The Nature Spirit

Aerona never cared for the life she was born into. She was, however, content. Until the day the nature spirit came into her life.

“Are you not enjoying the hunt, lady Aerona?” Lord Wilfin rode up beside me, raising a bushy gray eyebrow.

“Not overly much today. ‘Tis too gloomy for my tastes.” I waved a hand dismissively, tossing my long red hair back and urging Keeta to speed up, avoiding the lord and his son. Perhaps then I could ignore his son’s ogling.

The hunting horns sounded as a deer leapt from the bushes. The noble sons yelped, much like the hounds, I noted with amusement, and gave chase. Keeta and I were not much inclined to follow. I’d rather enjoy the air of the woods, that musty earthy scent and the cool wind in the leaves. It was dark and almost on the edge of raining, not a pleasant day.

My stallion gave an unexpected whinny and started away from the party into the thicket. I gave him full reign, curious as we moved away from the deer and the boisterous group. He stopped in a clearing bursting with strange and unfamiliar blue flowers. Keeta seemed to like it there, and as I dismounted he took to rolling contentedly in the blossoms.

“I should have brought a basket,” I mused as I took a seat and leaned back against a sturdy oak, twirling a bloom between my fingers admiringly.

My eyelids fluttered open and I noticed first that it was unusually dark and dim beneath the canopy of the trees, Night. I leapt to my feet, stumbling and cursing myself for nodding off.

I wandered aimlessly for what felt like hours, calling for Keeta. It grew cold, and despite my fur-lined riding outfit, I shivered and rubbed my arms.

There he was! Another small clearing with a pond was where he stood drinking.

“Keeta!” I wrapped my arms around him gratefully.

“Is this your horse, miss?” I jolted in surprise, bumping into Keepta’s flank. A man stood behind me, amused. I couldn’t see his features, as he stood in shadow.

“He’s stopped at my pond for a while and I began to wonder…” He deftly stepped forward. I stiffened and lifted my chin confidently, with what I could only hope was a warning look in my eyes. “Why would such a fine steed be alone at night without a rider?”

“I was partaking in a hunt.” I crossed my arms. “He simply wandered off.”

The man took another step closer and his looks fairly perturbed me. He was young, but his age was hard to pinpoint. His skin was tanned and clear, but his eyes were a startling blue, so blue they looked purple in the moonlight, and glinted like crystals.

“You shouldn’t be out here alone. Not at night.”

“I’m returning home. Right now.” I grabbed Keeta’s reins. The stranger screamed of suspicion and I would have none of it.

“Do you even know the way?” he asked innocently.

“Of course,” I lied, climbing atop my horse and setting off in what I hoped was the right direction.

A few moments later, I began to feel uneasy as the wind picked up, whistling furiously in my ears. Another hand appeared on the reins next to mine. Except it was not an ordinary hand but rather was made of blue flowers woven together. This time I did scream and nearly toppled if not for the arms that caught me. Arms made of flowers. I flailed and struggled.

“Hang on, I’ve got you.” The arms of flowers melted into real ones, flesh and blood. I squeezed my eyes shut, fists clenched.

“I’m sorry if I scared you.” A pause. “I forget sometimes.” There was a note of sadness in his voice, disarming me, though not entirely. It was an easy enough thing to fake.

“You forget that you’re made of flowers!?” I shrieked, resuming the struggle and though he seemed wiry, his arms were solid and held on with an iron grip.

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m not just made of flowers. I’m a nature spirit.”

Opening my eyes, I regarded him cautiously. Up close, I could see that his dark hair was peppered with green streaks. “What’s the difference? And will you please put me down!”

He chuckled and I scowled. “There’s a difference for if I was truly made of flowers, could I do this?” In one fluid motion, he swung up into Keeta’s saddle, setting me in his lap. I made a noise of outrage, turning away from him, though I admit it was childish. He simply grinned and started Keeta into a trot, turning so that we were heading the other way.

“If you mean to kidnap me, you’ll not get a good ransom.”

“But I am not kidnapping you, I am taking you out of these woods.”

