16. Chapter Sixteen
16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
ELODIE
T here is always that moment, that pause of time before you wake, before your mind catches up with all the things that sleep allowed it to forget. I wanted to stay in that moment. Where I was still in my own bed and there was a warm spot beside me where Titan was curled up.
As I blinked away the heavy haze of sleep, adjusting to the brightness of sunlight that filtered through the window, beams of light fell across the bed cutting through any delusion I was home.
With an aching body, I sat up slowly, the soft covers bunching at my waist as the dust motes swirled in the air around me, their lazy dance the opposite of my racing mind.
My nightmare, being kidnapped. My nightmare finding me in reality.
Walking through the wall and punching Big Man in the face.
Walking to the palace with Marcellus, being put into this room.
Banging my fists on the door, Marcellus placing me on the bed.
My family burning alive, Kaius holding me close.
Kaius’ body pressed against mine.
Kaius —
I looked around, searching for the man who had held me, making me feel safe in this strange place. I’d fallen asleep with his hands stroking my hair but didn’t need to look hard to know I was alone in this room. I hadn’t expected him to stay. A mess of crumpled blankets lay on the sofa against the wall, edging to the end of the bed I reached over to find the fabric still warm.
My stomach flipped as I realised Kaius must have stayed, laying on the sofa that was definitely too small for his frame as I slept soundly in the bed.
Slept free of nightmares.
There was still a faint scratch to my throat, and I looked at the empty cup remembering how Kaius had used his magik to make me something to ease my pain.
Pulling the blankets from the sofa I held them against me, breathing in the scent of cedarwood as something fluttered out from within the folds, drifting to the floor. It was a card, and as I reached down to pick it up, my finger brushed over it, breath hitching as a wave of magik rolled over my skin.
I knew then without the need to look what it was—a tarot card. Not any tarot card, my tarot card. I held it in front of me, the hand-painted design as familiar to me as my own face, and as I slowly flipped it over, tension coiling within my stomach, sure enough there it was—The Tower.
“This can’t be happening,” I said out loud as I stared at the card in disbelief, before my eyes whipped around the room despite how sure I was that I was alone.
I hadn’t had time to think about the cards’ warning from the other morning— had it been only yesterday? —but it hadn’t been lying when it foretold upheaval and crisis. Though I never would have thought that would come in the form of a kidnapping.
Maybe I just wasn’t being creative enough.
Turning the card over and over, I studied it obsessively, hoping for some sign that this wasn’t my card. Some smudge or flaw in the intricate brush strokes, but after the tenth rotation I couldn’t deny it had come from my deck, the one Briar had gifted me.
The one I used every day of my life.
Had Kaius brought this back with him? Had they taken more than me from my room? Even if they had, how would they have known this was the card I had pulled? I always placed them back in the deck at random. Why give it to me now?
A gentle knock on the door interrupted me and hastily tucking the card under my pillow, I made the few steps to the door. The room was warm, even the floors simmered with heat, the fire never dying though I was unsure who tended it because it sure as fuck wasn’t me. As I gripped the metal handle in my palm, a harsh laugh escaped me at how they were acting as if I had any choice but to open it.Their polite knocking may as well be the clanging of bars.
I’m not sure why we are all pretending I’m not a fucking prisoner.
The tall, smiling lady was back and this time she stepped into the room, skirts swishing and a fresh tray in her flame-wreathed hands. Her short blonde hair swung past her chin as she placed it down before gathering the others. I stood awkwardly watching her, the mystery of the card still playing on my mind, but there wasn’t much I could do about it as she straightened, hands now full again and turning to me.
“You have been summoned by the Prince. You have thirty minutes to eat and change before a guard will escort you to him,” she said, direct and to the point but again not unkindly.
“The Prince?” I frowned in confusion.
“Yes, the Prince.”
What did a prince want with me?
“What Prince?”
“Prince Fyr,” she said.
Never heard of him.
“And if I say no?” I asked, bristling at being told what to do.
“You don’t get a choice.”
Now that was more like how you treated a prisoner.
“Sounds about right.”
I doubted this was a fight I could win if I tried to refuse. My fingers absently twisted around the bracelets covering my wrist as I watched her leave without another word, the click of the latch closing echoing through my mind much louder than it was.
I looked down at the food she had brought, and another set of clothes were folded alongside it. Two thick slices of bread covered in a red jam sat next to a small bowl of cut fruit.
At least they were keeping me fed.
I had no complaints in that department, but thirty minutes wouldn’t give me time to puzzle on my mystery tarot card, eat and get ready, so I had no choice but to push it to the side for now. Sitting at the table, I knew I had no way of keeping track of the time I’d been given, yet I couldn’t stop my eyes from wandering to the bed. To the pillow and what lay beneath it. Chewing quickly, I was aware I had precisely zero experience on meeting princes. Was I supposed to curtsy?
Fuck that, I’ll curtsy when they let me leave.
My brain was a mess there was no time to untangle as I ate everything I had been given, pouring out the last of the water and draining it in one go. Wishing it had been a cup of coffee.
I unfolded the new clothes, wondering if they were really the sort of thing you wear in the presence of royalty, though I don’t suppose they care too much what their captives wear.
They were as soft as the ones I was wearing except this set consisted of a thick, cream-coloured, long-sleeved jumper with matching trousers that looked as if they would fit like leggings. Something small and white fell to the floor as I held them up, and I looked down to see a set of lace underwear, the bralette close in style to the one I had come here in. I picked them up, brow raising, wondering who was in charge of my outfit choices before I saw the pair of slipper-like shoes that had been underneath.
