by Ainsley Shay
“Is there something stealing your attention from me?”
It was Lord Darenfys who reclaimed my attention. I stopped. I hadn’t realized how close I had come to him. He was only a few steps away. “Just your army,” I lied.
He grinned. “Now that you’ve returned to me, they’re your army, too.”
“I’m not planning to stay long enough for anything to become mine.”
“Oh, come now, we have so much to catch up on.” He held out his arm for me to lace mine through. I ignored the gesture.
“Where are Blacwin and Chandler?”
Lord Darenfys let out a breath. “Don’t be concerned with them. I had their old friends take them to their quarters.”
“I am more than concerned. I remember very clearly where you had me taken the last time I was here, and what you had done to me.”
The Lord grimaced. His composure faltered for a brief moment before regaining control. “That was a long time ago.”
I reminded myself I was here to kill the creature standing in front of me. And, if I was going to succeed, I had to get close to him. And, if I was going to live, I had to find a way to get him alone. That thought was terrifying. The last thing I ever wanted was to be alone with him. Cursed or not, the need to survive would kick in and he would bring me down with him if he ever suspected I planned to kill him.
Regrouping, I kicked myself in the ass and curtsied to the Lord. “I’m sorry for my rudeness. It was a long time ago. I hope this time will be different.” Once again, he held out his arm. I looped mine through it. The switchblades in my stomach opened and closed, opened and closed. Slicing. Slicing. Slicing.
I glanced to where Adelina stood. She was gone. I knew she wasn’t far; she would stay until every last detail of her plan was executed. And, even after, she would stay. There would be no one to stop her after I killed Darenfys, then she would kill me.
5
I was reliving my nightmares.
“Welcome to Skelside.” Lord Darenfys’ silken voice was behind me. His cool breath touched my skin. Fresh chills scampered over my entire body. I thought about the greeting I’d received the last time I stepped over the threshold of Skelside. I thought it more appropriate, “Welcome to Hell, my lady.” Like all of those years ago, I glanced over my shoulder and looked at the sun. I finally understood what those words meant; once Skelside had you, it owned you, and it never let go of you. Like the sharpest and deadliest talons, it carried you through Hell and beyond.
This time I didn’t hope, I swore it would not be the last time I saw its glorious light.
My nightmares depicted Skelside perfectly. The only difference was this time it was colorless. I wasn’t sure which way was less intimidating, until I stepped under the dome. For the first time in my life, I was happy I was colorblind. The angels were less defined. Their delight was a blend of muted grays and the vibrant sky was replaced with stormy clouds.
“Is it still as glorious as you remember?” The Lord asked.
It was glorious. The painting was glorified evil at its finest. I said nothing. The moment stretched into what became a very long time. “Are you taking me to where you brought Blacwin and Chandler?”
“I thought you’d like to stay in your room until you feel more comfortable.” Comfortable? That would be the last feeling I would ever experience here. One of the guards moved to my side. “Dinner will be at nine. If you need me before then, notify the guard stationed outside your room.” Lord Darenfys lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss into my skin.
Disgusted, I let him. Get close, kill, get out. I kept repeating the plan in my head. I nodded.
Fire from the torches crackled; their shadows flickered off the walls. The guard started toward my room. I followed. Apparently, no one took me to be a threat because I still had my backpack with the dagger inside. We stopped at an unmarked door. He pulled out a ring of keys and unlocked the door. Pushing it open, I stepped inside. It was pristinely nauseating. The same floral bedding lay atop the bed. How had the thing not disintegrated in all these years?
“Do you need anything before I see myself out?” asked the guard.
“What is your name?”
“Lamont, my lady.”
“You don’t have to call me that.”
“I do. It is the Lord’s wishes, and I do not disobey the Lord.”
I shouldn’t have asked my next question. “Did you know Blacwin and Chandler when they were here?”
Lamont nodded. “Yes.”
“Do you think Lord Darenfys will kill them?”
He nodded again. “Yes.”
His smooth English accent hadn’t lessened the blow. Instead of sinking to the floor to throw up, I squared my shoulders and lifted my head. “They’ve done nothing wrong and they should be freed.”
“May I speak freely?”
It was a strange question to ask me, since I was far from being in charge, or noble. I nodded. Curiosity had control of the situation now, and I was its passenger.
“Blacwin and Chandler were two of the best soldiers The Lord had. When they left, he was furious. He won’t let that happen again.”
“So, he would rather kill them than...” I shook my head. It was a waste of breath and energy to argue. “Do you know where he’s keeping them?” I didn’t have to ask, I was very familiar with where they were. I closed my eyes and let the nightmares seep into my core, until I was so mad I could have busted down the door. “Never mind.”
Lamont stared at a spot over my head. “There is something in the armoire for you to wear to dinner.”
I spun defensively, as if the armoire would spit the dress in my direction. Lord Darenfys had gone too far. He knew I would return someday, and he was ready for me. That meant, I had to be better. Remember your mission. “Thank you.”
