Page 66 of Gothikana

Corvina gazed up at him, her hands holding the sides of his waist. ‘And Verenmore? You… own it, too?’

He squeezed her breasts. ‘Yes.’

‘I have so many questions. I don’t even know which to ask first.’

He patiently waited her out.

‘I’m willing to give this a chance. But I just… I need one thing from you,’ she told him. ‘One thing, and then I won’t doubt whatever this is again.’

He waited longer.

‘Don’t lie to me or keep things from me.’ She gripped the muscles on his sides. ‘Don’t make me feel like an idiot. If you can’t tell me something, just tell me you can’t. But not about something that affects me or whatever this is. You do that, and I’ll never trust you.’

He flicked her nipples. ‘Okay.’

‘So many questions.’ Corvina arched into his hands.

‘Save them for later.’ He let her go and went to where her shawl had fallen down. Flicking it a few times, he returned to her, draping it around her shoulders, cocooning her in the warmth.

‘Stay back after class tomorrow,’ he told her, covering the place on her shoulder where he’d bitten her slightly. Once done, he tucked a strand of fallen hair behind her ear and gazed down at her.

‘I’ve waited a very long time for you, little witch.’ He kissed her piercing.

Her mouth trembled. ‘Will you tell me your story?’

‘Tomorrow.’

Nodding, she began heading toward the castle, feeling his warm presence by her side. ‘Why pretend?’ she asked the question at the forefront of her mind. ‘Why pretend to be just another teacher here? And say stuff like the student-teacher rule could affect you? And why don’t people know about the castle being in your family?’

He took his pack of cigarettes out from his coat, lighting it up. ‘So curious, little crow.’ He puffed. ‘Which one do you want answered first?’

‘I guess the last one.’

He pressed his hand to the small of her back, returning her to the castle. ‘The mountain and the castle have been in my family for many generations, but nobody lived here for centuries. One of my great-grandfathers became a university board member and offered the castle grounds as the location for the school. When the disappearances started, my grandfather pulled back the Deverell family name from public knowledge and put the Board at the forefront.’

Corvina held her shawl tighter as they climbed up the incline. ‘So does that mean you’re one of the members of the Board?’

He guided her up. ‘A silent one, yes. I took my grandfather’s place the night he died. That’s why I came here. I wanted to see this place.’

They emerged into the clearing in front of the tower, still shielded by the thicket overhead, and Corvina turned to him under the light coming from the tower.

‘Tell me you’re not evil—’ She gripped the front flap of his coat. ‘That’s all I need to know for now. The rest can wait until tomorrow. Tell me you’re not responsible for all the evil touching this place.’

He caressed the side of her face with the back of his fingers, tilting his head. ‘And if I am? Does that make you loathe me? Will that keep your pussy dry?’

Corvina felt her heart stutter, shame filling her as she realised it didn’t make her want him any less. She was truly not right in the head.

He pressed his lips to hers, soft and tender, unlike his grip on her chin. ‘Rest your pretty head, witch. I’m the devil you know, not the devil you don’t.’

‘What does that mean?’

‘It means that while I’m not a good man, not by any stretch of the imagination, I’m not the evil haunting this place. I’m the evil hunting for it.’ He gave her another little kiss. ‘Stay back after class tomorrow. Now, go.’

Corvina took off to her tower at a run, trying to wrap her head around everything that had been revealed to her in the short span of a few hours, trying to understand who exactly her lover was with the little pieces of him he’d shared. She ran over the mountain she now knewwas his, toward a tower that was his, a woman who belonged to him, too, changed from the girl she had been when she’d entered these walls.

She reached the thick wooden door to her tower and turned around to see the entrance to the woods where they’d been standing.

The orange glow of the tip of his cigarette was all she could make out, his entire form hidden in the shadows, the master of the castle masquerading under the guise of a commoner.

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