by Emma Hamm
“They got dirty.” She flashed him her own mocking smile before returning to her work. She ignored him better than he thought would be possible considering his size.
Damnable woman thought she could best him just by ignoring him? Well, two could play at that game. And he wasn’t about to make it easy for her to pretend he wasn’t in the room. She wasn’t used to the Dread just yet, even though she thought she was.
Flexing his powerful wings, he burst up into the air with a single flap. Great gusts of wind pounded down on her as he made his way to the curtains, ripped them from the rod with a single pull, and sent them down to the floor with a great, echoing thud.
Her task had been simple, at best. Easy at worst. He crossed his arms over his chest and turned in the air to hover.
Amicia held onto the ladder with both arms now, completely covered in dust and spiderwebs the wind must have pushed down from the tops of the bookcases. She looked like she was covered in snow there was so much of it.
A single cough puffed out her mouth. She blinked up at him. “Was that necessary?”
“Absolutely.” At least she couldn’t ignore him now.
Amicia sneezed once, twice, three times before her hold on the rungs slipped. He watched her as if in slow motion, each finger sliding from their secure hold and sending her backward, tumbling toward the floor.
He didn’t think; he reacted. Alexandre shot down from the air with a burst of speed that surprised even himself.
Instead of hitting the floor, she tumbled into his arms. He caught her just at the knee and behind her back, careful he didn’t jostle her broken limbs. But there was no way to be certain of that. He let himself fall onto his knees. They skidded a few feet before settling onto the floor with her cradled in his arms.
One of his wings had folded in front of them, a shield in case they struck a bookcase. The thin membrane created a strange cocoon for them once they stopped on the floor.
A cobweb stretched over the top of her head, a single strand of it stuck to her eyelashes. Dust decorated the dark locks of her hair like starlight. Amicia blinked up at him, and even covered in dirt, he marveled at her beauty.
Staring into her dark eyes was like staring up into the heavens at night. Darkness, vast and nebulous, but with tiny pins of light that promised so much more than emptiness. Her eyes were full of life, vivid and painful to behold, yet far more captivating than gazing upon the stars.
She reached up and placed her palm against his cheek. “You caught me.”
Words pressed against his lips. I will always catch you. I made the mistake of letting you fall once, and it is my infinite regret. The thought of you hurt again leaves my soul raw and bleeding.
These were not the words he said. Instead, he whispered, “You’ve been hurt enough in this place.”
“I suppose I have.”
A memory burned through his mind, searing in its intensity. A woman with dark hair in his arms, just as he held Amicia. But there was blood trailing out of her mouth in a thin trickle, her eyes vacant and body growing cold.
He’d killed more people than he could count, but this one felt different. He hadn’t killed this woman. The crimson blood stained his fingers, but it wasn’t him who had caused her death, and he was so angry. The rage burned in his chest, up through his throat in a primal scream, the heat traveling up to his eyes until they ached like someone had thrown sand in them.
She shouldn’t have died. He remembered thinking that. And he didn’t know her name, who she was, but that he was supposed to protect her and he… he had failed.
“Alexandre?” Amicia’s voice broke through the memory, and the cool touch of her palm slid up his cheek, her thumb tracing just below his eye. “What’s happening?”
“I remembered something, that’s all.”
“Something important?”
He shook his head, clearing the lingering vision from his mind so he could stare down at her eyes. Her dark, star-filled eyes met his gaze with more worry than he deserved. “Nothing you need to know.”
“Your eyes have changed,” she whispered. “They aren’t red anymore.”
His hands started to shake. “What color are they?”
“Gold,” she replied, her thumb stroking again. “Gilded like the finest of coins.”
Everything was changing, and yet it couldn’t. He was the King of the Dread. The one who had sent his armies to destroy her homeland and her people.
Yet she stared at him with something more in her eyes. Something that looked like she wanted him as well, or at the very least, that she saw him as more than just a monster. More than a beast at her doorstep.
Her lips were berry red, stained like she’d eaten raspberries this morning. Bee stung and perfect, oh so perfect. Alexandre stared at them and wondered whether he would taste starlight if he kissed her.
Her hand flexed on his cheek, her eyes widened, but the pressure on his face was not to push him away. No, she drew him closer to those lips beckoning him.
And once again, he marveled at the purity of her soul. For only a woman filled with infinite light would dare to kiss the damned.
“Master?”
Alexandre froze, his lips close enough to hers so that her sudden exhale fanned over his mouth. She smelled like lemons and mint.
He swallowed hard, ground his teeth, and called out, “Yes?”
“You are needed in the Great Hall. A fight broke out between a few of the Dread, and they have summoned you to make a decision for them.”
Amicia’s eyes widened even further, and he knew the moment between them had passed. She was afraid of him once again. Though she did not struggle to free herself from his arms, she might as well have shouted for help.
“I’ll be there in a moment,” he replied to whoever stood in the doorway to the library. “Leave me.”
He waited until the claws echoed down the corridor before he unfurled his wing. It wouldn’t do to reveal her in his arms; the gossip throughout the chateau would catch like a wildfire.
