Zelgadis burst into Amelia’s room, carrying her limp body in her arms. She still was not moving and this was severely worrying her rescuer.

“Wake up damn it,” Zelgadis muttered as he laid her down on the floor next to the cold fireplace. He quickly threw in some wood and started a fire, desperate to heat the room.

Oh crap, Zelgadis thought as he looked over at Amelia. Now that he could see her in the light, Zelgadis knew that she was not doing well. Her face was blotches of bitten red and sheet white. She was just barely breathing and what was worse was that her clothes were all soaked down to the skin.

Taking off his coat and rolling his white shirt sleeves to his elbows, Zelgadis pondered his predicament. He had seen a similar situation like this when he was still a small boy and his parents were alive. One of the gardeners had fallen into the freezing moat and he refused to change out of his clothes and into dry ones. The man died overnight and everyone had to wait until the spring thaw in order to bury him in a grave. The last thing Zelgadis wanted was a corpse in the house for the rest of the long mountain winter.

Zelgadis carefully picked up Amelia’s wrist to check for a pulse. Her pulse was so weak that he could not find one. Startled, he looked at her chest to see if it was moving. Zelgadis’s face turned red when he did, but he could barely tell if Amelia was still breathing or not.

“I really hope that she doesn’t wake up suddenly,” Zelgadis whispered to himself as he awkwardly put his ear up to her chest to hopefully get a heartbeat. Luckily for him, he heard one and immediately pulled away from her and almost landed in the now blazing fire.

At least she is still alive, was Zelgadis’s thought as he got the top blanket from Amelia’s bed. Gingerly he wrapped her up in the soft down-filled blanket and tried to put his plan to get Amelia warm into action. She was by the fireplace for heat, but not close enough as to catch fire. Zelgadis was planning on wrapping her up, to try to take the dress off of her so that she was not in the freezing water that was soaking her skin. The blanket was mainly so that he did not see what was under the dress. It was simply embarrassing having to take care of a woman like this having only just come into contact with her after nearly fourscore years of utter loneliness and lack of a female’s presence.

Zelgadis nervously began to remove the sleeves from Amelia’s shoulders, the only part of her snow-soaked that was visible. The fabric was difficult to move, for it stuck to Amelia’s cold skin when he tried to move it.

“L...” Amelia moaned. Zelgadis jumped back, hands raised in defense. “L... Lord... Zelgadis?”

“What is it?” Zelgadis answered, trying his very best to sound kind. He crawled up so that he was right next to Amelia. She still appeared to be sleeping, but at least she could talk.

“Justice Punch.”

“Huh?”

In an instant, Amelia’s fist flew out of her blanket and into Zelgadis’s chin. The act was severely unexpected, causing Zelgadis to fall backwards a slight bit. The surprised chimera looked over at Amelia. She was still fast asleep, but now her right hand was bleeding at the knuckles all over the place.

“Some reflexes you got there,” Zelgadis scoffed as he exited the room, rubbing his chin repeatedly. “I can tell I won’t be able to get you into anything warm now. Your funeral.”

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Amelia woke up to find that she was in a very warm place. Her eyesight was blurry at first, yet then as she sat up and rubbed her eyes, she found her vision came back to her. She was back in her room at Graywords Castle. A fire was roaring in the heath, her hand was no more than a bandaged throbbing pain and she seemed to still be in the clothes she was in when she first ran away. The most peculiar part was that Zelgadis was sitting in a chair next to her bed, asleep with his head resting on her night stand.

He saved me, Amelia thought. It must have been. She did not remember anything after collapsing in the snow. That was the only possible explanation Amelia could come up with.

Very slowly, Zelgadis began to stir. He sat up straight, stretched and yawned deeply.

“Hello there,” he said as his yawn disappeared. “You gave me quite the scare.”

“Did I...?”

“Yes. You were unconscious for about two days. I was afraid that I would have a dead body in my house if you did not wake up soon.”

