Snow shirked his grip, the red around his irises more prominent now. "I will be in my room if anyone needs me. I just need a few minutes alone. Relay my apology to Callum and Kristina."

Antoine nodded and Snow left, heading through the crowd.

She wanted to follow him but she knew that she was already pushing it. She didn't want Snow to find her gone from his room, but she had to return to her home before her master found her gone too.

She closed her eyes and focused, and when she opened them again, she stood on the white battlements. The clouds were thick below her today, concealing the world from her eyes. A tinge of sorrow touched her heart, born of a longing to return to Snow and tell him she had to leave rather than just disappearing from his life again. He would be upset with her.

But so would her master if he discovered her gone and realised where she had been and what she had done.

She turned away, intent on returning to her quarters, and came face to face with a tall, beautiful dark-haired male.

Her master.

His pure white wings furled against his back, blending into the white armour that covered him from neck to toe. He held his helmet under his left arm and snatched her wrist with his right hand. She winced as he twisted it around, revealing the scabs that marked her pale skin.

His amethyst eyes darkened and locked with hers, and shame made her lower her gaze and turn her face away from him.

Her eyes widened when she saw her final white feather turning black and she tried to break free of his grip, her heart beating wildly. No. She shook her head, causing her long black hair to sway against her shoulders, and tears filled her eyes. No.

She struggled against her master, spreading her right wing at the same time, hoping she had been mistaken and it was a trick of the light. She couldn't lose her final feather.

Her master tightened his grip on her wrist and her bones burned from the pressure, sending pain shooting along her arm and to the tips of her fingers. She cried out and many angels stopped to stare at her, disgust in their eyes.

None held more disgust and darkness than her master's eyes though.

She couldn't bring herself to look at him and see his feelings when she could already sense them. They tore at her, bringing more tears and a desire to beg for his forgiveness and another chance.

Doing so would only make him more ashamed of her.

He had given her a thousand sins, one for each feather in her wings. She had committed the first sin and the final, and borne the shame of the rest. She had doomed herself.

"Your punishment has been decided. You will judge the vampire for his sins," her master said, his tone as dark as his eyes and his wild long black hair.

His grip loosened and his voice lightened, gaining a touch of sympathy and what she might have believed was affection once, before she had come to know her master better. There were none like him in her realm. None so vicious and just, or revered.

A judge, a jury, and an executioner in one.

Everything she had just become for Snow.

"It is the only way to save your soul now."

CHAPTER 8.

Snow's head whipped around as the owl hooted, capturing his attention.

It flew overhead and he grinned, released his mother's hand, and ran after it. She called to him but he kept running, small legs and arms pumping, struggling as he hit deeper snow that reached his knees.

The owl began to drift away from him and he ran harder, pounding through the snow as quickly as he could manage, intent on keeping up with it and catching his prey. Papa would be so proud of him if he caught the owl, proving he was growing now, able to fend for himself already even though he was only fifty years old.

The ragged white mountains of the valley loomed around him, their cragged faces bright despite the moonless night. Stars blanketed the inky sky above him, and multi-coloured ribbons streaked across the dark canvas. Mama had taken him out on a walk so he could see the lights dancing in the sky more clearly, without the glow from the fires around their homestead drowning them out.

He breathed hard, wading through the snow, managing to keep up with the owl that lazily flapped its broad pale wings and glided onwards, deeper into the valley.

Snow laughed and reached for the bird, fingers grasping the air. If he were bigger, he could use the power in his legs to leap from the ground to capture it. He wasn't big enough to jump very high, although he had vaulted from the rickety staircase in the castle and landed on the grey stone floor below without injuring himself. He was getting stronger every day.

Mama had fretted and scolded him for leaping from such a height. She had made Papa scold him too, but Snow had seen the secret pride in his father's eyes.

Hues of blue, green and pink blazed across the sky above him, dancing on an unknown breeze, recapturing his attention. He almost fell into the snow but managed to keep his footing and focused back on the owl, determined not to allow the beautiful aurora to distract him again.