“How can I be sure?” I asked, hating useless I felt and how vulnerable my voice sounded to my ears.

“You’ll simply have to trust me.”

I snorted. This man, spirit, whatever he was, was utterly ridiculous if he thought I would simply trust him at the drop of a hat.

The ride was silent the rest of the way. My fear was long gone but the wariness still lingered. If he was truly a nature spirit. He was nothing like the stories I’d been told as a child. Stories of goat legged men and trees that roamed on their roots.

Faster than I could have ever been, we returned to the edge of the woods and the Citadel of Naki.

“I can make my way home from here.”

The spirit man seemed reluctant as he dismounted to let me continue alone through the gates.

Unsurprisingly, no searches had been made for me nor was anyone at the gate waiting when I returned to the palace. Once I reached my room I simply fell onto the bed fully clothed and fell asleep,

Strangely, the window was wide open when I woke and the chill air served as my awakening. When I rose to close the offending window, a blue flower lay on the sill. I knew not where it came from, but a small part of my mind turned to the nature spirit. No, that was ridiculous. There was no way he could have gotten all the way up to the window and no one would ever let a man into a woman’s bedchamber in the night while she slept.

Once the servants brought a tray and my fast had been broken, I donned a gown in place of my hunting outfit, assuring that my dagger was safely tucked into its sheath upon my thigh.

At the bottom of the steps, I greeted my lady mother coolly.

She and I shared her brown eyes and ghostly pale complexion but that was where the similarities between her and I ended. She was a nervous, mouselike woman with a tendency to twitch and a penchant for face powders.

“Aerona, dear. Letters addressed to you.” She did indeed hold a set of letters in her hand.

“Suitors?”

“B-but if course. And Lord Eril has requested an afternoon.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose and accepted the letters. As for that lord, he would not have any afternoon of mine if I had my say. Which I often did not.

“Thank you.” I dipped my head curtly and continued forward.

Every day for the next fortnight when I woke there would be more flowers on the sill. I wouldn’t dare mention the secret joy they brought me or acknowledge the nature spirit who was most certainly not leaving them there. Likely he was a figment of my imagination, for the idea that spirits roamed the woods was the stuff of fairy tales. And every day when I found more flowers, I would shut the window again. Until one day, when every time I tried, the wind would pick up and the window would burst open again. I called it a fluke and simply gave up.

Viscount Ethan was not a doddering simpleton, nor was he a leering pig. Already that put him leagues above others. Still, to sit with him was awkward. At the high table, we sat in silence with ramrod postures and meaningless pleasantries. We were no match. Mother seemed to think otherwise.

“Isn’t he charming?” she’d asked once that dinner had finally been concluded.

“Mother, he spoke not a word to me the entire evening.” Miffed, she brushed a strand of her dark hair behind her ear and continued to press me.

“What about those letters? Or the countess’s nephew?” If the prince was not already betrothed then I have no doubt i’d be shoved upon him as well.

“No and no.”

Somehow I found myself in the gardens the next afternoon with the viscount again. He seemed more invested but still his actions felt forced, as though he were a living wooden puppet propelled by strings of duty.

“My lady!” A pageboy approached us, or rather me. He was a slight youth with a mess of short curls and dimples. Something about him nagged at me, a familiarity.

“Yes?” Ethan answered in my stead, irritating me.

“My lady, your mother has requested your presence in her chambers at once.”

Odd that my mother would call upon me now, but nonetheless I was glad for an excuse to leave. I followed the page but as we rounded the corner, the page seemingly vanished and not a second later another stood in his place.

“You again! What are you doing here!?” I hissed. He pulled me off the main path and into a secluded side garden.

“Rescuing you,” he declared. Now that I was seeing him in broad daylight. I could see that his hair indeed was streaked with green. That pageboy had reminded me of someone because he too had curly hair and dimples, though his face was not so childish and not freckled.

I huffed. “I did not need rescuing.”

“Would you rather I let you sit there and be bored to death?”

Biting my lip, i shook my head.

“For you my mystery lady.” Giving an over exaggerated bow, he held out a blue flower in both palms.

