Chapter 11 #2
My hair tumbled out of my face and I found myself eye to eye with the beast who had hunted me here, and I glared at him while dangling upside down.
“Are you done yet?” he drawled and I spat in his face, saliva striking his mask before my fist followed it.
He jerked his head back in surprise, the black fabric of his mask falling down to reveal the sculpted lines of his features.
I glared at him while he scowled right back, his brow low over eyes that were as deep a green as the forest we were trapped within.
His chiselled jaw was rough with inky black stubble to match the strands of hair which had fallen from his hood to surround his roughened features.
My breath caught as I studied him, my eyes tracing a tattoo which framed his left eye roaming from his temple down to kiss his sharp cheekbone.
It resembled a figure of eight with a line striking it through and small fragments of twisted symbols surrounding it.
Just looking at the mark made a shiver burn through me, that oppressive power of his flaring at the attention I offered it.
“Let me go,” I snarled.
“Gladly.” He took a dagger from his belt and hurled it with such speed I barely had time to flinch, my gut bottoming out as I found myself falling a moment later.
I threw my hands up to try and shield my face but strong arms caught me a moment before I could strike the ground and then swung me up and over his shoulder.
“Put me down!” I yelled, my fists thumping against his back as I squirmed and kicked to get free but he only grunted in annoyance and clamped his arm more forcefully around my legs.
“No. I think I’ll find a use for you, lightwing. Besides, you walked so willingly into my domain, I can only assume you were seeking a place to stay.”
Hendrix strode from the stables and circled it in the dim light of the evening. I cursed him, still trying to fight my way free, but he paid me no attention whatsoever as I thrashed and struck him, then began calling him every foul name I could think of.
I barely even noticed as he took a winding stone path through a set of open, rusted gates choked with ivy and rusting beneath the sway of the forest, but I felt the heavy shadow of a large building fall over us and turned my head to look at it.
Hidden within the depths of the trees was a castle built of brown and cream stone, topped with pale blue turrets which tapered to spires as they reached toward the sky with a coat of vines and ivy draping from every angle.
Green algae clung to the walls beneath the windows like tears spilling from the eyes of a forgotten giant, dripping to soak the ground with the evidence of their grief.
Clearly Hendrix was familiar with this place because he strode straight for the heavy wooden doors and pushed them open, causing a low groan to echo out into the empty building.
He carried me inside before kicking the door closed and moving to secure it with the turn of a key in an ancient lock.
“What is this place?” I demanded, though his silence up to this point implied I’d get no answers, but he did in fact reply.
“This was once the home of a Fae family. One of the most powerful bloodlines of our kind. The forest doesn’t care for such claims however and took it nigh on fifty years ago now.”
I’d known the place was Fae-built before he gave his answer but my skin still prickled at the news.
There were no human properties such as this.
The only castles my kind had built were squat and practical, intended for defence not beauty.
But of course we’d never been able to indulge in the luxuries the Fae delighted in with frivolity.
We’d been out there fighting the forest on one side and the Hollows on the other for so long that none of us really knew how to indulge in anything at all.
Hendrix kicked open a door to the left of the wide hallway and strode into a plush lounge with dark green armchairs arranged close to a dominating fireplace.
There were tapestries hung on the walls along with beautifully-crafted glass braziers that had been sculpted to look like tulips.
A red rug adorned the dark wood floor and gilded candlesticks decorated the mahogany side tables.
The world flipped as Hendrix tossed me down into one of the chairs and I fell into it with a heavy thump.
I kicked out at him, my boot catching his shin. He lunged at me, his hands crashing down on the arms of my chair, his face leering so close to mine that we might have been lovers a breath from a kiss.
He snarled at me, baring his teeth like a beast, and I bared mine right back, though I didn’t strike at him again.
“Stay,” he growled, jabbing a finger at me which hit my shoulder and knocked me back against the plush cushion of the chair.
I only scowled as he straightened, watching him while he stooped before the fireplace and deftly set a mound of kindling aflame before adding some larger sticks to the blaze.
The crackle of the building fire was the only sound while its orange light crept from beneath the mantlepiece and brushed across the room in measured inches. My eyes drank in the details of everything it illuminated, slipping across the room towards the heavily-shuttered window.
Hendrix finally placed a larger log on the fire and then stood, removing his cape and revealing the full length of his hair beneath the hood. It was as dark as night itself, running down his spine in twisted tangles which only seemed to draw more attention to the breadth of his powerful shoulders.
He tossed the cape and the mask he’d worn onto a chair a little further from the fire and I caught a glimpse of more tattoos around his throat, skeletal fingers ringing his neck like death itself was trying to choke him and failing.
He said nothing as he turned and strode from the room, leaving me coiled in my chair like a spring ready to explode into action.
I counted his footsteps as he headed away down the hall beyond the room and when I reached double digits I sprang upright and ran for the shutters.
They were locked, metal rods holding them in place and it took me several seconds to figure out how to open the contraption before finding a handle and turning it.
The rods twisted, shifting apart and I yanked the shutters wide, reaching for the latch which secured the pane of glass, my fingers grazing it just before a rough and calloused hand clamped down over mine.
