Princess Abigail Petrov, the thirteenth princess of the kingdom of the Frozen Plains,had wandered these woods every evening. She knew just where her twelve older sisters disappeared to without permission after night fell, knew why their shoes were so worn every dawn. Since the first time the enchanted tapestry had allowed the girls passage to another land, she knew. She had been following them every night into the lands beyond their kingdom,silently tiptoeing behind them as they cackled like hens at the thought of their deceit. She followed them into that magic place filled with monsters and fairies, but never choosing to leave the Silver Forest, a place she felt more beautiful than anything.
She instead watched in silence as they left the pearly shores in boats with their beaus, saw the delirious joy on her elder sisters faces as they are paddled through the golden groves to the far diamond shores and eventually to the castle there. She didn't care that she wasn't included, in fact she preferred to be left out. She was the frowned upon thirteenth child, never included in anything, touched by misfortune. She was a test, a half sibling whose mother passed during childbirth,a bet between King and Queen. She'd been looked after by the gardener since she was small,followed cooks around like a little lost duckling, the nannies all busy with her sisters. She was banned from royal events until she turned fifteen, she received no suitors. They slept all together in one room, twelve identical beds and a cot shoved in the corner.
She was used to all of this, she'd lived this way all her life. Treated with care but never doted on. She's been a loner most of her existence, preferring her own shadow to the company of her family members. Preferring the silence she could find alone to the noise of the court filled with courtesans.
She watched many men executed for failing to solve the mystery behind her sisters worn foot wear and for wanting to be a member of royalty, even men of royalty. How could they possibly figure it out, a locked door kept them in and every prior suitor had failed to answer, countless men. How could these men give their lives for the chance to marry strangers, just so they could live in luxury and have power. She didn't trust them, all so full of promises but all so full of greed as well. Saw it the way she saw it in her sisters. Both greedy, self serving, fools.
She slid down under a large silver tree letting her grey sleeping gown fan out around her, the velvet reflecting pale light from an unknown source, her bare feet tucked beneath her, feeling the cool emerald like grass against her pale skin. Her own country was cold and barren,yet this place seemed warm and magical ,and was for all intensive purposes. This is what she waited every day for, the time after she was done being forced through lessons, when she wasn't forced to look like a pretty doll who's only use is decorative. The dark of night, the time she could be alone. After she's been locked in for the night, after she follows her siblings into the tapestry. When she leaves them and wanders these woods.
The time when she could see the most magnificent creature in all these lands, dark as the night with great golden eyes, a large cat like beast who lives only in these metallic woods. Not a cat but with the body of a large lion, a long scaly black tail and delicate looking wings that appear to be made of silken threads stretched taut over long spindly claws. The creature walked every night down the same path pausing only once, always near the tree she lay under. Though it never went near her, it's gaze locked on her every night as it licked its greats jaws and let out a deep guttural growl. She never moved, never ran or cried out, the creature didn't scare her. Instead she was infatuated with the thing and no one else knew or could ever know.
Even this night, a night when she knew a man followed her sisters, hidden under some magic, she felt compelled to watch the creature. It was more need than want. Soon the mystery would be solved and her fate would be forever sealed, most likely she'd be forced to serve her sisters for the rest of her life. A second class princess forced into servitude. She shudders at the thought, she had to come up with something and she had to do it quickly. Without fully thinking it through, she does the only thing that pops into her head, she steps towards the creature.
The beasts head tilts to the side as he stares her down, his golden eyes shimmering with uncertainty, watching her every movement. She notes the short black horns atop his head, the incredible length of his bloody claws, and the sharp glint of his massive teeth. Her courage wains as he turns away with a huff as if laughing at her. She takes a deep breath balling her fists tightly as she wills herself after him.
#~~~~~~~~~
He had noticed the girl for the first time almost two years ago, though time did pass differently in these cursed woods. She'd been lingering under a tree, silent, but with an air of mystery. She had raven dark hair, long and unkempt, and eyes green that shimmered with interest, not fear like he was used to as master of this silver forest. He knew of the others who hurried through the woods to be whisked off to the diamond castle grounds before her, but didn't care, if they kept going he was well aware of their fate. Even after growling out warnings to her she didn't budge, didn't falter in her curiosity. Even when he does it every time, trying to find reason to make her fear him.
Tonight, however, something seems different about his pale female observer. When he pauses she barely glances his way and even when she does her eyes quickly look away. A tear slides down her cheek and he stops in his tracks, he'd never seen emotion from her and something about it makes him boil inside with the need to destroy the cause of her current state.
Twigs snap beneath his massive claws as he steps off the path, something he never did, and towards the girl. She seems to be deep in thought, struggling with something. Her eyes flash with uncertainty. He's sure she's heard the stories about him, the monster of the silver woods, slaughterer, mad beast. He knew what the humans called him, how they recalled the tales of his terrible deeds while huddled around fires in the dark of night. Tales he looked upon with pride. He enjoyed their fear. Despised them a bit, deep down in his core, even. Humans were not to be trusted, they often fooled demons for sport or personal gain, they reveled in the stories of it.
He takes another step off the path, leaving a deep bloodied print in the emerald grass as the girl too takes a few steps forward. Her eyes now locked on his, confused but aware. With a nod of his massive head he turns away, walking back down the path, thinking she would never follow, until he hears the soft shuffling of feet behind him.
# ~~~~~~~~~~
Jefferson laughs to himself, this hidden ward was far to easy to get into. Just a sleepy drink for the watch nurse and he could wander the narrow hall to find the one he was here for. Belle had been easy enough to set on the right path for his revenge but he felt the need to check the rest of the ward anyway. Sure Regina would suffer greatly when the truth came out about her choice in prisoners and he would delight in it , but he had to know what other secrets she was hiding in plain sight, who else she was keeping locked away.
He fingers over a few name plates, bored, when a flickering light in the corner of his eye causes him to whip around. A broad grin flashes across his face as he slides open the viewing door on a cell marked with only a single name. Lais. The cell is dark, though Jefferson had expected no less, padded and without windows, no movement can be seen within.
He remembers a story suddenly, just a rumor really. Of a demon who changed shape outside of his home, of a castle in a barren cold land and its troubled royalty. A tragic story indeed, but a love story none the less. And a lightbulb forms above Jeffersons head.
"Lais?" He whispers into the dark. Jefferson see it, he sure of it. A flicker of gold as light catches the monsters eye, a glint of recognition. This had to be that same demon, the one from the Silver Woods back home, the one he had heard committed countless horrors and then just suddenly locked himself away somewhere deep in those woods. The reason, Jefferson felt, he could almost grasp. "Lais Leonid."
A hissing sound echoes in the dark cell, then a guttural groan. "Where is she?" A hoarse voice cracks. "Tell me where she is..."
"T-the Queen?" Jeffersons asks, knowing thats not it.
"No..." The voice now closer to the door. "Not a queen, never a queen. Foolish. Where is she?" Pitch higher with each word, almost babbling, a strange foreign tone to his words. "Tell me where, where is she?"
Jefferson smiles to himself, this could prove interesting. The man was obviously unstable, perhaps from memories lost or from memories kept. "Why don't I let you out and you can go find her yourself then, Eh?"