Chapter 8
The next day, I wake disoriented, my brain struggling to place where I am.
The ceiling above me is gold. Not painted gold, not gold-leafed, but solid gold pressed into ornate swirls which catch the light and throw it back in pretty patterns.
For a moment, a blessed, ignorant moment, I think I’m dreaming.
That I fell asleep in my apartment and this is just my subconscious processing stress.
Then I remember.
The House of Gold. Croesus.
Reality crashes back like ice water, and I sit up too fast. My head spins, and my stomach lurches. I have to close my eyes and breathe through the wave of nausea.
When did I even get here? To this room?
I try to remember. I remember leaving Croesus’s office.
Remember Auric waiting in the hallway with that knowing smirk.
Remember following him through corridor after corridor, turning left and right and left again until I’d lost all sense of direction.
Remember him stopping in front of a door, my door? And saying something. What did he say?
I don’t remember.
I remember walking into this room. Remember seeing the massive bed draped in champagne silk, too soft and too perfect. Remember thinking I should stay awake, should explore, should do something to orient myself.
And then... nothing.
I must have collapsed. Just fell into bed fully clothed and passed out like someone flipped an off switch in my brain.
I look down. I’m still wearing yesterday’s clothes, just the black jeans and gray t-shirt. I must have kicked off my boots since they are lying on the floor beside the bed. My jacket is draped over a chair I don’t remember putting it on. My bag is on the floor, unopened.
How long did I sleep?
I grab my phone from my pocket, dead. Of course. I didn’t charge it. Don’t even know if there are outlets in this place.
The room is... I search for the right word. Luxurious doesn’t cover it. Decadent feels closer, but still not quite right.
It’s large, maybe twenty by twenty, with that same warm golden light that seems to come from everywhere and nowhere.
The walls are a soft cream color with gold accents, less overwhelming than the hallways but still unmistakably expensive.
The bed I’m sitting on could fit four people comfortably, with posts at each corner carved to look like twisted vines.
The silk sheets are the softest thing I’ve ever touched, and I hate that I noticed.
There’s a wardrobe against one wall, dark wood inlaid with gold, naturally, and a dresser beside it. A vanity with a mirror framed in gold filigree. Two doors: one I came through last night, one that presumably leads to a bathroom.
A window.
I get out of bed, my bare feet silent on the plush carpet, and look out.
Golden light. That’s all. Just the same eternal, sourceless glow I saw in Croesus’s office. No sky. No ground. No reference point. Just... gold.
I press my palm against the glass. It’s warm. Solid. Real. But there’s no opening or latch.
What’s beyond it?
I can’t tell. And that’s probably the point.
My reflection stares back at me from the glass, pale, tired, hair sticking up in directions hair shouldn’t stick. I look like I’ve been through hell. Which technically, I have. Or I’m in it now. Same difference.
I need to figure out where I am. How to navigate this place. How to find food, water, the dining hall Croesus mentioned. How to survive here.
I need to move.
I splash water on my face in the bathroom, which is, unsurprisingly, ridiculous: marble everything, a tub that could fit six people, gold fixtures, towels so soft they feel like clouds. There’s a robe hanging on a hook, champagne silk with gold embroidery. I ignore it.
I pull my boots back on, and grab my jacket. Before I leave, I check my jacket pockets. Gramms’ journal is still there, solid and real. A piece of my old life, my real life, tucked against my ribs. Then I head for the door.
The hallway beyond is empty. Silent. Just more gold walls, more identical doors, more of that sourceless warm light that makes it impossible to tell what time it is or how long I’ve been here.
I try to remember which direction Auric led me from last night. Left? Right? I was so exhausted, so overwhelmed, I didn’t pay attention.
Stupid. That was stupid. You don’t survive in a predator’s den by not paying attention.
I pick a direction—left—arbitrarily, and start walking.
The hallway curves gently, branching off into other hallways.
I pass door after door after door, all identical.
No numbers. No names. No way to tell one from another.
After five minutes of walking, I realize I have no idea where I am.
Could be on the same floor as my room. Could be three floors away.
Could be walking in circles for all I know.
The panic starts small, just a flutter in my chest, a tightness in my throat. Then it grows. Spreads. Because I’m lost. Completely, utterly lost. And there’s no one here. No servants, no Auric, no Croesus. Just me and endless golden hallways that all look the fucking same.
