Chapter 9

Chapter Nine

R ivers of blood carved through towering cliffs of obsidian, cutting a path into the land. Shadows danced over the jagged rocks, turning the darkness into a veritable void. Pealing laughter clashed with agonized screams and sent me to my knees, making me clamp my hands over my ears as the noises grew louder.

The screams gained prominence, ringing through my ears and vibrating through my very bones. Icy wind whipped through the valley between the cliffs and then I was in front of the river, blood lapping at my knees and soaking into my dress.

A hand grabbed my shoulder from behind, burning cold and searing hot at the same time.

The hand yanked, and then I was falling. Falling. FALLING.

No ground beneath me, no cliffs beside me, no river in front of me, just falling into a pit of inky nothingness as the screams grew louder and louder.

I woke on a gasp, my body recalling the nightmare as if it were real. My skin was cold yet hot at the same time, sweat beading on my neck and then freezing as it rolled down into my hair. My chest was heaving and my breath was coming in pants as visions flooded me. The nightmare had been familiar, yet not, filled with ice and shadows and screams. This nightmare was no different from the others in that as soon as I woke up, the finer details slipped from my grasp, no matter how tightly I tried to hold onto them, leaving only the lingering feeling of cold and fear.

And so I lay there, staring up at the ceiling of my new room in this prison of a castle as I caught my breath. Already, the images were fading, but I knew the feelings would linger for the rest of the day. Light was shining between the cracks in the heavy curtains across the windows, tinged red by the damning mist, but bright enough that I knew I'd been asleep quite a while.

I could not shake the discomfort from this dream, the feeling of claws skittering down my neck and heavy eyes on me, the sounds of distant screaming and sobs of people I never saw. Sleep would not return today, not without immediately pulling me back into the constant hellscape of my nightmares.

Perhaps this extra time would allow me to explore the castle more while most everyone else was still sleeping.

Rising from the bed, I finally took a moment to examine my room. I'd been far too tired last night, far too tired to even climb beneath the blankets, but now, I was practically vibrating with energy. The room itself was nice, small yet still more opulently furnished than our entire house had been. Two large windows took up most of the western wall to my right, and in front of the bed was a small sitting area tucked against the wall.

A wardrobe along the other side stood between the bed and another door, which led to a bathing chamber with a large bathtub and vanity that I was certain would be the only positive of my enduring stay at Castle Auretras.

It was a room far better than most other servants could ever claim, so I supposed it would be wise to accept without fuss.

When I spun back around towards the bed, I had to clap my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming as I slammed myself back against the wall. As my mind caught up with my eyes and I recognized the cat-shaped shadow perched on the end of my bed, my heart began to slow.

"What are you doing here?" I hissed at it. My hand moved down to cup my throat, feeling my pulse skitter beneath my fingers. "How did you even get in here?"

It merely tilted its head to the side. As with everything about this strange cat, the movement was beyond the norm a cat could tilt its head, its entire head now perpendicular to the ground as if its neck had been broken and the head was just flopping over to the side. Thankfully, the motion did not linger, and it hopped from the bed and prowled past me.

My bedroom door swung open as it approached.

"I am not following you," I said as it stopped in the open doorway, looking back at me. There were many things people had called me, but stupid had never been one of them. And I knew that following a Soulshade cat out into this castle when the door opened on its own accord was the very definition of something stupid. "I will find my way on my own."

It huffed.

"I will not."

The bright yellow of its eyes seemed to glow brighter and a cold breeze rushed into the room from behind me. The curtains shifted, though I knew I had not opened the window. Unease churned in my stomach. I'd never seen a Soulshade be able to manipulate the living world before, and though I could not rule out that all of them could do it, it made me that much more apprehensive of this creature.

While leaving the room might have been ill-advised, I couldn't deny that I was curious. I wanted to learn more about this place and the people inside. Besides, disobeying the Soulshade cat seemed to be far more dangerous to my current condition than venturing out into the castle. So I straightened my dress as best I could, pulling my hair from the messy twist it had been in and smoothing it down before following the cat to the door. "Fine. But only because I was already planning to leave."

I hadn't been expecting an answer, not in words, at least. Just like the night before, the cat led me down the hallway, twisting around corners while hugging its body along the walls. It made my skin crawl, the unnaturalness of the shadowed being, so I avoided looking at it as much as possible.

After a handful of more ornately decorated hallways, it stopped in front of a set of wooden double doors with roses and thorn-covered vines carved into the facade. It sat, tail twitching as it looked up at the door handle and then at me.

"Oh, you cannot open this one on your own?" I groused. Turning the handle, I pushed the door open.

The smell hit me first. Old parchment, leather, ink. I inhaled the scents deeply, relishing them. It had been too long since I had been in the presence of this many books.

I looked down at the cat, my heart strangely soft and my eyes strangely damp. "Thank you for showing me this."

It lifted its paw and licked at it once, twice, three times before putting it straight out like it was pointing.

Following its guidance, I peered further into the library only to see a familiar figure. The broad shoulders of a man and messy dark hair. His back was to us, but I knew without an inkling of doubt that this was the man from the night before, the one who had seen me in the balcony. The door swung shut behind us, the click of a lock sounding.

I glared down at the cat. "Traitor."

"I know you are there. The cat did not need to tell me."

When I looked back up, the man had spun to face me, the corner of his lip quirked up. And then the room tilted.

