Page 13 of Blackwarden
Instead, he’d saved me.
Chapter 6 ~ The Last Maiden
Keres
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It took nearly all my self-restraint not to slam the door to my suite after I’d returned Rosalin to hers.
“What the fuck are you doing?” I asked the ceiling, my voice was loud enough it echoed off the walls.
The Gatehouse had gone too far. It hadneverlocked a maiden up before, much less tried to terrify them or revealed the portraits. If the motivation had been to give her answers to questions that I couldn’t provide, it was going about it the wrong way.
“And the braziers?” I took a deep breath, letting it out slowly, trying to calm the fury that simmered in my chest. “Theatrics? Really? You’ve stooped to scaring her?” I glared at the ceiling, my hands clenched in fists at my sides. “Don’t fuck this up.”
Rosalin was the last maiden I’d be taking through to the Hag Queen. She was the one hundredth to be exact. After escorting them through the shadow portal for five hundred years I could finally make a choice, and I didn’t need the Gatehouse to make that choice any harder than it already would be.
I ran my fingers through my hair as I paced. It was going to be hard enough to leave this maiden in the hands of the Hag Queen andher hedonistic harem. Rosalin’s curiosity was like a single candle in the dark halls of my home, growing brighter the longer it burned. I hadn’t realized how despondent I’d grown until she’d stepped through my door.
I swallowed my frustration and focused on the ache that had taken up residence in my gut. I could usually separate myself from the errant attraction and shallow yearning of these maidens easily enough. The warmth of her desire at my closeness when there had been only fear and anger before was...concerning. To feel her relief when I’d pulled her into my arms...these weren’t my emotions, they were hers, but they seared through me and settled in my core. Theycouldn’tbe mine. I needed to push them away because I wasn’t allowed. I would have to try harder to ignore the indescribable longing to have her hand nestled against my side again or to tuck the stray hairs behind her ears. Little touches. My fingers brushing over her chin.
I wasn’t allowed.
I took a deep breath. I needed to entertain Rosalin in the dining room one more time today. How many more questions would she have for me? Especially now that she’d seen the portraits. And which ones would I be able to answer? The more questions she asked, the more my walls crumbled away, and her emotions were too strong for that. They had a disturbing sway over my own. Every time I’d tried to cling to the anger it always came back to the face of the man she’d called Bastion. But her curiosity was worse, turning into terrible loneliness. I had enough of that to deal with, I didn’t need hers as well.
“Why is this one so different?” I grumbled as I eased into the shadows, determined to be the terrifying Dark Fae monster Rosalin feared. And monsters didn’t falter because monsters didn’t feel.
I needed to keep it together a little longer. I couldn’t mess this up. Not when I was so close to ending all of it.
Chapter 7 ~ New Normal
Rosalin
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When Keres fetched me again for dinner his posture had changed. There was now an urgency to his steps as we walked through the Gatehouse toward the dining room.
“Have you started reading the books provided to you?” he asked, his tone accusatory.
“A couple of them, yes, but that doesn’t teach me why—”
“You don’t need to know why.” He stopped abruptly and turned toward me, a scowl of frustration marring his gorgeous face. “You just need to know what and how.” He folded his arms as if to reiterate his frustration.
I glared at him, unable to form the words I wanted to say. Everything that came to mind wasn’t strong enough.
“This is impossible, Keres. You can’t expect me to have learned everything already. I’ve been here two days.”
He continued to walk down the hall ahead of me. “Which means you only have six more left.”
“What?” I squeaked as I struggled to catch up. “That’s not nearly enough time to acquaint myself with an entirely new world and culture and—”
“I told you when you came, you had eight days.” He didn’t slow, his long strides reminding me of how much taller he was. “I hadn’t realized you wouldn’t take me seriously.”
He wasted no time seating himself in his usual spot, his dinner appearing almost instantly. The Keres who pulled a chair out for me was officially gone, replaced by this new grumpy male. His stoic expression had morphed into a scowl of disdain.
“I wasn’t exactly in the best frame of mind that day. You know, being ripped from my sister’s arms and all.”
He glared at me, sending me backward in my seat. I had just begun to think I didn’t need to be afraid of him. But this Keres, he seemed more like what I’d assumed a Dark Fae would be—arrogant, sharp, and uncaring.
