Darling, There Are Wolves in the Woods

by Lydia Russell

  “There's unrest amongst Luthien's fey,” he said. “They're bored. You just made their lives more exciting for an evening. You made a few of them rather reckless.”

  I felt a small smile tug at my lips. “I hope they're safe.”

  “I do too,” he said, turning back to look up the stairs. “You are stalling.”

  “What would happen if I walked out now?” I asked, feeling the subtle tug on my hand as he inched me closer to the stairs. “If I ran away...”

  “The curse is holding you to the castle, Teya, you can't walk out of those doors. Try if you want, but it's done now. All that's left to do is free Niven from it.” Laphaniel took a breath, and I glanced at the great doors before turning back to him. “Without our Queen, the Unseelie would sniff us out and slaughter us all.”

  “Are they a stronger court?”

  “At the moment we are at a stalemate. Their barren queen is dying and she leaves behind no heir.”

  “I thought fey were immortal,” I said, moving away from the staircase to walk around the gloomy hall.

  Laphaniel followed me, as curious as I was. “No one lives forever, Teya.”

  His words reminded me of what Luthien had told me, how love was fleeting, that it had an ending like all things. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if that were true, if Laphaniel would one day wake up and decide he no longer wanted to be locked away within a nightmare for me. Would he just leave? Would I awaken one day to find no trace of him, or would he stay as he promised, until resentment set in. Perhaps he would stay until there was nothing left between us but a memory of a love that had never stood a chance.

  “Stop that,” he said, startling me out of my dark thoughts. “I know what you are thinking, Teya.”

  I gestured around the gloom, at the frost sprawling over the far side, inching in from a shattered window. “You didn’t choose this, Laphaniel. You wanted endless dancing and drinking and laughter…a relationship, not a prison.”

  “I chose you,” he said softly. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “You have no idea what it means knowing I don’t have to do this alone,” I said, and he gave me a small smile.

  “I have a faint idea,” he answered. “I’ve witnessed your nightmares, Teya. I couldn’t bear to leave you alone in the dark.”

  I echoed his smile. “You say that now, but just you wait until I need the bathroom at three in the morning and drag you down endless corridors, because there is no way in hell I’m walking around this castle without you.”

  He laughed, the echo filling the hallway with a displaced note of happiness. “The bathrooms will be joined to the bedrooms, Teya.”

  “Even so, I’ll need you to light every single candle.”

  He kissed me, soft and gentle. “I won’t ever let them go out.”

  I leant against him. “I don’t want to go upstairs, Laphaniel.”

  “I know,” he whispered back. “But you may as well get this over with, you cannot sit out the curse in the hallway. Send Niven home, and let her go.”

  I took a breath, allowing it to blow through my teeth before I broke away from Laphaniel. I picked up the tattered silks of my skirt and forced myself up one of the staircases, making no sound at all upon the polished stone. I clung to Laphaniel's hand, watching him limp each time he put weight on his injured leg. He gave me strength when he had little left to give, coaxing me through the darkness as he gave up the light, and I had nothing to offer him but myself.

  The stairs opened up to a wide corridor, the dusty floor twisting and splitting off into three different directions, each one dark and gloomy. We chose left, and I followed Laphaniel as he guessed it led to the highest tower.

  Delicate tables lined the walls beneath windows that were thick with grime, and vases were cobwebbed to the surfaces, holding the long dead skeletons of flowers. Black, foul water pooled from cracks in the china, spilling thickly onto the already ruined carpets.

  The scraps of fabric billowing at the windows trailed along the filth, spewing up the mildew and dust that heaped along the floor. It was hard to imagine the castle being anything but dank and forgotten. I couldn't picture anyone ever being happy within its walls.

  I paused as we reached a winding landing, stone steps circling up and up and up, shining smooth with age. I shivered, a sense of dread seeping into my very bones.

  “She's up there,” I breathed. “I can feel it.”

  “Teya...”

  He reached for me as I pushed past, my heart a hammer at my chest. My hand scraped crude stone as I took the steps two at a time, sending echoes spiralling back down the twisting stairs.