"Snow... do not run too far!" Mama. She was fretting again but he didn't heed her. With a mischievous smile, he kept tracking the bird. He would be alright. He always played in the valley at night and he would catch the bird before the castle was out of sight. He wasn't allowed to go out of sight of the castle. Papa had once put him over his knee because of that and Snow's backside had smarted for days. Lesson learned.

The owl veered right and Snow turned on a pinhead, his eyes locked on his prey. The cold bit at his fingers and face, the only parts of him that his pale furs didn't cover. The bottom of his thick coat, and his trousers and boots were already sodden from his running through the snow and growing cold.

He had to hurry and catch the bird before he ended up wet through. Mama would certainly scold him if that happened. She fussed over everything.

He smiled at that.

Papa told him she fussed because she loved him very much.

He loved her very much too, and he had decided that he would keep her safe and protect her as his father did. Nothing bad would ever happen to his mother.

The owl drifted down and landed on one of the branches in a dense copse.

Snow hunkered low and crept towards it, his pale furs allowing him to blend into his environment. His mother called again. He continued to sneak through the snow, edging closer to the bird. He had to catch it. He wanted Papa to be proud of him.

Could he climb the tree unnoticed to seize the bird?

It took flight and Snow huffed, annoyed that it had sensed him. He would do better next time.

The owl flew out over a flat stretch of ground and he followed it without thinking, running through the shallower snow with ease.

The ground creaked, a dark terrifying sound that echoed around the mountains.

He stopped and looked down at his feet. The snow dropped away and he plunged into black icy water. It invaded his lungs and soaked his furs, freezing his skin. He flailed, kicking his legs and trying to reach the surface of the lake. His furs weighed him down and it took all of his strength to break the surface.

He scrabbled for purchase at the edge of the hole, his short claws unable to dig into the diamond hard ice. His throat burned and he coughed up the water and tried to keep struggling, but the cold stole his strength and he couldn't claw his way out with his furs so heavy.

He went under again and feebly kicked twice before drifting down into the darkness.

Blue light burst into life above him and grew brighter as the world around him grew dimmer.

A pale shape formed amidst the light. As it drew closer, he saw it was a girl, more beautiful than even his mother. She reached for him and so he reached for her.

When she caught his hands, they both shot from the water and landed hard on the ground. The force of the impact sent him tumbling into darkness.

Snow could hear someone singing.

A song of ice and fire in the sky. A prince and an angel who were destined to love but forever be apart.

The female voice was sweet, warming the chill in his heart and his body, chasing his pain away. He tried to breathe and choked up water. It spilled from his mouth and she continued to sing, her fingers softly combing his wet hair. He shivered and trembled, weak and frozen stiff, unable to feel anything. Numb.

It took most of his remaining strength but he finally managed to open his eyes.

The dark world was foggy at first and then gradually cleared to reveal the girl he had seen in the lake. She knelt beside him, her white dress saturated and her black hair hanging in tangled threads around her shoulders. She smiled when she saw him and continued singing, although her lips didn't move.

He heard the song in his head and his heart.

She stared at him and he at her, her fingers still gently stroking his hair, and her song slowly chasing the numbness from his body, returning warmth to his chest first. It spread from there, easing down his arms and towards his legs.

"Hello," Snow said, his voice hoarse from his sore throat. He hoped she knew his language. He could understand her song. She had to know his language. He wanted to speak with her.

She didn't answer but she did stop singing. Her soft features turned sorrowful.

"What is wrong?" He sat up and she looked away from him, towards her shoulders. She had small wings, as beautiful as the owl's had been. There were darker feathers threaded into the pure white. "What do they mean?"

Even as he said it, one turned jet-black, far darker than the others were.

She wrote in the shallow snow beside her.

Bad.

Snow frowned. "Why?"

She pointed to the frozen lake to his right and then to him. He gasped, his eyes shooting wide.