The moment he released her, Amicia scrambled to her feet. She tugged on her woolen dress, ensuring it was in place before clearing her throat. “Thank you for the help. I can manage the cleaning from here.”
“I have work to do,” he said over her words.
They both kept their gazes on the floor. He couldn’t stand the silence when he had almost kissed her. And she wouldn’t want to kiss a monster like him.
This was a mistake.
He snapped his wings close to his sides, gave her a curt bow, and exited the library without another word. The Dread could distract him from the embarrassment for a little while. But he knew later tonight, this would prove to be a memory he wished he could forget.
Chapter 29
Amicia pulled the last bits of splint off her leg and flexed the limb. For the first time in longer than she could remember, it didn’t hurt. Of course, the muscle was rather tender but the ache of the broken bone was gone.
She pulled on the brown boots she’d found in one of the abandoned rooms. Her foot had been so swollen, all she could wear was slippers for the past few months. But now, she could finally put on leather and explore outside.
Brightly colored socks stretched up her legs, each stripe a different color. She’d hiked up the layers of pale woolen skirts up to her knees and tucked them into her belt for the time being. Two scarves over her shoulders, one blue and one purple, would keep her warm if the wind kicked up.
For now, she would enjoy herself and explore.
Amicia grabbed the cane she’d found in another room and twirled it in her hand. It had been painted black once, but time had peeled the paint off in places, revealing ashen wood beneath.
She stood, testing the leg, making certain it wouldn’t collapse underneath her weight. Amicia took a few shaky steps. She held her breath through the whole process but the leg held.
“Healed,” she whispered. “Already.”
With a sudden burst of energy, she spun
on her heel and snagged the blue book from the table where it had stayed since she moved into the library. It had revealed no more secrets, but that didn’t matter to her. She would conquer the beast today whether or not it wanted her to.
She tucked the book into her waistband and patted it. “You and I are going on an adventure,” she said. “Let’s go explore the grounds a little more, shall we?”
As she strode out the door, Amicia snagged a leather thong dangling beside the door and twisted her hair into a thick ponytail at the base of her neck. For the first time in a very long time, she felt like herself. As though she could conquer the world if she wanted.
No Dread would stop her today. She straightened her shoulders and marched through the chateau as though she owned it. And in a sense, she did. What human could say they walked through the home of the Dread without a single one bothering them?
The sun shone bright and heavy outside. She crunched through the snow and tucked the tails of her scarves into her waistband beside the book. Heat beat down upon her from the rays of light.
“Perhaps winter has broken,” she mused.
Amicia took her time picking a direction. The lake was straight ahead, although it was everywhere if she was honest. She’d done a few laps around the chateau before, but never had she gone through the hedge maze, laden with snow.
“Shall we?” she asked, stroking the leather binding of the blue book. “Do you think there’s a secret at the center? Perhaps we’ll find something remarkable. Maybe I can write it down in your pages.”
The book seemed to quake underneath her touch. But she didn’t believe in magic. A woman of science, she dismissed it as her mind putting too much stock in a fairytale.
Amicia strode into the hedge maze with confidence but stopped for a moment as the glimmering beauty stole her breath away. Chunks of snow and ice hung from the tops of the emerald green hedges, sparkling in the sunlight like a thousand diamonds. Birds sang at the top of their lungs here. Their trills filled her soul with something like… happiness. She hadn’t felt the emotion in so long she’d almost forgotten what it felt like.
She patted the book one more time. “Father used to talk about mazes. Did you know they’re all the same in some sense? To solve it, put your hand on one wall and never take your hand off. Eventually, you’ll get to the center and then out.”
She stretched out a hand as her father had taught her. Something in her soul clicked in place. Something soft and quiet, not stinging and aching like it usually felt when she spoke of her family.
Today was a day for healing, it seemed.
A smile stretched across her face, unbidden and so wonderful. Amicia made her way through the labyrinth of greenery. The journey gave her leg time to stretch and get used to having weight upon it, while giving her heart time to enjoy being here in this chateau.
Her thoughts slowed, then stilled. She allowed herself to be in the moment, not a captive, not a human pet. Just Amicia.
And she soon realized she had missed herself.
All too quickly, she moved through a part in the hedges and out into the center. A large fountain stood in the center with a winged man crouched above it. She caught her breath, ducking behind the hedge and listening for sound.
The man had been far too perfect to be one of the Dread. His wings were feathered, decorated with golden tips and… a Celestial? They were all gone, weren’t they?
When she heard no movement, Amicia leaned around the hedge to stare at the man. Stone. He was a carving, nothing more, nothing less. But beautiful and so incredibly lifelike that she had been convinced he was real.
“Goodness,” she said with a chuckle. “Did you think he was real, book? I certainly did.”
But there was a loaf of bread beside the fountain. Someone must have been here, and recently, although it wasn’t the hidden Celestial as she had thought.
“Hello?” Amicia called out, her voice ringing clear and strong through the crisp spring air. “Is anyone there?”
No one responded.
She thought it strange, but the whole place was rather strange. She’d gotten used to the intricacies of the chateau and how the entire kingdom seemed enchanted. Straight out of a fairytale, if one believed in that.