Amelia looked at Zelgadis carefully. This was not the same man who frightened her so before she was able to touch the white rose. He seemed completely different to her now. Well, his coat was off so that his white shirt was visible with the sleeves rolled up and there was no necktie or formality whatsoever to him, which might have helped.

“I am very sorry I frightened you,” he apologized, looking down at his stony hands. “I should have given you reason not to enter my chambers other than just forbidding it.”

“No, no, I should not have run away,” Amelia assured. “I should have known better than to try to run away in that storm. I put you in danger as well. You did not have to go and save me.”

“My body is not affected by the snowy cold,” Zelgadis explained. “I was just more worried about you.”

Suddenly, Zelgadis felt two arms wrap about his neck as Amelia started to cry into his shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said through her tears. “You saved my life.”

“You’re welcome,” Zelgadis whispered as he embraced Amelia gingerly. It was so strange for Zelgadis to be holding a female in his arms, yet holding the weeping Amelia felt oddly right to him. Zelgadis just blew off the thought for inner peace, the quiet that Amelia seemed to bring with her presence.

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Throughout the weeks that came, Amelia was not as afraid of Zelgadis as she was when she had first seen him. She made an effort to go and see him during the day, when she would have otherwise been wandering the castle instead. They talked for many hours. Once Zelgadis discovered Amelia’s love for reading and books, he showed her the library which was chock full of all different kinds of books for her to read. Amelia was awestruck by the amount of books there was and spent a good portion of her time thereafter reading those books.

One day, however, Amelia found herself to be quite fidgety and restless whilst she read in the library. It was nearing dinnertime and she wished to see Zelgadis before the meal, so she put her reading glasses in her pocket, exited the library and walked about the castle until she arrived at his chamber door.

“Lord Graywords, are you there?” she asked as she knocked gently. Carefully creaking open the door, she found that the room, even though cleaned up, was completely devoid of Zelgadis. This puzzled her, for Amelia was almost always able to find Zelgadis in his room. It was where he wrote to pass the time. He was a fairly good author in Amelia’s opinion, but she was confused to why he was not writing at that moment. Amelia then began to wander the castle looking for Zelgadis. She looked in all the places she could remember him being in, yet did not discover a trace.

I wonder where he went, she though. Finally, Amelia decided that since she was getting hungry, she would go and search the kitchens for a light snack before dinner. She was sure that the cook would not mind. Garcia would have if Amelia was still at home, but she was not.

“Excuse me,” Amelia said as she opened the door to the kitchen as she had done many times before to grab a light morsel of food. Yet, instead of an empty kitchen, or even one occupied by a chef, there was Zelgadis, coat off, sleeves rolled up and with a carrot and knife hovering over a pot of boiling water.

“Yes? What is it Amelia?” Zelgadis asked, continuing to slice the carrot into the pot of water. Amelia just looked at him, quite puzzled.

“You are the one that cooks?”

“Of course. Do you see anyone else in this kitchen?”

“No...”

“Well, I have been cooking my own food for about fifty-odd years now,” Zelgadis replied frankly as he began to slice up some meat. “Let me tell you, it took near forever to figure out what all these recipe instructions meant.”

“The thought just never crossed my mind,” Amelia said softly. She looked over at the meat Zelgadis was chopping. “How do you get fresh food all the time?”

“I hunt during the summer, as well as stock up for the winter. On overcast days where the sun is not that bright, I go and travel to villages with my cloak hood up and buy vegetables and grains from the farmers and merchants. It is how I have survived for all these years alone.

“Would you like me to help you?” Amelia asked after a short pause. Zelgadis glanced over from a skillet.

“Sure,” he chuckled. Zelgadis was amused with how eager Amelia was to assist him. Her helping out with the dinner even gave him a marvelous idea for the next day.

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Phil looked out the window of the tavern and into the desolate half-frozen wasteland surrounding him. It had been three months since Amelia had been captured by the Beast of Graywords Castle and each day that passed had brought him more and more worry. He could not eat or sleep as he normally did, having to settle for scant substitutes in their place. Phil truly was grieving over the loss of his daughter and could not even bear to think of what she encountered at the hands of the stone nobleman, for worst-case scenarios always danced though his brain instead of the thought that Amelia was alive and happy.

