Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Despite my failures in this cursed place, it felt good to strive for something again.
I’d hungered for an answer all these years and finally the forest had provided it.
A boon which I had long underestimated, not realising how powerful it really might be until I’d bargained with a Hag for an answer to my dilemma.
Yes, she had taken a wicked price from me in payment.
But it had been worth the knowledge that the forest could be the answer to my desires.
It was strange that the answer had laid here of all places, because since the Great Hunt had begun all those years ago, I had often felt the urge to take part in it.
Every fifty years as the Hunt approached, the pull had been almost irresistible, but what use would such a trial have been to me?
Back then, I’d dismissed it, putting it down to the forest’s twisted magic, but perhaps it had been trying to tell me what the Hag had told me in the end.
After so long feeling lost, I was finally on track to my goal.
The emptiness that had taken up residence in my bones felt fuller than it had in far too long.
But something was missing even now. I experienced life like I was one of the Hollows, as dead as them inside but still moving, seeking something alive to sustain myself.
These past decades, the world had become a dreary artist’s palette of greys and darkest blues, set to depict a gloomy, soulless sky. And here in this painter’s landscape, I remained trapped.
My mind turned to the human girl and all her untamed desires.
Ferris Creed. Life had likely been harsh to her – as it was to most humans.
She didn’t have the roughened look of a land worker, but she was not so delicate in appearance as a seamstress.
Those were common trades among her kind, yet she didn’t strike me as common.
I could ask of course, if I cared to. But I did not.
“Henry?” Her voice. She repeated the name. Three times more in fact.
I didn’t know who this Henry was or why she was calling for him now, but she was disturbing the quiet.
Perhaps she had named a dormouse and lost the thing when it scampered down a hole.
They liked their pets, the humans. They lived shorter lives than even them.
I supposed it gave mortals a taste of the immortal life.
Watching their little friends die well before their own time came.
Ferris entered the room, walking over and snapping her fingers in front of my face. Ever so slowly, I dragged my eyes away from the blazing fire and regarded her.
“My name is Hendrix.”
“My mistake,” she said innocently, though she was sharp enough to have not forgotten it.
My jaw flexed at the creature staring down at me.
She had chosen to dress herself in a silk gown, the navy blue fabric clinging to her body and drawing my gaze to the enticing curve of her hips.
Her brown hair was freshly washed, hanging in loose curls over her shoulders and tumbling down her spine, caressing a slender neck which begged for the touch of roughened fingers.
The scent of apricot hung on my captive and anger coiled in my chest at her clear mockery of my imprisonment. Dressing herself up as a damsel, but the hardness to her eyes dared me to reveal her true nature.
I rose abruptly to my feet, knocking her back a step, but my hand landed firmly on the base of her spine and a taunting grin lifted my lips. I snatched her hand in mine, raising it high and yanking her firmly against me, forcing her to waltz with me, though her feet stumbled over my own.
“Let go of me,” Ferris hissed, alarm rising in her eyes, but she had started the game.
“You come to me dressed for a ball and you won’t even dance with the only other guest here?
Tut tut, lightwing, perhaps a punishment is in order.
” I let my smile drop, showing the monster beneath the mask, and she tried to pull back again, a shaky breath fluttering across her lips.
Lips which drew my gaze and made me wonder what a mortal mouth would feel like against my own.
Her kind were often obsessed with mine, our appearances far more appealing to them than each other were.
But the fact she that was drawing my attention in kind invoked a deep rage inside me and I wouldn’t be tempted to take a bite.
No female, human or Fae had ever had that kind of power over me.
I was always the one in control, the one who could cut the cord at any moment, and that was how it would stay.
I forced her to spin beneath my arm and then tossed her haphazardly toward the chair. Her ass hit the arm of it, but she caught herself before she fell backwards into the seat.
“I’m hungry,” she blurted, a demand to her tone.
I arched a brow as she righted herself, chin lifting, determination sparking in her violet eyes.
I took my time to answer, peeling her apart with the lingering look.
Pretty thing she was. But she carried a burden on her.
