Chapter 9
Tenebrys woke as the sun set. There was a strange, delicious smell in the air. His sensitive nose twitched, and he opened his golden eyes.
He had slept the day away. He was used to hunting and patrolling at night, but to sleep the entire day? That was beyond rare. He sat up, his nose still tingling. It was... Someone was cooking.
After the plague and Narcisse's curse, they had turned more animal than human. No one had bothered cooking.
It had to be the girl. No, the woman.
Tenebrys scratched at his mane, remembering the night before. What the hell was he meant to do with her? How did she get out of her rooms?
Tenebrys padded over to the bathing room and turned on the cold tap. The chateau had been built for the royals that his family had once been. Indoor plumbing was only one of the wonders that it had. The magic that had once fueled the heating, however, had died with the curse.
Tenebrys looked at himself in the cracked mirror. His face and chest were still smeared with blood from the hunt the night before.
When had he last washed? The bathtub had a layer of dust in it, and the showering area was in the same condition. The state of his fur hadn't bothered him in a long time. Now looking at it made him itch.
Tenebrys stripped off the threadbare trousers he wore and got into the shower. It had been built to accommodate his fully shifted form, so he had space.
The cold water didn't bother him, but the dark filth running off him did. A bar of soap, hardened and cracked with age, was in the dish. He used it as best he could.
Feline shifters were vain about appearances by nature, and he could only imagine what his father would have thought of how far Tenebrys had fallen. He hadn't thought about his father in a long time.
For the last twenty-nine years, he had only one thought and goal: Find and kill Narcisse and Cassia.
He had been so close that it made his claws spring free in fury. He wanted to take something precious to Narcisse, so he had taken Delphi.
That was the only reason. The mark he had placed on her was a mistake in the magic. He didn't feel anything for her. His body had reacted to her touch because it had been so goddamn long since he had taken a female.
Tenebrys growled low in frustration. He needed to find out who had been bold enough to release her from the prison he had put her in.
The scent of cooking assailed Tenebrys twice as strongly as soon as he left his rooms. The energy of the house had changed. It was still dusty and filthy, but the cold emptiness was gone.
What in the goddess's name had happened while he had been sleeping?
Tenebrys found Felix and Syn loitering at the bottom of the stairs, where his wing joined the main house.
Syn's creature had been a panther and was their best silent hunter and spy. He could vanish into the shadows of the Mistwood like none other. He usually only came to the chateau when he had something to report.
"Well, well, Syn, look who finally had a bath?" Felix teased.
"Lady in the house again," Syn replied, with a flash of white fangs.
"The lady has nothing to do with it. I was covered in blood," Tenebrys grumbled. He eyed Syn. "What are you doing here?"
"I got word from Nahar in the south. He fought off an incursion last night. Ten fae tried to get through. One almost succeeded but fell into one of the perimeter spike pits he is so fond of," Syn replied. "It was more than he had seen in the past six months."
"Maybe they thought that it would be easier to sneak in through that gate because it is the farthest one from here," Tenebrys mused. "I don't like this."
"Something must be happening in Faerie to get them stirred up to try and get through. It's not even full moon," Felix added.
It was shit news that Tenebrys really didn't need. The three shifters froze as a melody started up further into the house. No one had sung in the halls for decades.
"Who let her out?" Tenebrys demanded.
"We thought you did, sire," Felix said, his ears flattening. "Your scent is the only one on the door."
"I don't sleepwalk. I certainly didn't want her roaming about."
"Well, something let her out. I found her in the kitchen, and she didn't seem interested in going anywhere else." Felix's tail flicked. "She cleaned it, the lab, and the adjoining suite. She got into the garden and picked things."
That made them all go silent again.
"Impossible," Tenebrys whispered.
"I'm not lying to you, Ten. I would never joke about it. She cleaned, and the chateau let her. It hasn't tried to change it back either. Its magic must have let her out of her room too if you didn't."
Syn's green eyes glowed. "Is it because she's female?"
"I doubt it." Tenebrys thought of the ancient soap that had been in his bathroom. "It left out soap for me today. I was too asleep and too focused on being dirty, I didn't question it being there."
