I barely had the strength to open my eyelids. My whole body was convulsing with cold and pain but I could still smell the cigarette smoke. Henry sat next to me in the snow,

“The cold doesn’t bother me much,” He admitted. “And if Dante had left you with that ring, it wouldn’t bother you too much either.”

I wanted to ask why but I couldn’t seem to catch my breath I was shivering so hard. Instead Henry carried on talking in some dreary monologue that I seemed to tune in out of as I slipped in and out of consciousness. I picked up on a few words that I strung together to make sense-

‘Dante’s ring’

‘Part mortal’

‘Hypothermia’

‘Death’

None of it was good news. I don’t think Henry wanted me dead but I don’t think he wanted me unharmed either. The cold air was burning my lungs and I felt the sensation that I was moving. I opened my eyes to see a white flurry of swirling snow obscuring my vision.

“Sometimes we have to lose the ones we love to realize how much we love them- well that’s what all the pop songs say-” Henry’s voice faded in then out and again and I felt my head loll back in his arms.

When I next awoke it was to the sensation of flesh ripping and tearing from my back. The pain was sudden and brief, Henry dropped me to the floor and I screamed so hard I thought my lungs were going to explode. Something was tearing through my back and it hurt so bad. I was crawling through the snow crying for help as the warm blood flowed from my back.

“Sorry kid, but you’re on your own.” I heard Henry say.

“Kill me.” I begged unable to bare any more pain.

But there was no one there, I turned my head to look behind me and saw nothing but a trail of blood in the pure white snow. I blacked out.

The sound of violin playing Mozart floated through the air stirring from my sleep. My body felt heavy but it was warm. My lashes fluttered up and I saw the canopy of Dante’s four poster bed above me. My back felt uncomfortable like I lying on something uneven struggling to sit up, I gasped in pain. The violin music abruptly stopped and a blurry figure came rushing to the bedside.

“Ebony.” Dante’s voice was raw and strained, he grabbed my hand entwining his fingers with mine and pressed a kiss against it. My eyes focused on his face and saw an unshaven dishevelled man that looked like the ghost of the normally charismatic and confident Prince Dante. Pushing away his hand I tried to move, but Dante’s hands stopped me.

“I know you’re mad, but I can explain.” He said.

“You threw me out.” I moaned pushing his hands away.

“I made a mistake, a very big mistake.” He said.

“How did you figure that out?” I bit out sarcastically sitting up. I looked across the room at the mirror on the opposite side. I saw myself sat up in bed with Dante next to me and I saw the two great black wings that protruded from my back.