“I’m not sure exactly. Whatever it is he wants with any young girl, I suppose.” Scelestus shook her head, as if it hadn’t even occurred to her why someone like Valefor would want her virginal step-daughter. “You know better than I the things that your master wants.”
“That I do.” Lux breathed deeply and tried to remind himself that this didn’t matter. That she didn’t matter. His purpose in life had nothing to do with a silly girl or her well-being.
“I should return to the ball,” Scelestus sighed and got to her feet. “And you should retrieve Lily before the attendance starts to dwindle.”
“Yes, of course.” Lux stood up.
“Do you know how to get back to the ballroom? It’d be best if we didn’t return together.” She smiled, attempting something seductive, but it fell short.
“Yes, I do,” Lux nodded, but he didn’t feel certain of it.
He didn’t feel certain of anything. In the course of half an hour, his entire world felt tipped upside down. He wanted a moment to collect his thoughts, but he didn’t have the time. Scelestus expected him to do his job, and more importantly, so did Valefor.
Valefor was the last person on Earth he wanted to upset. That meant he had to do what he was told, the same as he always had.
Lux would’ve liked to say that he had felt uncomfortable about the things Valefor had asked him to do in the past, but he hadn’t. Since deciding to serve him, Lux hadn’t second-guessed anything. Some of things he did weren’t pleasant, but that was the price he paid, the price he had chosen to pay.
As he walked out of Lady Scelestus’s secret chambers, Lux found himself thinking that, for the first time, he might not be able to go through with his orders. All because a ridiculous girl had decided to wrap his hair around her finger, and he couldn’t get her out of his head.
2
In the ballroom, everyone twirled in time with the music. The gowns flowed out around the girls, shimmering and swaying in the light. They linked arms with their dance partners, using their free hands to hold the masks in front of their faces, while the spectators on the fringe watched with fascination. It all seemed a little too entrancing, and Lux wondered whether a spell from Scelestus had anything to do with their fervent interest.
He stood at the edge of the room, debating what to do, and he couldn’t believe he was even debating. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Scelestus sitting at the head of the room, next to her husband. Lux had been hoping that the Lord would sense something was amiss, but he watched the dancing with the same foolish grin as everyone else. As if what they were doing were magic instead of a glorified waltz.
Lux’s real focus was on Lily. As soon as he’d walked into the room, he’d spotted her, his eyes drawn to her. She tried to stay hidden on the far side of the room, all but pressed up against the wall. Her eyes were on the dance floor, but her expression had a blank faraway look, as if her thoughts were elsewhere entirely.
No matter what he decided to do, Lux couldn’t stay away from her any longer. Something inside him seemed magnetized to her, and it was exhausting fighting it. He plummeted into the crowded ballroom floor, clumsily pushing through the dancers to get to the other side. Going around the sides of the room would be easier, but it wouldn’t be as fast.
As he pushed people to the side, they swore at him, and he created a small scene. His gaze still fixed on Lily across the room, he noticed the instant she saw him. Her eyes widened, her lips parted, and an embarrassed shade of crimson highlighted her cheeks. She looked like she wanted to run but hadn’t mustered up the nerve yet, and Lux quickened his pace to get to her.
When he finally made his way out of the crowd, to the empty space on the side of room where Lily hid, he stopped. She was only a few feet in front of him, and he took deliberate, slow steps to her. By the sounds of the dancing behind him, everyone had forgotten about him already. Lux and Lily were alone, without an audience to witness or care what they did.
“You’re not dancing,” Lux said when he reached her.
“Neither are you.” She tried to keep her voice even, but the heavy rise and fall of her chest gave her away. It’d be easy to mistake her reaction as fear, but when he looked into her eyes, he saw an emotion he was far more familiar with.
“I didn’t have a suitable partner.” He smiled at her, and she lowered her eyes again.
“I’m sure you could find one.”
