by Alice Wilde
My finger twitches and I lose my focus. My finger twitched. A shiver runs through me. Perhaps they are the key!
Roan. Eyes of emerald. Ero. Eyes of sapphire. Li. Eyes of amethyst. I can feel the vibrations in my body grow stronger even as the darkness rises in me.
The softness of their fur. The tremors fade.
I’m confused. When I imagine their eyes, I can feel a power rising in me, but as soon as I try to focus on anything else about them, everything dissipates.
The doors to the Great Hall creak open slightly as Miriam once again slips through and returns to me.
“Go.”
My feet move, and I walk toward the doors as Miriam steps away and watches. As I near the doors, they swing open to allow me through. My dress is weighted down, so I know I’m moving slowly, but I wish I could force myself to walk even slower.
The room is filled to the brim with strangers, some of whom I recognize from the betrothal ceremony and dinners, but most are unknown to me. I search the crowd with my eyes, although my head remains facing forward, unmoving. My father is nowhere to be seen, and I start to worry that he’s already dead.
No. Impossible. If he had already died, there’d be no wedding today.
The room is lit with a thousand candles along with the dying light of day, and it’s only now that I realize that everyone is wearing black except for myself and Damien. We’re wearing the same deep shade of red. He is standing on the raised dais at the back of the hall, in front of the king’s throne. His face is stunning in the candlelight, the darkness of his hair and the sharp masculinity of his features catching the light just right. The knot in my stomach nearly tears me asunder as I realize this is all anyone else can see, his outward beauty.
I rip my eyes from his face before his eyes can find mine. His cloak barely trails the floor due to his height. And his codpiece. It’s obscene. He might as well be announcing to the whole world that he’s preparing to kill me with the monstrosity between his legs.
Then I see them. Just out of my direct line of sight are Rosa and Luca. Or, at least I think it’s Luca. His face is partially bandaged, dark bruising discernable wherever the skin is visible. Rosa is holding him up, although I’m unsure how she manages to do so as he is nearly twice her height. I want to reassure them that everything will be okay, but I can’t. Nothing is right about any of this.
I thank the gods my dress is as heavy as it is. I’ve only made it halfway up the aisle. The room is eerily silent. I can hear music playing, but it’s as though it were being played through a pillow. A heaviness settles over the room the closer I get to the platform where I am to be married. No one else seems to notice.
Focus. Their eyes. I let myself draw from them, using the power in them to course through my veins. My finger twitches again. It’s not enough. I know I’m on the right track, but I don’t know what else I’m missing.
Sweat trickles down my back as I near the platform. I look at Rosa and my heart stops for a moment as I notice she’s wearing a leather collar not unlike the ones around my leopards’ necks. Damien’s taken far more from her than I had imagined. He’s taken her freedom too.
I want to run, to throw my arms around her and cry. To promise her I’ll fix this, but I can’t.
I climb the steps to stand beside Damien.
This is it. There’s no fairytale ending. I’ve failed.
Damien takes my hand and turns me to face him as a priest comes to stand beside us.
“Look at me,” Damien says.
I look up, unable to fight it. His eyes are a black, soulless abyss.
“We are gathered here today,” the priest booms, “to witness the joining of two souls together as one.”
I balk at the concept.
“Two hearts, two bodies, forever entwined in holy matrimony. One being, under the skies of heaven. Two halves pieced together for all of time. Fate and destiny leading to a single moment of truth. The duty of woman finally satisfied as she is taken under the wing of her husband. The gods’ wills appeased as the weaker sex is matched.”
If I were more myself, I'd kick this priest in the shin, however unholy of an act that might be. If the gods saw fit to create woman, I doubt they thought as low of us as this priest of theirs does. I don’t want to listen to his ramblings anymore and almost instantly my wish is granted. Damien’s eyes flash violet. He shakes his head.
“Hurry it along.”
The priest clears his throat. “I must follow the script, My Lord, or the marriage will be void.”
