Finding him that night was the easy part. He was the only one in the gardens in the dark, sitting on a bench by one of the few lanterns. He had his headphones on and his portable music player peeking out of the pocket of his jeans.

With each step, Solene found herself growing more and more self-conscious, only to freeze once she was before him. 

Solene loomed over him, acutely aware of her awkwardness and gangly long limbs, and the intense hazel eyes that in color resembled her father, but were much more like her mother's in the intimidating power of their gaze. All the traits that had scared off any previous crushes.

He looked up and lowered his headphones. "Oh, hey, Solene. You okay?"

"I meant to ask you the same thing." Solene bit her lip. "I saw you out from my dorm window."

He squinted behind her. "You're in Chevalier, right? I didn't realize that this part of the gardens was visible from here."

He then scooted over, giving her room—a silent invitation.

Her heart soared, and she dared to accept.

They sat in the quiet of the early night for a moment, before Solene spoke again.

"What are you doing out here?" Solene asked. "I heard that there was a party going on in the dorms, or like a game night or something."

"I don't actually like being around other people all that much," he admitted. "So I try to come out here, when the dorms are like that, just to get away. It's so much more peaceful here."

"Oh?" She found herself toying with her necklace, clasping the sun and moon charms. Perhaps for luck? She shouldn't dare to hope so much. . .

"I don't mind it so much, with you." His face resembled a strawberry, in how his full, round, freckled cheeks turned red. But he did not fully look away, his eyes lingered on her.

Solene blinked. Lightning coursed through her veins as the epiphany rushed through her. There was an adrenaline to it, a rush.

He liked her.

She could see it in his eyes. The dawning realization, the closing, as they both began to lean in, to surrender to the connection forming between them. No sooner had her lips brushed against his when she felt his hands on her shoulders. He'd begun to gently grasp them, in a way that was customary to passion. Yet as his fingers curled around the fabric of her blouse, he pushed her away.

"We need to stop," he gasped as she opened her eyes.

Fire flooded her face and she pulled herself away from him. "I'm sorry—I thought—"

"No, it's just—" He gave a sigh of frustration. "We can't, Solene. No matter how much I— I just can't."

She was such a fool. How could she have ever thought that anyone would like her like that? She'd been so certain as to the signs, she'd thought she'd seen a spark in his eyes, that there was something there.

It had all been in her head. Nothing more than a stupid, foolish dream.

"I'm sorry." She bit her lip to keep the tears down as she stood up. "I shouldn't have kissed you."

Before she could escape this all entirely, he'd ensnared her wrist with his hand.

"I'm sorry, Solene," he said, as he pulled her back in, his eyes wide and pleading. "I didn't mean for it all to go this far."

"Was it a joke?" The bitter words spilled out of her mouth as hot tears splashed on her cheeks. "Or did someone put you up to this—"

"No!" He tugged her gently to sit back down with him, which she reluctantly obliged. "I really do like you Solene. Which is why I want to tell you why I can't be with you."

Solene frowned, anger ebbing away to confusion. "I don't understand."

Dorian glanced around, before his eyes locked onto hers. "I promised my father I'd never tell anyone. I shouldn't—but I don't want you to think. . . I don't know. I guess I don't want you to think that it had anything to do with you."

He closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. His grip around her hand tightened —but not painfully so.

When he opened them again, there was something strangely feral and intense— like the eyes of a wolf's.

"I was told that the night I was born, the Northern Lights took the shape of a wolf over Three Ships Point." His voice had dropped to a whisper. "The wolves have a story, that when the wolf appears in the sky, that Fenrir will be reborn and return to usher in the end of the world."

Solene blinked rapidly in attempt to dissipate her tears. "The night you were born—but I'm sure that there were other werewolves born that night. Or—"

Dorian shook his head. "My mother, before she died—she said that it was me.

They only appeared when I was born, only for the first few minutes of my life."

"You're not—" Solene's head was spinning. "It had to be a mistake. Or maybe it only kind of looked like a wolf or—"

"But I am, Solene." His voice cracked. "I've seen the power—harnessed it. I shouldn't have but my father made me."

"Why would he do that?"

"I don't know." His voice darkened. "He's a member of the Covenant—maybe if he has a son who can be a living weapon, that would give him more power."

He then shook his head. "But you're missing the point—the point is that I'm not safe, Solene. I'm—I'm supposed to be evil. I'm supposed to bring around the end of the world. You don't want to—you can't be with that."

"I don't believe that." Solene sat up straighter. "I know you Dorian. I don't think that you could ever be like that—that's not who you are."

"You don't know me at all."

"I know that you saved me, that you're a good friend, a good guy—I know what matters." She lifted their joined hands, and clasped her free one around his. "I don't care what the prophecies or curses say."

"It's not just me, Solene." He looked away. "Before I started lying about my birthday, when I was just a little kid, people would put it together. People who saw all that the Covenant and others were doing to save the world and knew they could end if if they just—"

He broke off. Solene didn't need him to complete the sentence anyway. She knew.

It was something her mother would do. After all, she'd killed her own husband, the father of Solene, for some reason, even if Solene wasn't sure why. She was cold enough to kill a man she loved more than anyone—so killing a child to save the world would be infinitely easier to her.

So Solene was no stranger to such things.

"I don't care," she declared. "I don't care what anyone else thinks. I only care what you think. If you want me to walk away, that's one thing. But I trust you, Dorian. I believe in you."

"I do want you to walk away." His voice cracked again as he said it, as he pried her fingers off of him. "I let it all go too far and I can't let it go any farther. And I'm sorry for that, Solene. I just wanted you to know the truth."

He stood up, pulling away from her like she was a wildfire, like her very touch could burn him. "I know you'll find someone better, someone safer, someone who can give you what I can't."

"Dorian—"

"Please." He closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Solene." He started to walk away.

"I'm cursed too."

He stopped and turned to face her. "What?"

"You're not the only one who's cursed." Solene felt as if she were walking on a tightrope on the edge of a cliff. Each step was unsteady and threatened to betray her. It was exhilarating, in an out-of-control kind of way. But she'd taken the leap, and had no choice but to follow through.

Dorian tilted his head as he returned—silent, but listening. She could imagine him as a wolf, perking his ears up.

"Everyone in my family is." Her voice was quiet—like the snowfall he'd conjured in the campus gardens. "Ever since an Anouir witch married a Danaan elf. The power of the sun and moon, twins destined to destroy each other."

Dorian frowned. "I didn't know you had a twin."

"I don't, I'm the first." Solene bit her lip. "But the twins have been great heroes and villains—so I must be destined to be both. To save the world and eventually destroy it."

Recognition and empathy sparked in Dorian's eyes. He slowly sat down next to her.

"Maybe it isn't fair, to ask you to love me with my curse." She didn't dare look at him. "But I don't care about yours. The way I see it, it's just another way that we're the same."

Dorian was silent for a long time. Finally, she spared a glance—only to be arrested by those eyes that had been waiting, patiently, for her to really see him.

"Or maybe you'll break all the curses."

"I don't know." It was easier to say that. "But I've been afraid of dragging someone down with me."

"So have I." He smiled, an ironic echo to moments before.

"But you make me feel like I'm not cursed," Solene continued. "I have to believe that maybe it's like all the old stories—"

"Love breaks the curse," he finished. His hand hovered over her hair—still too afraid to touch, to commit to what was between them.

She placed her hand on his face and leaned in to kiss him again. And this time, he met her, pulling her closer. As good of an answer as any, under the moonlight surrounded by roses.

His kiss was like snowfall.

Quiet. Sweet. Light.

And with the promise of heartbreak to come.