Hope, Eternal

Amberle stood on the balcony that over looked the square. The smell of winter on the evening air. The square was full of life and fun. But she felt only the chains of her birth. Her summer sky blue dress dropped over her olive skin, her Earth brown hair intricately woven, and her emerald green eyes stared past the city to the brewing storm that sometimes came down from the Winter Realm. That was when she felt the slimy energy slither over her skin.

"Shouldn't you be celebrating in the square with your people, King Norde?" She could barely keep the disgust out of her voice. The chuckled that was meant to be disarming did nothing but make her insides writhe with unease.

"Perhaps," his voice was smooth as honey and would have had lesser women fawning. "But it is hard to enjoy the festivities when my betrothed is all the way up here and not by my side." Amberle couldn't suppress the snort that left her body.

"I'm sure there are many who would warm your side in my place." She stated, knowing she was walking a thin line. The air beside her cooled as his temper flared.

"Perhaps but none are the princess and future Queen of the Summer Realm." His voice was cold and hard. His hand wrapped around her upper arm, forcing her to turn and face him. He was handsome. Blonde hair that was tied back at the base of his neck and eyes as green a new born leaves but there was no warmth to them. His face was harsh and angular, with a strong jaw. Even his lips could be deceiving, had they not been turned into a snarl. Amberle wrenched her arm from his grip.

"Be careful, King.” She spat the term. “I am not yours yet and you cannot bruise me." She spun to walk away but was pulled harshly back against his chest. Granite muscles and a hard shaft greeted her curves.

"Perhaps not, but on our wedding night, I will have you." He hissed in her ear, one hand snaking forward to harshly pinch her nipple. Pain shot through her system. "And it is up to you whether you enjoy it or not." He released her and walked off into the shadows, no doubt looking for some poor slave to release his tension on. His sadistic nature was well known across the Realms but when Amberle had try to beg her father to reconsider, he had simply sneered at her.

"King Norde will make a fine ally and husband, daughter. You could not wish for a better match." He had said. Her mother had simply cried silent tears, having lost her own will long ago. Amberle felt tears string her eyes. She would not become the empty shell her mother was. With a hardened resolve Amberle made a plan. With a Winter storm brewing, this was her only chance.

***

"What do you mean, gone?!" Aeiron shouted. The servant shrank back, attempting to fold in on herself.

"She is not in her chambers, my King. All of her winter clothes are missing, two Winter Realm representatives were enchanted out of their wears, and the dried meat stores have been emptied." The servant got quieter and quieter as she spoke and the Summer King's face got redder until it was nearly purple.

"Find her!" He roared causing pirates and Summer soldiers alike ran for it. King Norde simply sat and watched. She had ran into a winter storm, they would not find her. But when he had suggested that he marry her sister instead, the King had denied him. Stating she was already promised to a prince from the High Court, heading out with a delegation on the morn. As days turned into weeks, the search continued yet not even a sign had been found. The Summer Court was growing more and more desperate.

"My King, you know who you must send." Aemon said at the next daily meeting. The King scowled.

"Low born winter trash." He muttered.

"That may be but Huntsman is the only one who can find her." Aemon argued.

"Well if you hadn't done such a good job of teaching her ..." Aeiron deflected. Aemon shook his head. Male or female, when he was assigned a charge he trained them to be the best. There was a low whistle from outside the doors. Aeiron recognized that sound and ground his teeth. "Show the bastard in."

The door swung open to reveal a bear of a man. His shoulders and arm thick with muscle and his legs as thick as tree trunks. His black hair was shoulder length and braided in multiple places. Feathers adorning each braid. His eyes were the color of honey and predator sharp.

"Huntsman." Aeiron greeted, distain dripping from the name.

"Ah, always a pleasure Aeiron." He bowed in a mocking flourish and straightened, his hands resting on his dagger and axe.

"I have an assignment for you." Aeiron said, choosing to ignore the Huntsman snort. "My eldest as ... gotten lost in the Winter Realm. You will find her and bring her back."

"Lost?" The ebony eyebrow rose toward his hair line. "Lost is not what I heard." Aeiron scowled.

"Bring her back and you will get your usual fee." Aeiron continued. At that, the Huntsman laughed.

"My usual fee is not enough to find a wayward princess, Aeiron." He scratched his growing beard. "My weight in gold and silver, will do."

"This is not a negotiation!" Aeiron roared. The Huntsman shrugged.

"Then find her yourself." He turned to leave. He was almost to the door when he heard it.

"Fine." Aeiron relented. "Your weight for her safe return." The Huntsman turned and bowed again. Aemon followed him out, pulling him into an alcove.

"You should know better than to anger him, Darian." Aemon scolded. Darian shrugged.

"That money will help the Winter Realm, Aemon. The escape of a spoiled princess is not my priority." Aemon shook his head.

"When you find Amberle, your assumptions about her will be dashed." Aemon said no more and walked away. Darian frowned after him. What the hell did that mean?