  “She's in there,” I said, as Laphaniel caught up with me, his hands coming tightly, almost possessively around me. “Niven is in there, Laphaniel.”

  My voice was a breath, small and frightened, yet oh so determined. There was no doubt though, that I would ever have summoned the courage to go any further if he hadn't been holding onto me.

  “This is what you wanted,” Laphaniel said softly. “You've waited ten years for this; let it stop defining who you think you are.”

  I took a breath and it trembled past my lips. “You put her in there; maybe you should tell her she can leave.”

  I felt his laugh rather than heard it, a warmth against my neck. “If I could, Teya, I would.”

  Strengthened by his simple words, I moved forwards and with shaking fingers, I reached for the door, which swung open as if it were waiting for us.

  “Niven,” I choked out, stepping through the thin veil of cobwebs and into the lonely room, my eyes darting to the hundreds of candle stubs flickering over the floor. “Niven...it's me...”

  She sat upon a filthy chair in the middle of the room, her head bowed so the black of her hair fell over her face. If it were not for the slow rise and fall of her shoulders, I would have believed she was dead.

  I didn't dare touch her. There wasn't a nerve in my body that wasn't screaming at me to run.

  In a flurry of broken spider silk, she was standing in front of me, her gloved hands rising up as if to touch my face. She hesitated, fingers curling, head tilting before allowing her hand to drop to her side.

  “I know you,” she began, her voice a nightmare splitting past her pale lips. “I know you.”

  “Yes,” I breathed. “It's me, Teya…your sister.”

  Her eyes flickered up to meet mine, the blue dulled by darkness, any innocence they had once possessed wiped clean by so many years alone. She fumbled with the holes in her gloves as she stared at me, a droplet of blood gathering at the cracks in her lips as she tried to smile.

  “I've come to rescue you, Niven.”

  “I... waited for... you,” she said, her words jarring as if she had forgotten how to speak them. “You didn't come.”

  “I was so frightened, Niven,” I began, knowing my fear was nothing compared to what she had endured. “I'm here now...I'm here.”

  “Yes, you are,”

  She stopped looking at me, cocking her head with a terrifying malice as she stared at Laphaniel. “I know you...”

  I stepped forwards, holding my hands out, moving slowly as if she were a rabid animal and not my sister. “I'm here to take your place, Niven. You can go home.”

  “Home?” she echoed, her lips curling slightly in a chilling parody of a smile. “Tell me of home, little sister.”

  I swallowed, watching as she ran her hands over her dress, disturbing the creatures that lived within the torn fabric. “Mum hasn't been coping well.”

  Her smile widened, a spark igniting the blue in her eyes.

  “Dad passed away, Niven. I'm sorry.”

  “And you?”

  I flinched as she touched my cheek, her fingers cold beneath the ruined silk of her gloves. “I've had my share of nightmares.”

  “Good,” she breathed. “I can smell him on you, little sister.”

  “What?”

  “I waited years,” she said, reaching up for the
hairpin that secured some of her tangles, causing it to fall in knotted clumps around her shoulders, releasing spiders that had taken refuge within the black curls. “You made me wait for years, and you come to me reeking of him.”

  “It wasn't like that...”

  “You forgot me.”

  “No...”

  “Liar!” she spat, twirling the pin in her hands, and I saw it wasn't a hairpin at all, but a knife. “I can see the regret on your face. You would leave me here to rot.”

  “Does it matter now?” I asked, eyeing the blade and feeling Laphaniel come closer behind us. “You have your freedom; surely it makes you happy that I have to suffer for it?”

  “It does, Teya,” she smiled and lunged towards me with madness in her eyes. The fabric of her gown rippled around her feet, sending a mixture of scents into the stale air. The smell of nutmeg and mould hit my face as she moved; striking out with a grace I had only seen before in faeries.

  Pain exploded through my shoulder as I fell to my knees, dragging from my throat a cry that reverberated around the room like a personal eulogy.

