Chapter 7
DAHLIA
Wind whips at my face as I lean over a sweeping iron balcony. This tower is so high up I can’t see the ground, only a thick layer of mist swirling around the dark walls of the castle. Occasionally, jagged rocks catch in the moonlight through the mist. Taunting me.
Looks like I won’t be making ropes out of bedsheets like they do in my fairytale books.
There’s only one bed in here anyway, and it’s not big enough for any ropemaking. I shudder to think of the monster who sleeps there – how close he’d be if he makes me share his bed.
Tauren. That was the name he gave at the ball. If I’d known about the monstrous friends he keeps in his castle I would’ve thought twice before throwing myself at him. It’s too late now, though.
Whatever they are, or he is, I’m trapped with them until I can find a way out of here. With the door to the hallway locked and the balcony over a three-hundred-foot drop, that may take a while.
After the guards shoved me in here, I spent the first five minutes pounding my fists against the door and the next hugging my chest as I paced slowly around the rooms.
There’s a bedroom with a four-poster bed, its red curtains dripping like blood behind the headboard, while the dozen flickering candles scattered around the furniture don’t make it feel any cosier.
A bathroom with an obsidian bath that’s big enough to swallow me.
A dining room with a long gold-rimmed table and half a dozen chairs.
And finally, some kind of living room with a crackling fireplace that looks more like the open gates to hell than the warm hearth it’s supposed to be.
Burgundy chaise longues and armchairs circle the fire while the carpets felt soft beneath my pointe shoes.
But I didn’t stay in there long. The moment I spotted the night sky through an open door, I barrelled through. Only to be met with the pointed iron railing that now cuts into my palms.
A barn owl swoops over my head. Its call echoes through the night.
I look up at it, glaring. I’d never wished more for wings.
“If you fall I won’t catch you.”
I gasp, whirling around. But my shoes lose their grip on the floor, and I slip. My arms flail for the railing, finding nothing but air, until two hands yank me forward and I slam against a warm chest.
My eyes ease open. I’m being held again, just like I was at the ball. Except now the once-charming stranger glaring down at me makes me feel nothing but fear, and the only people who can save me are a million miles away.
“Don’t test me, human.” Tauren’s growl vibrates through me. With a frustrated huff, he drags me away from the balcony and back inside his living room.
The door is pulled shut before I can breathe again.
Releasing my wrist, my captor marches past me, stopping at a side table to pull two goblets from a cupboard. I watch as he pops the cork of a crystal bottle and pours out some wine.
It’s funny. He looks so similar to how he looked at Blossom’s party. His custard-blond hair curls in waves around his ears. His tunic, black with delicate gold embroidery, fits well against his broad, muscular shoulders. So broad that I completely miss what he says as he turns to face me.
A few moments pass while he blinks expectantly, one goblet in each hand.
“What?” I rasp.
“I asked if you’d like some wine.”
“Oh…” My mouth waters. I haven’t eaten or drank anything since this morning. Father wasn’t thoughtful enough to provide any snacks for the journey in his carriage. Still, I wasn’t born yesterday. “I don’t drink poisoned wine.”
Tauren rolls his eyes. “I wouldn’t taint perfectly good wine with poison if I wanted you dead.” Stepping over to the fireplace, he places one goblet on a low table before taking a seat in a large armchair. “Please.” He sweeps his arm towards a nearby chaise longue. “Sit with me.”
I almost laugh. “No.”
“No?” A smirk eases across his jaw. “Sit with me.”
My legs sweep out from beneath me, and I’m forced forward by invisible hands. When my knees hit the chaise, my world upturns. I collapse in a heap onto the plush fabric. “Stop it!” I scramble up to a sitting position. “Whatever magic you’re doing, stop it!”
Tauren shrugs. “If you behaved, I would have no reason to compel you.”
“If you weren’t such an arse, then maybe I would—”
“Silence.”
My lips clamp shut. No matter how hard I try, no words can slip past his compulsion. I want to scream, yell every obscene word I can think of. But all I can do is glare as my captor grins wolfishly.
“I’m assuming you have many questions.” He leans back in his chair. “And I will answer them for you, if you can do one thing for me.”
Panic catches my breath as his gaze lowers to my lips. He lifts his magic just enough to allow me to reply in a shaking voice, “What is it that you want me to do?”
He clicks his fingers. A horned servant rushes into the room carrying a plate of something delicious-smelling.
“Eat,” he commands before the servant places the food down in front of me and leaves with a quick bow.
“I’m sure you’ve had a long day, and my court thrives during the nights.
So, while you are here, you will eat and sleep according to our schedule. ”
My lips pop apart. The plate is loaded with some kind of meat, sauce, and buttery mashed potatoes. It looks divine, and if I were at home with my sisters, I’d have eaten half of it already.
But I’m not at home. And my sisters aren’t here, either.
“I’m not touching any of that.” As I speak my stomach lets out an angry roar.
Tauren arches a brow. “I’d strongly encourage you to reconsider. Eating under compulsion is not an enjoyable experience, for you or anyone nearby.”
