Page 69 of The Beast of Ashwood Manor

“I said don’t come near me!” Royce spat. “I’ll do it!”

That’s when I saw it, a blade over his wrist. I held my breath, my stomach tightening.

“Royce, please!” Annie cried, tears streaming down her face.

“You don’t want to do this,” Edgar said, speaking calmly as he stood in front of Mary. “Put the knife down.”

“All of you are demons,” Royce hissed. “I won’t let you get to me!”

“Put the knife down, Royce,” Gil said, his voice cold.

Royce glared at him and backed away. He dragged the blade slowly across his skin, and Annie screamed.

Gil suddenly charged forward. Taking Royce’s arm, he bent it back until the man screamed, and then he pried the knife from his hand, moving back as Royce collapsed to his knees.

“We need a drug,” Gil puffed.

“Already on it.” Natalie ran up the stairs with a vial of liquid and dabbed some onto a cloth.

“Hold him down,” Gil told Edgar, which was no easy thing, seeing as Royce was very big compared to him, but Royce’s strength had vaporized in the past few weeks, and the man hardly put up a struggle as Natalie pressed the cloth to his nose.

He soon passed out, and Gil picked him up and took him into his room. After he laid him on the bed, he stepped away and rushed out, making his way to his tower.

I went after him, and when I came inside his room, I panted. When I saw he was preparing his satchel with clothes, I shook my head and asked, “What are you doing?”

“I’m going after that thing,” he responded.

Of course. He was angry about what happened to Royce and wanted to find the being that had made him ill.

“Show me your inner beast,” I said. When Gil shook his head, I sighed in my frustration. “If you do, it’ll be the last hurdle to get over, and then we can save Royce. He needs help he won’t find here.”

“You’ve asked me a thousand times, and the answer is always the same.” His eyes were hard.

“I swear I will never hurt you.”

“Perhaps you didn’t consider that the worst pain one can feel is when they’re shunned by their loved ones.” He stared at me, and when I said nothing, he nodded at the door. “Get out.”

I moved away from the window and made my way to the door. “You’re a very stubborn man,” I hissed.

After leaving his room, I met Mary in the hall.

“Is he all right?” I asked.

Mary shook her head. “He keeps having these episodes. It’s very unlike him. Royce would never . . .” She hesitated as I walked her down to her room. “This isn’t the first time he’s threatened to hurt himself. Annie said he keeps seeing things that aren’t there. He thinks there are demons. It must be awful.”

When the door of Gil’s tower opened, I stood stiff. Gil glanced at us briefly before stomping down the stairs. When the door banged shut, we winced.

“Is Lord Gil going out on a hunt?” she asked.

“He’s going to find that thing that did this to Royce.”

Sighing, she touched my shoulder. “I’ll check with Annie in a bit. You go on, Cale.”

Nodding, I made my way to the library, no longer wanting to paint rocks. Gil had made me angry, but I knew I’d go back to him when he returned. In the meantime, I would keep reading to keep myself occupied from all of this.

Looking out the window, I saw him leave for the forest, and I watched him walk all the way until he disappeared into the trees. He never changed in the field, always in Ashwood. From this height, the treetops spread for miles like a river of blood.

It was unnerving, at the same time intensely beautiful, especially when the sky was very gloomy.

---