Chapter Seventeen
Muffin and the Beast
The emotional day took a toll on Lake. When we returned to the castle later that afternoon, he’d crawled into bed and conked out, too drained to do much else. He woke when Fane brought our dinner, then nuzzled me for a few minutes and went back to sleep.
I sat beside him and softly caressed his hair.
A darkening sky showed beyond the window. The sun inched closer toward the horizon, bringing an end to another day. Dark sky merged with the deep orange, gold, and purple hues of the sunset. Though faint, the moon could be seen in the distance.
My thoughts turned to Callum and the story he’d once told me about the sun and the moon. Lovers torn apart. No happily ever after.
“I always wished I could rewrite the ending,” he’d said.
“How would you change it?”
His brown irises had softened. “I’d have the two meet between day and night and embrace as lovers do, dancing in the twilight.”
My eyes watered. Callum and I had just made things official between us before all of this happened. Like maybe we were the sun and moon after all, destined for one beautiful moment together before having to part again.
I sighed. The exhale of breath tickled Lake’s hair. He frowned and shifted a bit before settling back into a deep sleep.
Pull yourself together, Evan. Moping around wouldn’t solve anything. It’d only send me into a downward spiral.
Cooking always helped clear my head and ground me. Unfortunately, the kitchen was the one room Fane hadn’t shown us on the grand tour earlier. It couldn’t be too hard to find, could it?
I brushed a kiss to the edge of Lake’s brow before tucking the blanket in around him and tiptoeing away from the bed and out of the room.
I softly closed the door behind me and turned right.
Kitchens were normally on the ground floor, so I just needed to remember which staircase to go down.
And then remember all the twists and turns down the long, winding corridors. Piece of cake.
Wrong.
Finding the staircase was easy. The rest? Not so much. I reached the first floor but hadn’t made much progress since then. Unless you counted getting lost as progress. Pretty sure I’d been walking in circles for the past hour. Even worse, each corridor seemed to get darker and more twisty.
“I’m doomed,” I said under my breath as I hit another dead end. “Who designed this freaking place? H.H. Holmes?”
“My grandsire, actually.”
With a squeak, I whirled around and chopped the air.
Onyx caught my forearm inches from his chest. “Attacking me in my own home. How ill-mannered of you.”
“S-Sorry,” I stammered and pulled from his hold. “But you can’t sneak up on people like that. Nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“Afraid of the dark?” he asked with humor rich in his voice. Moonlight came through the tall window beside him, shining on half of his face and drawing my attention to the curve of his lips.
“More like what’s in the dark,” I said. “Flesh-eating ghosts and creepy ghouls. Giant spiders. Or Fane when he realizes I snuck out of my room.”
A musical laugh left him. The sound caused a strange tingle at the base of my sternum. “Fane can be quite stern, even with me.”
“Really? Even though you’re his lord?”
“Especially because I’m his lord.” Onyx reached out and waved his hand in the air. The sconces along the wall came to life one by one, lighting the corridor in a soft golden glow. “He takes his position as my attendant very seriously. Fussing over me to eat and scolding me when I forget to do so.”
“That’s one thing Fane and I have in common, I guess.
” A sad knot formed in the pit of my stomach.
“I scold some of my men for the same reason. Briar gets so focused on his work sometimes that he forgets basic self-care. Eating and sleeping. And Rowan would live off rum and spicy almonds if I let him.”
“Rowan is the shadow mage who brought you to the dark wood when you and I first met, yes?”
I nodded. “He was bringing me to you. Kind of ironic, considering where I am now.”
“He mistook you for Prince Sawyer and captured you.”
Another nod. “He hoped you’d agree to let him into the Shadow Realm and help him harness his magic. A prince in exchange for passage. He thought I was the key to getting in your good graces.”
“I see.” Onyx’s gaze raked over me. “You do bear a resemblance to the royal family. Though it’s been many years since I’ve seen them.”
“Yeah, I get that a lot.” The sudden spike of nerves made me release a shaky laugh.
“Rowan had never met Sawyer before then. He only knew he was blond with green eyes. So I ended up Evan-napped.” The sad knot from earlier twisted more forcefully.
“Best mistake ever. It’s what brought Ro and I together. ”
“You love them dearly,” Onyx softly said. “All of your males.”
“More than anything.” Had it really only been two days since the royal ball? Felt like a lifetime had passed since I’d last seen them.
“Is that why you’re trying to make your grand escape?” he asked with a touch of humor back in his voice. “To return to them?”
