroom from where he was. There were another set of stairs that he'd taken to get up to where the balconies were. Below, he saw that the crowd had divided on either side of the room. Alette and Tilen had taken their seats on their thrones. And Erebus stood before them.
A servant came toward him and offered up a strange sword that Aleneo had never seen before.
He forgot all about the bewildering sight of snow in summer and stormed down the stairs. His confusion was quickly outweighed by his pure rage. He didn't know how he was able to keep himself from shouting. He wasn't sure what his intention was anyhow. All he could think about was how he deserved to have that sword even if he didn't want it in the first place.
He made it off the last step of the stairs when he was hit with an even more chilling feeling. He stopped in his tracks as everyone in the room turned to look at him.
He hesitated. He wished he hadn't thrown the fan so he could nervously wring his hands on it now. He walked through the people that were watching him with creepy gazes. He'd always loved to be looked upon—even if it was with jealousy. However, this time, he hated how these gazes made him feel. It made him feel like something horrible was about to happen.
He made it out of the crowd, but when he was standing only a couple feet behind Erebus, he felt even more unsafe.
"What is going on?" There was only a sliver of outrage in his voice. The rest of it was consumed by this anxious foreboding that seemed to have laced the room.
Tilen rose his gaze from his lap to meet Aleneo's eyes. "Restrain him."
Guards that Aleneo hadn't seen came from behind him and grabbed both of his arms. He was so shocked he didn't react at first. He was dragged forward, not given any grace as he tripped in the heels he still hadn't gotten used to walking in.
He started fighting when he got over his surprise. The guard's had a better hold on him and it was a lot harder to fight back when he was losing his balance every other second.
"Get off me!" Aleneo elbowed one guard in the gut. The man made an "oomph" sound as he folded to protect himself.
Aleneo wiggled his way out of the man's grip, but the other guard yanked him back before he could run off. He fell back on his ass this time. The heels slipped off his feet which was a blessing if he was being honest. The things were killing his feet.
The skirts spread like liquid around him. His arms were twisted above him, the guard he'd hit finding his strength to grab Aleneo's right arm again.
"Father!" He pleaded, not understanding what was going on.
Tilen looked at him like they didn't know each other. When Aleneo got no response, he looked to his mother. But the expression on Alette's face made it quite obvious that she wasn't going to be of any help to him. She was calm and poised as she usually was, but there was an eagerness that made Aleneo more unsettled than he already was.
This night which had seemed so simple had turned Aleneo on his head. He had no idea what was happening and how any of it had began.
Erebus hadn't turned. He held the new blade in one hand at his side. His head slightly tilted as if he were trying to understand what was happening behind him but didn't want to look.
Aleneo stared at Erebus's back as if that might help him. It didn't.
His gaze, shaky, went to Alette.
"Mother," he whispered. There was no way that Alette had heard it, but she seemed to know that he was saying her name.
There was no ounce of pity or care. She looked down at him as if they'd never met and she hadn't raised him from a baby.
"Don't beg now, dear," Alette said. "No one is going to save you."
Aleneo slowly turned to look at the others surrounding him. The onlookers watched with keen interest that was not that different than the interest they had when the Hinythian prisoners were tortured.
Aleneo was almost breathless when he spoke. "What is going on?"
His limbs were weak. He no longer had the energy to try and escape. He had no idea what he should do—whether that was fight for his freedom or wait to see what was going to happen.
Tilen stood from his throne. He walked down the steps and toward where Erebus and Aleneo were.
"Do you remember the story of the Rabbit and the Snake?"
Aleneo frowned. "What has a stupid children's story have to do with this?"
He spat the words out and yanked against the hands holding him down.
Tilen placed his hand on Erebus's shoulder. He slowly turned Erebus around so that he faced Aleneo now. Aleneo looked between them. He didn't want to see the smug look on Erebus's face. He didn't need to know how much Erebus was getting off on Aleneo's fall from grace.