“So it has been you leaving the flowers on my window. Why have you been doing that? Have you been spying on me?”

”Spying? Of course not! Can I not leave my lady a gift?”

I continued. “Have you been climbing the castle walls to get to the sill?”

“I used the wind. I could never climb such a height. The wind carried my flowers for me.” With a mysterious sort of smile he waved his fingers and like that night his limb seemed to melt from flesh to flowers and vines. The blooms broke away from the tips of his fingers and floated in gentle circles around us. It was like being inside a snowglobe. I gasped, reaching out to grab one of the flowers cradling it in my palm.

I thought I had dreamt you up,” I whispered. “”But this is real?”

“Spirits are real. Just rare.” The circle of flowers slowed and they floated to the ground.

”I don’t understand. Why are you showing me this?”

“It’s been a very long time since anyone’s found my home. Now I finally have someone to share my flowers with.” His voice was gentle as he took the little flower from my palm and carefully tucked it into my hair.

“There, perfect.”

Feeling like i’d had a chair pulled out from under me, I opened my mouth to say something but he seemed to have simply melted away behind me.

The flower and my good mood did not escape my mother’s notice. As I walked by she had such a smug smile, the kind one wishes to wipe away.

“How was your time with the viscount?”

I hesitated. “Oh, fine… I suppose.”

Perhaps that hesitation was what  led her assumptions award.

I sat in the empty parlor reading when my mother's real page approached. It had been a few weeks since that afternoon and I hadn’t received anything since. I still found flowers but not every day and no more letters.

“A letter arrived for you today.

”Thank you.” I took a seat and opened it after the page scurried off. My face fell. It was addressed to me from ‘Lord Augustus of Gengri.’ The noble’s name was unfamiliar but the southern kingdom was not. I groaned. Another letter from potential suitors my mother had written to. While I may inherit a noble legacy and house one day, there would be seemingly no end to those in want of riches and a woman to hang upon his arm to boast of.

The letter was exactly like all the others and enclosed was a blue gem on a gold chain. Pretty but I had enough jewelry already and it would not make me care for him.

“The duchess has invited him to the court! Oh isn’t it divine my dear?” Mother asked.

“He is a foreign guest. Likely on some diplomatic errand for his sovereign.”

She continued on anyway. “Gengri is quite a rich country. They are the ones who manage those gem mines. And the wonderfully dyed silks!” One of the ladies embroidering at her side nodded thoughtfully. “Perhaps he has come to ask for the duchess’s hand?”

“The duchess?” I scoffed. “She is widowed and yet rules Malogne with a steady hand. Besides she’s nearly forty.”

“Perhaps he’ll ask for your hand, Lady Aerona.” The ladies tittered amongst themselves.

“I need no one’s hand to rule my inherited estate.”

“Oh pish!” My mother laughed. I stood and abruptly left, abandoning my half finished embroidery hoop.

I waited with the nobles as the party from Gengri arrived. Prince Andrius stood near me, as well as the princess who was but seven years old.

“Do you think he will be handsome?” Princess Lilian tugged on her brother’s fine doublet and he took her hand, whispering, “I do hope so, little Lilly.” Nearly everyone knew that he, despite his betrothal to the Andali princess, was the sort who preferred the company of men.

The troupe of foreign courtiers were announced and we all jostled for a better view from the balconies.

The people of Gengri were most recognizable for their tanned skin and coppery dark hair. One in particular stood out to me. When he turned and looked up at us I noticed that his eyes were not dark or green but incredibly blue.

The spirit’s eyes stared and I could have sworn I saw him wink at me. The lady at my side shifted and I forced myself to turn to the princess instead, who started more than even I in awe. The prince did as well but he was more adept at hiding it.

The duchess herself approached and shook his hand as an equal. Though she was nearly forty she was lovely and fair, but also as stern and her presence as commanding as any man’s. There were a few quiet words between them and we were all of us dismissed.

I was buried in a book in the furthest corner of the library when he appeared.

“Classical Woodland Folklore? Is it any good?” I jumped in my seat and scowled over the rim of the book at the disturber before realizing who it was and retracting further into the cushions of the sofa.

