Chapter 33 Devora #2
I jolted back in horror. Was this Nox’s father? Was this the day Scarven challenged him?
Disgust swirled in my stomach. The fact that he had these paintings done was sickening. I hoped Nox never had to see this memorial.
My fingers toyed with the edge of the frame, wishing I could tear it from the wall. Sorrow shot through me. Both for the boy Nox used to be, and the man he was now.
One of my shadows slipped from me and twisted around my extended finger. Before I willed it away, a faint whisper reached my ears. It wasn’t a voice, but more like…a clanging sound.
Like chains.
A groan drifted to me in the shadows, but it wasn’t coming from the den behind me. It was distant and pained. Desperate. Longing.
I swallowed and let my shadows dig deeper. It was definitely coming from below. There was a grate in the wall to my left where my magic was picking up the sounds from. Someone was being held right beneath this wing of the mansion.
I closed my eyes, trying to push just a little further. My shadows tugged on that well of power deep in my chest. They urged me to follow. My body swayed forward in response when a hand clamped down on my shoulder.
“I was wondering where you were,” Scarven’s rich voice said at my back.
Releasing my hold on the shadows, I spun to face him with a pasted-on smile. “Up to no good, as usual.”
He wore no mask, just a dark gray dinner jacket, matching pants, and a crisp button-down.
I had to admit, Kane Scarven wasn’t unattractive.
He was classically handsome, even. He had strong, clean-cut features.
Every hair was perfectly in place. His black eyes were like obsidian jewels, sharp and piercing.
But it was almost too perfect. Too put-together. I found myself imagining rough stubble on my skin, running my fingers through windswept hair, staring into a pair of navy-blue eyes that made fire lick up my spine.
I hurriedly blinked away the vision as Scarven said, “I’m glad you came.”
“I didn’t exactly have a choice, did I?”
He put a hand over his heart. “You wound me, Miss Nyte. Here I thought you simply enjoyed my company.”
“I haven’t seen enough to make a decision,” I said with a shrug. “And please, call me Selena.”
His eyes flashed. “Did my party run you off, Selena?”
I smiled sheepishly. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have wandered. I got curious. Forgive me, my lord.”
He assessed me for a moment, small wrinkles of scrutiny appearing around his eyes.
I didn’t think I would ever earn his trust, but if Nox was right, the man before me desired companionship—or at least, his twisted version of it.
There was a degree to which he’d be willing to let me into his world, as long as it meant he could keep steady control over me.
As long as there was something we could do for each other.
This was part of his world that I could understand.
“Do you like it?” he asked, catching me off guard. I raised an eyebrow, and he motioned to the two portraits of the lions. “The paintings.”
“They’re certainly…intriguing.”
He let out a low chuckle. “Some would call it distasteful, but I think it’s part of nature. That’s the way this world works. Survival of the fittest, after all. The strongest always come out on top.”
I swallowed and nodded, unsure how to respond when all I wanted to do was scream.
“Come, Selena,” he said, taking me by the arm. “Dark corridors are no place for a woman like you.”
“Did you pick this out for me?” I fingered the edge of my mask as we walked back to the party.
“Ah, yes. The panther. A symbol of strength and mystery.” He grabbed a flute of wine from the table as we passed. “What better mask for the beautiful Mysthelm cook with a taste for life?”
“You seem to think you have me all figured out, Lord Scarven.”
He leaned in closer. “If I had you figured out, love, you wouldn’t be here right now.”
A chill swept through me. Goosebumps appeared on my forearm, and he smirked when he saw them. The power dynamic between us was shifting. He was beginning to take control, just the way he wanted.
I hated that I had to let him.
I lowered my gaze with a small smile, then turned to face the tables full of gleaming food, some of which now littered the floor. It smelled sweet, spicy, and rotten all at once.
Brandishing a hand to the room, I said, “Quite the party.”
“What do you think?” he asked, tilting his head.
I licked my lips and thought about how I wanted to play this. He seemed to enjoy the “lamb in the lion’s den” act. Innocent but interested. Like he wanted to push me to the edge and see what made me squirm.
I exhaled slowly, forcing my voice to sound breathless as I stared at the dancers. “I—I’ve never seen anything like it.”
My eyes flicked over to the goat mask pouring water behind the table. Everett’s eyes tracked me from a distance, easing my worries by a fraction.
With his hand still at my elbow, Scarven led me to the nearest couch.
The heady scent of smoke and floral perfume struck me in the face as I sank into the soft cushions.
Scarven’s hand instantly splayed across the top of my knee.
A heavy ring rested on his finger, and it dug into my dress.
I resisted the urge to slap his hand away.
“I think you’ll find this entire province to be unlike anything you’ve seen before, Selena.” He summoned a servant in a serpent’s mask carrying a tray of sugar-coated fruit.
“Shifters are complex creatures,” Scarven continued.