“Fine, but speak faster.”
Damien’s eyes shift again, but this time the color doesn’t change back. I’m looking into the eyes of my amethyst-eyed leopard. Clarity floods my mind, or at least I think it does.
“Hold on, Annalise. You’re not alone in this. I’m coming for you. We’re coming for you,” Damien says, but it’s Li’s voice. The voice from my dreams. I really am going mad.
Damien growls, and I see his eyes change to green.
“Lass, you have to focus. Feel.”
Again, a familiar voice. This time it is Roan.
I yelp as Damien’s hand crushes mine, the sound causing his eyes to refocus and revert to black.
The voices. Their eyes. I remember the men from my dreams and my heart leaps. The spark in my heart grows brighter and brighter until my heart is aflame with desire. I can feel them, their hearts, their bodies, their beast-like power amplified in my own body, burning away the dark mists in my mind with a vengeance.
I drop the bouquet of flowers.
“Priest, marry us,” Damien says darkly. “Now!”
“I pronounce you man and wife,” the priest concedes.
Screams sound from outside the Great Hall and everyone inside turns to look just as the doors crash open.
Thirty-One
Li
We don’t have much time, and I still have to figure out how to break down the barrier that’s kept me from bonding with Annalise.
“Come on, Li,” Roan says. “Just imagine her in your arms, what you’d do if you were human again.”
“It’s not that easy,” I say.
“Yes, it is.”
“No,” I say, sighing. “I’ve never been with a woman.”
Silence. I look up into the shocked faces of Ero and Roan.
“What?”
“Well it all makes sense now,” Ero says. “It’s easier to tell someone else to stop when you don’t know what you’re missing.”
I wish I could rip him limb from limb.
“So,” Ero says, “how do we make him understand what it would be like to have her?”
“I’m not going to pleasure him,” Roan teases. “Guess it’s up to you, Ero.”
“Shut up, both of you,” I snap. “There’s no time for this. If we love her, we have to save her.”
“Who said anything about love?” says Ero.
I freeze. My mind racing as I try to process what I’ve just said.
“Do you love her?” Roan asks.
My tongue is dry as my heart beats wildly in my chest. “I think I do,” I say. As the words leave my mouth and the realization settles in, I feel the spark ignite my heart like dry kindling.
“I love Annalise.” Excruciating pain tears through my body and I collapse to the floor, writhing.
“I was wrong!” Roan yelps.
“You’ve killed him,” Ero says.
Just as I am about to let death take me, the pain subsides and I’m left shaking on the floor. I look up at Ero and Roan.
They growl.
“You could at least have the decency to speak,” I say.
A link forms in my mind.
“Li, you might want to check yourself out,” says Ero.
I look down and my heart stops. What I see is no longer the body of a leopard, but my own. My human form. This is the first time I’ve been able to shift since the curse. I reach behind me and unhook the heavy chain from my collar.
“We have to sa
ve her. Follow me.”
I unhook them from their chains and dash to the door, but their growls turn my focus.
“Hurry up!”
Roan links with me.
“Li, seriously, you’ve got to cover up. You’re going to kill Annalise yourself if you burst in with everything swinging around for all to see.”
I feel heat rise in my face. I’d forgotten what it was like not to be covered in fur. I search the room for something to cover myself with, my eyes finally landing on a piece of fur draped over a chair. I snatch it up and wrap it around myself as best I can.
“That’ll have to do. Now, let’s go!”
I throw open the door, and together we race toward the Great Hall.
I concentrate on finding Annalise’s mind, hoping I can get through to her. Nothing. I find Damien’s mind instead. It’s a dangerous move, but I have to try. There’s a magic running through Annalise’s blood unlike any I’ve ever known. I can’t explain what just happened back in her room, but simply allowing her into my heart broke my entrapment. Now, we have to keep her from physically bonding with Damien.
