As he reached the portcullis on the fifth day he felt nervous, what if David had lied and he wasn't allowed in. What would he do then? After the thought had crossed his mind he realised he needn't have worried because at the sound of his name the portcullis was raised and he was taken in to the palace right to the Queen's bed chamber; without any questions being asked. When David pushed him through the door he felt as if he were intruding on Snow's deepest secrets the bed chamber of the Queen was no place for a commoner such as himself, but what choice did he have? Standing just inside the door he saw the morning room with the chess set on the table. He had been right it was perfect, but Thaddeus was right it was flawless and for a girl who had been locked in a tower for ten years, flawed was what she was; beautiful he would openly admit, but fundamentally flawed. He had a feeling that as happy as she had been at receiving the gift she really disliked it deep down, like she would have hated the funeral gown and the fact that her 'death' had sent him back to hard drinking.

He looked at the board and he saw that she was winning, but also that her opponents heart was not in it, he was letting her win. Something else that he knew Snow would hate. She didn't need to be constantly praised; she would far prefer to earn the respect than be given it freely. He had learnt that early on when he had taught her how to fight. The idea had then been cemented in his mind when she had taken down Ravenna and her final words to her stepmother had been,

Hope never dies.

The words stung him and he could feel his breath catch; he wouldn't admit it, but he hoped she truly believed that because she would need hope in the end, if what he believed she felt was true. He picked up the marble chess set and moved it to a shelf on a bookcase in the corner of her chamber. He then grabbed his satchel and took out the board laying it on the table at an angle between the two prospective players so the light from the windows hit the engraving in a certain way. He then took out the box for the pieces, this he had carved from the darkest wood he could find it was oblong with a hinged lid; the clasp was made up of a heart on the base and a dagger on the top that slid in behind the heart when the box was closed. The story of the board couldn't just be about the pair of them, because without Ravenna and her hunt for Snow's heart they would never have met and Snow wouldn't have saved him from himself. So it would seem that not everything Ravenna had done had ended in tragedy. He opened the box and lined the pieces in their formations on the board. Last but not least he placed his letter in the box and closed the lid hiding it from the world.

He took one last look around her room and smiled; unlike her the room was simple. He could tell it was the place where she would rest her head and do little else. Even though he knew this was the case it didn't stop him from sitting and imagining her pacing in front of the hearth after a particularly difficult day, or sitting playing chess with who he could only assume was William and trying not to hit him for letting her win again. He looked around the room for the missing piece so he could complete the set, but it was nowhere to be found. His heart jumped to his throat as he wondered if she had taken the piece with her down the mines.

It wouldn't be the first thing he had given her that she had used as protection, as far as he knew she still had the bone charm that Sara had given him for protection. He felt warmth settle over him that was so completely different to that of the warmth alcohol had given him when he was still drinking. The warmth from the alcohol has been hollow and only temporary, so very fleeting; this warmth he could feel zinging along every nerve ending; his body fully possessed by it.

Before he stayed in the palace longer than he would have liked Eric left as quietly as he had entered and instead of heading to the farmhouse he headed straight in to the woods deciding it was time for a hunt to clear his head.

When Snow White arrived back at the palace after her visit to the mine she was exhausted, she had never felt this tired before, not even when she was running for her life from Finn and Ravenna had she felt the ache of exhaustion this deep in her bones. She was carried to her chamber by one of her guards and he placed her on her bed without a second thought,

"Thank you," she murmured her body instantly relaxing in to the soft plush pillows behind her head,

"Is there anything else you require?" He asked her politely,

"Not tonight, thank you." She said again and he bowed leaving her in peace. She rolled on to her side letting her heavy eyes close, but as they did she noticed that the coffee table in the morning room looked different, the cold hard marble chess board had been changed. She took the first Queen from a fold in her dress and ran her fingers over the grain for what must have been the millionth time feeling energy surge through her fingers almost like the piece had a pulse of its own. She wearily sat up in bed, but the chamber was too dark to fully make out all the details on the chess board.

She had a choice she could wait for the morning or she could find out now what Eric had made for her. She debated it and decided that she couldn't wait, she had been patient enough for ten years and she was allowed to be impatient now and again.

She pushed herself off the bed and stumbled with heavy legs to the morning room. She sat heavily on one of the chairs; taking a match from a nearby box she lit the candle that sat on the table and looked at the board. To put it simply it was beautiful. Around the edge of the tile squares there was scroll work that threaded together mushrooms, tree branches, roses, apples, birds and arrows. Each of the alternate playing squares had mapped areas of their journey; the simple contours of the land, the troll bridge, the marsh, the mountains, the dark forest, the fairy wood, the courtyard at Carmathan, the rock labyrinth on the beach outside and the throne room. From the way the candle light flickered she could tell he had put care in to the way the shadows would play over the blank squares and it took her breath away. Why couldn't the Duke have gotten her a set like this in the first place? She would admit it wasn't perfect; it was flawed not every piece was exactly the same, but there was so much life in the pieces that it looked as if any minute they would make their way across the board on their own.

She leant back in the chair and placed the final Queen on the board smiling softly. She couldn't have asked for a better gift or piece of art. She ran her hands over one of the rooks losing the tips of her fingers in the knots of the wood and way he had made a knot look like the age rings of the sturdy tree his hatchet was supposedly cutting. Snow ran her hand across the high glossed surface of the board and then she saw the box and bit down on a laugh. She knew that he would have to tease her with one item and it was the storage for the pieces, not that she ever wanted to put them away. She could imagine Ravenna opening it to see her heart inside it and the glee that would have passed over her face. She placed her hand over her heart feeling each beat thump softly against her hand and was once again thankful that Eric had a conscience and hadn't let her be killed that day in the Dark Forest. She slipped the dagger out from behind the heart and opened the box revealing a letter placed securely inside. She pulled it out and read it her eyelids heavy, but happy.

Dear Snow,

I hope this letter finds you happy at the commission that you asked me to provide. As to the payment for the set you owe me nothing. Seeing you happy would be payment enough.

You will always know where to find me.

Love as always,

Eric.

Her throat closed, she didn't understand, he had chosen to sign off the letter with 'Love as always,' but had told her that seeing her happy would be payment enough; was the love just that of a loyal subject? Once again he had managed to aggravate her without even being present. How was it that he always managed to crawl under her skin and leave her in an almost sweet agony?

She was too tired to try and write back to him, but then she remembered that she was being given the day off after the visit to the mines for some rest before she went on to broker another peace treaty with yet another village elder in the marshlands. She would ride to his farmhouse at first light and demand an answer. She needed to know for sure how he felt.

If she loved him (which she did) and if he loved her (which seemed possible) why were they both making it difficult and avoiding the simplest outcome? She was the Queen if she wanted to marry the Huntsman who saved her; no one was going to stand in her way. With that resolve she fell asleep with Eric's vague letter on her pillow.