My fingers twist in my skirt. I don’t want to eat food delivered by a monster.
But I’d also rather throw myself off the balcony than let him use his magic on me again.
“Fine.” I snatch up the fork. “You get your wish.” Scooping up as much potato as I can, I thrust it into my mouth and chew in a way that would make Blossom flip a table.
Tauren shakes his head, turning to watch the fireplace. I want to keep annoying him. I want to attack this meal like a pig in the woods, but the moment the potato hits my tongue I can’t do anything other than moan.
“Oh Stars,” I sigh. The plate is clean within minutes. I’ve never tasted food so heavenly. When I finally lower my fork, Tauren is watching me with a smug grin.
“Satisfied?” he asks.
Any pleasure I felt moments ago jumps off the side of this tower. “It was decent,” I lie. “Could’ve done with more seasoning, though. And you didn’t bring me any dessert. No meal is ever complete until I’ve had at least some form of chocolate.” I relax into the chaise.
The chocolate part isn’t a lie. There’s always room for chocolate. I wonder what monster chocolate tastes like—
“What are you?” The questions bursts out before I can stop myself. “I mean, you can do magic so you’re obviously not human.” Even if he looks like one.
He studies me for a moment before replying, “You’re in the demon court. Myself and every being you’ve met here so far has been a demon.”
“What?” I almost lose my dinner. “You’re a demon?”
“Yes.” He takes a sip of wine. “I thought it would’ve been obvious when you arrived in my throne room.”
I shudder thinking of the horned, monstrous-looking creatures I met less than an hour ago. How small I felt.
I always thought faeries might be real. Father once exploded at a guard for letting Fern play too close to a patch of mushrooms in the gardens.
At dinner that night, he warned us all to stay away from mushroom circles.
Between us, we’ve read enough books about evil forest-dwelling faeries to figure out why.
But demons… I’ve read books where they’d turn to shadows and sneak into the bedchambers of unsuspecting maidens to eat their souls. But those were just stories. You can’t eat someone’s soul.
Then again, some of the nobles downstairs looked scary enough to.
“If you’re a demon, why don’t you look as scary as them?” I ask, trying not to let my stare linger on his jaw or soft coloured hair. “Actually, is that offensive to say to a demon?” Not that I’d care if it is, but now I’m curious. “Do demons want to be hideous?”
Tauren chokes on his drink. “Why would anyone want to be—”
“Are horns beautiful to other demons? What about how big they are? Does size matter?” My lips part. “You don’t have any horns… is that a bad thing?”
His cheeks flush as dark as his wine. “Horn size means nothing,” he bites out.
“Are you sure?” I pout mockingly. “To be honest, the romance books I’ve read have always said that size doesn’t matter. It’s how you use it that counts. Then again, I suppose they weren’t speaking about horns…”
“Enough.” He bolts up from his chair.
I want to keep teasing him. His delicious food has settled in my belly, leaving me feeling warm all over.
For a moment, I wonder if it would be so bad to stay here for a while.
Escape can happen later. I’ll wait until my sisters miss me enough and beg for Father to bring me home.
Eventually, he’ll come around. Eden will convince him, even if some of the girls are happy I’m gone.
But then a curtain of darkness ripples over Tauren before it slips away, and all thoughts of my sisters turn to ash.
His eyes have darkened to the colour of coal. His pale skin shimmers a little, as if dusted in gold. His features have sharpened, his jawline cutting enough to ruin any princess who dares wander too close.
And above it all, two black bull horns rise from his head.
My captor looks like a creature from a nightmare that, for some reason, I wouldn’t want to wake from.
“I do not take pleasure in frightening my guests.” His voice is different now – so deep it curls around my heart. “But since you’re finding enjoyment in provoking me, perhaps I have been too kind.”
“I—”
He turns to watch the fireplace, clasping his hands behind his back.
“I captured you as part of a plot against your soon-to-be husband, Lord Elheart. He has stolen something from me, something I cannot live without. If he acts in the way we expect once he receives word of your capture, you will not be here for long. I suspect you’ll be on your way to your beloved’s palace by the end of the week at the latest.”
“Please don’t send me there,” I blurt. Tauren catches my gaze over his shoulder. “It’s just… I didn’t agree to the marriage before Father sent me away. I’d much rather you sent me home or better yet to Night Alley so I can live with my sister. She has a house there, with her—”
“I do not care about your sister.” He turns from the fire to face me, his tall form blocking all the light. Oddly enough, I still feel warm. “And your impending marriage to Elheart is strictly between Elheart and your father.”
“I’m not going to marry him.” I stand up, but a wave of heat flushes over me and I fall back onto the chaise. My palm clutches at my chest. My heart is pounding. “What’s happening? Why do I feel like this?” When I look up at Tauren, he’s all blurry. This isn’t right.
“That’ll be the sedative I put in your food.”
“What?” I slur. “You said you didn’t poison—”
“A sedative is not poison,” he corrects, but I can barely hear him now. My back slumps against the chaise, every breath feeling heavy. The last thing I feel is something leathery tightening around my neck and two strong arms beneath my body before the darkness swallows me whole.