THE ONLY PRINCE [High Fantasy Quest Adventure w/ Fae Romance]

Chapter Six

IF I WAIT any longer, there's no chance Jovanna will make it.

Outside, the storm reaches another crescendo, the winds alone pelting against the cellar windows with a ferocity that threatens to shatter them all.

Trembling, I stand up, my heart pounding in my chest. Each breath I take is shaky, but the feeling in my stomach is undeniable. 

She's still out there, and I have to find her. 

For a quiet moment, I am stricken with grief. Does Aunt Elora have anyone who would be able to reach her in time? Has she taken to putting on my father's snow leopard pelt for warmth? She'd be with Solaris, I know that at the very least, preserving warmth together, if the cold hadn't gotten her yet.

I reach for a thick blanket, wrapping it around my shoulders before I pass the huddled villagers, towards the stairs, and I hear their voices rise in unison, their shouts carrying through the air as they realize.

"Kaia, stop. Wait! Don't let her leave, her head- she still needs-" Eustace yells after me, pausing from treating Circe, but it's too late.

I burst through the door and I'm back into the chaos of the storm.

The first thing that strikes me is the sound. The howling wind, the snapping of branches, the thunder booming so loudly it makes my ears ache. As painful as it as, I can steel myself against it, but there is nothing I can do to keep my thoughts from Aunt Elora.

The air is bitterly cold, whipping my clothes against my skin like needles. I can barely stand against the force of it.

"Jovanna!" I scream into the wind, my voice almost entirely lost.

My eyes begin to adjust to the darkness, searching every shape and silhouette for a glimpse of her. That red hair I'm so sure even now I'd still be able to spot. I call out her name again and again, each time my voice fainter than the last. The storm seems to mock me, drowning out my cries.

So I go out further.

As I stumble through, I work my way over to the other side of the square, where the crumbling remains of the once- proud church now lie. This would be the building she'd have been closest to. I veer towards the side, thinking that Jovanna might have taken shelter there.

My hands shake, clutching at my tattered dress and blanket as the fabric nearly rips from me, as if dragging me deeper into the heart of the storm. The wind comes like a relentless beast with a ferocity that steals the breath from my lungs. There's no rain, just the raw force of nature, tearing through everything in its path. The thickness of the blanket wrapped around me feels paper thin in the icy fingers of the storm.

And then, in an instant, it changes. The biting cold that follows is unexpected, like a wall of ice shards. Just as suddenly as it began, the wind carries something else - something soft, something delicate.

Snow. I've never seen it before, never felt its touch. But there it is, falling from the sky in a flurry of white. I only recognize it from my father's stories, pictures I've seen in books, paintings of worlds far removed from our tropical sea fishing coast. For a moment, I forget about the storm raging around me, lost in the wonder of this unexpected gift from the sky.

But the spell is broken as a sudden gust of wind whips through the square, driving the snow sideways and stinging my face with its icy bite. 

I blink against the cold, and press forward.

As the snow falls, it quickly begins to cover the ground in a pristine blanket of white. My eyes scan the area frantically, searching for any sign of movement or a flash of red hair. The church looms ahead, its ancient stones a stark contrast against the white of the flakes raining down. It would be just mere minutes, and any bodies left outside would be buried.