I link with Damien, and for the first time I use him to my own advantage. I speak through him to Annalise. Roan steps in just before Damien manages to shake us and we reach the Great Hall. Guards are positioned on either side and charge us as soon as they recover from the shock. Ero and Roan make easy work of them, but I’m certain their screams have alerted everyone to our presence.
I throw open the massive doors with ease as I run in.
“Stop the wedding!”
Ero and Roan join me inside, flanking me, blood staining their fur.
The room is deathly quiet as the guests first stare at us and then shift their attention to Damien.
Thirty-Two
Annalise
Pinpricks of sensation flood through my body as I find myself shifting to see what the commotion is all about. My heart stops. There, standing in the middle of the aisle, is Li, one of the men from my dreams, two massive leopards beside him. I want to run, to throw myself into his arms, but something is stopping me. Damien’s hand.
I scream, startling myself with the sound I thought would only be in my mind. I turn to look at Damien, and then my leopards. I can move! The darkness has fled my mind. The next moment I’m flying through the air as Damien throws me over his shoulder.
“You’re too late, beast,” Damien says. “We’re wed.”
Damien reaches out a hand and clenches it into a fist and I scream again as I see Li and the two leopards collapse to the floor as they claw at the leather collars around their necks, blood leaking out from beneath. I pound my fists against Damien’s head, trying to get him to release me.
He does.
I’m thrown to the floor, the wind knocked out of me so hard I see stars. My eyes find Li’s and he is on his feet running down the aisle toward me even as the collar tightens again. Then he leaps at Damien, and right before my eyes, he changes. The fur wrap he was wearing falls to the floor as his outstretched hands become claws, his smooth body is once again covered in beautiful, spotted fur, and his face suddenly morphs into that of a leopard.
He collides with Damien, the sound like thunder as they tumble to the floor. The other leopards’ collars loosen and I watch as Ero and Roan stagger to their feet and race to join Li.
Damien rises from the floor, holding Li up by the neck, then tossing him to the side as he braces against the attacks of Roan and Ero. The sounds are sickening as I lay watching in horror from my place on the floor as Damien once again throws the two leopards off, each one struggling to rise from the floor. Damien cracks his neck and then turns to me, pulling me from the ground and setting me on my feet in a single move.
“Now,” he says, running a hand through his tousled hair, “I will take my bride to our wedding chambers.”
“You shall not!” I say with as much command as I can gather. “I demand to see my father.”
“We should inform the king of this intrusion first, should we not?” the priest asks shakily from behind the throne. “After all, such dangerous beasts shouldn’t be left to roam the castle.”
“Fine,” Damien growls as he motions for the messenger to go, his composure slowly turning far too calm. “Be quick.”
The guests are looking around in shock and confusion, although I’m sure none of them are more surprised than me. I was sure he’d protest to my demand to see my father…and now all I can feel is a deep unease.
Damien’s hand around my wrist hasn’t loosened. There’s a collective shift as we hear the sounds of hurried footsteps finally approaching and the messenger rushes into the Great Hall, stopping far enough away from the leopards as he dares.
“The…” he says, his breath catching in his throat. “The king…”
“Out with it, boy,” Damien commands.
“The king is dead!”
Damien swings around to the priest, pulling me with him up the final steps to the throne.
“Crown me.”
“I…I…The crown, bring the crown!”
Damien seats himself on my father’s throne, and I am left standing, aghast at the whirlwind of events.
My eyes shift as they catch Rosa’s, but just as I’m about to go to her, a voice rings through my mind.
“Annalise, you have to run. This is our only chance,” Li says.
I turn, searching, and find him back in human form, still lying where he was thrown. He’s covered himself with the piece of fur again.
I hesitate, my heart throbbing in my chest. I don’t want to leave Rosa behind, but I know there’s nothing I can do for her right now. Not in present circumstances. I look at Damien, who I only just realize has released my arm in favor of the royal scepter. The priest is lowering my father’s crown on to Damien’s head.
The crowd is standing, chanting. Like a curse.