“I think I have.” Lux held out his hand to her, not that he meant to dance with her. He had no idea what he meant to do, but he’d feel better once he had her hand in his.
She shook her head demurely and didn’t take his hand. “I don’t dance.”
“You don’t like dancing, you don’t like parties. What is it that you do like?” He smiled and moved closer to her, so she could feel the imposing sense of his body. “You’re unhappy here. Why don’t we go somewhere that you can be happy?”
“Where?” She looked up at him, her eyes unabashedly hopeful, and it pulled at something inside him.
“We’ll decide when we get there.”
Lux offered her his hand again, and this time, she took it. Her hand felt small and cool in his, her skin softer than satin. He would’ve been content to simply stand there and hold her hand forever, and that thought frightened him into motion. This time, he couldn’t risk a scene, so he stayed to the sides of the room, walking along the walls until they could slip out the doorway.
She followed him without question, and her naivety upset him. Normally he liked anything that made his job easier, but anything that innocent wouldn’t last long with Valefor. He pushed the thought from his mind and quickened his steps. She hurried along behind him, lifting the length of her dress to keep from tripping.
When he stepped outside through the front doors, he signaled the valet to fetch his horse, and it startled him how cold the night air had gotten. He looked over at Lily, her bare shoulders dimpling from the chill, and he nearly offered her his jacket before he stopped himself.
His slick black horse rounded the driveway in front of them. Lux let go of her hand to help her up onto the horse. He’d expected to feel some relief at that, but instead he felt pain at the separation. He was already looking for an excuse to touch her again.
It occurred to him after he’d climbed on the horse with Lily’s arms wrapped tightly around his waist and he’d sped off down the road – this all had to be some kind of spell. Maybe Scelestus put one on him to make him more dutiful.
But that didn’t make sense, since he had the urge to protect Lily from his master, and that was the opposite of what Scelestus wanted. Maybe Lily had done it.
When her arms tightened around him, his stomach swirled with something warm.
Yes, that had to be it. She dabbled in the same dark arts as her step-mother, and she concocted a plan to protect herself. She kissed Lux and put some kind of spell on him, so he’d want to save her instead of taking her to his master.
That didn’t explain why Lux felt drawn to her the second he heard her speak, or how innocent and uncertain she looked. If she had put a spell on him, why bother with the pretense? She could drop the act and simply order him to help her, and he’d follow.
“Where are we going?” Lily asked, her soft words in his ear.
“You can drop the act,” Lux blurted out, hoping to startle her into admitting she cast a spell on him.
“What?”
“I know you put a spell on me.”
“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lily stammered and her arms loosened around him. “I’m not sure what’s happened to you, but I’ve had nothing to do with it. My step-mother might know something about it. Maybe she will help you.”
“Drop the innocent act.” He rolled his eyes, trying to hang on to some anger and irritation, but he didn’t have any. At least not for Lily. “You kissed me the second you met me and then ran off into the night with me. That’s not something a virtuous girl would do.”
“You�
��re absolutely right.” Lily lowered her head. “I have no idea what came over me. I’ve never kissed anybody before.”
“You mean you’ve never kissed anyone like that before.” Lux slowed the horse and felt a strange ache inside him because he was upsetting her.
“No. I’ve never kissed anyone. Ever.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I know how foolish I am. Please. Just take me home.”
Lux swallowed painfully. He couldn’t take her back home. Scelestus would find a new way to get rid of her, and Valefor would send someone else after her and after Lux. He definitely couldn’t take her to Valefor. He would eat her alive, probably quite literally.
But Lux had nowhere else to take her. What few consorts he had were nearly as bad as Valefor, and he couldn’t leave a girl like Lily with them. Nor could he go on the run with her. She stood a better chance without him. She was just one stupid girl, but Lux had vowed to serve Valefor. If he went astray, Valefor would send everything after Lux until he was destroyed.