My vision blurred and I blinked, shaking my head in a failed attempt to clear it. The library had turned into my nightmares, the shelves of books replaced by a barren landscape of jagged black rocks, of ice-cold air, and shadows undulating along the walls. No, NO !

I backed up, reaching behind me for the door handle, but there was nothing. Nothing but cold air. My heart raced and my vision began to blacken around the edges as my breathing came too fast. I needed to wake up.

The man clapped his hands, echoing loudly off the stone and sending vibrations through my feet.

I blinked again at the sound, and I was back in the library, the man watching me carefully. My hand rested again at my throat and the other came to wrap around my body. What was happening? He'd clapped, I thought, but otherwise had not reacted in any way. Had he not seen that?

"Odyssa, is it?" His voice was exactly as it had been last night, rich and deep, sliding like velvet over my skin. It made me want to both melt into it and run away at the same time. Just like the cat, something was not right about this man, and until I could put my finger on what, I needed to stay away.

I reached behind me for the handle again, but before my fingers could close around it, the man was in my space, his breath fanning softly over my forehead and nose. Shivers erupted through me, tracing down my spine like tickling fingers. His power was evident even without touching me. The mere presence of him commanded attention, and while my body was happy to give it, my mind remained utterly aware of the potential dangers of being alone with someone like this.

"Don't." His lips curled up into a smile as he stared down at me. His pale blue eyes were swirling like clouds during a storm—clouds before the mist. The marks across my skin prickled, and I fought to keep from squirming. "Don't leave yet, little wolf."

"Why should I stay?" I lifted my chin defiantly, though my hands trembled. "Who are you?"

He leaned in even closer, his warm and slightly spiced smell invading my nostrils. A strand of my hair fell across my forehead and cheek, and he smiled at it, picking it up between his fingers and toying with it before letting it drop and leaning away.

"No one important."

"I highly doubt that, given you are here."

A smile stretched across his face, one that revealed all his teeth. "You are here as well. Are you not important?"

"I am a servant," I pointed out, crossing my arms over my chest. "You are a guest here."

"Am I?"

Voices outside the library echoed off the halls, growing louder as they came nearer. Still we stared at each other. I refused to be the first one to look away. Weakness was the language this man spoke—the language of Castle Auretras—and I would not make things easy on him.

He chuffed a laugh, taking a step away and extending an arm, bending at the waist slightly and crossing his other arm over his stomach. "You shouldn't be here, regardless." He looked down at the cat. "You can take her through the back passage. She'll be unseen."

The cat perked up from its spot at my feet, the words seemingly more for it than me. As we passed by the man, I caught a glimpse of black whorls at his wrist beneath his sleeve. My eyes snapped back to his face. This man was marked. He'd survived.

"Who are you?" I repeated, more urgency in my voice this time. His marks were thick and angry like mine, not delicate like Zaharya's. I itched to find out more.

"Wouldn't you like to know, little wolf," he said with another smirk. He dropped his arms and inclined his head towards the door, where the handle rattled. "Best be off now, though. Don't worry, I will find you later. I think we have much to discuss."

The cat flicked its tail jerkily and once my attention was back on it, we were off again, weaving between the shelves of books until we reached a small single doorway. Once again, the door opened without intervention. Human intervention, at least.

I couldn't make myself pay attention as it led me back through a narrower hallway. I noticed enough to know that it was somewhere new, but my focus was back in that library with the man. Zaharya's words echoed in my head, but I needed to know more, to know what that vision was and why it had happened in his presence. Why his intervention had pulled me out of it, and most importantly, if he had seen it too.

I barely noticed we had stopped until a doorway was right in front of my face. My doorway.

This time, I pushed my own door open. The cat apparently decided it had fulfilled its duty and turned to disappear into the stone next to my doorframe. Locking the door behind me, I leaned up against it, my hand resting at my throat once more. There was no need for it, but it felt safer, like I was holding myself together from the outside.

I still had no idea who this man was, and though Zaharya's warning was at the forefront of my mind, I knew I would not stop until I'd found my answers. I'd always been a curious child, and despite my priority being the cure and my brothers' survival, I wanted to know more about him.

The cat seemed to be working with him or for him; at any rate, it continued to lead me towards him. Smarter people would stop following such a creature. I didn't know how I knew, but I felt in my bones that it was a clue, a key to figuring out what was happening in this castle.

A knock on the door moved through the wood into my chest, startling me back to standing on my own two feet. Was it the man? He'd said he would return, but it had only been moments since I'd returned to my room.

Slowly, I unlocked the door, pulling it open only a sliver. My shoulders slumped in relief at the sight of white hair.

"It is time to get ready for this evening, Odyssa." She paused, studying me. "Are you ill? You look paler than you did last night." Her eyes narrowed. "And are you still wearing your dress from last night?"

"I—"

She pushed the door open, taking sure strides to the wardrobe I'd not yet opened that sat along the far wall. Flinging it open, she turned to look over her shoulder and frowned. "You are allowed to wear the clothes in here. It's here for a reason."

"No, I know," I said, trying desperately to keep up and wave away her concerns. "I just woke up. I fell asleep last night—I mean, this morning—and slept longer than I'd planned. I haven't had a chance to change."

She hummed. "I suppose the schedule does take some getting used to. Well, in any case, it's time to go. But this room is yours. Remember that."

"I will, thank you." I followed her to the doorway. Beside the door was a key hanging from a nail. I'd not seen it before, but then again, I'd been preoccupied. Taking the key, I locked the door behind us as we left, noting the satisfied smile on Zaharya's face.