Lamont bowed. “You should light the candle on the bedside table before I leave, otherwise, you’ll be in darkness,” he suggested. I did. He backed out of the room and closed the door behind him. I heard the bolt slide into place. Silence filled the room.
There wasn’t any reason to look behind the drape to see if there was another way out. I knew there would only be stone staring back at me. My chest was suddenly heavy with worry and dread that all of this—the entire plan would fail. And I’d once again die, only to be reborn, Blacwin and Chandler would be killed, Adelina would continue to turn people into stone, and Lord Darenfys would hunt for me until I was found. God, to think about all of it was exhausting.
At Kenyon’s, we had barely slept, and now exhaustion claimed my body. I sat on the bed, and took the dagger out of my backpack. I wasn’t sure where to keep it, so I tucked it behind the dress in the armoire. The fabric brushed my knuckles. I wondered if it was the color of the one in my nightmares, blood. Forgetting the dress and the dagger, I lay down on the familiar floral bedding. The room was cool and damp.
Nightmares wasted no time taking over my unconscious. They came as fast and hard as a tidal wave. I groped for the shore but I couldn’t reach it. The current pulled me away from it. I tried to catch my breath when it would let me rise to the surface, but it was quick to drag me below again. I shut my eyes and clawed for the surface. Something slick slid along my bare leg. Without opening my eyes I knew what it was. They sensed everything without their sight. Razor like spikes cut through my flesh. I had forgotten I wasn’t breathing until my chest burned with the need for oxygen. I climbed to the surface, broke free, and gasped breaths of air. The shore was right next to me. Blacwin was on it and he held his hand out for me. I reached with everything I had inside me, but he was too far.
“Come on, Iris, reach, you can do it. There is so much for you to live for.” My fingers brushed his. Flutters of hope went through me. Behind him, the sun was out and the day was calm. His mouth was moving, but in the churning and raging water, I couldn’t make out what he was saying. The water was still rising, and the creatures were multiplying. Their jagged backs and tails sliced me over and over. The pai
n was excruciating. The thin layer of hope I’d felt faded, and I fell away from Blacwin. I wasn’t strong enough to fight any of this. He grabbed hold of my hand and pulled me toward him.
Blacwin’s voice boomed over the water rushing past my ears. “Iris, you cannot kill me.” But, the voice was no longer his. Angry clouds darkened the sky. Thunder crashed around us. The day had taken on the night. The calm had taken on the storm. I looked up at Blacwin. His face was distorted into that of Lord Darenfys; a beautiful monster who knew I was here to kill him. My hand jerked away from his and I fell against the uneven rocks, back into the water. Sinking and drowning into the black water. I was no longer afraid, I was safe. I was dying.
I woke and took hard, fast breaths of air to fill my lungs. All I could see was the face of the monster beneath the beautiful face; his lips were pulled back, revealing sharp teeth. His eyes were filled with a dark liquid. And his skin was etched with a thousand years of corpse-like stone from lying in a grave that had just been exhumed. When I sat up, waves of overwhelming realization crashed down around me.
What was I doing? I must have lost my damned mind—stab someone to death? What if my nightmare was right and Darenfys knew why I had come back? If so, would he have let me live this long? I hated Adelina more than ever right now. Her stupid jealously had not only ruined my life, but that of everyone around me. She had made sure there was only one person to complete the task... I had no choice if I wanted to save everyone I loved.
The candle’s glow was faint. Soon, I would be in complete darkness. I glanced at the armoire. As I stood, I felt a little wobbly, but quickly recovered. When I looked at my watch, hours had passed. It was almost nine. The guard would be here soon to escort me to dinner. I felt the edge of the dress and knew I wasn’t going to have very many chances to get close to Lord Darenfys. His love for me would never die; his trust, however, was a different story.
I took the dress from the armoire and laid it on the bed. A knock on the door told me it was time. “Be there in a moment.” The dress was smooth against my skin. The last time I had worn it, Blacwin was the one who escorted me to the dining room. This time, Blacwin was... I didn’t know, but I hoped with everything I was made of he was still alive. I closed my eyes and prayed for all of this, not to end happily, that would be impossible; but to have an ending that was different from any nightmare I had ever had, I wished for an actual end to all of this.
The knock came again. I went to the armoire and picked up the dagger. It was not meant for safety, I reminded myself; it was the tool that if I were strong enough, smart enough would be able to put an end to all of this. I strapped it around my thigh and smoothed down the dress. The latched clicked on the door. My heart thudded and I gasped. The time was here. This was the beginning to an end that was five hundred years overdue.
Adelina danced in my thoughts, and I wondered if she was still here at Skelside. Her presence this morning was more than startling, it was disturbing. She was here to make sure I fulfilled the destiny she had so perfectly put into play.
As the door to my room opened, I vowed after I killed Lord Darenfys, she would be next.
6
I was escorted down the hall to the dining room by the same masked guard who’d brought me to my room earlier. When we passed through the wide hall, I refused to look up into the dome as we walked underneath it. In my nightmares I was fascinated with the brilliant colors. But, this time there were no colors, so I chose to ignore it.
