CHAPTER TEN
“A trip? As in going away. To spend time together. For days. After just one date.” Pari gaped up at me as she sat atop my vanity chair. Her eyes broke away to track the nightdress I placed into my bag.
“What can I say? He has captured my heart.”
Her widened eyes turned into a hard glare. “You’re a terrible liar, and you would never say something like that,” she said flatly.
I sighed as I eyed the various gowns and cosmetics I had flung onto my bed. How does one pack for this sort of venture? I supposed I should keep it simple. Most of our time would be spent within the horrid woods.
I’d woken early to review what I had read of the Hushed Woods.
It was eerily quiet, unnaturally so, stuck in a perpetual silence, as if all life stilled at the approach of a predator.
When the frogs and crickets go silent, and the birds stop chirping, even the leaves don’t dare to shift.
It was said only the strongest minds should enter, as there was no sound to focus on but what existed in your own head. And I myself despised the silence.
I often slept with a sound mechanism. It was a cylinder filled with salt that sounded similar to the ocean as it spun.
The idea of total silence made my skin crawl.
And to make matters worse, beings existed within the woods, beings I had only believed to reside between pages.
I looked to Pari. This was a journey that suited her.
She lived for this type of excitement. I still couldn't even hit a target.
I sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll ever get another suitor.
I’m just trying to give this my best effort.
” I cringed a bit inside. As if I’d give Sebastian my best effort.
I felt terrible lying to Pari, but Alaric’s words crept through my mind.
I couldn’t get anyone involved. His threat rang loud and clear.
I shouldn’t even be going, but I couldn’t just stop.
I couldn’t give up, especially since Alaric had well and truly proved himself to be feral and unreasonable.
He had to go, along with the portal and all of the vampires.
“Well, don’t try too hard. He should love you for who you are, not who you try to be.”
A part of me wilted at that, the part of me ambivalent to whether that would ever happen.
Though I supposed he did know who I really was. It was nice to have someone know everything. I didn’t have to hide anything from him. But we were of different worlds, and our paths should have never crossed.
* * *
I stood straight as an arrow with my arms hung limp at my sides as I stared at the horse. A beautiful raven black, as was standard for the Society.
“Is there a problem, Charlotte?” Amusement colored Sebastian’s eyes.
“A horse?”
“Yes, this is a horse.” He stroked its coat as he smirked.
I let out a short huff of air through my nose. “One horse? Are we meant to ride together?”
“Do you know how to ride a horse yourself?”
Where I once cursed myself, I now cursed Alaric. “Horses have never really been ... fond of me. I often spooked them, though I suppose now it had never been me who was spooking them.”
“Then yes, we are meant to ride together.”
“What about a carriage?”
“There are no roads or even walking trails through the woods. Horseback is the only way, unless you’d like to walk, though that would add a few days to our trip.”
The thought of any additional time spent in the woods made me grimace. I’d rather take my chances with the horse. I sighed, taking slow steps forward. I kept a few feet between me and the horse, who started to fidget as if it itched to run from me.
“I don’t think it likes me.” I eyed the horse warily.
“This is Nyx.” He reached for my bag, and I handed it to him mechanically.
“Okay. I don’t think Nyx likes me.”
“Come here.” He gestured for me to stand beside him.
I sidestepped over to them, never taking my eyes off her.
He took my hand, and I shivered at the contact.
He raised my hand up to the beast, and her giant nostrils wiggled around it.
She let out a grumble that sounded an awful lot like agitation to me.
I stepped back into a hard chest. His hand gripped my waist to steady me, and I let out a slight gasp as his fingers dug into my soft flesh.
He released my waist and forced my palm open to place a carrot atop my hand.
I leaned into him further, but he was immovable, and his ironclad grip kept my hand offered to Nyx.
I stifled a yelp as she sucked up the carrot and released a breath as my hand remained intact.
“I think you’ll be fine now,” he said it right into my ear. His lips brushed me slightly, and a chill shuddered through me.
I took a giant step back from her as he finally released me. He strapped my small bag to the saddle, and I was glad I kept it simple.
“After you.” He gestured to her.
I took in a deep breath, hesitantly placing my hands against the saddle.
