Chapter 20
ISABELLE AWOKE WITH A jolt, gasping in a breath as silk caressed her skin. When she opened her eyes, she realized she was in her room, a half-finished painting of a new still life sitting on the easel and a fire crackling in the hearth.
But she wasn’t alone, Rul’s sly grin back to normal as he held her in his arms.
“Get off of me!” she yelled, but he refused to let go, squeezing her tighter until she could no longer squirm in his grasp.
“Please, sweetheart, just let it be. There’s nothing you need to worry about. I promise.”
“Just tell me what’s going on!” she gasped, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes, her anxiety soaring.
She was helpless, but not in a way that made her mind deliciously numb. No, she was just as vulnerable as when she was a child, deemed too weak for her father to tell her the truth about her mother, so she had to hear the whispers from the people of the town.
She had no power, no strength, had given up her Goddess for these demons who kept secrets from her, who refused to explain what was happening.
Suddenly, Rul went rigid, blanching as he let out a low groan and rolled onto his back. He grabbed at his stomach, the lights flickering erratically and the hearth extinguishing in a puff of smoke.
Isabelle got to her knees, crouching over him and pressing a palm to his cheek as he grimaced in pain.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her voice pitched high with panic.
Everything was out of control, the room trembling around them as she held onto Rul, his eyes squeezed shut and his jaw clenched. She took his hand in hers, and he gripped her so hard that stars dotted her vision, her fingers screaming in pain though she made no move to escape his grasp.
Bellinor burst through the door a moment later, a worried look on his face as he strode over to the bed.
“He’s hurt!” she cried, Rul’s tight hold on her finally letting up, though that didn’t stop the fear from racing through her.
“I’m fine,” he groaned, the lie blatant from the stiffness in his muscles and the distorted expression on his face.
“You’re not fine.”
Her voice was raspy as Rul released her hand, the room still shaking like a great quake was upon them. He pushed himself up, circling his arms around her as everything vibrated with terrible energy.
“What is going on?” she asked for what felt like the hundredth time, frightened by the way le Jardin continued to shudder violently.
Rul and Bellinor glanced at each other, as if neither one were eager to answer.
“Le Voile hungers,” Bellinor said, which explained nothing.
“And what does that mean?”
Anger was bubbling in her chest, heating her skin and tensing her muscles. She refused to feel the tenderness in Rul’s grasp, pulling away from him and shuffling to the end of the bed, wrapping her arms around her knees as if making herself smaller would help her escape.
“It means someone must be delivered to le Voile. Le Jardin is in danger. Le Voile doesn’t just let us live peacefully here. There is always a sacrifice.”
Isabelle sucked in a breath, the meaning apparent as she stared at them with wide eyes.
“I’m the sacrifice,” she whispered, her chest clenching with despair.
Celeste was right.
She had let lust into her heart, and she was dancing with the devils. Devils who had only brought her here to feed her to the Veil.
“No, no, of course not!” Rul said, holding his hands up, the pained grimace still on his face. “It’s impossible to know when le Voile will hunger, though usually it’s not this close to the last feeding.”
“You’re feeding people to it? Goddess…”
“We aren’t doing anything,” Bellinor growled, stepping closer to the bed, but not making a move to touch her.
“I should never have believed you. Either of you. I should never have betrayed the moon mother,” she murmured, clasping her hands together in a desperate prayer.
She had forsaken the Goddess, and in her heart, she knew the Goddess had forsaken her.
Now Bellinor’s brows furrowed, his glare deadly.
“Your moon mother is the one who created this place. The one who feeds le Voile. This is all her doing.”
It felt like she had been punched in the gut, all the breath taken from her lungs in a single instant.
“What are you talking about?”
“Why do you still care so much about her?” Bellinor asked. “She who has taken everything from you but given you nothing in return.”
“That’s not true!”
“You sacrifice everything for her, and all she does is make you feel worthless when you have so much to offer.”
“The moon mother is the only one who deserves my love. And if she sent you to this place, then it’s because you belong here.”
Bellinor and Rul’s eyes both widened in tandem.
“She lied to you,” Bellinor growled, his hatred for Celeste palpable. “She is nothing more than a witch.”
A pit opened in her stomach, a sinking feeling like she was falling from a great distance even though she was sitting on the firm mattress.
“You’re the one who’s lying!”