“No.” I crossed my arms and rubbed at them. There was a slight draft in the corridor. “I was trying to find the kitchen.”
“Craving an evening snack?” Lord Onyx touched my shoulder and glided his fingers down the curve of my bicep. “That makes two of us.”
Suddenly, the chill in the hall was all but forgotten. Heat fanned low in my belly. Was the demon lord… flirting with me?
No. That’s silly. The dude probably had a harem of his own. His bed unlikely stayed cold for long. No way he’d waste time or energy on me.
“I wanted to cook something for Lake,” I said, working hard to steady my shaky tone. “A treat to make him feel better.”
“I imagine it was a shock for him.” Onyx withdrew his hand from my arm and motioned for me to walk with him. I did. “Seeing his kind living out in the open. Free.”
Pressure enclosed my sternum as I recalled the way Lake had smiled while in the carriage, the wind sweeping through his silvery hair. His joy from being outside and not forced to hide. To think he’d find that freedom under the rule of a demon lord was mindboggling.
“Based on what I’ve seen, you’ve not only welcomed the demi-humans here but have given them an amazing home. Everyone seemed so… happy.”
“This confounds you?” he asked.
“A bit.” I met his gaze. “The Shadow Realm isn’t what I expected.”
“Tell me, little human.” He arched a fine brow. “What did you expect?”
“A nightmarish world with fiery pits and massive dragons,” I said on impulse. “Deep, dark caves full of mysterious and deadly things. And a bunch of bloodhungry demons wanting to eat me.”
He smiled, revealing pearly white teeth. “I suppose one or two demons might want to eat you.”
At my look of horror, he laughed. It lacked even a hint of maliciousness though. The demon lord clearly liked teasing me. And I… may have liked it too.
More sconces ignited as we passed them, driving home my earlier thought of the castle being haunted. I noted several paintings, some of landscapes and others of people.
“Who are they?” I asked, unable to stay quiet for too long. It was a curse.
“My family.” He nodded to the painting beside us of a woman with long, white-blonde hair and red eyes. A toddler sat in her lap, and a stern-faced man stood behind her. “Me, my father, and my mother.”
“You have her eyes.”
“One of the few qualities I share with her. The rest came from my father. Including his temper.” He peered down at me. “What of your parents?”
“They died when I was a baby,” I answered. “Not sure who I take after most. My dad, probably, but I don’t know. I’ve never actually seen them. No paintings or illustrations. Just what I’ve heard in passing from those who knew them.”
“Let’s see. Delicate bone structure.” He ghosted his fingers over my cheek, then smoothed them down to my mouth. “Soft lips.” His thumb brushed across them. “Pretty as a field of lilies.”
Warmth flooded my core. “Never thought of myself as pretty.”
“Then we both view each other in a different light.” He lowered his gaze to my neck before his hand followed, lightly caressing my Adam’s apple. “Though pretty, a fire burns inside of you. A strength most others lack.”
“I’m not strong at all.” What the hell was this feeling? I felt like he had me in a trance. My whole body was attuned to him, arching into his touch.
“This strength comes not from the body, but from the soul.” Onyx trailed his fingertips down my neck, eliciting tingles in his wake, like tiny jolts that both cooled and burned. “And your soul, Evan Clark, is blinding in its intensity.”
As our gazes locked, I was taken aback by the sheer beauty of him. Alabaster skin and raven-black hair. Eyes like rubies. Something stirred in my chest.
“You’re not what I expected,” I said, much softer now. “Stories make you out to be so cruel.”
“Every story, regardless of how embellished, holds a bit of truth. A lesson you’d do well to remember.”
Was he referring to the temper he’d supposedly inherited from his dad? One I’d seen no signs of in the time I’d known him. He hadn’t even raised his voice. That didn’t mean he didn’t have a dark side. But actions spoke louder than words, and his actions so far had been… kind.
“Why did you help Varys all those years ago?” I asked, trying to make sense of it.
His brow tapered. “That’s a long story.”
“I’ve got time.”
Onyx said nothing further. I wasn’t bold enough to press him on it. He might’ve seemed nicer than I’d expected, but I didn’t want to press my luck.
When he started walking again, I kept an easy pace beside him. The glow of the sconces flickered across his features, catching in his red irises. My stomach did a weird flip-flop thing. Maybe I was hungry for a snack after all.
Snack meaning food. Not as in a smoking hot demon lord.
His eyes then found mine in the dimly lit corridor. It was like time slowed. The strangest of feelings… but familiar. I quickly looked away, finding the floor suddenly interesting.