WHITE

"A coup?"

"What coup?"

When I close the door shut behind me, V suddenly gets a panicked look in his eyes. He opens his lips.

And then he closes them again.

"Are you serious?" I ask in disbelief as he purses them right and shakes his head. "You're not going to tell me?"

"It's just a coup." He says, and I blink in annoyance. "Against the Empress."

"Yeah, I already know that." My voice is as convincing as possible, and he gives me a firm look. "What about the specifics?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry? V, if you're worried about me not being able to keep a secret, then I can literally just—"

He cuts me off, voice sharp. "Demoiselle. That's not the problem. I don't worry about that."

I swallow.

"Then what?"

But he just ignores my gaze, looks at the door like he wants to be anywhere else than here. "Can you please let me leave?"

I don't say anything.

"White—" Then I suddenly hear the crash of glass as he hits the nightstand. V looks stunned as he looks down at the shattered glass on the floor of my room.

It's that swan I liked.

"I'm sorry." He repeats, eyes even more panicked from before. "I—"

My heart hurts, but I force the frustrated tears back down and stare into his pleading green eyes. He doesn't want to make me angry— he just doesn't know what to do.

Yeah.

Maybe he's not allowed to tell anyone. Whatever it is, I'm the problem— as always, annoying him to do something that he doesn't want to do.

I'm the problem, but I just—

I just can't apologize now.

"Don't worry about it." I say, swallowing for the thirteenth time. Where would I even go when I went out of this room?

"I'll be the one to leave."

_________________________

The garden at Winter is pretty, in its own way.

Instead of flowers on the trees, there's a bunch of frosted leaves and frosted ice flowers. Beads of ice hang off the branches, sparkling in the weak sun.

And it's not as cold as I'd thought it would be— just a regular cold with no wind.

Walking a bit into the garden, I end up in a weird forest-looking place with a lot of snow-covered trees. Flopping onto the white ground, I stretch out my feet.

I'm the problem.

Not him.

My eyes sting, and I blink into the blue skies and squeeze my lips together. I'm about to start wailing inside when something hits something.

Thump.

I sit up, my eyes wide as I listen closer. There's a sound of soft cursing, and I quietly get to my feet with my gaze fixed in the direction of the noise.

It's Asher.

But my brows raise, and I shake my head. Probably not true— why would Asher be sitting alone in a forest and cursing?

Probably one of the servants here—

No.

It's her. My feet pause when I recognize the black hair, the slender figure from earlier. Morning.

She has her back to me, sitting against a tree and throwing knives at another tree. There's already more than five impaled in the center of the trunk, perfect and flawless.

But what is she doing here?

Then I realize— she had nowhere to go. I remember V saying that she was from House Rhys, and that was a place where the Empress took over.

And she was probably too stubborn to ask for help, like someone I knew.

I doubted she liked me very much, though.

Trying to push that thought into the back of my mind, I take steps forward until she realizes. Her eyes freeze when they see me, and I try my best not to turn around and start running.

"U-Uh—"

Dammit.

"Um." I cough, flushing red to the tips of my ears with the sudden stutter. Had I been that nervous? Couldn't have been that nervous.

"Do you want to come in?"

She doesn't move an inch, and I wonder for a second if she didn't hear me. I had spoken a bit too quietly— but I was pretty sure I'd been loud enough for her to hear.

I try again. "Do you want to—"

"I heard you." She suddenly says, and I shut my mouth so quickly I can hear the small plop as it closes.

"Oh."

Gosh.

What am I supposed to do?

I couldn't just leave— because that was rude. And I couldn't just keep standing here like an idiot either. And what if I had—

"Fine."

"What?" I say in surprise, and immediately shake my head in apology. "Sorry— not what I meant. Follow me inside."

The way inside is anxiously silent.

Morning moves like a wraith— everything about her is like V. Graceful, beautiful, silently still. It's almost like his female form.

She glances at me, and I instinctively start talking.

"I'm sorry about your sister." My murmur is timid— and quiet. It makes me want to die inside that I can't say a couple words to a person.

"...."

She doesn't say anything, and I almost laugh at how everything that she does reminds me of V.

Once I arrive in front of the door of an empty room, I can't help but feel both relieved and disappointed.

Only when I start opening the door do I realize.

"Wait— you haven't eaten anything since then, right?" My voice is a pitch high, and she stops for a long second before nodding.

Is it dumb that I feel excited that she actually nodded at me?

"Uh— I'll ask a maid." I say, with an embarrassed smile. "I'm not really sure about where to get food."

She suddenly looks up, white eyes glinting.

"Why are you acting like this?"

"Huh?

"You heard me, Healer." She says, and I blink in panicked surprise. "Why are you acting like this? I threw a knife at your fiancée yesterday, intended to kill."

Oh.

"He's not my fiancée."

She gives me a sweeping look, and doesn't say anything else as she walks inside the room. Before the door closes, Morning's monotone voice echoes through the crack.

"Don't bother asking for the food."

And then the door shuts, and I walk back to my room thinking that she isn't a bad person at all.

________________________

"White."

The moment I hear V's quiet voice come through the door, I shut my eyes by instinct. I'd already been lying on the bed, thinking about how to apologize.

When I'd come in my room, the glass had been cleaned, and that had really made me hurt.

But I hadn't thought of what to say to him yet!

"I'm coming in."

That only makes me even more startled, and I try to even my breathing when the door opens. I can practically feel his gaze sweeping over my sleeping face when he comes in.

Silence for a second or two, before I hear soft footsteps.

Oh gosh.

The sound stops right next to the bed, right in front of my closed eyes. And then I feel a soft brush of his hand on against my forehead.

He smooths back my hair, and the tension relaxes from my expression.

His touch feels so soothing.

Then he slips his hand free, and disappointment tugs at my heart. I want to just sit up and tell him to continue, but he shifts the blankets up to my chin.

And by the time I've made up my mind,  I hear the door closing.

"........."

Dammit.

_________________________

V

I wonder if she is mad at me.

She probably is.

Staring down at my hands, I stop outside of her door after coming out. I'm just staring when something hits my shoulder.

"Ow! Dammit!"

My gaze slashes over to the voice's direction.

"If you touch me again, I'm going to kill you." I hiss under my breath as Scythe growls at me with his eyes narrowed with pain.

"Not if I kill you first." He spits back, and I put a finger to my lips. My eyes flick towards the closed door, where she is still asleep.

"Be quiet. She is sleeping."

"I don't care." He says, crossing his arms. Then his eyes suddenly go wide, and he slaps a hand over his lips.

"White?"

"Who else would I be talking about?" My voice comes out sharper than I'd meant to. He glances at me, muttering complaints under his breath.

"Why am I in Winter?"

"It's obvious. Figure it out yourself." But when I turn around and start walking, his smug voice echoes through the hallway.

"I'm going to tell her you're afraid of heights."

My teeth clench together, and I turn back around to stare at his victorious hazel eyes. "You're in Winter because your Blessing is wasted. Since it's now back, I suggest you go back."

I already know what he's going to say, even before a smile lifts his face.

"Actually, I don't think it's back yet."