Frozen.

That is what I am.

I am ice. Frozen, stone, cold ice on the inside. I am not allowed to feel, express my emotions, or even admit to myself that I actually possess emotions. To do so would betray not only myself and make me appear weak, but it would also betray her.

I am Rowan, Prince of the Unseelie Court, second son of Queen Mab. I am the middle child, and I am the child not to be messed with, because I am a frozen and unforgiving bastard who will destroy you.

It use to not be like this. I use to not be so cold and frozen, and an asshole. I use to be nicer, less "rip your face offish" and more "you're an ass but I don't care really." But then, I met her.

Who is her?

Well reader, that is a good question. "Her" is the only woman I cared for, and it was a forbidden romance that would have rocked the courts if it had been discovered. She and I went through great lengths to prevent that from happening, but times grew hard, a war broke out, and it had to be ended or else we would both die.

I should start from the beginning; it is always good to start from there.

Hundreds of years ago, back when everything was new, hell even before Shakespeare was writing about our people, when Puck was mostly unknown to the mortals, I was in my prime. I was still the middle child, Ash had been born a few decades earlier, Sage was about a century older than me.

Times were good back then. I was a carefree young adult who still had the mind of a teenager, but just a bit more mature because of my status. The Unseelie court at the moment was at peace with the Seelie court, so there was a lull in the violence.

One fateful day in the NeverNever, I was out hunting alone. I had located an elusive spotted hart and was tracking it at the moment, hoping to catch it, kill it, and use its pelt for something pretty.

Gliding through the forest with a bow, I remained as silent as a panther stalking its prey, following the trail of the panicked hart that knew it's time was getting closer to an end. The tracks grew fresher and fresher as I trekked through the woods.

Pushing into a clearing in the forest, I found it. It was panting, out of breath from running, thinking it had put enough distance between itself and I to give it a false sense of security.

Silently, I loaded my bow and aimed, prepared to release the string when the hart fell down dead, my arrow still notched on the string.

I looked around wildly, trying to figure out where the arrow had come from, never loosening my grip on my bow.

A female fey strolled into the clearing towards the hart. There was a quiver strapped to her back and a bow in one hand. When she reached the hart, she pulled out her arrow in one swift move, wiped the tip off onto the grass and returned it to her quiver. Bending down she inspected the hart.

Suddenly, I was very infuriated that this girl had killed my hart! I had spent the entire day tracking it and she just strolled in, shot it, and claimed it as her own! How dare she!

Relaxing my bow, I stormed into the clearing as well and marched up to the girl.

"Who do you think you are killing my hart?" I demanded, expecting her to instantly apologize because I was the prince and you don't go against the will of a prince.

She looked up at me startled. I could tell that she was a young fey, somewhere around my age. She had long, curly brown hair that reached her waist, with warm, mocha brown eyes to match. Her nose was slightly crooked, informing me that it had been broken once before and just didn't heal properly.

She was beautiful. I quickly forgot my anger and just wanted to know her name.

Gracefully, the girl stood, she was just a tad shorter than me, the top of her head reaching my nose. Looking up at me, she glared.

"Excuse me, but I just inspected this hart, and I did not see your name on it anywhere Prince Rowan, so it was fair game!" she shot back at me, testing my limits.

I found my anger again, just as quickly as I had lost it.

"So you do know who I am! Well, I have been tracking it all day, so it is mine because I saw it first!" I replied, hoping my title would win me this argument quicker.

I didn't receive my wish.

"Well your arrow didn't kill it now did it?" she replied with malice in her tone, "I happened to stumble on it, and shot it. You snooze you lose asshole!"

I was surprised at how feisty she was, testing a prince and all. I realized that she was a summer fey right then because no winter fey in their right mind would backtalk a prince of their court.

I groaned, realizing that my title would have no effect on her because she didn't like winter fey, no matter who they were. So the claiming of my prize would have to occur differently, and I would claim my prize.

"Well, I still have been hunting it all day, and anybody, even a mortal, could tell that it was being hunted! So you knew that it was not yours to begin with!" I snarled, daring her to test me and to go against fact.

She surprised me though. In response to my questioning of her intelligence, she swung her first back and socked me right in the nose. Blood came pouring out of my nostrils; I instantly knew that it was broken.

The Summer fey realized what she had done a second later, turned, and took off through the woods, forgetting the hart, and not caring, just wanting to escape.

Pissed, I forgot it too and chased after her, determined to make her pay for the injury she had caused me.

In her haste, she became careless and clumsy, leaving an easily distinguishable trail. I soon caught up with her and noticed her stumbling along an unseen path, desperate to make it back to her territory where she would be safe, but at this pace, she wouldn't reach it in time.

With a burst of energy, I grabbed the back of her dress and pushed her down to the ground. She landed face first in the dirt.

Flipping around quickly, she faced me on the ground, panic in her eyes. She was terrified beyond belief; you could smell the fear on her.

"I'm so sorry Prince. I truly am. Please, don't hurt me. I am really sorry, I forgot my place!" she pleaded, hoping that I would spare her an ounce of mercy.

I wasn't planning to. With an evil grin, I bent down over her, planning on destroying her mentally and then killing her for her insolence, when something stopped me.

It was that feeling that I had experienced earlier, the one where I wanted to know this girl's name, and I also felt a need to protect her and love her and care for her.

I forgave her in my head, and in response, I offered her my hand. Gladly, she accepted it. Pulling her up off the ground, she started to bawl, losing her hold on the ground and fell into me, loud sobs escaping from her luscious pink lips.

I wrapped my arms around her back, pulling her close and letting her cry. As a winter fey, I was unaccustomed to comforting other fey since we didn't show our emotions ever.

Softly, she muttered into my chest, "Thank you Prince Rowan for sparing me, thank you."

The first rule of the fey, NEVER say "thank you." That shows that you are in debt to a fey. This girl just put herself in my debt with that. She now owed me. And since I had spared her life, it was a life debt, which was far greater than a simple favor.

When she had calmed down enough to speak coherent sentences, she informed me that her name was Lily and that she was hunting in the NeverNever in search of food for her family. Titania apparently had been using the court money to buy clothes for herself rather than assist those in need.

She realized that she owed me, and hoped that my favor wouldn't be drastic because she needed to take care of her family, most specifically her sisters. Her parents were both gone, so she was the primary caregiver of her three younger sisters.

I started to feel emotions for this girl, emotions like caring, and sympathy, and the wanting to help her.

I figured out how she could owe me, she would be my hunting partner from now on.

That summer was magically. Every day, or nearly every day, I would go hunting with Lily in the NeverNever. We kept it secret though, if either of our courts found out, then we would be exiled and her sisters would starve.

I still had to keep up an appearance with the court, so we had an arrangement of where if I didn't show, it meant that I had a function to attend. She was alright with that.

Midway through summer, my feelings developed much deeper for her and I realized that I loved the summer fey named Lily.