It was snowing. Snow everywhere, drifts of it blowing, glowing in the sun so brightly it dazzled the eye. He walked to the palace with a heavy heart.
The palace was even larger than he remembered, glittering in the snow. He saw Michael once, smiling with lost eyes as he rode through the streets.
Michael didn't see him.
It was easy to get into the palace, to slip in with the merchants and traveling entertainers and visiting dignitaries and petitioners waiting for an audience with someone, anyone from court. It wasn't easy to find David.
He walked through hallways, head down. His feet began to ache, and day darkened into evening.
As the stars bloomed, dim lights against the snow‑filled sky, he walked across a room emptying of people and saw the portrait of David. He stopped, stood staring at it with his heart thumping fast and hard inside his chest.
When he turned around Judith was standing at the edge of the room. She told him where to go.
She handed him a candle nestled in an ornate holder.
"Set him free," she said, her eyes weary, and then she turned away.
Inside a once glorious room now thick with dust and dark from spider webs, David lay quiet and still. Alec stood over him, reached out one hand to touch his face. It was cold under his fingers and he bent, pressed his forehead to David's and murmured his name.
Silence. Alec knelt, held the candle close to the bed. The flame flickered, and he thought of Judith's request. He thought of David's last words to him, of David telling him he loved him, that he would never forget him.
He blew the candle out and then leaned over, touched his mouth to David's.
Warmth bloomed inside him, through him, and David's lips moved against his own. Alec sat back and watched his eyes open. He smiled and watched as David smiled back, his eyes filled with joy.
***
It became green everywhere, green and fragrant and glorious, every kingdom blessed with sunlight and happiness. A golden age, every sage proclaimed, and in every land voices rose in joyful song.
Alec saw it all with David beside him, and never once did it snow.