“Tis no concern of yours, my lord,” I muttered.

‘I come all the way from Gengri to visit and yet you wound me my lady.”

“You and I know what a lie that is.”

“Ah, true,” he admitted. “But how else was I to visit? Surely a poor nature spirit would not be admitted to the duchess’s residence.”

“You could have snuck in anytime.” I set my book down to better glare at him. He was squatted in front of me grinning impishly with those accursed dimples.

“Not really. This was was much easier.”

“Your winds keep opening the windows to my rooms,” I complained. Instead of explaining himself, he plopped down on the sofa next to me and handed me the book.

“Pray tell, is there a chapter on nature spirits?”

“Arrogant aren’t we?” Nonetheless, I turned to the chapter where an illustration of a tree with a man’s face was depicted.

He snorted with laughter. “That is utterly absurd.”

As I turned the pages, he saw fit to explain everything inaccurate to me. I had to admit some of the creatures were indeed absurd. Our laughter echoed through the library and down the halls.

The next morning I rode at dawn on my own through Naki and down to the river between the woods and the citadel’s walls. Somehow though Lord Augustus followed me and proceeded to show off, running along the branches of the trees to keep up with me. The branches bent to his will and moved to create a bridge beneath him.

“What on earth are you doing?” I yelled at him from Keeta’s saddle.

“Tis unwise for one to ride alone. Consider me your chaperone.” he called back gleefully singsong and not even short of breath.

“I don’t need you to coddle me, you fool!” His eyes challenged me with a measure of mischief. He gave a great surge forward and as I rode beneath him, I caught my breath as his arms extended into vines that scooped me out of the saddle and into the branches. I shook his vine arms off of me crossly and  back nearly tumbling out of the trees. He caught me and pulled me back and I collided with his chest.

“Be careful.”

“I was fine til you saw fit to drag me up here you oaf!”

“C’mon, up here.” He grabbed the trunk of one tree and took my hand, pulling me along as he climbed like a squirrel, branches forming and twisting around to support us.

“Watch your step. And look.” We poked our heads through the leafy canopy of the trees and he pointed to the skyline where dawn was breaking. The towers of the palace gleamed like pure silver and the and whistled through my ears.

“It’s pretty, isn’t it? I never get tired of this sort of view.”

“It is,” I agreed. “Won’t they soon notice that the esteemed Lord Augustus is missing?”

“Probably.” He grimaced. “And it’s just August.”

“Truly? Or is that an alias?’

“No, tis my real name.” He sighed and sat, pulling me to rest with him atop the tallest branch of the tree and watch the skies. “All this time and yet I haven’t even known or cared to know the name of my mysterious lady.” He sounded so forlorn all of a sudden.

“Aerona.”

He smiled, testing the name on his tongue. “Aerona. Battle’s end. And the queen of the skies. How fitting.”

“I did not know that.” I smiled as well. His eyes lit up and he stood, bowing with an exaggerated wave of his arms.

“Now that we are formally introduced. May I announce myself, Lord Augustus Olivine Juniper of the Malogne Spirit Woods, keeper of the flowers and master of the summer winds!”

I stood and curtsied, tipping an imaginary hat. “Lady Aerona Carmine Dragorius Marsheaux of Naki, resident to the court of the Duchess of Malogne.”

He whistled, visibly impressed. “A lovely title. A bit on the long side.”

“Well you’re one to talk. Hypocrite.”

He placed a hand over his heart dramatically. “Ahh, so I am. May the gods strike me down where I stand.”

I laughed and playfully smacked his shoulder. “Let’s go before someone decides to form a search party.”

"Did you not bring a horse of your own?” I asked as I mounted Keeta.

“No. Mayhaps we could share your steed?”

“B-but-!” I sputtered “People will see. And talk...”

“Let them. They’re only words after all.”

Begrudgingly I allowed him to mount behind me but refused him the reins.

The peasants stared but it was the nobles that concerned me despite August’s words of comfort. When we reached the castle, three noblewomen with parasols atwirl greeted us, him warmly and me not so much. The prince himself appeared around the corner and did quite the same. I was more than content to dismount and quietly disappear.

