Page 18 of Beneath the Starlight and Storms

“And if I don’t?” I stay where I am, not willing to give in so easily. Even if the bracelet was up upstairs, it wouldn’t be up there that quick. And I needed to stall Hooks plans for me until I found it.

Hook pauses, his foot hovering mid-step in the middle of the staircase before he steps back and turns to me with an excited look of anticipation filling his eyes.

“Then I’ll be more than happy to personally come down there and give you a helping hand.” His smirk grows smug when he sees my defiant expression drop.

“You seemed to enjoy it so much last time.”

I glare up at him. “You—”

He gives me a look that dares me to push him on this. A look that tells me he’s more than willing—even happy—to come down here and do what he promised… or more.

I snap my mouth shut and clench my fists to slowly follow him up the stairs while cursing him the entire time.

His arrogant smile grates on my nerves as I try to curb my temper and focus on how I’m going to find that bracelet and get out of here and far away from him as soon as possible.

As I move past the blue landscape, I notice that up closer, the illusion seems more real. So real that if I were to reach out, I could feel the soft clouds flow through my fingers and the cool breeze of the night that follows.

I drag my gaze away from it and begrudgingly follow Hook up to the next floor when what I really should be doing is running in the opposite direction.

His eyes flick back to me every few seconds as if he’s aware of my thoughts and I scan around for the nearest exit just in case.

I’m surprised he’s not taking me down toward a basement or underground cell. But maybe his prisons are all upstairs, hidden behind a wealth of luxury.

It wouldn’t be the first time I came face to face with something ugly and rotten that hid behind something deceivingly beautiful.

My stomach drops when I reach the second floor and I see how many halls and doors there are.

How in the Realm am I going to find his office? Or a way out of here?

Similar to a maze, it opens up in every direction with doors lining the wide spaces around them.

Hook glances behind to make sure I’m following him. I catch his amused look and give him a dirty look that makes him smirk.

We take a sharp turn right and left and then another right before moving down a long hall. My head is dizzy by the third time we turn down another hallway with each one starting to blend together.

They’re become all too similar to distinguish any slight differences that would help me find a way out of here.

My hope further plummets the longer we move down another hall. We take another sharp left into a similar hall. But this time it’s one with a dead end and only one set of double doors at the left side.

Hook moves to it and opens it before stepping inside. I hesitantly follow him in, wondering what horrors lay behind it.

Taking a deep breath, I brace myself and take a step… Only to find no horror or hidden monsters waiting for me. And the more I look, the more I see that there’s not a single thing that would make me want to bolt out of here or run away in fear. In fact, it’s the complete opposite.

But this can’t be where he’s keeping me. This room is…beautiful. It was open, elegant, and serene. The colors of the room were a soothing palette of pale pinks, beautiful golds, and soft white and grays. There were gray shelves to my right with books and trinkets that immediately draw my attention. A white desk with a gold leaf detail sitting below it with intricate carvings.

There’s a large four poster bed in the center of the room with soft pink satin bedding and two white doors with more delicate swirling carvings that lay on each side of it.

Instead of a normal window overlooking the garden, there’s a large circular bay window with enough room to sit two people. And even though the window is closed, the air in the room isn’t suffocating or dry.

The entire room is intimate yet inviting, cozy yet spacious.

Everything and more that I’ve always wanted in a room and a space of my own.

But… there has to be a catch. Maybe this is another illusion? Something to throw me off guard before he shows me the dark cell he’s really keeping me in.

I glance at the white floor beneath my feet, its plush fabric is the softest furs I’ve ever felt.

Itfeelsreal. But that illusion on the staircase also felt real. And it was most definitely an illusion.

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