“Some believe we cannot control ourselves. That we’re ruled by baser instincts and carnal desires.
But, in truth, we have the most control of them all.
” He motioned for the serpent to come closer, and he took a vine of grapes.
“You see, our instincts tell us to take what we want at whatever cost. Pleasure, violence, power.” With each word, he plucked a grape off the vine.
“We must constantly fight against our very nature. We practice control in every facet of our lives. I wonder if you understand a bit of what that’s like.
” Scarven shifted his hand to my chin, forcing me to face him.
With his other hand, he pushed a grape to the edge of my lips, a silent command to open.
I obeyed. The grape glided into my mouth, and when I bit into it, its tart juice made my stomach coil.
A mixture of fear, disgust, and temptation brewed at his words.
I could see how his people got lost in these parties.
It was easy to forget yourself, easy to let yourself sway to the music as food coursed through your system, easy to linger on masked faces instead of your own problems.
But your problems always came back to you. None of these desires could make things better. It was all a facade, a lie.
Scarven smirked. “I like to provide a safe haven, of sorts, for my people to let go. To give in to the passions that drive them, but that they must keep locked away from the rest of the world. To indulge.” His finger traced my collarbone.
“To feel.” It trailed up my neck. “To live, as you said last night.” His thumb came up to the other side, his hand wrapping loosely around my throat.
“It can be difficult to get what we want. I’m merely making it easier. ”
“And what is it that you want, Lord Scarven?” I whispered, swallowing the grape as his grip tightened ever so slightly.
“What everyone wants,” he said. “Power.”
“You have magic. And you’re the leader of an entire province. Don’t you already have power?”
He removed his hand and waved at the serpent to back away. “There are different kinds of power. Some gained by fear, some by force. But what many don’t understand is that the most absolute, undeniable power is gained by knowledge.”
His words pricked the back of my mind. We were on the verge of something; I could feel it.
“Knowledge,” I hummed. “Your books here must be very different from Mysthelm’s, then.”
He chuckled. “Ah, Selena. The kind of knowledge I desire cannot be found in books.”
Oh, I bet it can’t. I struggled to keep my breaths even, my face neutral. “Then where?”
He moved closer. “Do you really want to know?”
We were standing on a precipice. A door cracked open, beckoning me closer to the truth, but there was something in me that seized in fear.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. The words slipped from me before I could stop them.
Whatever hold I had over him broke like a spell, the tension dissipating as quickly as it came. He leaned back and propped one ankle on top of his knee. “Perhaps another time, then,” he said, his eyes leaving mine to rove around the room.
“Lord Scarven?” A guard approached our couch, bending low to whisper in Scarven’s ear. A pool of shadows on the couch shimmered and flicked toward me, bringing his quiet words to my ear.
“...latest caravan from the west has arrived. They’re ready to be sorted in the Hollow,” the guard said before straightening.
The Hollow. There was that word again. The same place the fatesprig had been taken that night I intercepted the shipment.
Caravan from the west. Could this be supplies? Weapons? More prisoners?
Scarven nodded curtly and got to his feet. “Escort Miss Nyte back to her carriage,” he ordered the guard. He didn’t so much as glance in my direction as he moved behind the couch.
My heart crashed to the floor. I’d ruined it. I’d shattered whatever bubble we’d been wrapped in and lost his attention. Was it something I’d said? Should I have been more forward? Less hesitant? More provocative?
Disappointment flooded me, and I imagined how I’d have to tell the others that I’d failed, how I’d have to tell Nox—
And then Scarven’s voice appeared in my ear. “It’s a pity you’re leaving for Emberfell in three days, Selena.”
I craned my neck up so I could look at him.
“There’s an entire world I could have shown you,” he said. “A world free of the innocence and naivety of your little kingdom.”
I blinked. He thought I was going with the Mysthelm contingency on the rest of their tour. That was why he was creating distance.
Hope thrummed inside of me. Perhaps this wasn’t over yet.
“Give me a reason, and I could be convinced to stay,” I murmured.
“And what of your crew?”
“They don’t need me until we set sail back for Mysthelm,” I lied, holding his gaze. “Nobody would even notice I’m gone.”
His hand fell to my chin, tilting my head back further. “Then it’s their loss,” he said. My chest clenched in unease as his fingers pressed deeper into my throat. “Stay. My men will come retrieve you in two nights, before your people leave. Be ready.”
It wasn’t a question. It was a command. An order I didn’t think I was allowed to refuse.
“Yes,” I breathed out. “I want to see your world.”
He backed away, making me turn to watch him retreat. “Oh, little lamb,” he hummed. “Be careful what you wish for.”
My eyes followed him as he left for his mysterious meeting at the Hollow, and a plan formed in my mind. A reckless, stupid, dangerous plan that the others would surely yell at me for even trying.
I smirked. Perhaps Scarven was the one who should be careful.