Page 46 of Beneath the Watching

“How are you adjusting?”

I set the empty pitcher down and began adding my flour blend to the mixing bowl I’d set on the counter. “Good,” I said with more confidence than I felt.

“You remind me of my daughter, with your dark hair,” Lucian said, dragging his hands from the counter. “I hear you have some natural talents, too, as she does.”

My guard went up instantly. “What makes you think I do?” While I hadn’t heard any more voices for a while, I’d heard the mysterious music for almost five minutes the night before. I didn’t mind it at all, though the voices had been a bit off-putting.

My eyes narrowed in suspicion, and I looked away, attempting to hide my reaction. I didn’t remember Stefan telling anyone other than his friend Ilya about my so-called clairaudience.

Lucian’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “As king, it's important I have ears to the ground. You’d be surprised what I know.”

He began picking up my baking equipment, examining the pieces, and placing the items back down. “Please don’t touch my stuff,” I complained. He was giving me anxiety and throwing off my routine.

The man set down the last bowl and wiped his hands on his pants before turning toward me. “Kiara has proven quite difficult. She lets the monster get into her head and her bed, she drives everyone mad, and I’m not certain how to fix everything.”

He hung his head. “She is my daughter, and I love her, but she needs a mother.” Lucian puffed out his chest a bit, setting his hands on his lower hips with his fingers splayed.

A crawling sensation trickled down the back of my neck as I continued to listen to him. I didn’t know him, and he was disclosing very personal information.

“In a few days, we’ll be leaving and heading north to my fortress.” Lucian slowly came around the counter before standing directly behind me. I felt his breath stirring my hair. “Would you like to be reunited with your friend? Have guaranteed fellowship with her due to your station in my court?”

I sucked in a breath but didn’t dare move for fear of touching the man. He hadn’treallydone anything or said anything outright and I wasn’t sure if I was picking up on something weird or not. His words could’ve meant anything.

No one will believe you if you say anything, not you.

It was Lucian’s voice I’d just heard in my head. Not my own, and not the mysterious atmospheric voice. It was his voice, right? Can the other voice sound like other people? My blood turned ice cold and my pulse thundered in my veins.

Instantly, I dropped my mixing bowl and bolted, leaving the sound of china crashing to the floor behind me. I darted out the door of the apartment blindly, and took off, not having any clue where I was going. Shoving servants and other individuals out of the way, I headed for the end of the hallway, skidding to a stop before peering right and left and choosing a random direction.

In the distance behind me, I heard voices yelling. I was frozen in place, completely unfamiliar with my surroundings when I heard the disembodied voice in my head, the one that’d spoken of stolen babies and change.

It screeched at me,Left. Run!

I obeyed, taking the direction with my feet pounding on the floor. Turning my shoulders, I slid through a pair of the BlackGuards before shoving my hands against a large set of wooden doors. After I barreled through the exit, I flew down the steps and found myself halfway across a stone bridge when I finally stopped, gasping for breath with my hands on my knees.

Glancing down at my feet, I noticed I yet again did not have appropriate footwear. My flip-flops mocked me with the remembrance of the last time I’d found myself without a clue as to what to do. There was no reason I could think of that I should’ve been able to run the way I just did, not with these shoes, and not with some sort of Olympic athletic ability. All I could think was it was due to the pure air.

Twisting my head, I glanced back at the doors. My heart thumped angrily behind my ribs while I swallowed as much air as I could.

Run, get going. Move.

Again, I obeyed.

Sprinting to the edge of the bridge, I careened down the road and took another left, barely taking note of Stefan’s gothic-style church. Sunlight poured through the branches overhead as my sandals slapped in the dirt, kicking up tiny pebbles and leaving small indents behind. After several minutes, I slowed down to take in my surroundings and listen to the woods around me.

The forest was silent save for the chirping of birds and a gentle breeze dancing in the leaves. It was odd I wasn’t being pursued and I was grateful, but I couldn’t let my guard down. It was certain to be only a matter of time.

Where had Benjamin and Jack gone? I almost felt sorry for them, knowing they’d be subject to my captor’s wrath when he found out what happened. But then again, they’d let Lucian in unsupervised.

Or had they?

The whole situation was a glaring reminder of just how unimportant I was, how malleable for others, and risk-free. Iposed a threat to no one. Had I, I would never have made it outside of Stefan’s living quarters.

It was impossible to make myself believe I didn’t mean anything at all to Stefan and yet he, too, had underestimated me. He’d left me with inferior protection; despite saying I was in danger. What was he thinking? That nobody would bother me when I was in this supposed danger? It hurt to think he thought so little of me.

But then I remembered the way he looked at me, as if I were the only thing to exist. And the way he touched me, it was like I was the most precious thing in the world. My head was a mess of jumbled and confusing thoughts, and I had no idea what to believe.

But then I did. I could choose to shut out the disparaging thoughts, the mindless ramblings that tried to convince me what I felt and experienced wasn’t true and I consciously made that choice. It was sobering realizing I was applying the same logic to Stefan that I applied to myself, assuming he devalued me when he’d done anything but that.

---