Chapter 1: Light Turns to Darkness

The morning sun, harkening a new spring morning, seemed to enliven Lily at the breakfast table. She hummed to herself happily "turn light to diamonds when I look in my true love's eyes…" She looked up as she spread herbed butter over a piece of toast and smiled at her sister, Violet who was drinking black tea and reading, as usual.

Their mother, Lily's step mother, always said the two were like Rose Red and Rose White. Lily was wild and raucous, like Rose Red and preferred to spend the day out of doors in the forest that bordered the castle grounds. Violet was like Rose White, calm and demur, and preferred to lounge in the library reading and scribbling away in her leather bound journals. Both girls were quite beautiful – Lilly tall and fair with long, dark ringlets and eyes that spoke of sunshine and honey; Violet was much smaller and rounder with a heart shaped face and straight raven hair. Her own eyes were more akin to deep lakes or twilight horizons with dark blues and lavender.

"You should come out with me today. I'm going down to the meadow. Jack has promised me a surprise." Lily grinned and blushed as she confessed she was to see her beloved. Violet was the only one in the house that she would admit it to.

Violet looked up from her book, a small volume that explained a theory of how plants feed on sunlight. She took a moment to consider her sister's offer and shook her head. "No, you and Jack have fun and don't get caught doing something you shouldn't be." Her voice was soft and young but her tone was serious and melancholy, as usual.

Lily shrugged and passed the buttered toast to her sister and got up. "I'm going to head out."

"Aren't you going to breakfast?" Violet asked, holding out the toast.

"No," Lily grinned again, "I'm too excited. I'll grab an apple or something while I'm out. Are you sure you won't come? Jack's surprise is going to be very special."

Again, Violet shook her head and watched her sister pass out of their private breakfast nook. With a sigh, she took a bite of the toast and wondered at her older sister. They were only 2 years apart and yet, it always seemed that Violet was years older than Lily. Lily was heir to the throne, unless Violet's mother could somehow produce a male child after 16 years of trying. Their father, the king, seemed to be in denial that his daughter would ever inherit the throne and let her run wild as much as she wanted.

Violet, on the other hand, knew that there would be a day when Lily would have to give up her desires to run wild in the forest all day with the young prince of the fae and woods. She would have to be Queen, marry a prince of some allied kingdom, and try and produce male heirs of her own. It wasn't the life either girl wanted but Violet had a good head on her shoulders and wasn't one to make fancy of her own life. She dreaded the day their father learned of Jack and Lily and of when the fight would ensue about Lily's future.

Finishing breakfast, Violet wondered briefly what Jack's surprise was. She knew that come eventide, Lily would return and they would sit in her room in from of a fire and Lily would regale Violet with the whole story. This was a normal ritual for them. Lily would come home and tell her younger sister of her adventures, sometimes she had other stories too, told to her by Jack, of fae and sprites, goblins and pixies. Violet sometimes wrote these down in her journals, finding them adventurous in a safe, scholarly way.

One night, not but two months ago, Lily came home in her normal air of dishevelment and wildness with flowers and leaves in her hair the way some princesses wear gemstones and gold. She took Violet to her chambers and told her in breathless tones that she and Jack had finally made love.

Violet had been horrified by her sister's statement. "You're mad aren't you?"

Lily was disappointed by her sister's reaction. She had expected awe or congratulations or at least shock but not reprimand.

The two fought for the first time in whispered hisses. Violet was afraid for Lily's sake. "If father finds out, he'll send you to a convent!"

"He won't find out unless you tell him," Lily retorted vehemently. She suddenly wondered if she could trust her younger sibling.

"I won't tell him, but what if someone saw you? What if your doctor finds out? They can figure these things out you know. Or what if you become with child? Why would you risk this? Father will send you away or marry you off to some court lad with his eyes on the throne and willing to keep a secret for it."

"I'll just run away if that happens," Lily said, decidedly. "I'll live with Jack in the forest."

Violet shook her head, regretting Lily's naiveté. "You know that is impossible, Father will hunt you down and kill Jack most likely."

The two fought for hours and wouldn't speak to each other for weeks later. Finally, they broke the ice after Lily's moon-time came, proving she was not pregnant. She came to Violet and admitted she too had been worried but that she loved Jack and would not stop seeing him.

Violet set to work researching for her sister. She even had one of the servants, a nursemaid of Lily's, help her by questioning midwives and crones in the village. Finally, they had the ingredients needed and Violet carefully concocted an elixir that was sure to keep Lily without child as long as she took it daily as soon as she awoke of a morning. Lily thanked Violet with happy tears in her eyes and ran out to tell Jack of their good fortune.

Today, as she wondered what sort of story Lily would come home with, Violet retired to the garden where her easel and paints her set up. Both girls painted well but Lily was the only one with enough patience to finish an entire canvas.

Her model today was a twisted bunch of blossoming lilac that had braided its way around a pillar. Violet thought it looked like two lovers and had decided to paint them as such. She had little knowledge by way of love or passion. She only knew what she read in books – anatomy studies showed her how it was done, poetry showed her why. Yet, she never really understood. There were few men in her company and none had ever elicited thoughts of seduction or romance. Hearing Lily's stories of Jack made her happy for her sister but she did feel a little jealous – not for Jack, who she had only met once in the apple orchard when Lily had been able to drag her away from the libraries for a brief rub-a-bout. She had thought Jack was too wild and too quiet – it made her uncomfortable. No, Violet was jealous for a love or romance of her own.

With a sigh she settled down to paint. Picking up her brush with a dab of carefully mixed lilac color, she began to create luscious flowers that spoke of the sex she had never known. Her own innocence showed in the painting, a chaste look at passion.

Mid-way through her painting, something began to happen. Violet did not yet know it but her own sister was creating a gateway for dark forces by coming into contact with the most pure and innocent creature ever known – the Unicorn.

The sky dimmed to charcoal and a rough wind began to pick up. Soon, Violet's long raven hair began to whip around her face, the flowers she was painting were being bashed against the pillar, and all had grown terribly cold. A few servants rushed out to grab up the princess and help her indoors to her chamber.

There, the snow storm outside was felt in the cold hush of the palace. Wind bashed the stained glass windows of Violet's bed chamber. She sat, staring at the windows, while a few servants huddled close by, trying in vain to start a fire. The wind whistled down the chimney and put out every spark attempted. The nursemaid wrapped Violet in a thick knitted blanket and hugged her close.

Violet seemed to be the only one not too frightened or bent in prayer to noticed dark shapes moving in the storm. She moved closer to the window to try and see what they were. Suddenly, the wind crashed through the window, bringing in glass and ice. Violet was struck on the temple by a piece of wood from the window casing and all the world went dark.