Chapter 42 Azalea
Azalea
“Gr-Gravesley what are you?” My voice wobbles as he continues to prowl closer.
My feet stumble backward until I can’t move anymore, and my back presses against the wardrobe behind me.
“My job was to observe and not be heard, but things are changing. You’re proof of that.” Gravesley’s words confuse me. It’s as if he’s speaking in the middle of a conversation I don’t remember us starting.
“I- I don’t understand.” My brows pull together.
Gravesley’s steps don’t falter as he continues to walk closer to me. I step around the wardrobe and continue to move backwards trying to keep as much space between us as possible.
“Of course you don’t, and that’s the fucking problem. Even worse, I can’t just tell you the whole truth. No. No. No. We’ve tried, but the magic won’t allow that.”
Hearing him swear is somehow the most jarring thing about this entire interaction.
I want to believe this is some kind of misunderstanding.
That he’s feeling unwell or is getting confused in his older age, but something in my gut is telling me that’s not the case.
More importantly, it’s telling me I need to run.
Gravesley moves more swiftly than his age should allow, closing more of the distance between us, and that’s when Luna springs to life.
I hadn’t registered the low growls she had been rumbling from across the room, as all of my attention had been locked on the predator coming at me. Luna grabs Gravesley by the arm, and I watch his sleeve turn crimson as her teeth sink deep into his flesh and muscle.
Gravesley howls in pain and tries desperately to shake Luna from her grip on him.
I’m currently wedged between the door where I can escape, or the drawer to my dresser where a sharpened letter opener sits.
I should run for the door. That’s what a sane person would do, but when I see Gravesley shove his tailcoat aside and the candlelight reflect off the blade strapped in his belt, my mind is made up for me.
I sprint to my desk, but my racing nerves cause my fingers to tremble as I try to unlock the drawer and pull it open.
I’m not fast enough, and Gravesley pulls the small blade from the hilt at his side and plunges it into Luna’s shoulder right as my fingers curl around the letter opener.
When I hear her whimper of pain fill the room, every thought and worry for myself vanishes, and I lunge at the old man.
“Don’t you fucking touch her!” I yell as I knock him to the floor.
His hand reaches for me, and I notice he’s surprisingly strong for someone who often drifts around the castle appearing feeble. I raise the letter opener over my head and, in one swift swing, bring it hurtling down.
Regardless of how often I fantasize about doing it to Braxton, I’ve never stabbed someone before, and the exertion required for it is far more than I anticipated.
But my rising fear for both myself and Luna’s life, and the momentum I was able to put behind my swing, allow me to push the letter opener cleanly through Gravesley’s palm.
Crimson spurts from the gash, splattering along his white collared shirt.
I hear Luna whimper again as she does her best to stand, and the fury it ignites inside me leads me to squeeze the handle of the letter opener and twist it, causing more blood to leak from his hand.
“You stupid bitch,” he roars, spittle flying from his mouth.
He manages to fling me off of him, and I topple backward onto the floor. The letter opener is still wedged in his hand, but I know I have to let it go, and I waste no time scrambling to my feet and bounding toward the door.
Luna, being the fierce protector that she is, is limping after me.
Unfortunately, Gravesley is also getting to his feet.
He lets out an exasperated breath as he slowly pulls my makeshift weapon from his palm.
My eyes widen in horror as he removes the blade and wraps his hand with a handkerchief he pulls from his pocket as if it’s nothing.
My fingers numbly unlock my bedroom door as a new wave of panic spirals through my body.
When I turn back, Luna is close, with Gravesley right behind her.
There’s only mere feet between us, and I swear my heart is about to fracture my ribs with how hard it’s hammering inside of my body.
I fling the door open before racing to Luna and scooping her into my arms. I’m not a strong person, so how I’m able to pick up this giant wolf of a dog is far beyond me, but I do it, and run out of the room, not looking behind me to see how close Gravesley is.
My blood is pounding in my ears as I feel the crisp air from the hallway slap against my skin. I don’t stop moving as my mind races, knowing I can’t afford even the slightest moment of hesitation.
Braxton. I need to find Braxton.
My feet continue to carry me, but I don’t get very far when I feel a rough yank on my hair. Pain shoots down my skull as some of my hair rips free from it, and I’m pulled backward. Luna goes flying out of my arms, letting out a distressed yelp when her injured shoulder hits the hard tiled floor.