“Lost already?”
I spin around so fast, I nearly trip over my own feet.
Auric is leaning against the wall about ten feet behind me, arms crossed and that infuriating smirk on his face. He’s wearing another expensive suit, navy this time, with a gold pocket square, and he looks like he’s been standing there for a while. Watching. Waiting.
“How long have you been following me?” I demand.
“Since you left your room.” He pushes off the wall, strolls toward me with that same casual grace. “Which was about seven minutes ago. You’ve walked in a complete circle, by the way. Your room is three doors down.”
I look back the way I came. Sure enough, three doors down, there’s.. a door that looks exactly like every other door.
“How the hell am I supposed to tell which one is mine?” I grump. Just happy it’s not a whine.
“You learn.” He stops a few feet away, clearly enjoying this. “Everyone does eventually. Or they don’t, and they stay lost. Those are really your only options.”
“That’s helpful. Thanks.”
“I’m not here to be helpful.” He tilts his head, studying me. “I’m here to make sure you don’t accidentally wander into a restricted section and get yourself killed on your first day. Lord Croesus would be very disappointed if I let that happen.”
“How thoughtful.”
“Indeed.” He gestures down the hallway. “You’re looking for the dining hall, I assume? Breakfast?”
My stomach chooses that moment to growl, loudly and embarrassingly. I haven’t eaten since...yesterday morning? The day before? Time feels slippery here.
“Yes,” I admit.
“Then you’re going the wrong way.” He turns and starts walking in the opposite direction. “Come on, little sin eater. Try to keep up.”
I follow because what choice do I have?
We walk in silence for a minute, turning corners, passing more identical doors. I try to memorize the route, left, straight, right, straight, left again, but it’s useless. Without landmarks, with no distinguishing features, it all blurs together.
“You’re doing it wrong,” Auric says without looking back.
“Doing what wrong?”
“Trying to memorize the path. It won’t work. The house doesn’t operate on human logic.”
“Then how am I supposed to navigate?”
“Feel.” He taps his chest. “The house responds to intent. If you want to find the dining hall, genuinely want it, the hallways will take you there. Eventually.”
“That’s the most useless advice I’ve ever heard.”
“And yet, it’s the only advice that works.” He glances back at me, amber eyes glinting with amusement. “You’re in a house built by an angel, Raven. It follows angelic rules. Desire. Want. Need. Those are the languages it speaks.”
“So I just want really hard to find breakfast and hope the hallways feel like cooperating?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Welcome to the House of Gold.” He stops in front of a door, identical to all the others except this one has a subtle gold handle shaped like a wheatsheaf. “Dining hall. Try not to embarrass yourself.”
He pushes the door open and gestures for me to enter.
I hesitate. “Aren’t you coming?”
“I’ve already eaten. Besides, I have actual work to do.
Unlike some people, I don’t get to spend my first day wandering around lost.” He starts to walk away, then pauses.
“Oh, and Raven? When you’re done eating and inevitably get lost again trying to find your way back to your room?
Just want it. The House will take you there. ”
“And if it doesn’t?”
He smiles, and it’s almost a feral thing. “Then I guess you’ll die of starvation in a golden hallway. Tragic, really.”
He disappears around a corner before I can respond.
Asshole.
I push open the door and step into the dining hall.
It’s not what I expected. I was bracing for more overwhelming grandeur, more oppressive wealth.
Instead, the space is... almost comfortable.
Large, yes, maybe sixty feet long, thirty wide, but not cavernous.
The ceiling is lower here, only about twelve feet high, and the walls are a warm cream color with gold accents rather than solid gold.
There are tables scattered throughout, round ones, square ones, a few long rectangular ones, and most of them are empty.
A handful of people sit at various tables, eating in silence.
They’re dressed in the same kind of servant uniform I saw on the woman who guided me to Croesus yesterday. Dark clothes, practical, unremarkable.
They don’t look up when I enter, don’t acknowledge me at all.
Along one wall is a buffet, covered dishes, steam rising from chafing dishes, the smell of food making my stomach clench with hunger. Real food. Not gold or magic or whatever I was half-expecting. Just...breakfast.
I grab a plate and load it up with scrambled eggs, toast, bacon that smells like heaven, fresh fruit. Then I snag some coffee, black, strong. Everything a growing girl needs.