“Long live the king! Long live king Damien!”
With the sudden turn of events, everyone’s attention is on Damien. I see Roan and Ero making their way quickly down the aisle as Li slowly rises to his feet, his human form even larger than that of his leopard. He reaches out a hand toward me.
I turn to give Rosa a look I hope she understands, a plea to forgive me for what I’m about to do. A promise to return. She smiles back at me, nodding and then turns to kiss Luca’s cheek.
She’ll survive, she has to.
I turn and step cautiously down and away from the throne, not daring to look back. Praying I can make it far enough from Damien unnoticed to escape.
“Run, Annalise. Run!” Roan, Ero, and Li yell in my head.
And I do.
I take Li’s hand and we make our way down the aisle toward the back of the Great Hall. Just as we reach the doorway, I hear Damien shout.
“Guards!”
“Forgive me for this,” Li grunts.
The next moment, I’m swinging through the air as Li lifts me up and over his shoulder with ease. His movements are graceful and fluid, nothing like Damien’s. His body is hard, but his gait is smooth and I feel more like I’m being rocked than carried, though I’m not a fan of the way I’m being held, bent over at the waist. Li has wrapped one arm around the back of my knees and his other hand is digging into my buttocks, almost painfully. I’m not even sure if he realizes what he’s doing, but it’s very noticeable to me and I react as such, swatting at his hand with as much accuracy as I can manage from my position.
Li growls but removes his hand, lowering it to my upper thigh. I instantly regret my actions as I suddenly find myself thumping up and down against the edge of his shoulder. This will certainly cause more than a little bruising. I want to tell him to clutch at my rear again, but I can’t quite manage it with the air constantly being knocked out of me.
“Stop him, he’s kidnapped the queen!” Damien’s shout echoes through the chamber, but we’ve already slipped out of the Great Hall. I can hear the chaos ensuing behind us as the guests and guards spring into action. So
mehow, Damien’s voice still carries above the noise and to our ears even as we fly down the passageway.
“A reward to the first man to bring back the queen. Alive!”
Ero and Roan have already burst through the kitchen doors and out into the courtyard, I know this only because I can hear the screaming from the servants ahead of us and the smell of roast pheasant is heavy in the air. They’ll just have to enjoy that feast without me.
The sun has already dipped below the horizon as Li ducks to let us out into the evening air. He pauses for a second and I manage to suck in a large gulp of air.
“Put me down.”
“Apologies, princess, but I can’t. Not yet,” Li says before bolting toward the section of the wall with my hidden escape.
Ero and Roan have already scaled the wall and are peering down at us, but soon disappear over the other side as we hear guards yelling and filing out of the castle toward us. Li sets me on the ground as gently as possible.
“Go through the tunnel. I’ll meet you on the other side,” Li says as he jumps at the wall, grabbing at a piece of stone that is jutting out and begins to climb.
I run over to the vines but glance behind me. The guards are not far off, but being part of the outdoor regiment, their armor is slowing them down significantly. I quickly turn back to the wall and pull back the vines…but nothing’s there. The hole I had used to escape for so many years is gone, replaced by a new set of stones. My heart leaps into my throat, and for a moment I’m afraid I won’t be able to speak, let alone call for help.
“Li!” I gasp, the words barely audible in my own ears.
The ground trembles around me and I am almost unbalanced. Before I can make sense of anything, a muscular arm has wrapped around me, swinging me up and over.
“Hold on!” Li growls.
I just barely manage to lock my arms around Li’s neck before he’s once again scrambling up the wall. My stomach twists as I look down at the ground that’s quickly growing further away. Li’s moving with such skill and rapidity up the face of the wall that I can’t help but be in awe. His back muscles rippling underneath me, sweat glistening on his skin. I want to kiss him. Then I feel my grip slipping. We’ve nearly reached the top of the massive wall, but my strength is giving out under the weight of my heavy dress and the movements of Li’s body.