"Because you saved me?" He didn't like that he had gotten her in trouble. A pure black feather. He had got his cousins in trouble a few times, his mischief normally landing them in some sort of dire situation that had the adults searching for them or having to come to their aid. His cousins were boys though. He had never gotten a girl in trouble.

She wrote another two words.

Vampire. Evil.

Snow snarled and slashed his hand through that second word and jolted to his feet, angry now.

"I am not evil," he barked and she remained sitting, serenely staring up at him, sorrow in her eyes, as though she had seen his future and knew what was to come for him. Snow cursed her and she flinched away. He panicked, ashamed that he had frightened her when she had been the one to save him from the lake. "I am sorry."

She looked back at him and shrugged.

"Are all of them because I am bad?" he crouched in front of her, shivering in his pale wet furs, his throat still burning from inhaling the icy water.

Her dark eyebrows furrowed, the sadness in her eyes increasing, and she shook her head. She pointed to the word 'bad' and then to herself. Snow frowned.

"You are bad too?" he said.

She nodded. Snow held his hand out to her and smiled.

His mother called for him.

"Do not be sad. You can run away from the mean angels who said you were bad and live with me."

The pretty girl smiled at last and went to place her hand into his.

Light blinded him.

When it receded, a black-haired male in white armour towered over him, his pure white wings spread wide. His amethyst eyes pinned Snow with a dark look of disgust.

Snow sprang to his feet, determined to stand up to the mean angel.

The man backhanded him before he could move and pain ricocheted through every bone in his body as he flew through the air, crashed hard into the ground and tumbled across it. Snow gasped for air, fire burning every inch of him, so intense that he couldn't breathe or even think. His vision swam, blurring and distorting.

He heard someone running towards him. Saw the girl and the fear in her eyes. Snow growled through his agony and tried to push himself onto his knees, determined to protect her from the nasty man.

The male grabbed her arm and hauled her back to him, holding her in spite of her violent struggling.

Snow cried out when he tried to use his arms. One was broken. One of his legs had suffered a similar fate. He could taste blood too. He spat two teeth out onto the pristine snow. His head spun but he tried to get to his feet again.

"Come." The male's voice boomed around the mountains. "I warned you to leave the wretch to die. Now you must take all of the sins he will commit unto yourself. For every sin, you will suffer, and you will have them as black marks on your soul."

The light blinded Snow again and he collapsed into the cold embrace of the earth. He struggled to remain conscious, concerned that he had got the angel into more trouble.

"Snow!" Mama.

He rolled onto his front and managed to get onto his knees this time, using his good arm to push himself up. Colourful ribbons danced above him, bright against their velvet backdrop, beautiful and soothing his pain. His bones throbbed, the pain threatening to pull him into darkness, but he clung to consciousness.

The snow was cold beneath him, stealing more of his strength, luring him into surrendering to the darkness.

"Snow?" His mother's soft feminine voice curled around him, chasing the chill from his body as it warmed his heart.

She rounded him and crouched in the snow before him, her beautiful face full of affection and concern, her smile renewing his strength. Dark furs covered her body, her pale hair spilling across the long soft fibres. She stood much taller than he was even though they both knelt in the snow, and he looked up at her, into her ice-blue eyes that looked almost white in the low light.

Her warm hand swept the strands of his white hair out of his face and she stilled when he flinched in pain.

"What happened?" She leaned down and licked his cheek, sealing the cut there.

"I made a friend, Mama... but the man made her go." Snow's head turned and he wavered. His mother caught his arms and white-hot pain seared his bones. He cried out and squeezed his eyes shut, tears leaking from their corners.

"Darling!" his mother called and Snow managed to shake his head.

He didn't want his father to come to them. He didn't want his father to see him like this, weak and useless. He had to be strong. His father would be proud of him then.

Snow tried to push up onto his feet. He clutched his mother's shoulders and pulled himself up, but his left leg screamed in pain, the shattered bone grinding together beneath his flesh. He collapsed onto her lap. She gathered her to him, fear in her eyes as she gently stroked his brow.