Chapter 16

Occupying one of the rooms at a bird sprite town, Cypress chose here to rest while he waited for more information, answers, or something that would give him direction. It was a place filled with nest-like homes that any flying sprite could occupy, and a place he could venture without suspicion.

After weeks of searching without direction, going to every sprite town he could, Cypress had come here after hiring a couple of the sprites to help him search for Sorrel. Bird sprites were some of the few who didn't dislike flower fairies, and they often helped to train their riding mounts.

A few mercenaries were looking high and low for Sorrel as much as Cypress was, listening out for any rumours of his whereabouts. They were faster, able to cover more ground, and the ground sprites weren't as wary of them and more willing to talk.

They'd found nothing.

Every day, Cypress asked everyone he could about Sorrel, flying further and further until he bordered the next flower fairy kingdom over. He'd checked every hole, every hollow branch, every mushroom home, and the beautiful man he sought was nowhere to be found.

With an annoyed groan, Cypress continued to pace in his nest room, the twigs and sticks shifting as he circled it. The bed was only made of fluff and feathers, but that didn't matter. It was warm.

Winter is almost over. More and more, he feared he'd find Sorrel after the snow had melted away from his corpse. That, or he would never come to know what happened to him at all because something ate him.

Shit! His hands shook as he looked down at them. Where the fuck are you? The fear was strangling him.

Despite this, he glanced out the small window. The sun was just starting to rise, and he didn't know where he would begin his search today. There was no drawn map of the kingdom, so he had to plan out in his mind everywhere he needed to search.

But he felt like he'd already searched everywhere.

Perhaps not everywhere, but there were places he couldn't even step inside of without causing an uproar. Places like the underground cities. But what if he's in one of them? He'd already tried to sneak his way inside one, but he'd been spotted before he even got a chance to step into the central part of the burrow town.

And there were dozens of burrow cities all throughout the forest. He could spend days – weeks even – searching each one for information.

What gave him faith was that if he was in an underground town, Sorrel would emerge, safe and sound, once the world was no longer a desolate, cold wasteland.

There was a tapping at the door, and he sprinted for the leafy door flap, lifting it to peek outside. "Any word?"

Someone would only disturb him if it was important, and when they did, he always hoped it was with good news – despite it never being so.

"Prince Cypress, Sunny is here to speak with you," announced one of his personal guards.

"Sunny?" His brows drew together before his nose crinkled as he tried hard to look into his memories. He remembered the name well, but not the person. "Wait, the swallow sprite?"

"Yes, your highness. He says he found Sorrel."

Hope flared, and he opened the door fully. Just as he was about to step outside, he noticed a short distance behind the guard stood Sunny.

"Where is he?" he asked, allowing the sprite, but not the guard, inside.

He would stay posted at the door.

By the way he was huffing, Sunny had only recently stopped flying and was still recovering.

"He..." he took in a deep breath before he continued, still gasping for air. "I found him in some place called Burrow City."

Ha! he thought, despite that single laugh not holding a shred of humour. I knew he could be in one. I had just hoped it wasn't that one. If the city soldiers, rats who used letter openers as swords, weren't already a deterrent, the mayor sure was. Sally Mole was unforgiving, and her only concerns were burrowing sprites and her hatred for anything flying.

Like Mr Toad, she often instigated rifts between sprites and flower fairies, but she had the potential to mass an army. Especially with her positive connection to other burrow towns. She was political and had hard-balled his parents, the king and queen, into getting her way.

She could act dubiously when she wanted to.

Cypress realised it didn't matter that he hadn't found him yet so long as he was alive. He'd feared hearing the worst; this was more than he could have asked for.

Still, he was surprised Sunny had managed to make it in and out without being detected. Then again, his brown feathers would have blended better than Cypress' flesh.

"Why didn't you bring him with you?" Cypress asked, raising his hands at him. "You could have flown him to me!"

"He didn't want to come with me."

His head snapped back in surprise. "Excuse me?"

"I wouldn't have been able to fly with him, anyway. I'm surprised I made it here." He looked behind him to flap his wings, one of them moving awkwardly, with a section bent in an unnatural way. "My wing is still hurt, but I just couldn't wait until I healed to come find you. I was lucky that I bumped into one of your guards during my search."