“Stop looking out the window like that,” Lina scolded as she swept the floor by the table Phil was seated at. “You make me depressed every time you just come and sit. Don’t you have some sort of hobby?”

“I know that,” Phil sighed, “yet I am so worried about Amelia that I cannot help myself but to do nothing but sit. I can barely take it anymore Lina! If I go outside for too long, I’ll want to go and rescue Amelia, even though the snow is far too deep for me to try to conquer.”

“Just wait until the sakura blossoms come,” Lina sighed. “That is when the mountain passes are clear enough so that you can go without problem and rescue your daughter. That time seems like it is going to be soon by the looks of it, since things have been warming up and...”

“Right,” Phil agreed sadly, blocking out the rest of what Lina had told him. “Until the sakura blossoms come.”

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Zelgadis had everything planned perfectly. It was to be a very fancy dinner for him to share with Amelia and he was dressed in the best of his suits that he could find. Amelia was to be fancied up as well and Zelgadis was hoping with all his might that Amelia would enjoy the night. He was beginning to think that he was falling in love with Amelia and wished that she at least did not mind him as much as she did when she had first arrived.

“Are you still there Amelia?” he yelled after a few minutes of waiting.

“I am coming down Lord Graywords!” Amelia called from the top of the staircase. Zelgadis could not believe his eyes when he saw her slowly walk down the stairs. She was dressed in a very formal lavender gown, a gown he had seen only seen once on one other person in his entire life. Amelia had done her hair up into an elegant bun at the back of her head, yet some of her hair that was too short for the knot hung in soft curls that gracefully framed her face. She had found some rouge and lightly applied it to her face, making her winter-pale skin seem a bit flushed with color. Amelia was such a sight that Zelgadis could not even talk.

“What is the matter milord?” Amelia asked kindly as she reached the bottom of the stairs. Zelgadis had such a sharply shocked expression on his face that she could not help but to smile at it.

“I remember that dress,” he said, red starting to uncomfortably color his own face. “That was my mother’s. I remember her wearing it when I was very little. It looks as if the years have not destroyed it.”

“Should I change out of it?” Amelia asked. She started to go up the stairs, yet Zelgadis lightly toucher her arm to stop her.

“No,” he said. “You are perfect in it.” He smiled up at her as she ascended back down the stairs. On the last step however, Amelia tripped on her heeled shoes and landed right into Zelgadis, causing them both to blush ferociously.

“Let us go eat before the dinner gets cold,” Amelia suggested quickly and in a soft voice.

Zelgadis quickly agreed and led Amelia over to the dining room. There, on the table, was a large assortment of dishes that all were very delicious and Amelia could not remember when it was the last time she ate as much as she did there. She was becoming sleepy from the food and almost went to sleep in her chair, yet Zelgadis rose from his seat and walked over to her side of the table.

“May I have this dance?” he asked as he held out his hand.

“Why Lord Graywords, there is no music,” Amelia giggled, briefly applying a slight accent to her voice.

“Does it matter?”

“I guess it does not,” Amelia smiled as she took Zelgadis’s hand and let him lead her into the magnificent ballroom. There, she gladly instructed him on how to properly dance as the teapot with a British accent started to softly sing from on top of the grand piano.

Wait, a singing British teapot? Apologies, wrong story version. In Graywords Castle, there was so such thing as a British teapot to serenade our main romantic couple as they danced. No, never, ever in a million years. Instead, there was music in severe lack, Amelia and Zelgadis were forced to dance to the silence.

That did not matter, for they would not have noticed music had it been there, nor a singing teapot for that matter. Their nocturne was not one that could be put to notes or described with words. The ballroom was quiet, yet filled with the loudest voices that could have ever been heard as Amelia and Zelgadis danced. They danced for hours, not noticing where the time went. Finally they decided to stop dancing and went outside on the terrace to sit on one of the many stone benches that lined the balcony wall. Neither one did minded the cool night air, for it had been warming up outside steadily for a few days, making the air feel warmer than it should.