“You’re not getting away that easy,” Gravesley grunts. After another hard tug on my hair, I lose my balance and fall backward, but his grip doesn’t relent. Instead, he starts dragging me across the floor.
I begin kicking my legs, wondering how in the seven levels of the Great Abyss, Gravesley is so strong. He has to be more than twice my age, but he’s somehow dragging me back to my room by my hair.
“Stop fighting me!”
I swear my scalp has to be bleeding as more of my hair is ripped free from my head. Tears spring to my eyes as the pain sinks in past the adrenaline.
“You’re being so. Fucking. Annoying,” he grunts, each of his words being punctuated by my body dragging another few inches across the floor. No matter the pain it causes, I continue to thrash around in an attempt to get free.
When my hands fly up to his wrist, I feel the soft silk of the handkerchief he tied his hand up with, and I realize he’s dragging me with his injured hand.
Gliding my fingers down, I can’t tell exactly where the wound is, but based on the dampness of the fabric, I can make my best guess.
Using my pointer and middle finger, I dig them into the hole that my letter opener created.
Gravesley belts out a series of curses, immediately releasing my hair. My head hits the ground with a thud, momentarily leaving me dazed, as a throb enters my temples.
As fast as my body can function, I get back to my feet and start making my way to Luna. She’s lying still on the floor now, and my heart stops in my chest at the sight of her. Blood is beginning to pool past the fur that initially was soaking it up and is leaving streaks on the tiles around her.
“Get back here.” Gravesley grabs my arm. “You should be thanking me,” he seethes as he digs his fingers into my flesh. I wince, but refuse to make any noise of pain as I stare him down. “I’m giving you what you’ve been asking for.”
I don’t want to fall for his bait, but I figure if running isn’t going to work because this old man is weirdly strong and fast, maybe I can stall him with talking.
“And what is that?”
Gravesley grabs my other arm and pulls me toward him until our faces are only inches apart. I wrinkle my nose in disgust and hold my head as far away from his as I can.
“You’re finally about to leave this castle.”
Dread fills my body. While there is a lot I don’t understand about my curse, I know that if I leave the castle, my entire family will die. I try to wriggle out of his bruising grip, but it somehow only makes his hold stronger.
“You know, I thought my little plan would work. Get Braxton to tell you about the curse, then your memories will come back, but you just had to go and ruin that, didn’t you?
” I’m not sure if Gravesley is really talking to me or himself as he slowly starts hauling me back to my room, but I cling to his every word, hoping it might help me make sense of any of this.
“Nope. Not only did you not remember a damned thing, but you went and spread your slutty little legs for him.” Gravesley shakes his head before fixing me with a pointed glare.
“It was a good plan. A great plan. A plan that was guaranteed to get me noticed by her. A century worth of grunt work, and I was finally going to get noticed. But then you had to go and be a little whore.” He turns his head away, continuing to mutter under his breath.
Half of what Gravesley is saying makes absolutely no sense to me, but that last line has my blood boiling.
I push past the panic trying to seize my chest, and let the familiar feeling of rage fill me all the way down to my toes.
Tensing my jaw, I give him a look filled with seething hatred.
Keeping my eyes locked on him, I tip my head back as far as my neck will allow.
“Hey!” I bark, and the instant he turns his head back to look at me, I slam my forehead directly into his nose.
Pain explodes through my skull, but it’s undeniably worth it when the satisfying crunch of bone and cartilage fills my ears.
When I blink away my blurry vision, I’m delighted to see a pool of scarlet dripping down his face.
While my move didn’t loosen his grip on me in the way I hoped, it’s still gratifying to see his slightly askew nose and fuming expression.
Spitting his blood on the floor, I watch it splatter viscous droplets along the white tile.
“You’re going to pay for that.”
Wasting no time in delivering that punishment Gravesley releases one of my arms, lifts his hand high, and brings a striking blow across my cheek.
If he didn’t have my other arm locked in his grip, I would have no doubt gone tumbling to the floor from the sheer force behind his hit.
My tongue runs along my molars to see if he knocked any teeth loose, but I thankfully find them all intact.
Still, I can feel the welt forming along my cheek, and my already throbbing temple intensifies tenfold.
Though my vision is clear, I’m convinced he hit me so hard I must be seeing things. Because as I lift my head, preparing to face Gravesley again, I swear I see Braxton stalking toward us, his sword drawn, and a murderous glint in his eyes.