“Damn,” Lux cursed and pulled the horse to a sudden stop. It snorted with irritation, and Lily squeezed onto him tighter to keep from falling off.
“I’m sorry!” Lily said, assuming his anger was with her. “I never meant to bother you!”
“No, no, you’re not. You’re…” Lux trailed off. Once again, he felt the urge to comfort her, but he had no idea how, so he stopped. “You didn’t do anything wrong. Just let me think.”
“Think?” Lily asked, trying not to let his outburst get to her. “About what?”
“I don’t know.” He glanced around, looking at the blur of dark trees around them. “What is that?”
“What?” Lily looked over at the forest next to the road. All the branches hung leafless and bare, the way they always had. “It’s the Necrosilvam.”
“The cursed forest,” he murmured, and slid off the horse.
“What are you doing?” Panic edged into her voice. “Why are you getting off the horse?”
“Do you trust me?” Lux looked up at her seriously. Whenever his eyes met hers like that, he found it hard to think clearly or breathe or do anything that didn’t involve pulling her close to him.
“I know that I shouldn’t,” Lily said quietly.
“True enough,” he allowed, and he held his hand out to her. “Get down.”
“What?” She stared at him without climbing off the horse.
“I need you to trust me on this.”
“What are we doing?” Lily took his hand and let him help her to the ground. The woods behind them echoed and groaned, as if waiting to swallow them up.
“You can’t go home,” Lux told her. “I mean that. You can never go home.”
“Why not?” Lily asked.
“You just can’t.” He was unwilling to explain his role, how he had conspired with her step-mother to kidnap her. “You need to go into the forest and hide out for a few days. Then go. And keep going, but never go home.”
“I can’t go in the forest!” Lily looked appalled. “I’ll be killed.”
“No, it’s your only chance of survival!” Lux told her forcefully.
Valefor was very good at tracking things he wanted, but other magic clouded out his. The Necrosilvam should have enough in it to block Valefor’s usual methods long enough for him to grow bored.
Lux would’ve offered to go with Lily, to try to protect her, but Valefor would grow more suspicious. He’d maintain his interest longer, and Lux would amplify her signal, making them easier for Valefor to find. It’d be far better for her to go it alone.
“I don’t know what I’ve done to upset you so!” By then, Lily had begun crying. She thought that Lux meant to leave her here to die. “I’m sorry! Please don’t make me stay here!”
“Listen to me!” Lux put his hands on her shoulders, steadying her before she got hysterical, and her skin felt like ice under his fingers. Touching her sent a surge of electricity through him, but it seemed to calm and focus her. “Whatever is in that forest is far better than what awaits you if I take you with me. Keep watch at night and sleep during the day. Stay to the ground in the dark and the trees during the light.”
“I don’t understand.” A tear slid down her cheek, nearly breaking his heart, and he let go of her.
“I know.” He slid off his jacket and draped it over her shoulders. “Promise me you won’t go home.”
“Why?” She stared up at him, the moon glinting off the tears in her eyes.
“Promise me,” he repeated.
“I promise,” Lily said.
Even though she’d only known him an hour, and he was abandoning her in the cursed forest in the middle of the night, he knew that she’d follow through with her promise. She trusted him.
Lux watched her a moment longer. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew if he did he would never leave her. He got on his horse without saying a word, and he glanced back at her only once. She stood on the side of the road in her white ball gown with his jacket wrapped tightly around her, and then she turned and disappeared into the forest.
Lily stood a much better chance against some cursed trees than she did against Valefor. Lux raced off into the night, surprised by the ache in his chest that only grew larger the farther he got from Lily. He ignored it, though. He had more important things to worry about.
He didn’t even know what Valefor wanted with her. Lily was just a girl. She wasn’t even a princess. Lux could easily find some other girl and pass her off as Lily. Since Valefor was probably just using her in some kind of ritual or simply for fun, any girl would do. Lux had no problem getting a girl for his boss. Just not Lily.