“Do you covet death, lightwing?” Hendrix cooed, his solid body a wall at my back, his pulse a drum against my spine, so slow, so steady, while mine was the frantic flutter of a hummingbird’s wings.
I opened my mouth to reply and then stilled as movement in the darkness beyond the window stole my focus.
The trees were thrashing as if a storm hounded them, though no rain spilled down to crash against the dirt.
A deep, guttural roar shook the air and Hendrix tugged me away from the window, slamming the shutters and barring them once more.
“Have you forgotten the rules of this game you so foolishly chose to play?” he asked in a growl, releasing me from the heat of his flesh as he gave me a rough shove back into the centre of the room. “The night will swallow you whole and spit your bones out again within minutes.”
“As if I’m any safer in here with you,” I hissed, retreating from him, and he broke a dark laugh.
“At least you’re quick on the uptake. Yes, I am just as terrifying as the things that lurk beneath those trees, my sweet savage, if not more so. But luckily for you, I don’t feel inclined to feast on your flesh. For now.”
The way he said those words made heat rise in my cheeks, my stomach knotting at the implications behind them. My gaze darted to the window once more as I considered whether I would be better off taking my chances in the trees at night than locked up in this castle with him.
“There are clean clothes in the rooms upstairs and water to bathe yourself should you wish to rid us both of the stench that clings to you,” he said dismissively, waving a hand towards the door.
“Unless of course your hatred for my kind extends as far as refusing the hospitality of a long lost castle in the middle of a cursed forest?”
“I’ll gladly steal from the Fae,” I told him defiantly, backing up towards the door, refusing to give him my back. “After all, you owe me that much.”
“Do I now?” he mused, a hint of taunt in his molten jade eyes.
“Yes.” I backed out of the door and closed it for good measure, wanting to put as many obstacles between us as I could.
I instantly missed the warmth of the fire but I would gladly forgo it in payment for leaving his company.
Fucking Fae. I hated them. I hated them more than the forest itself – which was saying a whole hell of a lot after what these cursed trees had taken from me.
But it was the Faes’ fault in the first place.
Their kind who had caused my loss and stolen Rissa from us.
Their kind who I hoped would pay for it in the end.
Though not before I got what I’d come here for.
I backed away from the stairs and glanced around.
The hallway was lit from the glow of the sconces, the flickering light casting dancing shadows on the ceiling, highlighting a mural which had been painted there of a Fae female surrounded by pink and peach peonies.
There was no sign of mould or damp despite the amount of time which Hendrix had claimed this place had spent within the grips of the forest and I had to wonder if the Fae had ways of protecting against such things.
I stifled my curiosity on Fae architecture and hurried up the wide, pale marble staircase, my fingers trailing along a banister carved to look like a winding grape vine complete with plush bunches of fruit which made my empty stomach growl.
At the top of the stairs were at least ten rooms, all hidden behind wooden doors carved with symbols of the sun at their centre.
I pushed open the first one I came to, finding the sconces lit in there too and a bedchamber which was larger than the bar at the tavern in my town.
The bed itself was a monstrosity, a carved four-poster with gauzy blue drapes hanging around it and plush cushions whispering for me to join them.
I pressed the door closed at my back, releasing a slow breath as I finally gained some more distance from my unwelcome housemate.
I was going to have to stay here tonight but at dawn I’d be gone.
I’d plan my escape before curling up in that beautiful bed and stealing what rest I could while I had the chance, then I’d be out of here at the first shard of light over the horizon.
I moved to the dresser where a pitcher of water stood beside a shallow, golden bowl, a bar of apricot-scented soap making me groan with longing.
Hendrix may have been an ass but he was right – I was covered in filth and gore, blood dried beneath my fingernails and in my hair too.
I needed to bathe. A tub would have been a dream but clean water and soap were the next best things. There was even a stack of washcloths.
A heavy armoire stood to the side of the shuttered windows and I inched toward it, wondering about the promise of clothing he’d mentioned. My green dress had been ruined my very first day here and I would gladly burn the tattered, stained and stinking fabric in the closest fire given the chance.
I eased open the door to the armoire and drew in a sharp breath.
There were all kinds of clothes intended for a Fae who had clearly lost her home without enough warning to gather her belongings from it.
There were trousers and tunics, boots and warm cloaks, all things which would definitely be practical and well-wearing for the coming days in the forest. But there were gowns too.
The kinds of gowns that dreams were made of and no mere human had ever so much as gazed upon, let alone been given free access to.
I ran my fingers over the fine brocade of a navy blue dress which had tiny sapphires inlaid in its skirt and grinned. The clothes had been made for a Fae and would be long on me, but I was tall, and aside from that, they looked like they’d fit me well enough.
So, a Fae had kidnapped me to his castle and planned to torture me with extravagant clothes, a place to bathe and a bed larger than the room I grew up in?
Did he expect me to balk at such a thing?
How utterly awful of him. I would have no choice but to take full advantage of the opulence at my fingertips in defiance of the pointless pride he might expect me to have.
Would I deign to wear the clothes of my enemy?
Would I deign to take comfort in their castle?
Why yes, yes I would. And I planned on doing so as utterly obnoxiously as possible.