Page 24 of The Howling
“Marry him?” I gasp while staring directly at Reavely.
“As per the bonds of his pack,” Lilburn says, knowingly.
“I have no pack,” Reavely growls, his brow drawn low. He turns his back on us both and stomps off through a doorway next to fireplace.
I watch him go, my jaw slack and my mind running like a freight train. I sink onto a chair pushed up against the wall, one of very few in the entire vast space.
“What is going on?” I put my head in my hands.
“Oh, I thought you two had come to an understanding, given you’re wearing his dress and are in his castle,” Lilburn says airily.
“This dress? I found it.” I shake my head. “I haven’t agreed to marry him…he hasn’t even asked me. Basically he kidnapped me.”
“So, while I’ve been trying to find the pair of you, you haven’t been mating?”
“No!” I nearly yell at her. “I haven’t been doing any such thing…Lord Guyzance…” I swallow as the memories crowd in on me. “He hurt me. Reavely brought me here and got a healer.”
My ribs ache at me, as a clear reminder of how bad I was not so long ago.
“If you put on the dress, you get to be his bride. That’s how it works,” Lilburn says, peering past me at Reavely.
“That is the silliest thing I’ve ever heard,” I huff. “Putting on a dress doesn’t mean anything.”
“Yeah, but he took you with him when he escaped the dungeon, and that’s not how a Barghest takes souls. Then he put you in his dress.”
“I don’t know why you keep saying that. He didn’tputme in this dress. I found it.”
“So, his ancestors put you in a wedding dress,” Lilburn says. “They think you’re his mate.”
“His ancestors?” I look around. “This place is deserted. You heard him when you mentioned his pack.”
“You mean you can’t see them?” Lilburn stares at me, her huge eyes even bigger than usual.
“See who?”
“Oh, well, it doesn’t matter,” she says dismissively. “So, what does a Hedley Kow have to do around here in order to get a cup of tea?”
WYNTER
Idon’t quite know how I feel about the arrival of Lilburn. On the one hand, I feel better having someone else who is not a soul eater and has manners, but on the other, she clearly has both unnerved and annoyed Reavely.
And I still want to know why he took me from Lord Guyzance’s palace. I refuse to believe it’s because he thinks I’m his mate or wants to marry me.
Reavely is big, bad, and feral. Whatever he does, it hasn’t anything to do with anything like Lilburn suggests. He simply saw an opportunity to own a human. Presumably it has something to do with his soul sucking nature or that of the death which drives him.
Save for the fact he got someone to heal me. And brought me to his home, such as it is.
Lilburn has left me alone to go and find the kitchens, muttering something about Barghests and their lack of hospitality. I still feel weak and wobbly, so I have stayed by the fire, the warmth infusing into me, and I’m glad of it.
I’m also glad of the dress, even if so far it’s only brought me trouble. The bodice is stiff, and I feel like it’s holding me togetherwhen I feel like I want to fall apart. Shame there’s nothing which can do the same for my head.
All of this seems like it’s setting me up to fail, and I won’t end up at anyone’s mercy again. Reavely, whatever his intentions, remains a monster who cannot be trusted, like anything else in the Yeavering, including Lilburn.
A warm breeze blows past me, making me look around, but the huge hall remains deserted, and I turn back to the fire. A delicious citrus scent hits my nostrils, and I spot Reavely leaning against the wall near the door.
He is looking at me with those burning eyes, and parts of me which are clearly more treacherous than I even realised clench.
“Finished with your little anger session?” I ask.