***

It took Darian over a week to track the princess. She was good. Aemon would be proud. He found her in the high mountains, deep in a cave so that her fire wouldn't draw attention. When he came upon her, she was curled deep in her furs and sound asleep. Instead of waking her, he stripped of his wet furs, hanging them by the fire and helped himself to some dried meat. Darian waited patiently for her to wake up as he filled his belly.

***

Amberle came awake slowly, warm for the first time in days. That cave had been a gods send. For weeks, she had laid false trails and evaded the hunters. Now she was finally settled in a place she could make a home. She had spent all day yesterday clearing out the deep cave, gathering wood and leaves for the bed she currently laid on. She shifted in her waking state and reached out to stretch the ache in her muscles. Her bare arms were greeted by a mix of Winter air and fire. She took a deep breath, the furs sliding down to her bound breasts. There was a new smell in the cave. A musky, Winter smell that hadn't been here before. Mixed with the scent of evergreens. Amberle opened her eyes fully and froze. Across the fire from her was a massive Winter Realm male. She sat up and quickly covered her mostly bare chest.

"Hello, princess." His voice was husky and just this side of dangerous.

"Who are you?" She asked, looking around for any summer soldiers.

"It is just me." He murmured, looking at her. Her Earth brown hair loose around her covering her glorious breasts and reaching down to her waist. "You can call me Huntsman." He watched her emerald eyes round.

"The Huntsman?" She whispered. Darian didn't know why, but he didn't like the fear in her voice.

"The one and only, princess." He inclined his head toward her. "I have been tasked by your father to bring you home." Amberle swallowed.

"Since when does a Winter male do the Summer King's tasks?" She asked, findings a little bit more of her spine.

"Since he offered to pay my weight in gold and silver for your ... return." Darian watched the emotions flit across her face. The one that twisted his gut was the terror that settled there.

"And do you know why I ran?" She asked. Darian raised his eyebrow.

"I was told you were lost in the storm." Darian knew it wasn't true but wanted to see her reaction. She snorted and shook her head, the flames dancing across the red highlights in her hair.

"I am not lost." She stated, sitting up straighter looking very much like the royal she was.

"So I see." He motioned to the cave. She could live comfortably here for a while. But eventually she would have to move further in to get to a village as winter grew colder. Not many could survive the Winter wilds when winter was in full power.

"Please don't take me back." Her whisper was so quiet, he almost missed it. Yet what he didn’t miss was the bowing of her shoulders, as if a heavy weight had settled upon them

"And why not?" He asked. But Amberle only shook her head. Why would he truly care for her plight? His weight in gold and silver is a tempting offer to any man. Tears glistened in her eyes before that steel snapped back into her expression.

"I won't make it easy." She finally said. Darian felt a smile curve his lips. Oh she had some fire to her. Aemon had been right. He had unfavorably judged her based on her title.

"And what could a small princess like you do against me?" He gestured down his thick frame. That was when she moved and he had not expected it. A dagger flew through the air at his heart and he had to roll out of its path. It lodged in the wall where he had been sitting, the handle still wobbling. When he glanced at where she had been, she was gone. As were her furs. "Damn." He muttered. Aemon would be proud of his student, no doubt she had been his best in the Summer Realm.

Amberle dashed through the fresh powder trying to get her furs completely on. She had to get away from the Huntsman. He is reported to be the best tracker/hunter of both realms, though he was born of the Winter Realm. She didn't hear him behind her but she didn't fool herself. Even though she had intended to hit him with that dagger, she was sure he had moved. It wasn't until she heard a shout and then a yell of pain that she stopped and turned around. The roar of a Winter beast set her hairs on end. Another roar and scream of masculine pain had her running back toward the sound, drawing her bow.

***

Darian was so busy chasing the princess, he never saw the tiger stalking up behind him. He heard the branch snap and had just enough time to spin and draw his dagger before the beast was on him. His dagger flew through the air and he shouted, punching the beast in the jaw. The tiger flew off him and landed with a roar. Before he could gather himself, the beast was on him again, its claws digging into his side. Darian let out a scream of pain, scrambling for his axe, when an arrow flew through the air, scraping across the beast face. It reared up turned toward the archer.

"No!" A feminine voice shouted. Darian looked back to see the princess with her bow drawn, glaring down the pacing tiger.

"Shoot it!" He shouted, yet Amberle hesitated. She stared down the beast and saw only a hungry animal.

"Find your dinner elsewhere." She ordered, her voice firm and filled with power. The tiger snarled at her but back away. Darian watched in awe as the tiger slunk off into the woods. He looked down at the gouges in his waist and cursed. Darian quickly packed snow into the wounds and ripped off his shirt to tie around himself. He stood up and used the rest of the snow the wash the blood off.

"Come on princess, we should go." She pulled one of his massive arms around her shoulders and they stumbled together back through the woods toward the cave. Once they were inside, Amberle unceremoniously dropped Darian to stoke the dying fire back to life. She began digging through her bag to find the herbs she had stolen. Somehow having the foresight to know someone was going to be injured.

