Page 24 of Blackwarden
“Keres.” I called as I knocked. But he didn’t answer.
I went to the next door. Again, I knocked and called his name after finding the handle locked. Again, he didn’t come.
Another door. Another lack of response.
When I got to the end of the hall I stood in front of the last door—locked like the others. I was about to knock, but some piece of me knew I should leave him alone. I’d pushed too hard. I would only make him irrevocably furious with me.
I pressed my back against the wall before sinking down to the cold floor, pulling my knees to my chest and wrapping my arms around them. I had one person in this crazy place, and I’d treated him horribly rather than assume that—maybe, just maybe—he was actually trying to help me. I’d assumed he wished me ill when it was very likely he was trying to make my stay less terrifying before I was taken to the Unseelie Court to fulfill some ancient blood debt to a Hag Queen.
He might not have had any other choice in this than I did. If thiswasa curse, he was likely just as trapped as I was. And yet, I’d treated him like he’d been the man who’d called my sister’s name in the town square—or the Dark Fae who’d killed my husband.
A tear slipped down my cheek. I needed to stop treating him like a monster just because I was in this situation. I wiped the tear away and squeezed my legs one more time before climbing to my feet. I needed to apologize, or my insides might melt from the guilt boiling in my gut.
I turned to the door and reached to knock but my hand hovered. My hesitation was almost painful, but he probably had no interest in talking with me anyway. It was possible he’d been ignoring me this whole time. I turned to leave and as I did the door flew open, a rush of air and shadows flowing around me.
“You’re impossible,” he said, his voice a tight ribbon of frustration. The light pouring from the room behind him cast his face in shadow.
“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.
“What could you possibly feel sorry for?” he spat. “Berating a vile beast such as myself?”
“You’re right. I am shallow and...if this is a curse, you’re likely just as trapped as I am. I shouldn’t treat you like you’re doing this to me on purpose, and I’m sorry.”
He took a deep breath, letting the moment of silence between us stretch.
“Apology accepted. Now leave me alone, human.” Keres turned back to the room he’d just stepped from and quite literally, slammed the door in my face.
Too stunned to move, I stood in place for several minutes, a mixture of fury and sadness swirling in the depths of my chest. It was how he’d called mehumanthat hurt the most. I was a human, but the way the word slipped from his tongue was bitter, like wine turned to vinegar.
I took a few steps back from the door, another tear slipping down my cheek. This one burned my skin as it hung from the edge of my chin. He was right. I didn’t deserve his answers. I hadn’t yet learned how to see past my own hatred.
I turned and fled.
Chapter 12 ~ Cruel Magic
Rosalin
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I couldn’t stop replaying the way he’d called me human with such disdain. I shouldn’t care. I was, in fact, a human. Why did this word, spoken by him, mean so much more?
I tried to distract myself from the venom in the way he’d called me shallow by reading and practicing the etiquette prompts, forcing myself to memorize them. But I gave up, unable to focus on anything except the fact that he’d called my life meaningless. To him, I was just another maiden to be dragged through the portal to his Hag Queen. And I shouldn’t care.
But I did, and that’s what bothered me the most.
I climbed into bed, remnants of the fear when I’d first come here clinging to my bones. I yanked the drapes of the canopy tight around me. I knew they couldn’t protect me, but I could pretend, just like I could pretend I hadn’t noticed the hurt in his expression when he said I assumed he was a heartless monster. Because how many times had I thought that very thing?
I woke to haunting music pouring in from my sitting room. It was disorienting and I couldn’t figure out why someone would be playing so loudly at such a late hour. I paddedacross my bedroom on bare feet and stood in the doorway, golden light bleeding onto the floor. A group of Fae and human women swayed and spoke in whispers, a few clinging to one another in provocative ways. They wore next to nothing and while I should have found this shameful, the only thing I felt was intrigued. They didn’t look at me when the tug of curiosity pulled me into the room. It was as if they didn’t see me at all.
Buthedid.
My breath caught fast in my throat. It was Keres, or at least it looked like Keres, his beautiful face, his strong shoulders and stature. He had no horns and coal-black hair that fell around his face in soft, approachable waves. His perfect lips curled into a smile when he saw me, igniting a flock of butterflies in my stomach. It was the way he smiled—like a spark of genuine happiness I hadn’t seen on his face before. He stepped forward, my attention drawing to his apparel, or lack thereof. I should have been embarrassed by his near nakedness, but instead I couldn’t look away, my eyes raking over every inch of him.
A collar of gold plates laced together with delicate chains hung over his chest in the shape of a ribcage, revealing every muscle as he moved. His stomach was bare, the lines of his abdomen shifting with each step. Low on his hips, a belt of matching gold plates was strung with hundreds of thinner chains that dangled, barely concealing him. I tried not to gawk at the way they swayed, allowing for peeks of his pale flesh.
He held my stare as he crossed the room, my blood heating with each step he took in my direction. He shouldn’t be walking toward me. He shouldn’t care.
“Rosalin,” he said with a smooth voice, stepping so close I could feel the warmth of him seep into my skin. He kissed each of my cheeks, trailing fingers down my arm until he took my hand, threading our fingers together. “Come.”