I bumped into princess Lilly in the hall being trailed by a guard. She had no governess due to an incident between the last woman, the prince and a cream pie, but surely she could wander the halls of her own home without a chaperone. When she saw me her eyes grew round with excitement and she practically skipped towards me.

“Lady Agnes says you’re friends with the foreign lord!” Friends was probably not what Agnes meant but I paused and turned to the young girl.

“Is there something you need, your highness?”

“I can’t find him anywhere!” She pouted and sent me a look I understood well.

“You want me to help you find him? Have you looked in the gardens?”

“No,” she whined. “I’m not allowed without a chaperone. And the guard says he won’t go.”

“Well then,” I took her hand. “I shall be your chaperone today. Let’s go have a look.”

She beamed at me as I waved the guard away.

We wandered the garden a short while as Lilly chattered and circled me excitedly like an enthusiastic puppy.

“Hello, Aerona.“

“Hello!” Lilly chirped as August approached us.

“My lady, your majesty. What brings you two to the gardens today?”

“We were looking for you,” I explained. “Lillian was most excited to meet you and bid me to help.”

“Lillian?” He dropped to one knee. “May I?”

She nodded uncertainly. He turned and began doing something behind his back. When he turned back he held a flower crown woven of lilies. Her eyes were wide with adoration and wonder.

“How did you do that?” she asked in a loud whisper.

“Magic.” He winked and placed the crown atop her head. She beamed ear to ear and clapped her hands.

“Lovely.” And I meant it. Her chubby cheeks were pink and the crown fit around her yellow curls charmingly,

“I want to show my brother!”

“Then let’s go.” August looked up at me and winked again. I sighed and followed the child and overgrown child as they raced each other around the gardens as we worked our way back inside.

“Andy!  Andy! Lookit what Lord August made!” I had to hand it to the prince, he handled the blur of little girl toppling him over rather well. He simply laughed it off and picked himself, and her up, swinging her around so that she was cradled with her head against his shoulder.

“My sister was not disrupting my lord and lady, was she?”

“No,” we both chimed. August grinned. “In fact, we were having a bit of fun. In the gardens.”

“You made that flower crown? It’s rare a lord would know of such things.” His eyes softened and I knew he was smitten. I rolled my own.

“I grew up with an appreciation for nature, your highness. Tis a healthy thing to have something to care for, even just a garden.”

“Andy, can we show Mummy? We should pick her flowers too!” Lilly patted his shoulder as if she was spurring a horse. He played along and pretending to paw the ground with his foot he took off. Lilly waved goodbye over his shoulder.

August turned to me. “I did not know you were so fond of children. You could become a governess if being a noblewoman no longer suits your fancy.”

“Perhaps.”

Once again I was embroidering in the parlor amongst the other ladies. As I worked with my blue thread one of them began pestering me about August.

“Lord August is quite handsome, is he not?”

“I suppose,” was my lukewarm response.

“Oh, don’t act so coy. You and he went riding did you not?”

“Yes.”

“And?”

“And what? There is little to tell.” I scowled at my lap. Sensing my foul mood, she turned to discussing other matters with her companion.

“Are you excited much for the ball?”

Ah yes, the ball. Held to honor the prince’s twenty third year. That was tomorrow and I cared little. My mother was quite the opposite.

“I am most excited. Aren’t you Aerona, dear?”

“Not really,” I admitted.

“I have good news. The viscount has asked that he accompany you tomorrow.”

My look of distaste deepened but I was not surprised.

The afternoon of the ball, additional servants were called to tend to me and a dress my mother commissioned was laid out on the bed. It was a deep pine green and the sleeves were slashed with silver. Rows of seed pearls lined the bodice. It was fine, certainly, but dancing with the viscount ruined any original excitement I may have had.

The servant woman who brought me breakfast every morning also insisted my hair be put up and decorated with silver ribbons.

The viscount was waiting for me in the hall and hooked my arm in his, leading me into the ballroom.

The chandeliers were bright and the music merry, but my face was stony and the viscount hadn’t even so much as looked at me. No, his gaze was fixated on the wine pitchers, of course.