“Amelia,” Zelgadis asked nervously. “Are you... are you happy here with me?”

“Of course I am,” Amelia said. “You are a very good man. It is only when I got to spend some time with you did I discover that. Why would you ask?”

“If you want Amelia, you can go back to your father and sister in the village,” Zelgadis sighed painfully. “I warn you though, that your word alone would not change the pretenses of the villagers and they would probably still hate my very existence.”

“They would listen to me,” Amelia replied. “Come back to the village with me. I will show them all that you are not the vile, horrible man that you once were. Please Lord Graywords...”

“Call me Zelgadis, please...”

“You are still a lord and I am still a commoner, no matter how long you have been shut up in this castle,” Amelia said sharply. Her voice then softened. “Will you come back home with me?”

“I have no wish to travel farther than the front gate unless it be for food supplies. I am truly sorry Amelia. A man made of stone is no creature people want to see walking through their village and especially with the girl he wrongly made his prisoner.”

“Then I shall stay here,” Amelia said gently. “I want to be here with you if you will not go to the village with me.”

“Amelia...” Zelgadis whispered quietly as he stared at the woman sitting there next to him in shock and amazement. He wanted Amelia to leave if that what was to make her happy, yet she refused to leave without him. Zelgadis wanted her to be happy, yet she chose to stay in the castle with him. Slowly, he diverted his eyes from Amelia’s face to the stone ground, not knowing what to think.

“Lord Zelgadis?”

“Yes...?”

“Please come with me,” Amelia said, a faint smile on her lips. Zelgadis took her hand and blindly followed, trusting her and what was soon to be her decision with his very heart and soul.

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Zelgadis tossed and turned in his sleep, haunted by a chilling dream. It was the same dream that had been haunting him since his formal dinner with Amelia two weeks before. In the nightmare, he was standing in a dark hall, the voice of the red-clad enchanter who cursed him filling the air.

“She must declare her love for you,” he said. “She must vow it unconditionally.”

“Amelia already has!” Zelgadis cried out at the corridor walls. “I cannot even count how many times she has told me she loves me since she first uttered the words! She has fallen in love with me and I with her. Why am I still stone!”

“Words can be hollow,” the voice said. “By saying that she loves you when it could put her in danger or else risk being ostracized by her loved ones, she proves that her love is truly sincere.”

“Are you saying that my Amelia is simply a whore with false words unless she says she loves me at knife-point!”

“No, yet she might as well be a miserable whore until she proves her love and declares it to the perilous world.”

“Damn it all!” Zelgadis yelled, picking up a vase and throwing it at the direction of the voice. A man’s body, draped in red garments, materialized and caught the precious piece of ceramic and carefully put it down on the ground.

“You should not be a violent being in your dreams Zelgadis Graywords,” the man chuckled. “It could become your true self as you awaken. Now... wake up.”

Zelgadis bolted awake, gasping harshly for air. He was ice cold, though his brow was drenched in sweat. Gradually catching his breath, he realized that he was not in the empty hall, but safe in his own bedchamber. With a disheartened sigh, gazed down at his granite hands that shone in the moonlight pouring in from the window.

That cursed enchanter, he thought. I would never allow Amelia to fall into any sort of danger, he knows that. I wish to protect her from anything harmful that could come. This would mean that I would never become human again and stay like this forever. He is making it so that I still pay, even with my love at my side!

Trying to ebb the anger, Zelgadis looked over towards his left. There was Amelia, sleeping softly beside him. Her face was so peaceful and serene that it calmed Zelgadis down in almost an instant. Sighing, he laid back down, wrapped his arm around her protectively and went right back to sleep, dreaming of that dark corridor once more with the exception of that this time, the hall lacked the wretched enchanter and his voice continually grating on Zelgadis’s nerves.