  “You do not get to be happy here,” Niven whispered, kneeling beside me. I could still smell the odd mix of spice and age on her; it was bitter in my mouth, warm against my skin. I closed my eyes at her words, the ache in my shoulder stretching down to my chest as everything I had once been, ebbed away and died.

  I felt the curse holding Niven dissolve, watching as her face blurred in front of me, her fingers ghosting to little more than mist as she was pulled away from her nightmare. I knew then that I was plunged into mine.

  Without a whisper, she was gone.

  “No!” The single word fell from my lips, both meaningless and pointless. I crawled to where Laphaniel had fallen, my shoulder throbbing where he had shoved me so hard it had bruised instantly. Niven had found a target; but it hadn't been me.

  Laphaniel fought to sit up, arching his back as his feet scrabbled against the marble. Blood trickled from him in a steady flow, cutting through the dust on the floor as easily as water.

  “Out...” he gasped. “Pull...it...out...”

  I watched horrified as he fumbled for the knife, the flesh on his hands scorching as he touched the metal, and I realised with a cold dread what it was made of. He dropped his hands with a cry, his body twisting around as the iron poisoned him.

  “Out...”

  With a sickening twist I pulled it free, watching as red bloomed against his chest. He fell back against the floor with a sigh, his eyes fluttering closed.

  “Laphaniel!” I grabbed his hand, squeezing his fingers, bringing them to my lips. My other hand pressed against his chest, feeling the almost gentle pump of warmth spread over my skin. “Open your eyes. Look at me.”

  “Teya...” The word bubbled in his mouth, but his eyes found mine, his beautiful, lovely eyes, shining a shade of pale lilac I had never seen before, and I knew he was fighting to keep them from closing again.

  “You should have stayed behind,” I cried, brushing the hair away from his face, leaving a trail of red. “This isn't what was supposed to happen. Why didn't you stay behind?”

  “I would have followed you to the ends of the earth,” he said softly, blood on his lips. “And back again.”

  “Stay with me,” I pleaded, a desperate echo. “Please.”

  He blinked, his eyes closing for too long before he opened them again and I watched as they fell into a pattern, staying closed a little longer each time.

  “Stay with me,” I pleaded again, my hand slick against his chest. “Please don't leave me here on my own.”

  “There was a moment when I nearly turned away from you,” he said, his voice lost and far away. “At the market place, you were tied to the table leg and I thought you were already gone. If it were not for Lily calling me back, I would have left you there.” He squeezed my hand. “You have no idea how much that thought terrifies me...how close I came to losing you.”

  “Laphaniel.” My voice broke as he fell quiet. “Laphaniel?”

  I kept hold of his hand as his eyes closed and didn't open again. I pressed my head against his chest to hear the song of his heartbeat, my own screaming out for it.

  It sang twice for me, and then there was nothing, nothing at all.

  Chapter Thirty

  I lay beside him, my hand still clinging to his and waited for tears. They wouldn't come, though grief ached through me like a physical force. My body wouldn't let me weep. I felt something deep within me break completely, the pain something I had no way of dealing with...a feeling that was beyond reason and beyond tears.

  I let go of his hand so gently, biting my lip as I uncurled his fingers from mine. I brushed the hair from his face, and then placed my lips to his, silently wishing a kiss would wake him, and that he was only sleeping. Just like a fairy tale.

  The candles flickering on the floor mocked me with their light, joyfully sending shadows dancing over the walls, coaxing out the spiders that nestled within the cracks. Cobwebs hung over every surface, thick and fragile with age. They clung to the curled black bodies of those that had withered with the castle as I had clung to Laphaniel.

  I pressed my hands hard against my eyes, an image of Laphaniel covered in spider silk forcing its way uninvited into my mind. I moved my hand to my mouth, screaming around my fingers, startled by the inhuman misery that echoed back. I had wondered if I should move him to the bed, subconsciously trying to take control of something I couldn't change...couldn't fix.

