Chapter Eleven
Gwendolyn
His words hung in the air, tantalizing. “A second keeper,” I repeated, my curiosity simmered. “What exactly does that mean?”
He stepped closer and enveloped me in a chill that radiated from him instead of heat.
It tickled my skin and almost burned yet I gravitated toward it, relishing the sensation.
I now understood the pull I felt toward the maze was also toward him.
“It means you have a choice, my love,” he said with so much reverence lacing his voice, causing my obsession with him to bloom, a heady mixture of infatuation, history, and power.
“You can continue on the way you have, the maze would let you leave as it adores you, or you can let it adore you, embrace all it has to offer, and stay here, with me, and become its second keeper, and with that, wield the power of the maze.”
“Wield its power?” I repeated, feeling the rush of it bubbling beneath my skin, alive with the possibility.
A flicker of intrigue and knowing crossed his face. “The maze knows Gwendolyn, the maze provides. It will let you hunt, and I will watch.”
A thrill shot through me at his words, igniting a fire in my core. “Hunt?” I whispered. “But once a year? I don’t know if that’s enough,” I mused. A wicked grin crept onto my lips as visions of blood and chaos for those who deserved it danced in my mind.
The maze rustled its stalks as if in agreement, whispering promises of abundance, affirming my need for more. I will provide it seemed to say, and I felt its magic resonate within me, thrumming with anticipation at our common goals.
“If you choose to stay, the maze will provide,” he echoed, his eyes glinting and they were alluring.
“I had planned to come here for a reason, before you, to take care of a problem.” The words slipped from my lips, heavy with intent.
“Like I said Gwendolyn, the maze knows, and the maze will provide.”
As if summoned by our conversation, a distant shouting rang through the air, a symphony of desperation riddled with rage. Kasper’s grin widened, that wickedness coming to light in his eyes. “It seems the maze is ready to sway you, to woo you, and show you what it can offer.”
The stalks swayed closer as if begging me to accept their gift. “What do you mean?”
“It’s who you’ve been looking for,” he purred, his voice low and sultry. “Jake, the maze has brought him here, for you.”
A rush of old and new anger filled me, and my usual appetite for vengeance seemed larger than it ever had before and I had this inkling that I was also feeling the maze’s thirst for vengeance as well as my own. “Jake,” I breathed, my mind racing with all the possibilities of the hunt.
“Now,” Kasper said, stepping back to let the shadows envelop him. “It’s time. Embrace the thrill of the hunt, Gwendolyn. The maze will guide you, and I will be right here, watching.”
The shadows Kasper hid in started to wrap around me and envelop me, its whispers that didn’t quite form words were easy to understand though.
They urged me forward in a particular direction, my feet moving of their own accord.
I was ready to unleash that part of myself, to embrace the chaos that long simmered within me.
“Go,” Kasper's voice filtered, a lovely caress that I craved. “You’re perfect for this, my little creature.”
With those words reverberating in my head and providing a comfort, I stepped deeper into the maze, feeling its pulse as it synchronized with my own. The stalks danced around me, shaping themselves in some form to protect and guide. Showing me what it was like to be a keeper.