Our dance was much like our awkward meeting in the garden. Stone silent and dull as a blunted blade.

The instant the song ended, Ethan was with the wine at the overladen feast table’s side.

“Lady Aerona? If I may?” August emerged from the dance floor to where i leaned against a pillar. He offered his hand. “A dance?” I accepted and he yanked me forward into the ebb and flow of of the waltz. He was light as a deer on his feet and surpassingly graceful.

“I did not know you could dance.” I was not quite so surefooted as him, and I was feeling more than a little flustered.

He grinned charmingly. “Once, when there were scores of dryads in the wood, we would dance from dusk until dawn every midsummer. I’ve picked up a few steps over the years.” His smile softened at the edges, not so arrogant, and leaning down towards me ear, he murmured, “You are beautiful tonight. Like a rose in bloom.” I flushed furiously, red staining my white cheeks. He played with a strand of copper hair, tucking it behind my ear.

The dance ended. Ethan returned with eyes bleary with drink, and August simply smiled and melted back into the crowd.

The rest of the night dragged on. I could not focus on the man at my side, so preoccupied with the one I wished to be at my side.

The party came to a close and more and more people retired for the night, mostly ladies and their lords. Ethan lead me to my rooms as was proper, but neither of us spoke a word. He seemed deep in thought, despite how drunk he had become.

Before I could extract my arm from around his, his hand tightened around my wrist and he pushed me, my side grazing against the wall of the corridor. I could see the intent behind his eyes. I moved my hand to where my dagger waited, but he grabbed my other wrist, pinning them both above my head. I tried to knee him in the crotch, but he shifted and I missed. I kicked again, but his grip only tightened as he pressed himself up against me.

A fist slammed into the wall beside our heads. A fist made, not of flowers, but thorns. Ethan forgot all about me, balking at the sight of August’s rippling vine hands and his eyes. They frightened me, glowing purple with the intensity of his rage. I took the opportunity to leap away from where I was pinned and watched, horrified, as August slammed the viscount against the wall. He wrapped his hands around his neck until he stopped struggling, his face blue.

“Stop this!” I tried to grab August’s arm. He was unmovable, like a statue, devoid of life. Still holding onto Ethan with one hand, he slapped me aside with the other.

Stumbling backwards, I raised a hand to my cheek and felt the ooze of blood, the sting of his sharp hand. A bruise was already forming on the tender flesh. Tears pricked the corners of my eyes as I stared up at him in shock. He stared back and his expression mirrored mine. He released Ethan to the floor, where he lay gasping for sweet air. His eyes were hauntingly vacant. He stepped back. My eyes dropped to Ethan, and the constant motion of his chest up and down. When I looked up again, August was gone.

The party from Gengri did not notice that ‘Lord Augustus’ was an imposter until the next day. It was as though a fog had cleared in their minds, they explained.

Viscount Ethan lived, praised for protecting his lady’s virtue from the imposter lord, the demon and defiler. Indeed, the imposter was shamed and his reputation dismantled and crushed to dust. Not that he was around to hear of it. After that night, he simply vanished from our lives.

As for me, I was coddled for a time before the events began to ease themselves off everyone’s minds. Once more, I was left to my own devices. No one knew the true account. I couldn’t get the words out as though my tongue had turned to lead.

There were no more flowers at the window. The latch remained firmly shut. Time passed. Autumn came. The mood of the palace, overall unchanged, to me seemed entirely altered. It felt like layers of gray settled over everything, and I was a recluse. I chose to sulk in my own chambers rather than hear warped tales of my nature spirit. He was not mine, truly.

Something cool brushed swiftly against my cheek. My eyes slowly blinked open, and I felt a chill even with my blankets. August sat at my bedside. His crystalline eyes were so dull and heartbreaking. His knuckles ran tenderly along my cheek along the remnants of the bruise and a pair of thin scars, a memory of his thorns.

“August?” I croaked. His eyes widened. My hand crept out from beneath the covers to meet his on my face. He started to pull away, but I grasped his hand tightly.