As we walked toward the dining room, I half expected to see Blacwin and Chandler there. I had one dreamy thought: they would be seated at the table and waiting for me to join them. The other twelve thoughts were all equally bad—a few of those were: Lord Darenfys reclaimed them as his own, and they would be back into the guard uniform, they were tied up and put on display, and so on. But when we arrived, there were only two servants and another guard. Relieved? No.
I knew where I was supposed to go. I also knew not to sit until the lord entered and was seated first. I stood behind the chair. The door on the other side of the room opened and the Lord stepped through. Unlike my nightmares when he wore a cape that flowed behind him, tonight he wore a light suit that made him look more like a mobster than an immortal fallen angel. Before he sat, he took something out of his pocket and set it on the table. It was a stone. He glanced at it fondly and stroked its smooth surface with his long fingers.
After I was seated, I glanced at the silent guard across from me and wished it was Blacwin, like it had been all those years ago. I would not, could not sit there and wait to be addressed. I needed to know where Blacwin and my brother were. “Where are Blacwin and Chandler?”
The Lord grinned, picked up his glass and took a sip. I was already pissed, which was a good thing; I just couldn’t let it get the best of my motives and wreck the only thing I needed to accomplish, gaining his trust. He took another sip. “They are with Penemuel, catching up I presume; and I believe Penemuel is, how shall I say... breaking them in to serve me once again.”
My stomach rolled over itself and I had to steady myself from the waves of nausea ricocheting through me.
“Do you remember when I sent you into the maze to retrieve what was in the well?” He shifted the subject. I did remember it from my nightmares. I also remembered the dog-like creature that guarded it. That was the night I had failed and was forced to stay at Skelside forever. I shivered. “Are you cold, my dear?”
I shook my head. “No.” Needing something to do, I tore off a piece of bread and set it on my plate. “I remember.”
“Ah, don’t look so upset; you weren’t the only one who had failed. It took the lives of many men, but one finally succeeded. Their lives had been worth it, though. And, please know I wasn’t as kind to them as I had been with you, letting you live and all.” He held up the stone. “This is what was in there. This small insignificant looking stone.”
“What’s so important about it?”
He ignored my question. His next words were not a question as they were intended to be, but a truce of sorts. “Is your world as colorless as mine?” I think he already knew what my answer would be, so he continued, “Adelina took my ability to see colors before she went through the transformation of becoming immortal. She kept my world of color in here.” He nodded to the stone. “For centuries, I’ve tracked down every warlock and witch I could find, and none of them could break the stone’s curse to give me back my ability to see color. They said it must be the one who placed the curse.” He banged his fist on the table. The contents on the table shook with his fury.
Adelina had once again played her game. Supposedly, I had the medallion that held the Lord’s color sight. The medallion Adelina desperately wanted back. Had she left a fake stone for him to find? If so, then no warlock or witch would be able to break a curse which wasn’t there.
I picked up the cup in front of me, needing a drink of water. The dark liquid inside wasn’t water. I reminded myself that this was real, not a nightmare I would wake from and jot down the details in a journal. This was happening. Trust. Trust. Trust. I repeated the word over and over. Getting him to trust me was key. The sooner I could complete that task, the sooner all this would end.
“Ah, you remember the sweetness of my wine?” His mouth widened into a pleased smile. “Drink some. You know my blood already flows through your veins.” I did know this and it sickened me, to no end. My stomach tightened. And I forced down the bile burning my throat. The Lord’s blood slithered through my body; its darkness and evil touching every cell of mine, and pumping through my heart. “I’d like water please.” There would be a time when I would have no choice but to drink the concoction of his blood and wine. I learned this from Adelina’s journal. The more I drank, the stronger I would become.
Disappointed, Lord Darenfys motioned to the servant and they left the room.
I tilted the cup to my mouth and let the liquid graze my lips. Delight spread across his mouth. I wasn’t sure how long I could
keep up the charade, especially when the servant who was still in the room went to fill my glass and it was still full.
“Immortality is a gift. Don’t you want to live forever?”
Tonight was more than a simple dinner of getting to know one another. It was a test. At first, I studied him, trying to find the best way to answer. It wasn’t long before it became clear. We had been cursed together and it was obvious the more I shared the things we had in common, the sooner he would trust me. And trust was what I needed most; trust, and the balls to commit murder. “Immortality is intriguing, but also frightening.”
“There are always two sides to everything; except mortality. Once you are dead, you’re dead,” he said and picked a piece of lint off his sleeve.
I let the wine wet my lips again before I set the silver cup on the table. The servant returned with a pitcher. He filled an empty goblet on the table with water and handed it to me. I gulped the water very un-lady-like.
“My, we’re thirsty,” the Lord said. He stood and strolled around the dining hall with his goblet in hand. “I have an announcement to make.”
I thought of the bargain he’d made to Catherine. He said announcement, not bargain, I reminded myself, because, this time, I knew he would never let me leave if I won. He poised his goblet high in the air and spoke in an official voice. “In two nights time we will have a masquerade ball in your honor. Everyone will be invited to join us in celebrating your return home.”