3
Lily slid her arms through the sleeves of Lux’s jacket, the cuffs hanging over her hands. The dead trees around her seemed to breathe and reach their branches for her. She crouched low to the ground, trying to escape their grasp and convince herself that it was all in her imagination. Trees didn’t assault and kidnap young girls, no matter what superstitions said.
Her mother had always told her to never be afraid of anything, and while that sounded like good advice, Lily couldn’t help but believe it was that kind of thinking that had gotten her in this mess in the first place. Any reasonable girl would’ve been afraid of a mysterious stranger swooping into a ball and taking her away in the middle of the night. Lux was a very attractive stranger, but that hardly counted for much.
But something about his smile, the way he looked at her, had enchanted her completely. His eyes were the palest shade of blue she’d ever seen, crystal clear and sparkling. As soon as she’d laid eyes on him, something had taken over her. She’d nearly run down the stairs to meet him. And then, despite every convention she’d been taught, she kissed him.
And oh, that kiss! Even thinking of it now, while nearly crawling on the ground of the Necrosilvam, her skin flushed warmly. It’d been more magical than she thought anything could ever feel, but she pushed it from her mind. It was that sin, which had seemed so small and slight, that had led to her to this. One little kiss, and she’d been abandoned here to die.
Lily knew she should be angry at him for taking her and leaving her like this, but she wasn’t. Despite everything, she trusted him. She didn’t understand what was happening, and it upset her that Lux didn’t think he could tell her. But the insistent look in his eyes before he left made her believe he was doing this for her. He was trying to protect her from something, although none of it made any sense to her. Especially since the Necrosilvam was so horrible.
The stories about the Necrosilvam were some of the worst, since it ran right along the end of Lily’s father’s land in Insontia. Past the rolling green hills, the foggy moors, and the pristine rivers, the dark shadows of the wood stood like tombstones in an overgrown cemetery.
Legend was that long ago a curse had been put on the trees so their limbs never had leaves, but they could never die. They were left haunted and possessed, only attracting creatures of a similar nature, and any man that entered, never cam
e out of it alive.
Lily’s mother, Iris, had never been one for gossip, and when she heard the servants carrying on about all the horrible things that happened in the Necrosilvam, Iris would chastise them. Whenever her mother wasn’t around, Lily would hide down in the scullery closet and listen to them talk. They told the most fantastic stories about good and evil, and the cook in particular knew every superstition known to man.
Lily had yet to see anything terrible, but she could hear things scurrying about. Sometimes, she’d catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye, but when she turned to look, it was gone. She tried to tell herself it was all in her in head, but the insistent panic in her demanded otherwise.
One of the branches tangled in her long dark waves, and she jerked her head back, trying to pull it free, but it only caught more. When she turned back behind her, she could see the branch in the moonlight, making a fist to grab onto her tighter. All the trees around her were leaning in, moving in closer to her, their wood creaking and groaning as they bent at her.
Screaming, Lily ran forward. She managed to escape from the branch’s grasp, but only by leaving a few strands of her hair with it. Running ahead did no good, since trees were all around her. The wind whipped through them, sounding all too much like laughter.
Seeing no real way to get away from them, Lily fell on her knees. The ground felt wet and mossy, and it’s dampness seeped through her gown. She pulled Lux’s jacket up over her head, protecting herself the only way she knew how. She could feel the branches, running like claws down her back. Gritting her teeth, she steeled herself for whatever attack they might have.
But abruptly, everything stopped.
The trees groaned as they fell back into place, standing upright. Lily peered out from under the jacket, looking uncertainly at the woods. She waited a beat, suspecting some kind of treachery, but when there was none, she slowly lowered the jacket, letting it hang back on her shoulders, and got to her feet.
The forest had fallen silent around her. Nothing groaned or breathed. Even the wind had stopped. The scurrying creatures in her peripheral vision had disappeared.
Virtue - a Fairy Tale Page 2