  I wondered if I should bury him...cremate him...set fire to the entire damned castle; myself included and have done with it? I didn’t know the burial rights of faeries, it had never crossed my mind to ask. Why would it? I had no idea what Laphaniel believed could be waiting for him after death, if there was anything at all. I didn’t know what I believed…I had listened to the words spoken as we buried my father, but they hadn’t really meant anything. I could only grasp onto a distant hope that one day our souls would find each other again…I would cling to that until the end.

  The desiccated spiders in the corners seemed to twitch, forcing me to look up. My breath ghosted in front of me, the room suddenly chilling as the temperature dropped. I shivered and watched the frost prickling at the windowsills, crackling across the glass. One by one, the candles sputtered and died out, casting the room in eerie moonlight. It shone through the clouds and the rain and the bleak autumn night to my lonely little room, like a beacon.

  Within broken vases, beneath the moonlight, the flowers began to stretch and bloom, yawning to life as if woken from sleep. Frost clung to their leaves, glistening on their petals, but they stood strong against the chill, awakening at the cold as if it held the promise of spring. They were the brightest blooms I had ever seen, standing tall and proud in the chaos and ruin of the castle.

  I turned from the flowers when a shadow spread over the far wall, abandoning my grief as fear crept over me. It was blacker than pitch, bringing with it a coldness and dread I had never felt before. It exuded anger, sweeping up over the walls and ceiling until it had enveloped the room with its wrath.

  Shadowed fingers coiled outwards, reaching to the far corners of the room to settle against the dead cobwebs. They lingered for a moment, duskiness wavering over the mass of webs, stirring the silks until they moved on their own. A soundless shriek broke past my lips as the bloated bodies twitched and jerked, legs uncurling until they scuttled back into the beams far above me.

  Murky tendrils moved down the wall, creeping over the floor, and back again. Hesitant. It settled over my leg, cold and angry...and so, so old. I felt its ancient mind, its unavoidable presence...and I felt it see me...curiosity clouded its wrath, piquing its interest, stilling its fingers. Fingers which lingered on me, a caress with a whisper.

  Not yet.

  It withdrew its hand, shadows splaying as it lunged forwards, through me, plunging instead straight into Laphaniel with a scream of rage. I screamed with it, my echo resounding aro
und the room long after it had gone.

  Laphaniel's body started to buck beside me, rigid and convulsing. His head thumped against the marble, his limbs twisting and tensing, his fingernails dragging along the ground until they snapped back.

  “Laphaniel!” I grabbed at him, cradling his head in my lap as he writhed against me. “Laphaniel? Can you hear me?”

  Bloody foam dribbled over his lips, his mouth open in a strangled howl that froze my blood. It was otherworldly, filled with only pain and nightmares, and he wouldn't stop.

  His eyes rolled back to the whites, his hands clenched so tightly on my arms that his broken nails raked at my skin. I called his name, not knowing if he could see me or something else entirely.

  I moved my shaking hands to his face as he finally stilled, his chest heaving, his skin ashen. “Open your eyes.”

  He blinked, panting and terrified, pushing away from me as tears began to stream down his face.

  “It’s okay,” I said, reaching for him. “I’m right here.”

  He raised himself up on one elbow, then fell against me with a sob. His body shuddered as he completely fell apart in my arms, and we clung to each other as if we were drowning.

  I wanted to see his face, make sure he was real and alive and breathing, hoping to hear the sound of his heart beating. I didn’t let him go, couldn’t be the one to break away first, not when I could still feel his tears seep into the fabric of my gown.

  Even when he had calmed his breathing, he didn’t stop shaking.

  “Say something,” I pleaded, pulling back slightly so I could look at him. He looked awful, ghostly white and frightened, as if he had seen hell itself. He ran a hand over his face, streaking it with blood and dirt. He took a breath and it caught, he swallowed and shook his head.

  “I think I'm going to be sick.”

  I pushed his head gently between his knees, rubbing his back as he sucked in a few gasping breaths, his body sagging against mine.

  “Don't you faint on me,” I said, propping him up as his head lolled against my shoulder. I was deeply concerned about the amount of blood he had lost, terrified he would pass out and not wake up again. “I won't let you forget it if you do.”