I won’t be running off anywhere in those now, will I?
My still-aching feet agreed.
Gathering my new outfit, I headed into the bathroom, stopping in front of the mirror. Again, my eyes were bright, alive—my skin looked good too, better than yesterday. I was no longer grey and pale, my skin glowing with its honey tones once more. Was this what a couple hours of good sleep does to me?
I wasn’t bothered by the state of my hair as messy, white waves fell thickly down my back. Despite the hairband I’d left on the sink, I left it down, its weight my own safety blanket. I hoped for a toothbrush, but finding none, used a corner of the towel on the door to quickly rub over my teeth. It wasn’t great, but it was better than nothing.
I changed, the leggings rising high on my waist while the jumper stopped at my navel; if I reached too far, a thin strip of skin peeked out from underneath. The underwear—consisting of not much more than scraps of lace, felt amazing against my skin—fitting so perfectly to my body, I found I wasn’t mad about wearing them.
Pulling the slippers on, I left the bathroom with no idea how long I had left to wait. I went back to the window, my only source of entertainment, and looked towards the forest, wondering how it would feel to be beneath its canopy.
A curt knock signalled my time was up, and I pulled in a deep breath. I’d neglected to prepare for whatever was coming in the short amount I did have. I’d have to wing it and see how it goes; at the very least this would give me a better idea on the layout of the palace and where I was within it.
The door opened on its own and a guard I hadn’t seen yet stood at the threshold, dressed in a dark grey uniform with several patches sewn on his chest. An impressively sized axe was strapped to his back, metal blade peeking over his shoulder, and I was reluctant to move towards him.
“It’s time to go.” His low voice and stony expression gave nothing away, and he stepped back as I forced myself to take my first wary step out.
I guess this one doesn’t care about keeping up the pretence.
My fists were tight balls of anticipation in preparation for the unknown. Maybe I’d be struck by lightning, or Big Man would come barrelling round the corner shouting at me for trying to escape.
I waited, the heat radiating from the floor seeping through the slippers, but nothing happened. The guard closed the door to my room, and I was left feeling strangely vulnerable on this side of it. As he held his arm up for me to follow, I kept mine at my sides despite how badly I wanted to wrap them around myself. I couldn’t show any weakness right now.
I had to keep my mind clear and retain every detail of the journey if I was going to find a way out of here. Who was this Prince I was being taken to, and what did he want with me? It couldn’t be for anything good considering the circumstances that brought me here to begin with.
Any sane, well-adjusted person would politely knock on the door and ask for my help, and it was just my luck that this lot were obviously not sane or well-adjusted.
They were clearly a bunch of psychos.
Psychos who stole some of my things and are now hoping I lose my mind as they give them back to me in creepy ways.
The guard led me down a series of corridors no different to the ones I’d walked down with Marcellus, stone floors and neat but bare grey walls, that provided me with zero idea of where I was going. There were only so many directions a girl could remember before they all became a jumbled mess. But I couldn’t help but be annoyed at myself for not trying harder, knowing that soon the labyrinth of halls would end, and I’d find myself right where they wanted me.
We turned into a corridor wider than the others, walls dressed in a rich-red baroque-patterned paper, topped by ornate, gilded mouldings that spread into the ceiling above. Beautiful paintings began to line the walls, their gold framed portraits reminiscent of the images on my tarot deck.
I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I hadn’t pulled a card after I woke, today’s discovery not counting. It was a strange feeling knowing that I would get no head start on what was to come today.
And an uncomfortable one as I realised maybe I had come to rely on their predictions more than I wanted to.
From the change in opulence, I was sure we were close to our destination, this part of the castle much more suited to a prince than where my room was located.
What was I supposed to say to a prince anyway? Would he give me the answers I needed?
My eyes skimmed along the walls, landing on one of the flames that guided us when the image of the firelight changed. My mind reeled, propelled from my body and flung out into the ether to race through the air. Coming to a momentary pause before it pushed itself through a large, black, wooden door.
I was a haze, a mist. Untethered from my physical body, I blinked uselessly in a form that didn’t even have eyes as I attempted to dispel the fear clawing at me and pull my mind as two figures came into a cloudy focus, the sound of their conversation clearer by the second.
“Why would you take her through the front door?” the first man questioned in a low voice.
“I wasn’t told not to,” the second voice replied, its sonorous rumble pulling at something deep in me.
“Are you sure her hand was in the water?” Disbelief was clear in his voice.
“Do you take me for a liar?”
A pause. “Perhaps you weren’t close enough to see clearly.”
Footsteps thudded and the bigger figure of the two stepped forward, his hand reaching out to grab the other man’s arm, who tensed under his grip before he was let go.
“I was close enough.” Words spat through gritted teeth.
“Did anyone else see?” A small note of panic threaded through his curiosity.
“Perhaps a guard. It was early. No one else was around.”
“Why would you take her through the front hall to begin with?”
The bigger man shrugged a shoulder. “I wasn’t told not to.”
The smaller figure, who was still overly large himself, began to walk away towards other people in the room. His surroundings blurred into obscurity, and I felt myself blinking furiously again in an attempt to clear the scene.
“You’ve summoned her.” It was a statement from the second man, not a question.
“How did you know?” he demanded, authority clear in his tone.
The large man turned his body towards my field of vision and though it felt like I was looking through frosted glass, I could make out the frown that pulled at his features. Impossibly, his eyes found mine, two globes of ice searing into me in a way that made my heart stutter.