“Aerona...” His voice was achingly bittersweet

“Don’t-” My voice broke. “Don’t disappear again. Stay. Please.”

He didn’t pull away again, but sat, hand entwined with mine, for a few moments. I huffed impatiently and tugged at his hand, pulling him down with me. I scooted over to make a space for him. His arms wrapped around me, my head tucked beneath his chin as I curled up at his chest. We stayed like that the rest of the night.

I woke before him, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest. Did spirits sleep often? I did not know, but he looked so peaceful. He wasn’t pretending to be Gengri anymore and look like himself. He was beautiful.

He blinked awake and noticed me peering up at him. He smiled but his gaze flew again to my cheek.

“I should go,” he whispered, retracting his arms from their protective cradle and getting up to leave. I shot up after him. “Wait.”

He shook his head. “I cannot. It’s nearly winter, and i-i’ll hurt you again.” He crawled onto the window ledge. I chased him there with pleading eyes.

“Say you’ll return. At least once before the snow falls.” I knew not what wineter could bring to a spirit like him, but it spelled finality.

“At least once.” He clasped my hands as he promised me. Stepping back, I watched as he began to dissolve into flowers. His leaves were beginning to brown and with petals were wilting. The flowers broke away from his body and blew into the wind, leaving no trace of him behind.

My mother announced my formal betrothal to the viscount Ethan Raynette a week later. I was smiling demurely, though if anyone had noticed my grit teeth or clenched fists, they said nothing.

The trees grew bare and the harvest came and passed. The grounds began to harden and nightly frosts arrived.

I was in the garden, alone, attempting to enjoy the last of the season and failing. I should have brought a cloak. Just as I was thinking that, something warm wrapped around my shoulders.

“You’re freezing,” was August’s only introduction as he sat beside me at the barren rose trellis. He had given me his own cloak. I tugged it close; it smelled like pine.

He looked tired; there were shadows under his eyes and his skin held an unhealthy paleness.

“Is this… is this it?” I asked, timidly, playing with my hands. He grabbed them, looking at me, into my very soul, with desperate eyes.

“Would you run away with me?”

My breath stopped. I didn’t know what to say, but looking at him, seeing him, how could I ever say no? My heart seemed to burst into flames, to soar free of my breast. “I-” The words still clung to my lips. Oh, what a coward I was. So I said something else. “Where would we go?”

“Anywhere,” he declared. “The Woods of Spirits, the shores of the Bitter Seas, Gengri, even the Badlands if we must.” He was so sure, his voice so suddenly full of life. Those damned tears were forming again and my hands trembled.

“What’s wrong?” he asked, brushing my tears away.

“I have already been betrothed.” My voice was hardly more than a whisper. Unflinching, he held up my hand and produced a silver ribbon seemingly from nowhere. He tied it around my finger.

“Is that one of my ribbons?” I laughed, a foreign sound to my own ears.

“Perhaps it is. But it is finer than any jewel, more precious than gold. And now it is your ring. If you’ll...” He hesitated, with a sweet smile. “If you’ll have me.”

Once again, the words would not come. I did not need words. I threw my arms around him, smiling wider than ever before. He pulled me forward into an embrace, leaning his forehead against mine.

The next day, I disappeared.

I suppose there are some who would miss me. My mother, for all her scheming. My old nursemaid. Princess Lillian. Not many, but they would not miss me long. They would move on as I did.

We rode away on Keeta during the night, with few possessions and light hearts. A few days later, as we sat by the light of a campfire, I worked up the courage ask the question that had plagued me.

“When the snows do finally come, what will happen to you?”

August sighed, his hand lightly stroking my hair. “For one like me, it’s the most vulnerable time of our lives. When the summer breeze gives way to the cruel north wind, plants die. I lose my power. I become mortal. The time of year where I can truly die.”

I leaned into his touch, and smiled up at him reassuringly. “You will be fine. I will be here, as mortal as you are

I knew in my heart whatever became of us, the runaway lady and the man of folklore, we would travel on together.

Our destination? Wherever the wind might take us.

Author's Note

If there are any glaring issues, or things that need tweaking , i'd love a review.