She couldn’t help but raise her voice, panic building as Bellinor stared down at her with glowing white eyes.
“She feeds off your love, your devotion, makes you crave her acceptance like a drug. But when you get a taste of something else, it changes, doesn’t it? It didn’t feel the same once I marked you for the first time.”
What he was saying couldn’t possibly be true. Celeste was selfless, serving her faithful as they worshipped her. A mother guiding her flock of children.
“I was in love with her once,” Bellinor continued, his voice cracking.
The statement hit her like a ton of bricks, and she opened her mouth to protest, but saw the truth in his watery eyes, his furrowed brows, his deep frown.
“She seduced me, tricked me, made me love her, and then banished me here when she needed her first sacrifice. She knew this place would ruin me, but she did it anyway. She is a vile witch who cares nothing for you, who doesn’t even know you exist!”
His voice rose as he continued on, and he looked like he was on the verge of crying, just as tears burned at the corners of her eyes.
“It’s not true,” she said halfheartedly, but she didn’t believe her own words.
“Celeste created this place when she came to power. Everything has a cost, and when she stole the creation magic, pure destruction is all that remained. Le Voile needs to be fed souls so she can sustain her eternal life. This is where she sends her most devoted followers. This is the Sanctum that her priestesses harp on about. She’s a cruel witch who cares nothing for those who have devoted their lives to her. How can you not see that?”
The way she felt drained after every midnight confessional and offering of light, it was more than just the shame she’d been forced to feel over and over again for her bodily wants and needs.
The temple had never helped her move past the loss of her father, had kept her in a state of perpetual humiliation, had made her feel unworthy of real love.
It was all so clear now that she was out of Celeste’s reach.
But what was the alternative? She submitted to Bellinor and Rul, just as she submitted to Celeste. They owned her just as the moon mother owned her. How could he act like he was any different from the one who had cursed him to this hell?
“You’re the ones who send people out there when you’re done using them. You’re the ones who feed it.”
Bellinor shook his head furiously.
“The souls who feed le Voile are sent by Celeste. Over the years, I… I chose to get my revenge on her, though it pales in comparison to what she did to me. I bring her devotees here and make them see the truth of their goddess before returning them to Marilet. Not all of Celeste’s followers are as ascetic as they make themselves out to be, but none of them are quite like you. ”
A deviant. A whore.
“What do you want from me?”
Bellinor glanced at Rul, who avoided eye contact with both of them, his shoulders sagging as he stepped up to the bed.
“Please, trust me,” Bellinor said, placing a palm to her cheek and sending her into darkness.
“Don’t you love me?” a woman asked, her lips pursed into a perfect pout.
She was beautiful, more beautiful than any person Isabelle had ever seen, but there was something sinister about her eyes. They were empty, bereft of any emotion, as black as the void of le Voile.
“Of course, I love you,” Isabelle said, but it wasn’t her voice.
It was a low, masculine sound, though the words had come from her mouth, her body trembling as she stood before the beautiful woman. They were in a small room, a table and chairs the only furniture, an open window letting in a gentle breeze.
“Then why won’t you give me what I want?”
“I can’t,” Isabelle said, the words flowing as if they were automatic. “It would mean…”
“But you said you loved me. You know what will happen if you don’t do this. I’ll have to find someone else.”
The woman frowned, touching Isabelle’s face and looking deep into her eyes. The black holes were mesmerizing, horrifying, clenching her chest with anxiety. She didn’t want the woman to leave her.
She didn’t want to be alone.
“I do love you. I’ll… I’ll do anything for you.”
The woman’s scowl curled into a wicked grin, her expression positively gleeful.
“I knew you would, my love.”
The room faded, the woman’s smirk the final image seared in Isabelle’s mind as blackness enveloped her once again.
She was alone, icy dread crawling up her spine, eerie silence surrounding her. She could see nothing, just darkness in every direction, felt nothing but heated air as she waved her arms through the vast expanse.
A sudden sensation of intense fear overwhelmed her, her pulse quickening and sweat beading on her brow. She couldn’t breathe, every muscle trembling as a strange clicking surrounded her, echoing from every direction at once.
As her eyes adjusted, she saw the path, an obsidian bridge stretching and twisting on and on.
Into the heart of le Voile.
Eternal misery threatened to overwhelm her, but she refused to give up.