Page 73 of Forging Bonds: Part One

It’s times like this when I wish that I had some magic of my own that I could actually wield. If I did, then I would be able to set up my own security and know if anyone has tried to get into my room. I don’t know whether I’ll know if anyone has attempted it unless Asael stabs them.

I imagine that might be quite difficult to explain.

As I head back out of the door and pull it closed behind me, I blink in shock at what I see. I could have sworn that there wasn’t a key and a lock, in fact, I am one hundred percent sure that if there was a key there, I would have seen it. Mostly because I would have felt comfortable locking and leaving my stuff in the room, or at least more comfortable. I mean, locks can be picked. Not only that, but magic is capable of all sorts of things. I’m sure a locked door is of absolutely no consequence to the right kind of magic.

So, the key in the lock that definitely wasn’t there before is a mystery.

As soon as I wrap my hand around the key, the buzz of magic that I am beginning to associate with the castle warms my hand, and when I turn the lock and hear it snick into place, a ripple of golden magic covers the door, and seals it with magic too.

That is so fucking cool.

It occurs to me that the castle must have heard me talking to Asael and realized that I was worrying about it, so it’s given me visual confirmation that the room is safe.

I smile and move to the side slightly so I can place my hand on the wall, “Thank you.”

The wall warms beneath my hand, making my smile widen even more, and then I turn back around and set off on my original task. I need to makesure that I’m fairly quick because although I have just under an hour before I have to meet the guys in the common area for food, I don’t want to leave them waiting for too long and make them worry.

I pick a random direction and hope that I’m going the right way. It doesn’t take me very long until I find a much smaller but no less impressive staircase. When I get to the third floor, I frown in confusion, the hallway up here is long, the ceilings just as high, with side tables and fancy looking shit that’s probably ten times my age and worth more than I could ever hope to see in my lifetime, but something is missing.

The paintings.

Mabel specifically said that I would find the paintings on the third floor interesting, well if the thing I find interesting about them is the lack of them then she was right. I walk down the hallway, just in case there is one here that I can’t see standing at the top of the stairs, but there really isn’t. There’s just a lot of doors.

“Huh,” I say out loud.

The floor buzzes under my feet and then surprises me when it lights up as well, only faintly, but it’s there, and it’s leading me back down the hallway the way that I came. I figure that there’s no harm in following it, the castle has just locked my door for me, so I think it’s reasonably safe to assume that it’s going to be okay if I follow it now.

The glowing floor leads me to a set of double doors that are next to the staircase that I came up from the second floor. I hesitate. Mabel did tell us that we could explore the castle, but I’m not sure she meant that we should open doors that are shut.

It’s a bit hypocritical of me that I was worried about someone opening my door and going into my room, and here I am, standing outside of a set of closed doors, wondering whether or not to go in.

What if there is someone in the room? How am I going to explain to them that the castle led me here via glowing lights on the floor? Unless, of course, they’ve been led places by the castle and glowing lights. I’ve just arrived here. For all I know, it could regularly do this to people.

When I simply stand outside the doors looking at them curiously, the castle clearly gets bored of waiting for me to decide what to do because the doors suddenly burst open. An apology is on the tip of my tongue since I have absolutely convinced myself that there is someone in here, but it dies pretty quickly when I see that the doors open up onto another set of stairs. The sight of them is so unexpected that I don’t move.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Neith

Clearly, this is not what the castle wants, and I am again surprised when the floorboards under my feet lift slightly and tip me forward.

I grin, “Alright, alright. I’m going jeez, impatient much.”

I get the feeling that if it could, it would have flipped me off then, and that makes my smile widen even more. When I get to the landing of the fourth floor that I had no idea existed, it’s evident that no one has been up here for a while because there’s a layer of dust on everything. The ceilings are still high, and the furnishings still look expensive. They’re all covered in a layer of dust. I follow the glow that the castle is providing me with, to the only painting that is up here, instantly all breath leaves me.

That’s Pete.

As in Pete from the bar in the tiny town that I lived in, the one that no supernaturals lived in and the Pete that I was one hundred percent certain wasn’t a supernatural. I never sensed even a whiff of power from him, and he never let on either.

The same Pete who sold me my little house.

Compared to the slightly scruffy, bearded man that sits propping up the bar on most of my shifts, this version of Pete is well groomed, standing tall, has a fucking crown on his head, and giant black wings protruding from his back. Wings that look strangely familiar. He has his arm around a beautiful woman, she’s tiny compared to him, and has her silver hair braided back out of her face, a crown perched on her head, more delicate than the one that Pete is wearing. Whereas Pete’s wings are black, and leathery, kind of like a bat. The queen’s wings are pure white and covered in feathers, each feather is tipped in silver to match her hair, and they almost shimmer with a pearlescent sheen. They are absolutely stunning.

The longer I stare at her, the more certain I am that I know her.

Suddenly, it clicks.

She’s the Queen of Trieneliea. I remember her from the vision I had in Ireland, although she didn’t have her wings out then. I recognize his wings from the vision though, because he is the fucking king that always had his back to us, and now I’m wondering if there was a reason for it.

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