Chapter Ten
I WOKE TO DARKNESS AS ABSOLUTE as the darkness of death.
Shivering so hard my teeth chattered, my soul slowly seeped back into my body, very, very reluctantly.
Where...where am I?
Lying on icy marble and staring into pitch black, I struggled to recall—
Wellness weekend.
Panther.
Him.
Sucking in a breath, I cried out at the bruises ringing my throat. I swallowed on reflex, whimpering at the throbbing agony left over from his fingers.
So he hadn’t finished the job.
And his oversized cat hadn’t eaten me for dinner.
Why?
Why had he stopped when he’d proven he was more than happy to take the lives of all of us for trespassing into his hell?
Forcing myself upright, I braced myself to see the corpses of the women who’d died.
But...nothing.
The cavernous, dark ballroom held no one but me.
Where had he put their bodies?
Why hadn’t he taken mine?
I collapsed back onto the floor, my strength weak and jittery.
I didn’t know how much time passed before I attempted to move again but at least the second time, I wasn’t as hopeless. Gritting my teeth against the pain in my throat, I managed to get onto my knees and from there, it was an exhausting fight to get to my feet.
My shivering didn’t help, making everything that much harder.
I didn’t know why I fought so hard to get moving again or why I even left the ballroom. I’d already attempted escape and found out the impossibility of such a thing. I didn’t know what had happened to my rucksack and I was terribly, horribly alone.
But instinct drove me onward, hope kept me trying.
Stumbling through the palace, leaning against the decorative walls for support and clinging to heartless statues and ancient furniture, I tried to retrace my steps from earlier.
I wanted out of this place.
Even if it killed me.
By the time I stumbled through the foyer and out the double oak-and-dragon doors, I had nothing left and collapsed to my knees right there in the crescent moonlight.
My thick black hair obscured my vision, falling in sheets around my face.
Breathing hard, I tipped up my chin, brushed back my hair, and...
Oh, wow.
The gardens had been set ablaze.
Hundreds of lanterns swung from branches and covered walkways, each flickering like they contained a small sun. Bronze braziers lined the pathways, sending orange flames dancing over the gravel. Pagodas and patios crackled with fire, destructive heat spewing from the tops of black torches.
For the first time since getting off the bus this morning, I finally understood why this place was called Cinderkeep.
Not an inch of it was untouched by fire.
From the bridges to the courtyards, to the trees and flowers, every inch turned into an ember.
Wisteria and oaks were braided with strings of tiny flames.
Even the lawn held lamps that looked as if comets had fallen to earth and continued smouldering.
No wonder the main palace had no lights on.
Who would want glaring electricity when magic such as this existed?
I knelt there, unable to look away.
My stress slowly melted, thanks to the meditative beauty of fire.
All I focused on was the flames, feeling as if heaven had somehow merged with hell.
A silhouette moved in my peripheral, wrenching my attention into the maze of flowers. The blackest shadow slinked through the foliage, the yellow and orange of a thousand fires glinting off its pelt.
Staggering to my feet, I braced myself as the panther left the garden and slinked silently up the steps to the front portico of the palace.
I didn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.
My hair stood on end as the giant beast came close enough to sniff me, its whiskers tickling my forearm. I bit my lip as it prowled around me, its shoulders as tall as my hips, its tail coiling around me like a velveteen vine.
It huffed as it came to a stop in front of me. Its matching fiery eyes met mine and I swear it meant me no harm.
Not that I would touch it.
I wasn’t suicidal enough to stroke a panther and think it would appreciate it.
With a cough like spitting up a hairball, the huge predator spat something at my feet.
I backed up, my throat so bruised I could barely swallow, let alone scream.
With another huff, it nudged the small item it’d just delivered before leaping off the steps and loping into the garden.
It vanished amongst the fire and flame.
I didn’t know what was worse. Being judged by it where I could see it or being hunted by it where I couldn’t.
Another shudder worked through me, thanks to the icy English night.
Judging by the moon, I guessed it was close to two a.m.
I’d gotten used to telling the time based on the location of stars and sunshine. Mainly because I refused to have my cell phone attached to me and my inability to wear a watch. Just like I couldn’t handle corporate or charitable life, I couldn’t even handle the pressure of ticking time.
It reminded me that my only means of survival came across as lazy to other people. That every hour I napped or every minute I did nothing more than watch the clouds passing by was an hour and minute that others scrimped and slaved to survive.
Rubbing my goosebump-covered arms, I shoved those thoughts away.
None of that mattered now.
What did matter was finding shelter or at least a damn blanket so I wouldn’t freeze by morning.
Moving toward the stairs, I eyed the item the panther had dropped off.
Bracing against leftover vertigo from being half-strangled to death, I picked up the small tin box and gingerly wiped the feline saliva off it.
Cracking it open, a single pill rested inside. Quite a large pill. Round and silver and glossy.
Snapping the lid closed, I peered into the garden again.
Why had it brought me this?
Was it poison or a painkiller?
Surely a panther wasn’t intelligent enough to know I hurt and delivered help which meant...did Lucien Ashfall give me this?
Peering at the box again, I clutched it tight and headed into the flaming garden as if I could outrun the memory of his eyes, his touch, his fury.
I didn’t want to think about him.
I never wanted to see him again.
Then hide, before he finds you.
Walking as fast as I could, I headed toward a pavilion in the distance.
* * * * *
Stepping through the round hole in the whitewashed wall, I eyed up yet another pavilion.
I’d searched all night. I’d fallen twice thanks to dizziness and wedged a fist in my snarling belly as hunger became unbearable.
But no matter how far I’d travelled, each place had been already taken by the twenty-nine—wait.
..twenty-seven—other women who’d fled into Cinderkeep and vanished.
A few pavilions I’d stumbled into hadn’t had lights on but as I’d hauled myself to the front door and stepped gratefully over the threshold, a vase or curse had been thrown at my head, proving it already had an inhabitant.
I’d almost given up hope.
I’d travelled so far, I couldn’t see the main palace this far across the meadow, but...I might’ve finally gotten lucky.
Sneaking inside the walled courtyard, I cut through the pretty garden with a babbling stream. A covered patio protected a table and chairs, and the roofline of the pavilion swept toward the stars with wing-shaped eaves.
No one shouted at me for trespassing.
No porcelain was thrown my way.
Cracking open the carved door, I hesitantly stepped inside. “Hello?”
And nothing.
Blessedly, thankfully nothing.
My relief almost sent me crashing against the wall.
I’d had dreams of taking a hot bath. Of raiding the cupboards for food. Of drowning my worries in wine. But the exhaustion I’d been fighting ever since my headache first appeared barely gave me enough time to bounce my way off the walls and into the large open-plan suite.
No walls separated the bedroom from the living room. Oriental embroidered cushions littered the floor by the huge window, and the bed was piled high with white fluffy blankets.
With a sob, I staggered across the carpet and crashed face-first onto the mattress.
Pain snatched my broken consciousness, hurling me into sleep just as my fingers went lax.
The tin box with its strange pill tumbled from my grasp and clattered to the floor—