Darian made his way to the spot he had been sitting in before she had thrown a knife at him. The blood loss was starting to make him dizzy. He watched as Amberle pulled out a make shift first aid kit with herbs and a needle and thread. He raised a dark eye brow but said nothing. He watched as she the crushed the leaves into a pot and filled it with clean ice from the front of the cave, then placed it over the fire. Next she pulled out a bunch of clean linens and grabbed the needle with a bobbin of thread.

Amberle knelt down next to the Huntsman and finally allowed herself to look at him. His skin was surprisingly tan for the Winter Realm but his torso was marred with scars. Rather than taking away from his beauty, it gave his beauty a lethal edge. She felt a blush creep over her cheeks as her eyes drifted over his thick arm and chest before stopping on the blood soaked shirt around his waist. Darian watched the whole thing with fascination. This princess acted like she had never seen a half nude male. And then it struck him, she probably hadn’t. That thought sent a fierce wave of protectiveness through him unlike anything he had every experienced before. Amberle swallowed thickly and removed the shirt. She had work to do if he was going to survive the night. When she wrenched the shirt away he let out a simple grunt of pain. She carefully kept her eyes on her task as she felt his eyes dancing over her face.

Darian watched her as she focused on her task. The blush had faded after her eyes danced over his body and landed on his wound. He would heal quickly but she didn't need to know that, the claws had ripped his side up good but it was only muscle, it hadn't gotten near his guts, otherwise he would be done for.

"The water is boiling." His voice made her jump and she took a deep breath before turning and grabbing the bowl off the fire. Darian marveled at how the surely hot bowl didn't burn her skin. His breath hissed out as she pour the hot mixture over his wounds.

Amberle watched as every muscle in his glorious abdomen tensed as she poured the first mixture over his wounds. She quickly ground up the herbs for the second and put it over the fire before turning to him with a needle and thread ready. His amber eyes watched her very carefully as she stitched his muscled back together. Then poured the second bowl over his wounds. Amberle then placed a bowl with different herbs over the fire and finished stitching Darian up. She ground in some roots, after removing it from the flames, to make a paste. Amberle looked up his torso and into his eyes for the first time since she had run from him.

"This will sting at first, but it will soothe you and fight off infection." Her voice was soft and soothing, her thumb caressing his stomach close to the wounds. She probably wasn't even aware that she was doing it but the feel of her skin on his was sublime and he wouldn't argue. She waited for him to nod before smearing the salve across his wounds. He hissed out a curse as the sting made him curl his hands into fists but it soon gave way to a soothing sensation spreading through his body.

"Why?" He asked as she placed a clean linen against his skin. He sat up so she could wrap the linen around his waist. She paused and their eyes met. Lips so close that he could feel her breath across his face.

"Because you were injured. If you had not been chasing me, the beast wouldn't have snuck up on you." She responded. Darian couldn't stop his hand from coming up to cup her cheek. A soft sigh exploded out of her mouth at the contact.

"I meant why did you run?" He smiled. Amberle felt her heart skip a beat as the smile broke across his face like a rising sun.

"King Norde is my betrothed." She whispered, placing her hands over the steady beating of his heart.

"The Cruel King of the Pirates," he whispered back. "Your father would give you, a delicate summer beauty, to a man that has Norde's reputation?" Amberle nodded.

"I protested. Begged. Pleaded. But he said only that it was a good match." Amberle leaned into the hand that gently held her cheek.

"And your mother?" Darian asked.

"Is a shell of who she used to be. My father ... broke her when she could not give him sons." Amberle confessed, a tear slipping down her cheek. In that moment, Darian made a choice. One that would have consequences for years to come.

"Come home with me." He whispered against her lips.

"What?" She pulled back to look at him.

"I am the King of this realm, Princess." Darian confessed. "I'm offering you my protection."

"As what?" Amberle asked, pulling back slightly.

"A guest." He said. "Or whatever you would like. I am not Norde nor your father, princess. If I take you, it will be because you want it." Amberle felt the blush creep up her cheeks but looked deeply into the wild eyes of the King of the Winter Realm. With him, she could be safe. With him, she could be free. Amberle looked down at their joined hands, resting over his steadily beating heart. Freedom. That sounded amazing.

“Please,” she whispered. Darian raised an eyebrow at her. “Please keep me safe.” Darian smiled before gently pulling her into his lap.

“As you wish,” He whispered, sealing their deal with a soft kiss on her lips. “In the morning, I will take you to the Winter Kingdom.” Amberle looked out as the storm thickened, hope settling in her heart for the first time she since had been informed of her betrothal. Hope was a curious thing, sometimes it could bring you light in the darkest of times, others it could be the final things that crushes you. Amberle chose to hold on this hope as the light that came through the darkness for her. After all, she had no where to go but up.