Page 9 of Blackwarden
He leaned closer to me, cradling his face in his hands.
“Why does it matter, Ms. Greene?”
“Answering my question with another question, is not actually answering.”
He smiled before leaning back again, letting those long fingers drag down his cheeks. “Isn’t it?”
I sighed, folding my arms in a huff. This was impossible. “You promised to answer my questions.”
“I said you may ask them. I never promised to answer.”
He was right. He hadn’t said anything about actually answering. My cheeks burned with embarrassment, and I pushed away from the table, done with whatever game he was playing.
“If you won’t answer them, then why should I bother asking?”
“Perhaps you should ask the correct questions.”
“Uuuuugh!” I stood so fast I nearly knocked the chair down behind me.
He watched me with curious humor as I bolted from the dining room, only to stop dead in the hall trying to get my bearings. I should have known what direction to go, but every time I’d been brought to or from the dining room, I’d been thinking of something other than where I was.
“It’s really a rather small place. Do you need an escort?”
His voice was so close, I flinched as I turned and slammed my back against the door frame. He towered over me, midnight in his eyes. Shadows clung to his shoulders, wrapping around him as he took a step closer, causing me to tip my head up to see his face.
“I’ll find my own way,” I snapped.
He smirked. “Enjoy your morning, Ms. Greene.” His voice ripped a shiver from me before he continued down the hall without looking back.
I stood there, staring at the space where he’d just been. My head was swimming with all manner of confused emotions. Heat seemed to creep into my cheeks from the pit of my being. This was stupid. He was Dark Fae, wielding some kind of shadow magic tomake himself more alluring to a pathetic human such as myself. It didn’t matter how beautiful he was, he was a monster, just like all the others, capable of murdering humans for no reason.
I retraced my steps down the hall, eventually following the mural I’d regretfully admired before. It was like the illustrations I’d loved so much as a child. I couldn’t pry my eyes from the monsters of the Unseelie Court frolicking along the wall.
I stopped at the place I’d noticed before, with the girl that looked like me. The details were murky, as if whoever painted this mural had been working from old memories. The woman was medium build with mousy brown hair that fell around her shoulders in waves. Her face was nothing more than shadows. Unlike the other women, she wore a brown dress with long sleeves and a tattered hem. Lumbering behind her was a massive winged creature with all black skin and hair and demon horns that curved over its head like Keres’. The creature was significantly taller than the woman, with broad shoulders and a muscular torso tapering to a trim waist. Its hands ended in long taloned fingers that hungrily stretched toward her. The unusual thing was that the monster had been drawn with far more detail than the girl had. Almost like the girl was...unfinished.
I glared at the mural for so long that everything started to look different, like a word being spoken until it sounded foreign. I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts and gazed around at the other monsters in the mural.
I shouldn’t have. The hair on the back of my neck rose as I realized what I was looking at. Only a slight distance from the woman was another girl being held against a tree. She was naked and a green fleshed female monster with four arms clutched one of the human girl’s breasts to her lips. Another hand disappeared between the maiden’s legs. While the girl’s face may have been one of pain, it could have just as easily been one of pleasure.
I couldn’t stop staring, wishing I knew if this was a depiction of a crime or of two lovers. I was too scared to look at any of theothers. Instead, I wrapped my arms around my shoulders and hurried down the smaller hall perpendicular to the main one. I needed the security of my suite and if I was correct, it was to the left. I glanced down the length of the hall to the right, morbidly curious if I’d catch some dark monster lurking at the end.
There were a number of doors. One of them was wide open with welcoming light spilling out and on to the wall across from it. The contrast of warmth against the creepy shadows of the Gatehouse was a stark warning that this place was not entirely as it seemed. But I couldn’t let my curiosity get the better of me. Not while the memory of Keres so close was achingly fresh, the depictions in the mural still lingering in the forefront of my thoughts. I rubbed my upper arms trying to ward off the cold of fear then turned and rushed to the safety of my room.
Chapter 4 ~ Different
Keres
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She wasn’t like the others. Her emotions were erratic, intense, and distracting.And she could see my horns.I’d noticed her brilliant green eyes trace over them when I’d greeted her. It only made me wonder what else she could see when she stared at me. The Gatehouse took such careful precautions to craft the glamour that made me look as human as possible to these maidens. It wasn’t something I could control. It happened when I traveled through the portal.
Why was she different?
Even more perplexing were her questions, so many tedious questions. None of the other maidens bothered asking for much more than my name. Their terror a visceral thing that squeezed their throats and made it hard for them to speak to me. It was easier that way. I didn’t need to get to know them, and they definitely didn’t need to get to know me.
But this one...I had to keep reminding myself why she was here. There was something so charming about the way her cheeks turned bright pink when I’d answered her questions with more questions. Her frustration was a living creature that seemed totease me as I memorized the shape of her face. Part of me struggled to look away and it didn’t help that I knew my staring was driving her crazy.
I glared at my reflection in my mirror. Pale skin, black hair, dark eyes.No horns.I saw the same thing all the maidens could see. So, why was Rosalin different?
