Page 25 of Trapped By Claws
It was depressing. Not at all what I had expected.
Three different doors had been fastened into the wall. Two did not appear to be well set. The third had similar bands to the one we had entered through, suggesting that perhaps it was an exit.
I managed another sip of the tonic and grimaced.
The air was damp and cold. I shivered, the water still dripping off me.
I was going to die down here. That was all there was to it. Mama wouldn't know how much I loved her. And how much I regretted being so harsh. I should have given her a hug, even if she was mad at me. I should have told her I loved her again.I'd told her thousands of times, and I wanted to tell her a thousand more.
The knot of emotion in my throat choked me.
My mood soured as I hugged myself.
"You're cold?" He tilted his head.
The way he looked at me no longer charmed me at all.
I glared at him. "Of course I'm cold, you thick-skulled shifter. You dragged me down under the ocean in the middle of a storm! I don't even have a coat." I bit back the tears that rose to my eyes. And right now all I really wanted was to hug Mama and make sure she was all right.
"If you'd had a coat, it would be wet as well. Like your shawl and everything else." The orb still cradled in his palm, he strode toward a dark portion of the room and tapped it to another glistening crystal orb. It lit up, revealing a large wardrobe. He set his orb in a black iron ring and opened the wardrobe, releasing a musty scent rich with incense, cedar, and lavender. He leaned inside and pulled out a few garments. "Here. You can change. Something should fit."
I accepted the armload of clothes, trying to make sense of this place. Was it a storage room? "Do you not have a fire down here?"
There was no heat source that I could see. Really no furniture for comfort unless you counted the thin rush mats that sat on the floor and some crooked stools and chairs. The shelves with knickknacks and cupboards looked as if they had been ripped out of multiple ships and haphazardly dominated most of the walls. A large table leaned crooked on three legs with a stack of books serving as the fourth. No hearth or fireplace or stove. Not even a fire ring. "Nothing at all for heat?"
"No." He raised an eyebrow at me. He indicated the door behind me. "You can change in there. It's where you'll stay."
The door practically sagged open when I pressed my hand to it. Inside was a broken end table, a half pitcher, cracked mirror, and a thin, discolored mat that might have started to mold.A thin blanket had been folded up at the foot.
My shoulders dropped.
Corvin closed the wardrobe and opened the door next to it, revealing another room.
My eyes widened. "Is that your bedroom?" I asked, indicating it with a flip of my hand.
That room was almost as sparse as the guest room. A thin, ragged blanket lay mounded at the foot of the mat. Something like a coat or a dress had been balled up to form a circle. Tagger lay on that, tail pressed up over his little snout. A wooden chair sat in the corner with a sagging dresser next to it. The lowest drawer had edged out.
He nodded, his head tilted as he studied me. "Yes…"
"This is your home…not just some outpost you stay in?" I couldn't believe this place. Was that fungus growing on the wall?
"This is where I live," he said, his voice tighter.
"How could anyone live like this? This isn't fit for living. Not even for animals." It just slipped out.
He flinched. His expression twisted into a scowl as he opened his mouth to speak.
THE ESCAPE
As soon as I said that, I knew it was a mistake. It sounded so much harsher than I intended, and—even though I was angry at having to leave Mama behind and this whole bargain—I immediately regretted it.
Easy as the words were to speak, they were impossible to take back and almost as impossible to counter.
Corvin closed his mouth, his expression hard as the stone the cave was carved from. Then he turned, walked into his room, and slammed the door. The door creaked and snapped into place, grating against the stone.
Guilt flared through me. I ducked my chin, more tears welling up. That had come out wrong.
Still trembling from the cold, I hugged the musty garments to my chest. I drew in a deep breath. The lavender reminded me of Mama back before we spent everything searching for Erryn.
