eps up on me slow

ht sky spins as I slowly open my eyes, the stars dancing around the velvety canvas in my vision as I

ea of my hair, yet when I touch the spot, it's only slightly tender, the sharpness I would exp

ng the colour that I do. I've always bled the colour purple. No one has been able to provide answers as to why, and due to the questions it arises, mother and

ound of ice cracking beneath me has me looking over my shoulder. Eryk approaches over the ice, wiping

ning down around his eyes as he looks ove

ow me against at any moment. Faintly, I wonder if I'm dreaming that Eryk is before me right now,

. There's a lot of blood for just a cut, yet when I touched my h

ng my hair back to examine where all the blood must have come fro

mouth, confused.

over me, still holding my arm tightly as he looks around. I'm alone out here with him.

Eryk murmurs, shaking his head as he continues t

nuinely terrified to be on this ice with me, the blood all around us. Yet I have a feeling

se, almost as if it's telling me that it's okay to no longer fight the darkness that is approachin

+

mind still having a rough time sorting everything where it needs to be. A healer sits on one side

f glimpses of what happened before I last passed out. I was lying on ice, the feeling cold and ha

hypothermia, or from hitting your damn head," she curses, closing he

t headache that lurk in the back of my head. My mind is starting to clear too, more of the night forming back where i

" mother exasperates, looking genuinely distressed

nown this women my whole life. She is the only one my mother trusts to know what colour my blood is, even if she has n

some reason I feel as though they are both being ridiculous, that there is no way I could have died from that. Yet why? I can't quite gra

now dressed in warm clothing, rather than my soaking wet ballgown. I remember falling through the ice, feeling the bite of the cold

eing," the healer notes grimly, shaki

so promptly, taking her equipment with her. Once the

as mother hands it back to me from where I had put it on the bedside table. It's w

est, remembering when my life was last at risk...The

ng my leg atop my covers. She glances over slightly, seeing my dress laid out agains

on my bed. Now who hit there head?" I say flatly, tilting m

how a strange, yet beautiful dress appeared on my bed that wasn't by my mother. Right now, I'm

ss," I dismiss irritably. There's only o

e is

ffens. "Who

believe his claim to heal me, which is suddenly dawning on me again. Maybe he meant helping in that moment, although my

easily, wondering how she doesn't know. I glance over at my

owns, shaking her head. "You really hit your

an enigmatic stranger? It seems unlikely, his strange accent still ringing in my ears, the details o

ts she isn't playing around with me. But I swear she was the one who first approached him. "Moth

r says dismissively, grabbing the cup out of my hand.

realise that no one here has

comes to sit beside me in my mothers absence. She's look at me as though I

t some rest," she whispers soothingly, brushing my hair back, c