Cinder and Red…what an unlikely pair those two made. They didn't deserve each other, and in a land where no one got their happy ending, things didn't look all too good for the two of them. With the threat of an old foe hanging over their heads, will they be able to work together to save the kingdom? Or will they be pulled apart forever?

The Kingdom of Karid

The Dark Forest

Present Day

It was a two-day ride back to the capital city from Magellen. Red was itching to get back, and he could have easily ridden for two days straight without rest, but Cinder didn't have the stamina that he did. They rode most of the night and day, barely saying a word to each other.

The last time Red saw Cinder was in a small pub in Harbour Town, almost three years ago. She had grown a lot by then, having spent time in the Yang Empire learning how to master the dagger that Megara gave her. She must have crossed Yang and Solaria to get to Karid and after that, she must have crossed the Gallean sea to learn from the huntress in West Gallea. Cinder was a fighter, and one with a strong sense of right and wrong. She was trying to make this world a better place. Red only wished that he could get it through her head that not everything was black and white.

"We should stop here for the night," Cinder said a few hours before sunset. They were cutting through the Dark Forest to save some time and had reached a small clearing with a patch of bright green grass. Red nodded, seeing how tired she was from riding a day and a half. Cinder dismounted, her legs shaking as her feet touched the ground. She stretched, letting out a small yawn which she hid from Red's view. Five years and she still didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. She grabbed her horse's reins, tugging it along gently to one of the nearby trees and tying the reins around it. Red did the same, fishing an apple out of his bag and feeding it to his horse.

"I'll go get us some dinner," Red volunteered, pulling his hood up over his head again. "You start a fire, make sure we have enough wood to keep it going. Things go bump in the night in this forest." He didn't give Cinder a chance to protest before stalking back into the forest. He was hungry, and although he had complete faith in his self control he didn't want to risk anything with Cinder so close. It was better for him to be fed. He kept walking, barely making any noise as he went deeper into the forest until he couldn't hear Cinder anymore.

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and listening to the sounds of the forest. It was supposed to be haunted by the spirits of those who were brutally murdered in the war of Queens a thousand years ago, but no one has ever actually seen a ghost. Red knew that there were worse things than ghosts in this forest. Bandits, goblins and even rogue dwarves roam the forest, looking for someone to rob. Vampires occasionally pass through, but they didn't appreciate the outdoors that much. Two years ago there were reports of a werewolf pack running through the forest. Red personally tracked their prints, but he never found any of them. He steered clear of werewolves, avoiding them more than he avoided dwarves. He knew Cinder could handle herself, but he didn't want to leave her alone for too long.

"There you are…" He whispered to himself, his senses picking up on the tiniest movement to his left. Riding in the sun all day did not do him any favours, so he used the last bit of his strength to capture two turkeys. He snapped one's neck, tossing it to the side before sinking his teeth into the other one. They tasted horrible, like dirt and old leather shoes, but he had to make do.

Red wasn't a fully fledged vampire. He's never tasted human blood before, not even on the orders of the Mad King. He stuck to animals, which was why Cinder didn't kill him the first day they met on Wendy's ship.

Red tossed the bird away once it was dry, wiping off his mouth on his hood before picking up the other turkey and heading back to their campsite. Cinder had already started the fire, her arms wrapped around her slender body as she stared into the flames. Next to her sat a pile of wood, large enough to keep the fire going through the night. "I got you something good." Red dropped the turkey next to Cinder on the ground. She looked up at him, eyeing him for a moment.

The colour had returned to his cheeks and he wasn't so pale anymore. His green eyes seemed brighter and his mood had improved. Cinder understood that Red had no control over what the Mad King did to him, but to her he would always remain a monster.

"Thanks," Cinder nodded, grabbing the turkey and starting to pull out its feathers. The sun had set, leaving the forest around them dark. For a while the only noise came from the fire crackling and Cinder preparing the turkey. Red paced around the campsite, his ears wide open and listening for any signs of trouble. He didn't think anyone would dare cross the two of them, the huntsman and the slayer both had a reputation for killing first and asking questions later.

"How is the warrior Queen?" Red asked a while later, sitting down next to Cinder who was just finishing the turkey.

"How do you know that I've had contact with Merida?" Cinder asked, licking her fingers before tossing the bones inside the flames.

"No one can shoot a bow quite like she does, and after having Mulan as your teacher, you'd only want the best."