Perhaps just the weight of a mortal life, but it might have been more than that.
A mouth as sweet as hers should have worn a thousand smiles, but I suspected it had worn less than she had hoped to win from life. Pity.
I supposed I needed to feed my bait if I was going to keep her living long enough to capture me a spirit. I turned my back on her, heading from the room with her quick reply following me.
“You’d better make it a feast. I’m famished.”
My teeth ground together. I couldn’t recall the last time anyone had ordered me about. I had a mind to spank her raw for it, but she would likely cry and if I planned on sleeping a wink tonight, I didn’t need the headache.
I passed through the kitchen where mottled stone and a seven-foot fireplace greeted me, then stepped into the larder.
The shelves were full, practically overflowing with fresh produce.
At least one of the Fae who had owned this castle had been granted the Art of protection, it seemed, because this place had not withered in the grip of the forest and neither had the food.
“Looks like you’ll have your feast then, lightwing.” I sneered, grabbing handfuls of bread and cheese, along with a basket of fruit and some baked pastries.
She had no idea who she was dining with tonight. Her little dressing up game had ignited the spark of madness in me and awoken my demons. If she wanted to play house with a monster, then let us see who would break first.
I stalked from the kitchen, making my preparations before returning to her dressed in a fine suit I’d found in the old master bedroom. My long hair was a mess of wet strands from a recent bath and the scent of jasmine now hung upon my skin too. Sweetness to veil the bitter creature beneath.
Ferris was facing the fire when I returned and I waited for her to acknowledge me. Perhaps she was lost to her thoughts because she didn’t turn and I managed to close in on her from behind, a prowling animal in the long grass with his gaze set on unaware prey.
“Tell me, how did you survive this long with wits so dull?” I uttered.
She didn’t whip around in alarm as I’d expected but kept her gaze on the fire instead.
“If you wanted me dead, I wouldn’t be here, would I?” she clipped, still not looking at me. My ire grew. Why did she not turn her eyes upon me? I was a male who made fiercer hearts quake than this breakable creature’s.
My gaze slid to where her fingernails were biting into the arm of the chair and I cocked my head, a dark satisfaction rolling through me.
She was hiding it, trying to play the big bad wolf at his own game.
Well then, I would have all the more fun unveiling the truth of her terror.
Let’s see how long she could keep up this ruse.
I approached her from behind, laying a hand on her shoulder, her skin as soft as fallen rose petals. Goosebumps raced across her shoulder as my fingers dug in just a little and I lowered my mouth to her ear.
“Dinner is served, lightwing. You’ll join me in the dining room. Come.”
She pushed to her feet, forcing my hand from her, and I straightened to assess her. Small mouse, too delicate for a place like this. But those eyes. I couldn’t get past the spark in them. What kind of mouse held the eyes of a wolf?
I offered her my hand, a mocking tilt to my lips as I waited to see if she would dare continue this game.
Her jaw ticked, throat bobbing. This act would shatter soon enough. If only she knew who she was playing with, she would sob and claw at the windows and doors. She would beg for freedom but I would never grant it.
Ferris stepped forward and placed her hand in mine, my fingers closing firm around hers.
My heart thumped quicker than it had in some time.
Power had always been my favourite pursuit.
She would bow to me this very night. And oh what a delightful thought it was to picture her on her knees, her eyes on me as I stood over her and her pleas for mercy filling my ears.
She would make my time in this forest a less dreary task, a plaything for a bored Fae.
I led her to the dining room where long red drapes hid the deadly night from view beyond the high windows. The table was long and oval, but only two chairs had been placed there by me. One at the head – mine, of course – and one to its right.
I guided her to her seat, pulling it out for her as if I were some gentlemen and gestured for her to sit. She did so, eyeing the food I’d laid out with suspicion.
“Where did you get all of this?” she asked, frowning at the fresh cheeses and breads, then to the display of fruit beyond it and the wide selection of pastries which looked as though they had only recently been baked.
“Do you know nothing of the magic of my kind?” I drawled, standing close as I reached past her, lifted a bottle of red wine and poured us each a glass.