The waters in the fountain weren’t frozen like the rest of the chateau. She assumed it was connected to a hot spring. Glancing over the rolled marble edge, Amicia was shocked to see golden fish swimming in the depths.
“How are you still alive?” she asked. “You couldn’t possibly survive winter in a frozen fountain.”
And yet, they were alive. The sun danced along the scales on their back. Shimmering like they were rays of the sun, they danced before her. The gossamer flutter of their tails caught her eye.
She glanced over at the bread then looked around once more. No one would notice if she snagged a couple crumbs. The poor fish had survived the entire winter. They deserved a snack.
Amicia didn’t hesitate. She tore off a bit of the bread, crumbled it into pieces, and then tossed it in the water. The fish splashed as they fought for a few bits of food. Amicia glanced up at the Celestial statue and narrowed her eyes.
“Were you always smiling?” she asked him.
The statue didn’t respond. However, she was more careful as she fed the fish, then pulled off her scarf to place on the ground. Amicia settled herself with her back against the fountain and pulled the little blue book from her waistband.
She turned it in her hands, admiring the sunlight playing across the pale blue surface before she tapped on it with a single finger. “I’ve taken you on an adventure, we’ve fed the fish together, survived a labyrinth, and met a Celestial. Certainly, now, you are satisfied enough to reveal a few more of your secrets.”
Holding her breath, she flipped the pages open to the same diagram that had haunted her thoughts for days. The Celestial on the page had a different face than the one behind her, but he was still intriguing enough to catch her eye.
Maybe she would flip the page and be disappointed again. But something seemed to hang in the surrounding air. A sense of the entire world holding its breath with her. As if the maze, the fountain, and the statue all knew something would happen. Something wondrous.
Amicia licked her thumb and turned the page.
Swirling handwriting undulated before her eyes, slowing down until finally she could see there was at least five more pages of the book for her to read. Ready and waiting to reveal all the secrets she needed to know.
“Thank you,” she whispered, frozen in place as if moving might make the handwriting disappear. “If it’s adventures you want, then I will give you an adventure every day if you will reveal a little more to me.”
She leaned over the book and devoured the writing. The passage appeared to be written by a different person, for the handwriting was less structured and seemed more like thoughts taken in shorthand. But she knew what each word meant and how much information it gave her.
The Celestials became the rulers of the kingdoms. They were both king and watchman, protecting the lands from whatever might befall them. All of Ember became prosperous, the kind of prosperous that was only spoken about in legends—until something happened.
The arrival of a new people who came across the sea. The blue book didn’t name them, but only said they had a crimson banner dripping blood. Some of the Celestials spoke with them; others banished the newcomers from their kingdoms.
The passage ended by stating the new people would create a problem that none of the Celestials had anticipated, and that the kingdoms would fall under the malice of these new arrivals.
Amicia closed the book and leaned her head against the fountain. “Crimson, bleeding banners?”
She’d seen that before while hidden behind the curtain in the Great Hall. The alchemists? They were the ones who had ended the prosperity in the kingdoms?
They were the only creatures she’d seen with crimson banners, and they didn’t appear all that trustworthy. Bu
t, they were supposed to be Alexandre’s advisors. She tucked the book into her waistband once more. “I think I’ll keep this to myself until I find out more,” she murmured.
It wouldn’t do to tell him there was something about the alchemists tied to the curse when she didn’t know what tied them. What if she was wrong? She didn’t know all the details; the book had only laid the groundwork for mistrust.
The Celestial statue stared down at her, and this time she knew the expression had changed. It looked as though the being was crying. A single droplet of water trailed down its cheek. Melted by the sun, perhaps, but it appeared as though it were filled with sorrow.
Wings beat at the air, gusts raining snow down upon her as a creature fell from the sky and landed in a crouch before her. When Alexandre shook his wings, even more snow blasted toward her.
Amicia raised her arms up, and laughter burst from her chest. “What are you doing? Stop it!”
He shook himself like a dog once more before he finally let his wings still. “No one knew where you were.”
Amicia lowered her arms back to her sides and shrugged. The Dread rarely needed her. They weren’t all that interested in where she was most of the time, other than this one. “I rarely tell people where I’m going.”
“If I need you, then I should know where you are.”
“You don’t usually need me.”
The severe expression on his face changed, softening into something impossible to guess at. And yet, her stomach twisted and her heart raced at the sight.
She should have been frightened of the beast crouched in front of her like a monster out of a nightmare. But all the fear in her had disappeared in the wake of a bright light blooming deep in her soul. A golden light that saw him for what he was. A good man, trying to change himself and succeeding no matter how much he had to fight.
Alexandre cleared his throat. “What are you doing?”
Quickly, Amicia scrambled to pull the book from her waist and brandish it at him like a shield. “Reading.”
“Find anything interesting?”
She hesitated before answering. They hadn’t lied to each other, ever, but it felt important he didn’t know the truth. He shouldn’t know his alchemists might not be trustworthy when she couldn’t give him a reason other than a hunch. Something more than a journal written in the hand of someone they didn’t know.