Time never seem to tick right whenever she was with him. Sometimes it made years pass in the blink of an eye. Watching each of their children grow up. Others were so slow, even the smallest of seconds seemed to fill their own eternities. Every touch from gentle taps to warm embraces. Every smile towards her jokes and petty mistakes. All the times their eyes met, saying words no mouth could ever say.

To be honest, she wished those seconds could have lasted a little longer.

But right now, time was different. It didn't speed nor slow. Not even stop. Instead, it's more like it disappeared. It was like the sudden lash of a breeze, leaving everything in a chilled aftertaste.

Her hand stroked through the coppery, grey speckled strands on his head, so carefully as if they could disappear beneath her fingers. It was so strange to see it so... disheveled. He used to be such a perfectionist about it, calling forth the greatest stylist in the Gold City and having them damned if it didn't come out right. Funny, he was almost as picky as she was.

She loved that about him. Missed it too.

Her eyes dropped to the eyelids covering his. She could still remember those green eyes light up when they met in the Forest. My brothers and she had been out hunting down and gathering what we could. she had been setting up a snare when she spotted… him. Magnus Goldblood, prince and eldest son of the King and Queen. It was illegal for anyone to be in the Forest, let alone a young lady. He could have easily turned me in. she would have been forced to watch my family be slaughtered before being given the same pain. He would have been punished as well, though he would have gotten nothing more than slap.

So yes, she was horrified, but she knew better than to show it.

As far as he knew she was cornered. He was a prince and surely could call on anyone to sweep me away. But he was a prince, and royalty gets so spoiled that their minds are never fresh. The Forest was my second home and he was in unfamiliar territory. He proposed his taunts, and she played the trapped victim. she never let my feet stay still and ran him straight into one of my other traps. You should of seen him their, dangling from ankle like a trapped rabbit. But before he'd left, he made me give him a promise, to return there the next night. she did return, and so did he. Soon, it was something we did every night. We were partners. A perfect pair. she don't know how it happened, but somewhere along the lines, but soon we were inseparable. The Forest was our place. It was our beginning, our everything. And no one was ever going to change that.

Not even his parents.

Yes, somehow his snotty brother found out and snitched to the one and only Queen. Let's just say she wasn't ecstatic to hear that her favorite son had fallen for a pretty face found in the cheap filth of working low class.

The story's a little long, but in the end fate gave me a crown and silenced the hags for good.

So knowing that fate, it's hard to believe this face could even exist. He was always running around the palace, his emotions as unpredictable as the colors of the sky. Some days he would be prancing around the halls, his voice so beautiful she couldn't help but join in. Every now and then he'd take her hands and waltz her through the house. One time we went through the kitchen- let's just say it wasn't a good idea. Other days he was a bomb with a broken timer. Storms would brew all around him and the kids knew when to duck for cover. One time his fits had gotten so bad they had to replace half the house. All of that life had drained from his face, leaving behind a pale, broken stranger.

"Cynthia."

Magnus? She looked back down, but the man was still motionless. Her eyes moved up to where the nurse stood in the doorway.

"I am sorry to interrupt you but visiting hours are up. It would probably be best if you returned home..." She must have seen something in the queen's face because she quickly added, "Whenever you wish."

The nurse was about to leave when the queen held up a hand. "It's okay," she assured. It took the effort of a thousand men, but she stood up and made her way across the room. The nurse stepped aside as she approached.

But the queen paused, looking back. Her mind, her heart, longed for her husband, laying their just out of reach. She would have given anything to have him back sitting beside her at home. Heck, just to have him open his eyes, wrap her, and assure her that everything would be okay.

But it never would be like that. That was no longer her husband, the boy who found her in the woods. Just a hallow shell, some body.

"Make sure he survives the night," She said. It was an order. With that, she left, leaving behind an unforgettable past she'd never have the strength to leave forever.