“Do you need help mounting?”
He chuckled as I swatted him away. Though I wouldn’t be getting much distance from him now.
Right as I managed to perch myself atop the saddle, he was behind me.
I swallowed hard as his warmth bled into my back.
He reached his arms around me as he gathered up the reins, and I was all too aware of every part of us that touched.
He leaned forward, pressing into me, and my breath hitched. His face nearly brushed mine. “Are you comfortable?” His deep voice rumbled through my back.
“Not in the slightest.”
“Because of Nyx?”
“Among other things.”
He chuckled, the sound a bit lighter than what he was usually capable of. It threw me off, and I had to grip the horn of the saddle to stay upright as we set off.
After a moment of silence, he spoke, and my back ached from being so rigid that I finally relaxed, which meant I had to relax into him.
“It will take several hours to reach the woods. We’ll stay at an inn near the border and enter the woods in the morning.
From there her home should only be a couple of hours away. ”
* * *
By the time we arrived at the inn, I could barely feel my legs. I wanted to slide off of Nyx, content to just remain on the ground in a puddle. But I reluctantly let Sebastian help me off when he dismounted, and I remained deep in thought about how to move my legs.
“Not used to riding, are we?” He smirked. I stepped out of his arms when they lingered around me a moment too long.
“I hardly ever go anywhere, and when I do, it’s certainly not on the back of a beast who would be more than pleased to send me flying off to another world.”
He let out a displeased sound, and I wasn’t quite sure what part of what I said displeased him.
We had traveled through a small farming village and reached an even smaller village nestled in the woods. The inn was a charming building that resembled a large cabin. Flowerpots hung from the porch, and lanterns lit our way to the entrance. The sun was beginning to dip below the horizon.
Sebastian picked up the room key from the front desk.
I eyed the single key, but I didn’t want to make a fuss in front of the already timid innkeeper, who was shaking like a leaf.
I was not sure what had him so shaken. Perhaps, it was from the man looming over him like the demon from the underworld that he was.
Sebastian seemed to have a looming presence no matter the situation.
My fears were confirmed as he opened the door, and one bed filled the majority of the room. My eyes slid over to him as I was about to protest.
“I can’t risk having you out of my sight. Not here. We’re far from Society headquarters now. Newborns can roam more freely out here. And your scent ... it’s quite strong.” His face looked pained as his nostrils twitched.
My mouth fell open as I let out a scoff. “Well, excuse me, we’ve only been traveling all day. Apologies for not having the time to bathe away my offensive scent.”
“Your blood,” he said each word slowly to get them through my thick head.
“Oh.” I looked to the floor. “Right.” I was growing dafter by the day because I hadn’t even thought about how my blood would affect him. He always seemed so in control. I didn’t think to worry, but I had every reason to worry.
The demons can hide behind the guise of their stolen humanity. Blood will reveal their true nature. They cannot hide behind their human form then.
He entered the room, and I hesitated within the threshold.
“When was the last time you ... I mean have you ... do you ...” Was it appropriate to ask? I was not familiar with vampire culture.
He placed our bags on a faded beige armchair shoved into one of the tight corners of the room, and sauntered over to me.
His eyes never left mine as he wrapped his hand around my waist and pulled me closer.
I wondered why I didn’t try to get away.
He leaned into me. My breath hitched, and I couldn’t stop my hands from flying to my throat.
He frowned. The soft click made me jump. He had leaned in to close the door.
He stepped back from me, and I dropped my hands. My cheeks warmed and suddenly the room felt far too hot.
“We shouldn’t speak of this where others can hear.” His tone was calm, but there was something off about his expression.
“And I never drink from others without expressed permission.”
Oh. I had offended him. My cheeks burned now.
“I’m sorry. I’m not used to being so close to a ...” I trailed off, unsure of what to say, figuring I’d only dig myself a deeper hole to lie in.
“I suppose there is no need for apologies. I know what you have been taught.”
Right. He knew everything now. He was my father’s secondhand.
He heard exactly how Father spoke of the vampires, exactly what we had all heard, what had been ingrained into us.
But I was learning more and more each day.
There was so much we didn’t know. And there was maybe even possibly things we had been wrong about.