He gestured to the guard no doubt still standing outside the door.

"Why didn't he want to come with you? Did you tell him I've been searching for him?"

"Yes, but he didn't seem to care."

Hurt lanced his chest at those words. He didn't care that I've been searching for him? He'd been scouring the forest and its surrounds all winter. To find out his efforts were brushed off as worthless was painful.

"He just told me that he hopes you have a happy life or something."

Why…? He turned away from Sunny so he could place his hand over his heart privately. He clutched at his coat with gripping fingers.

"I don't understand."

He'd been hoping he was waiting for him, that he wanted Cypress to save him and would be by his side once he did. He didn't want to believe he'd spent the last three months anxiously waiting for someone who didn't want to be found.

However, his thoughts were still only for his safety. I still made him a promise.

"I promised I'd take him home," he stated numbly, before straightening and rolling his shoulders. "I still have to go to Burrow City."

He'd figure his way inside somehow.

I have to talk to him. A part of him wanted to know why Sorrel was dismissing him so easily.

Sunny's feathers puffed out, and he kicked into action by pacing in front of Cypress. He brought his hand to his face, rubbing it, before bringing it over the feathers that acted as hair. "He can't leave it."

His head snapped to him. "What do you mean, he can't leave it? I know Sorrel well enough to believe he would do anything to get back to his mother's side. She's waiting for him."

"He's getting married to the mayor."

His wings fluttered behind him, cascading red dust around his feet. "What?!"

He couldn't believe it! He'd gone through all this effort for someone who had fallen in love with someone else. Cypress couldn't believe he was that replaceable in Sorrel's mind. I fucking chose him to be my prince, and he decides to marry that wretched mole sprite?

I love him... But now his heart felt twisted and confused. He's going to marry her?

"You don't understand, though." Sunny continued to pace, and he shook his head as though his mind was clouded with a thousand thoughts. "I don't know how much he wanted me to share, but I get the feeling he doesn't want anyone to know the truth."

Should I have told him I wanted to marry him? Shit, but Cypress hadn't gotten the chance to do that before he was taken!

He'd wanted to tell him he'd made up his mind after their dance in Pond Town and the intimate events that followed, but he'd decided to ease Sorrel into the idea of being with him. He had been new to the outside world, and Cypress hadn't wanted to frighten him away – no matter how much his heart at the time had been screaming for him to tell him.

Would he have chosen me instead if he knew the truth?

So many thoughts ran rampant through his mind, he didn't know where to focus. On the information from Sunny that had started his inner turmoil or the twister of emotions, feelings, and regrets he held inside himself.

"Know the truth of what?" he murmured quietly, feeling his enthusiasm deflating.

What truths were there? Would they do anything to help the way he was feeling, or would they only break him further?

He realised he didn't want to know the answer.

"I don't know if I should be telling you this, but I can't sit by and do nothing. We have to help him," Sunny said as he came closer. He grabbed Cypress by the shoulder, pleading with him like he thought Cypress would deny him. "It doesn't matter that he's made his decision. He said she's forcing him."

That cut into Cypress' darkening thoughts swiftly. "What do you mean, she's forcing him? You either want to marry someone or you don't."

"He said something about her destroying his mother's home if he doesn't." Sunny ran his hand over his head feathers once more. "I couldn't get him to explain any more. He said he didn't want to talk about it, but it can't be good. He said he's safe and his mother will be safe and that's all that matters, but I just can't stop from feeling like this is wrong."

"He doesn't actually want to marry her?"

His feelings of betrayal and sadness dissipated to give way to stronger emotions, ones he would gladly lean on. Ones that would make him do anything for the person he cared most about in the world.

Anything to make sure Sorrel didn't have to needlessly suffer more than he already had.

"He looked so miserable."

"When?" I have to stop this. I have to save him. "When is the wedding?"

He knew he wasn't going to like the answer when Sunny looked him straight in the eyes with drawn in lips. His features, filled with worry, winced as he took in Cypress' tense posture and hard expression.

Sunny held his breath, like he hated the next word that fell from his mouth so much he didn't wish to utter it.

"Today."

The last day of winter.