The rest of the shifters got clean by swimming through the rivers in the woods.
"What is she?" Syn asked, his claws loosening as if sensing a threat.
"She is my prisoner." A warning growl came out of Tenebrys before he could think about it. Both Felix and Syn startled.
"If it's not because she's female, then the chateau has to be reacting to her magic," Felix said when Tenebrys made no other threats.
"She said that she's never been taught to use it, and it's pouring out of her.
We haven't had anyone with that kind of magic here since the wars, except for Cassia, and she was the one who killed the heart when they cursed us. "
"Maybe it's because Delphi's magic came directly from Cassia that it's waking up again…
No. I refuse to hope that's the case. As you say, the chateau's heart hasn't beat since they killed it.
" Tenebrys's tail began to flick in frustration, sweeping the dust off the stairs he stood on.
"I don't know, but I'm going to find out.
Felix, Syn, send word to the others. Make sure the gateways are being watched tonight. I'll deal with Delphi."
Felix cleared his throat. "Small suggestion? Try to talk to her instead of snarling. Narcisse kept all knowledge of us from her. I asked her about it today, and I didn't smell any lies. She's just confused."
Out of all of them, Felix had the most sensitive nose and intuition.
He had always been in charge of interrogations because of it.
Tenebrys wanted to tell him that he was lying, that Delphi was just as treacherous as her parents and had fooled him somehow.
It would have made him sound like an ass.
Felix wouldn't lie about something so important.
"You want me to promise not to kill her too?" he complained instead.
Felix's laugh was a husky, yipping sound. "I'm not worried about that."
Tenebrys waited until they had both disappeared out the main doors before he followed his nose toward the kitchens.
Amid the cooking smells, he caught the lemon-scented soap the kitchen staff used. The chateau had magic to help with the cleaning, but the head cook always wanted her kitchen done by hand to ensure 'real' cleanliness.
How had Delphi found the soap? Last time Tenebrys had been in the kitchen, it was empty. Not a spoon had remained. None of this was making any sense. Her parents had killed the heart of the house. Its magic shouldn't be stirring because of her.
He lingered in the shadows of the doorway and glanced into the kitchen. She had hung up bunches of lavender and rosemary over the doors. A small bowl of fruit and vegetables was on one of the tables, and the door to the garden seemed to have been cleared.
Delphi had washed everything, including herself. He could smell the freshness of her skin and clothing and spotted where she had a wet tunic drying near the fire. Her long hair was out and damp.
In the light of the fire, it had a red tinge that the cheap brown vegetable dyes she had been using couldn't hide. She pushed the hair over her shoulder, and the scent of her clean skin, warm and feminine, wafted over to him.
He wanted to hate himself for staring at the daughter of his enemy, but he couldn't look away.
Weakness.
The mark of his fang was still a red line on the back of her neck. Blood and heat rushed to his dick. It surprised him enough that his claws scraped the stone tiles, and Delphi looked up. Her eyes were the same shade of blue as the flowers she was named after.
"Oh, it's you. I was wondering when you would come looking for me again," she said. They eyed each other for a long, silent moment before her sigh of frustration broke it. "I've made a lot of stew. Do you want to... Are you hungry?"
"You want me to dine with you?" he asked and eyed the pot. "Did you poison it or something?"
Delphi grinned, devilish and charming. "I wouldn't want to waste good food like that, but if you're too scared to eat with me, I would understand."
Those dangerous blue eyes sparked with a challenge that the alpha in him couldn't ignore. Tenebrys moved into the kitchen. She didn't gasp at his appearance in the firelight. Her mocking expression didn't alter a bit as he loomed over her.
"Sit down, and I'll fill some bowls," she said and then turned her back on him.
It was a foolish move and far too trusting.
She had never been around shifters, that much was clear.
If she had, she would know offering a shifter food was a powerful bonding ritual.
It showed a special kind of trust that was never casually offered.
Tenebrys wanted to tell her that he would never accept food from her.
He wanted to pounce on her and give her a lesson in why you never put your back to a shifter you didn't know.
His dick throbbed harder at the thought.
He glanced down at the prominent bulge in his trousers.
Mortified, he did the only thing he could do to hide it and sat down.