Cinder narrowed her eyes at him. She hated the way he always knew what she was doing and where she was going. She hunted monsters for a living, she couldn't afford to be that predictable. Red was the Queen's own personal Huntsman, and before that Red was a spy for the Mad King of Solaria. He had connections all over the world, which made Cinder even more uneasy. "Merida is fine. Still kicking ass as usual and refusing to marry. Her mother is looking to push one of her brothers onto the throne, but they're not having it."

"The whole family is feisty. Her father was a good man," Red nodded, remembering the West Gallean King. He was one of those rare rulers who only wanted the best for his people and for his family.

"Are we going to stop talking about Gallea and start talking about Karid? Tell me the story of Snow White." Cinder leaned back against her arms, but her body was still tense. She was not letting her guard down around Red.

"It's a story meant to scare children into behaving. Didn't you hear it as a child?" Red grew up in Solaria under the watchful eye of the Mad King, but even there he heard the story of the vampire child born to King Henry and his first wife, Queen Mary. It was rumoured to be a brutal birth, the baby had ripped her way out of Queen Mary, killing her in the process. King Henry could not stand to look at the child who had killed his beloved wife, so he almost had the child thrown out a window.

"No one read me bedtime stories as a child," Cinder scoffed, offended that he even had to ask her that question. He knew how she was raised, he knew more about her than anyone else did.

"Queen Lucille's husband, King Henry, was married to another woman before he married her. Queen Mary was beautiful, but not the smartest woman in the land. She was desperate for a child, fearing that she would lose her husband to another woman. She struck a deal with the goddess of the underworld, a deal that would allow her to have a child. She didn't know that all deals came with a price." Red's eyes found Cinder's, the meaning behind them clear. Cinder shrugged and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around her body again and shivering slightly. She knew all too well that deals with the devil came with a price. "A few weeks later, Queen Mary found out that she was pregnant. The King was overjoyed, and he worshipped at Mary's feet. It was everything she wanted, but she didn't know the cost. The baby tore its way out of her, injuring her so bad that the doctors couldn't do anything about it. She was alive long enough to hold her baby girl for a few minutes. Lips as red as blood, hair as black as the night, skin as white as snow…Those were Queen Mary's last words before she passed away. King Henry was distraught, maddened by the grief of losing his wife. He intended to throw the child out of a window, but once he held her in his arms he could not let her go. She was beautiful, the most beautiful thing he had ever seen. He named her Snow White, and she was his favourite."

"The King did not realise what she was?" Cinder had never encountered a pure-born vampire before. They were extremely rare, thought to be a myth. Fully fledged and halfling vampires were human before they were turned, but pure-born vampires were never human to begin with.

"No one realised what she was until the King married Queen Lucille. Unlike everyone else, she was not blind to Snow White's antics. During a temper tantrum when she was ten, Snow slaughtered the entire palace, including her father. Lucille was in Solaria at the time, pregnant with Prince Henry. When she returned she had Snow White burned at the stake, but there was always a doubt in her mind that Snow was really dead."

"What made her doubt it?" Cinder asked, her eyes on the flames in front of her, trying to imagine what it must have felt like for Queen Lucille to return home to the monster who killed all those innocent people. The Queen was hard and not someone to mess with, maybe that day turned her into what she is now.

"The way Snow White looked at her during the execution. She didn't make a sound, didn't even move as she burned. The Queen has been uneasy for years."

"That's why she started training the Huntsmen," Cinder said, putting two and two together. The Queen only started training her elite force of soldiers after King Henry died. The Huntsmen were meant to serve and protect the Queen, as well as eliminate any threats to the kingdom.

"That is correct, and it seems like our day has come." Red ran a hand through his messy black hair, trying not to think about the upcoming battles they would have to fight. "Story time is over, you should get some rest."

Cinder narrowed her eyes at him, shaking her head. "You can sleep, I'll take the first watch."

Stubborn woman, Red thought to himself, letting out a sigh. "I don't need as much sleep as you do and you know it. I'm not going to hurt you Cinder. You can sleep with your dagger by your side as well as my sword." Red stood up, walking over to his horse and taking his sword out of its holster. He handed it to Cinder, indicating that he was not going to debate this. She needed to get some sleep.

"It's not your sword I'm worried about," Cinder mumbled under her breath, but she took the sword anyway, laying down on the ground a few feet away from the fire and closing her eyes, willing herself to get some rest.

"No one is ever going to hurt you Cinder," Red said softly as he watched the slayer slip off into dreamland.