His eyes were violet, solid violet.
There was no pupil, no boundaries on them that she could discern, but she could somehow feel where his gaze was focused – toward Aden and Idith, near Elo's territory.
He wasn't human, that much was clear to her – his skin was white, his hair was platinum and light, and he had strange eyes.
She thought of him as a man because he seemed to have masculine features – she could even make out his Adam's apple – but even from this distance, she was sure he wasn't human.
Suddenly, she felt his eyes dart towards her – just a subtle change in his face, but there was no mistaking the feeling of his gaze and their eyes meeting.
A shiver ran through her, and she felt frozen.
‘Like last time…’
He darted toward her, impossibly fast.
She closed her eyes, flinched from the impact… And nothing.
No impact, no touch, no rush of air as he passed.
Confused, she slowly opened one eye.
He stood still before her, he seemed to be looking right through her now, although she was sure their eyes met before he moved.
She could study him more closely now.
He was slender and his white skin looked even more rigid up close, truly bloodless.
No, she thought, it wasn't human at all.
His gaze changed slightly, he was still looking right through her, he still seemed completely unaware of her, but the movement made her shudder.
Was it just coincidence that their eyes met?
She looked at him one last time and – satisfied that he didn't move again, she walked away from him, towards Idith and Aden.
The echoes of their voices hung in the air, seeming to come from nowhere as she walked towards them.
_…no one is here._
He was crouched down, examining the ground.
_It feels like I was here a minute ago._
_This happens_
Aden raised his head to look at the distant hill.
Her crest was obscured by snow, a blanket of white that muffled all defining lines.
_Snow will fill the tracks soon._
_It seems so._
Aden nodded as he agreed with Idith's assessment.
Ilyn looked at what he was examining – a faint footprint, already filled with snow.
She glanced at the white figure who was still standing and watching.
Was it his footprint?
_Let's go back._
Aden stood up and turned towards him, he looked completely unharmed.
As he moved, the whiteness of the snow seemed to increase and then plunge into darkness as the dream ended.
She opened her eyes with a sigh.
The room was cold, it was always cold in Biflten Manor.
She thought she would get used to it, but no.
It still hung over her, like a dull ache that never quite went away.
The Delrose maids did their best to protect her, but they never succeeded.
She seemed to feel more since Delrose's doctor, Ves, had come to see her.
“A frail woman from the hot region,” he commented.
No judgment in his voice, no compassion.
Just an impartial diagnosis, as if he had commented on her hair color.
That image didn't leave her.
Frail – she didn't consider herself that way until she got here, but now she seemed to accept the diagnosis, as she accepted the endless discomfort of the cold.
She didn't know whether the people from the winter region were just tougher, or whether she was exceptionally fragile among those from the hot region – there were no other people from the hot region here to compare herself to.
The room's thick blackout curtain fluttered as an especially cold draft of air slid beneath it.
Typically, Biflten's sky was overcast, the clouds just thin enough that you could mark the positions of the sun and moon, but not so thin that they sent significant light into the room.
Having the windows closed with the curtains drawn at least kept out most of the cold…most of it, but now a cold wind that felt like a knife scratching your skin came through the curtain.
The window was open and behind the curtain, the wind hit its frame with a loud thump.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, as the movement of the curtain drew her attention to something else – a figure, whose silhouette was silhouetted by the light that entered the edge of the curtain.
For a panicked second, she imagined the violet-eyed creature from her dream before registering the differences, the silhouette was shorter, with wavy hair outlines and a more feminine shape.
"Who…?" she asked, her eyes fixed on the form as soon as the door opened.
"Madam!" exclaimed Etra as she ran into her room.
Her dress fluttered, giving a glimpse of her legs as she gently took out a dagger from somewhere beneath it.
“Aaaah!” the shadow gave a shocked scream as lights suddenly appeared.
Something flew from the intruder and landed in front of Ilyn.
Her mind was confused for a second before she recognized him, so out of place he was in the winter region.
“A flower?”
The fresh red flower lay on the cloud of the white cotton blanket on the bed.
She knew this flower – not because it was from the warm region, but because she had seen it before.
“Etra, stop!” she said suddenly.