Chapter 7 Tavern #4
“If that was true, you wouldn’t have had to escape. You would’ve been able to walk through the gate.” She had a point there, not that Luna was going to admit such out loud.
Taking Luna’s silence as acceptance, Marion’s smile widened, and her voice returned to its normal volume.
“Anyway, I decided I had to meet the lady responsible for ruffling up Damien’s feathers.
He’s not one to care about a stranger’s well-being.
And now that we’ve met, I can see why he was drawn to you. You’re a delight.”
Though it was creepy that Marion had stalked her, all the compliments made the invasion of privacy less unsettling.
Or maybe it was her drunken state still fogging her mind.
Either way, Marion’s words brought warmth to Luna’s face.
Did Damien think of her as a delight as well?
Skies above! She inwardly cursed herself.
Unicorns were the enemy. Why was she having such a hard time remembering that?
From the corner of her eye, Luna saw Marion flash Damien something in her hand before she slid whatever it was into her pocket. Damien scowled at her. “Why would you . . .”
“Oh, don’t look so concerned, Damien,” Marion teased, interrupting him. “She was going to find out eventually. Why not now?” Marion didn’t wait for his answer. Instead, she turned to Luna and whispered, “You deserved to know. Best of luck.”
Luna’s face contorted with confusion. “What does that mean?”
“You’ll see,” Marion replied with a sing-song tone, patting Luna’s shoulder. “I best go find Gregory now before he decides to call it a night and leave me hanging . . . again.” With that, Marion quickly left, spinning on her heel and heading back towards the dance floor.
Luna blinked hard. Her mind raced to catch up with all that had been said. Clearly, she was in the dark about something. That was more than a little unsettling. She turned to Damien, whose eyes were narrowed on her, studying her. “Do you care to explain what that was all about,” she asked.
He reached into his pocket, pulled out several coins and placed them on the counter for the bartender. “I believe she’s trying to sleep with Gregory.”
Luna smacked his arm. “That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
He looked down at the spot she had touched.
Fear pulsed through Luna as she realized what she had just done.
“I hit you.” She’d just hit a unicorn. Did she have a death wish?
She must. That, or she was just plain stupid.
The effects of alcohol could only be blamed so much.
The contents in her stomach curdled. “I didn’t, um . . . I—”
“It’s funny,” he mused. “Others would be begging for their lives right now. And regardless of their pleas, they would’ve found themselves in a rather dire situation.
” He held her gaze, the corners of his eyes crinkling ever so slightly.
“But you, little swan, have nothing to fear from me. The casualness in which you behave is refreshing.”
Was that a compliment? His words sparked something in her traitorous heart, and her cheeks warmed. Before her eyes could give away her thoughts, she glanced down at the coins he had dropped on the counter only realizing now that someone had to pay for the food she’d eaten.
“Thank you,” she said quietly. “I’m not usually this dependent on anyone, I swear. I can take care of myself.”
“Are you feeling better?”
She rose from the table, testing her legs. Her steps were steadier, but an overwhelming sense of discomfort and unease began to settle over her, making her feel even worse than she did before. “I do, but—”
“Good,” he said as he looked towards the windows where the light was fading. “It’s getting late. Do you have a place to stay for the night?”
“I plan to go home?”
“You’re going back?”
What had he expected? Of course, she was going home. That’s where she lived. “Why do you sound surprised?” Her stomach rolled, her insides groaning. Had the food been spoiled?
“That you’re returning to your captivity? Mmm . . .” he mused as if he was actually trying to figure something out. “It’s hard to narrow down the reasons. Perhaps because a sane person would take their freedom and run?”
Her mouth flattened. “I’m not a captive.”
He only snorted—clearly, still not believing her—but he let it go. “If you must go back, allow me to escort you. It would ease my mind to at least see you got there safely.”
Leaving in the company of a unicorn probably wasn’t the best idea, but neither was walking alone.
Surely, if he meant her harm, he would have acted by now.
The nauseous feeling in her belly amplified.
Not wanting to argue, because she doubted he would have let her go alone anyway, she gave him a small nod. “You can if you wish.”
There was no direct route from the tavern to the palace roads, so Damien led Luna through a series of narrow alleys steeped in darkness from the towering brick buildings lining the streets.
There were no lanterns, the only light guiding them was the light from the stars that littered the sky above and the sun’s rays peeking over the horizon.
