Page 12 of Blackwarden
He set me down on a settee in what looked like a library before he knelt in front of me. I squeezed my eyes closed trying to figure out how I was going to explain myself as he tipped my chin up to his face. His fingers hot against my skin. Too hot. Deliciously hot.
“How exactly did you get in there?”
He didn’t sound angry at least. I risked looking at him and my throat caught.
His eyes wereglowing.
It was faint but unmistakable, a pale white light like a fading lantern. It made his face look even more terrifying, even more beautiful. His unyielding glare watched me with more scrutiny than I cared for. I wanted to melt into the cushion beneath me. I didn’t want to be here. I didn’t want all this magic and strangeness. Why had I thought I could handle any of this?
I took a couple of deep breaths, squeezing my hands together to stop them from shaking. If I wasn’t here, Renee would be. I channeled my conviction to save my sister, taking slow deep breaths to calm my racing heart. When I looked up at Keres again, the glow in his eyes was gone, his lips parted like a question lingered between them.
“I...I don’t know.” I tried to hold his eye contact and failed, letting my gaze fall to the center of his chest. He was wearing a gold pendant I hadn’t noticed before. It was as good a distraction as any. I needed to push away how severely he was glaring and how that glare wasn’t anger but rather something far more concerning. Without thinking, I reached, and he didn’t pull away. Instead, he lifted his chin to allow me to see the strange symbol etched into the surface. “What’s this?”
“My family name.”
“The one that’s not important right now?”
He smirked. “The same.” When he leaned back the pendant slipped from my fingers. “What’s the last thing you remember?” he asked as he swept a stubborn lock of my hair behind my ear, his fingers pulling away quickly as if just remembering he shouldn’t touch me.
My stomach bottomed out. Those dark eyes of his bore into me as he waited for an answer.
“I was...just trying to make it back to my room.” I closed my eyes to try and rid myself of the distraction of his face and pull the memories forward. They were cloudy with panic and adrenaline. “But I was looking at the mural in the hall. There’s a womanthat looks like...” My face grew hot. “I’m sure you’re well enough acquainted with the mural to know what’s there.”
He stood in front of me without stepping back. “You have no idea how acquainted I am.” He stared at me for a long moment, his expression a strange mix of kindness and humor. Not the usual Keres expression, and I was lost in this Dark Fae, so different than the one I’d met the day before. He finally eased away, holding a hand down to help me up. “Let me take you back to your suite. You can rest a bit before dinner.”
But I didn’t want to rest. I had so many more questions. What was the room I’d been in? Were those portraits of the other maidens? Would a portrait of my face soon hang in that room? I took a breath to ask, but I knew he wouldn’t answer. Instead, I took his hand and let him pull me to my feet before he tucked my arm under his, the warmth of his body bleeding into my skin.
“I’m still not sure why the Gatehouse would have locked you in somewhere. That’s never happened before.”
“How many...beforeshave there been?”
He was silent as we walked. When I glanced in his direction his eyebrows were drawn together in frustration.
“That room...” I started.
He paused for only a split second but long enough for me to notice the fault in his gait. I stopped, pulling my arm free from his. His eyes widened with surprise as he turned toward me.
“What is that room? Why is it full of portraits?”
His lips parted as if to speak but he stopped, frozen in place. He seemed to struggle for a moment before he let a breath out fast and hard, taking a step back.
“Are they the other girls? The others that have been taken to the Unseelie Court for this crazy arrangement with the Hag Queen?” I was speaking so fast I wasn’t sure he’d understood me.
Again, he took a breath to speak but again he said nothing. Instead, he tucked my arm back beneath his and continued to lead me down the hall to my room.
“The fact you refuse to answer my questions makes this all a bit more ominous.”
“Perhaps I’m going for ominous.”
I glared at him, and I might have tried to yank my hand away again, but there was something so comforting about having it tucked against him that I needed in that moment. I was craving any kind of physical contact that would prove to me this was real and not some trick of shadow and magic.
We walked in silence until he stopped in front of my door. He stared straight ahead with concentration written across his face. I watched, wondering what he was thinking but certain he’d never answer if I asked. He was entirely lost in thought when I slipped my hand from his arm. He took a sharp breath, glancing down at me.
“Ah. Yes. Your suite.” He took a generous step back and bowed stiffly. “Are you sure you’re alright?”
I wasn’t ready to answer, but I couldn’t think of a sassy retort. Instead, I nodded and without risking looking at him again, I pushed into my suite and slammed the door behind me.
For several seconds I stood with my back against that door. The adrenaline melted away all at once and left me with a weariness deep in my bones. I sank to the floor, curling my knees up to my chest and burst into tears. What exactly had just happened? I’d been trapped by the Gatehouse, terrified beyond belief. He’d rescued me from the darkness. Keres, a Dark Fae,a monster, had been...kind. There had been concern in his words, in his actions, where I’d been certain he’d be furious with me for breaking his rules.