"The story is much more than a child's tale."
Aleneo decided to bite. "Okay. It's a story about a rabbit that bites a snake because it's bigger than it. The snake bites the rabbit and the rabbit dies because of poison."
Tilen didn't look impressed. "That's what you got from that story? You forgot the most important part."
Tilen turned to Erebus. "The snake doesn't want to bite the rabbit. It tries to talk the rabbit out of attacking it, but the rabbit keeps biting it. Still, the snake doesn't want to hurt the rabbit and when a hunter comes along, the snake warns the rabbit."
Erebus listens like a young child would. His intrigue doesn't even seem fake. And though it was funny on the outside to watch the King recite a children's story in front of hundreds of people, he had everyone's undivided attention. What was just as unsettling as his rapture the king held over the crowd, was that Aleneo didn't know what this was leading toward.
"Still, the rabbit bites the snake again. The snake runs and the hunter shoots the rabbit." Tilen removed his hand from Erebus's shoulder. He steps closer to Aleneo and kneels in front of him.
"What happens next, Aleneo?"
Confused, Aleneo told the ending. "The rabbit begs for forgiveness, but the snake is weakened from the multiple bites and eats the rabbit."
Tilen reaches out and places his hand on Aleneo's face. Aleneo, startled by the touch, attempts to pull away from the cold hand. Tilen holds his face, fingers digging into Aleneo's cheek.
"The rabbit begs for the snake to protect it. The snake, however, is consumed by its natural instinct. And like that story, Aleneo, you won't escape from the instincts born into us."
Aleneo's heart began to race. "I don't know what you're talking about."
His eyes darted but he didn't know who to look at. They landed on Erebus and that's where they stayed. Erebus seemed startled by the look Aleneo was giving him. Not expecting it, he looked away but then back—whatever he was feeling right then, Aleneo couldn't get a read on it. Like he was that rabbit in the tale, he begged for Erebus to make some sense of what was going on.
More than wanting to be free from being restrained, Aleneo just wanted to know why his parents had turned on him.
Tilen shook Aleneo's face, forcing his eyes to go back to his father's. "You've always known you were human. We never intended to keep that from you. But we never thought you would think you were one of us."
Aleneo felt ill. Nausea pushed at the back of his throat.
"I am," he said in a strained voice. He argued even when Tilen shook his head, his voice rising. "I'm fae! I was raised here! You raised me!"
"Humans can't be fairies. They're too soft. Dumb. They can barely survive in their own world." Tilen pulled his hand away and stood. "We kept you alive for one purpose only. Forty-five years ago we made a deal with a sorceress. To save our kingdom and to keep our son safe, we traded him for you.
"The price was simple really. For each of you to survive on either side of the ripple, a piece from Erebus would need to be placed in you and vice versa."
Tilen paused. His eyes looked out the large windows, spotting the snowstorm that was brewing outside the castle.
"The problem we now face is that Erebus can't exist here for long. I think you can deduce what I'm going to say next."
Aleneo couldn't feel his limbs. He could barely breathe much less swallow. He leaned forward, his shoulders straining as his hands were still wrenched above his head.
He stared at the blade in Erebus's hand.
"What did you do to us?" His whisper shouldn't have been able to hear. Perhaps Tilen knew what Aleneo was going to say. Perhaps it was expected of Aleneo, cliche in a sense.
Alette made herself known after being silent during the whole exchange. She rose from her throne elegantly like a swan rising from a pond. She moved across the ballroom like she was gliding across ice.
"A piece of your souls were exchanged." She stopped on the other side of Erebus. "If it had been weeks or months or even a couple of years, it would be no problem detangling your twisted souls from the other. However, since it's been so long, I'm afraid there is only one way Erebus will be reunited with the rest of himself."
She took the sword from Erebus and pointed it at Aleneo.
"He must kill and eat every bit of you."
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