Luna walked slowly, hugging her arms around her stomach. Sweat formed on her brow, her insides felt like liquid and every step exhausted her.
Damien kept pace beside her, his gaze flicking to her each time her steps faltered.
Once, when she paused to steady herself against a wall, he murmured, “You don’t have to go back. I can take you somewhere else.”
“Not an option.” Her family would notice if she wasn’t there tomorrow, and as fun as today had been, it couldn’t be her life.
She leaned her cheek against the cool brick, allowing it to soothe her head.
If she got through tonight, she would swear off alcohol forever.
She pressed her hand to her chest, willing her lungs to expand so that she could take a full breath.
“But thank you for all you have done.” Her voice was breathy, barely a whisper.
Each word was a struggle to get out. “If you weren’t there when I was bleeding, who knows what would’ve happened. ”
Maybe King Hendrix was right to implement all of the restrictions he had in place for her, they surely had been keeping her safe.
Swallowing, she forced the bile rising in her throat down.
His mouth tightened, but he didn’t press.
She pushed away from the wall, forcing herself onward—then froze.
A horrible tingling sensation pierced the tips of her fingers as she reached for her one constant comfort in life, only to find it gone.
Like a capsized boat sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor, she dropped to the ground.
Disbelief swarmed her mind. How could something so precious to her suddenly be gone?
Her hands flew over her body and the ground, searching for the chain or the pendant.
“What’s wrong?”
“My necklace . . .” Her eyes scanned the ground behind them. “I lost it.” Had it fallen off while they were walking? Or maybe when she had been dancing?
Blood roared in her ears, her heart pounding in her chest with the might of a thousand horses running in a storm. Frantically, she tried to think, but she was far too ill to remember the last time she’d seen it.
Nausea overpowered her just then, and she buckled over. She braced herself on one knee and held her hair back as she vomited the contents of her stomach.
Damien reached for her, rubbing slow circles against her back.
When she was done, she tried her best to stand and straighten, which was difficult with how dizzy she was. “I guess I had too much to drink.”
“You definitely did, but I don’t think that’s what this—”
His sentence was cut short.
Luna’s high-pitched cry pierced the air, echoing off the building walls. Her skin was molten lava, her sweat soaking her clothes. Desperately, she tore at her garments to free herself from their hold.
Damien clasped her hands in his, and if she could have killed him with a single look, he would have been a dead man.
She tried to rip her hands from him, but he was much stronger than her and held on tight. She was about to tell him how to get to hell when she noticed how he stared at her hands. They were emitting white light; it looked like she had little stars attached to her arms instead of hands.
“Hang on, Luna,” he said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small green leaf, tearing it in half.
Darkness engulfed her.
She could see nothing. Hear nothing.
The air around her thinned, and there was a pull on her body. It was the strangest feeling. Like she was part of every plant that existed in the world and could move through them. Afraid, she gripped Damien’s hand tightly—fearing if he let go, she would be lost in the vast void.
A heartbeat later, the shadows holding her lifted and Damien gave her hand a small squeeze before releasing it.
They were in an open field, but where exactly, she did not know. The pain renewed before she could ask what had happened or where they were. The momentary pause now pushed the pain to new heights. It seemed as if a thousand knives were being stabbed into her body.
Her skull felt like it was going to burst from pressure—as if something was trying to poke through her forehead.
She clutched her head, nails digging into her scalp as if she could hold herself together, but the pressure only worsened.
Whatever was in her head was dragging her neck longer, painfully stretching her spine.
Light moved like lightning beneath her skin, white-hot and relentless.
It burned through her veins, bright and brighter, until it was all she could see.
She arched back, a scream tearing from her lungs as the glow poured from her, breaking from her skin like cracks in porcelain.
Her knees buckled, bending the wrong way with a sickening pop.
Above, the stars twinkled in the sky, unmoved by her pain. How unfathomable that world kept on while she was breaking from the inside.
She collapsed forward with a strangled cry, her fingers trembling—no, changing. Skin fusing. Nails hardening into something sharper, thicker, sprouting from her knuckles.
Her body was unmaking itself. Bones snapping, nerve endings searing, organs twisting as if being rearranged by invisible hands.
And when she thought it couldn’t get worse, the thing trying to break through her skull succeeded.
She choked on another scream and through her cries, she begged, “Damien, end this. Make it stop.”
But, the pain was never-ending. The light surged on, blinding, searing—and then, finally, blissful, cool darkness found her.