6. Bella

As I stepped inside, the kitchen door creaked open, a symphony of old hinges and drafty corridors. A warm gust of air, thick with the scent of baking bread and simmering stew, enveloped me like an embrace. I blinked against the sudden brightness, adjusting my eyes to the glow of the hearth fire flickering in the dimly lit room.

Alysha brushed past me to stir a steaming pot of something that made my mouth water. Her blond hair was pulled back into a loose bun, framing her kind face, unlike mine. Beside her, the young boy leaned over to smell the contents with a toothy grin that was missing a front tooth. His pale blond hair caught the light from the open window in the morning sun. A smudge of flour dusted his cheek as he turned to grab bowls and spoons before thrusting one in my hand with a shy tentativeness that had me grinning back at him.

”Cut that out, Billy, and wait for our guest,” Alysha chastised the boy before turning her kind eyes to me. ”Are you hungry?” she asked.

”Um, yes, I am,” I replied hesitantly, my stomach growling loudly at the tantalizing scents surrounding me. ”Is this your kitchen?”

”It is now,” Alysha said, smiling warmly before pointing toward a chair. ”Please, make yourself comfortable and have something to eat. I thought you might be hungry.”

”You”ve been expecting me?” I asked as I studied her, unsure how or why this woman would expect me for anything.

”My...” she trailed off as if considering her words carefully. ”My Lord Lore informed us of your arrival.”

”You mean when the dragon snatched me up and dropped me in a cave?” I said more than asked in a clipped tone.

Alysha stared at me for a long moment, then sighed and nodded. ”Yes, I”m very sorry that you had to go through that. He...” She trailed off again as she turned her attention to what appeared to be a stew, steam wafting up from the boiling pot. ”He can be a little overly protective sometimes. He shouldn”t have thrown you on the cave ledge like that.”

”Left me there all night in the cold, too.”

”Yes and left you in the cold.” She exhaled with a sigh. ”He”s more beast than anything these days.”

I considered her words, wondering not for the first time what she meant. How could he be a beast? Dragons had long since been gone from the lands, and dragon shifters were rare and extinct.

They were also dangerous, the mortal enemy of my father”s people. The reason the war between the sun and the moon had started so long ago, leading to us being mortal enemies. If Lore was a dragon shifter, which I suspected he was, he was, without a doubt, my enemy.

I was still deep in thought when Alysha handed me a steaming bowl of stew. I breathed in the fragrant, hearty meal, and the smell alone could have filled me. Yet, I almost began to cry as actual food filled this bowl.

It had been far too long since I”d had a proper meal. The gnawing, aching emptiness had become so sharply intense that it had become a part of me, eating away at me every second of every day. The ability to enjoy a full meal nearly threw me into a new wave of dizziness.

I forced myself to swallow and take a long, deep breath to center myself before I clawed my way to the food. The smell hit me as my stomach twisted, demanding I fill it. I held back, fearful I would make a scene.

”Thank you,” I murmured gratefully, slowly taking a seat at the long wooden table that dominated the center of the room. The savory aroma of the food was almost too much to bear, but I forced myself to restrain my hunger. I didn”t want to appear ungrateful or, worse, animalistic.

”Can I ask you something?” I ventured after a moment, watching as Billy expertly slid a tray of golden-brown loaves from the oven. ”I”ve heard there”s a curse on the woods outside the castle. As a matter of fact, I”ve never heard nor seen this castle before. Where did this come from and why doesn”t anyone know it”s here? Is it cursed?”

Alysha glanced over at her son before answering. ”Yes, there”s a curse, placed by the moon goddess herself centuries ago. We”re bound to these castle grounds, unable to leave.” She paused, moving to wipe her hands on a cloth as she sat across from me. ”The reason you have not heard of the castle is because of the curse”s nature. It shields the castle not only from outsiders who might find themselves running across it but also from the memories of those who might remember it.”

I thought back to the sounds of the roar of a giant beast, my memories fuzzy. The crimson eyes watching me in the cave before I passed out still clear in my mind. ”So how did I get here then?”

”Most likely the dragon brought you.”

”I”m sorry, what?” My head swung around as I regarded her. ”Why would a dragon bring me here?”

”Only he would know the answer to that question, but what were you doing before you came?”

”I was being chased by a pack of wolves,” I admitted as a shiver shuddered up my spine at the memory of Gideon”s teeth so close to ripping me to shreds or dragging me back to his den.

Alysha placed a gentle hand on my shoulder, her eyes full of empathy. ”I believe the dragon brought you here to protect you,” she said softly, her voice laced with understanding and warmth.

I considered that for a long moment, shoveling the delectable stew into my mouth and taking a small roll that Billy handed to me to sop up some of the juices. I moaned, unable to contain myself, as I finally allowed myself to unleash, to relax just a little.

”So no one knows about this castle, its inhabitants, or how to get in?” I asked, eating a mouthful of food, not caring that my manners were atrocious. Once upon a time, those things mattered to me, but not anymore.

”No, very few people know of the castle unless they”ve been here. Once you”re here, it”s hard to leave.” Alysha watched me with pity in her eyes as I continued to empty the bowl like an ill-mannered savage beast.

”You only leave if she lets you,” Billy piped in.

”Who?” I mumbled, my gaze locking onto his hands.

He seemed to shrink back from me. I realized then that my eyes must be too hard, so I tried to soften my expression. I”d been told on more than one occasion that I was too pretty to constantly scowl, yet it seemed to be consistently plastered on my face by default. I had little experience with children, but I was positive my natural expression might have been scaring him off.

”I”m sorry,” I said in a soothing voice. ”I”ve lived a hard life the last few years and, well, it shows.” My voice softened as I held his expression, not wanting to spook him. ”Forgive me?”

Billy grinned so big that it stretched wide across his face, showing the crooked teeth still trying to find their place as he grew into them.

”Hard life? Are you not a princess?” Alysha asked warily, her head tilting as she studied me again, taking in my broken, dirty fingernails. My pale moonlight hair was pulled back in a haphazard braid, and my clothes were tattered and dirty from more than a night in the woods and stuck to a ledge in a cave.

No, the kind of wear and tear and grime that coated me was over a long period of poverty. I was aware of what I looked like. This was my best outfit, too—the one I painstakingly mended repeatedly and cleaned in the ice-cold stream to wear to the bookstore for work. Most times, it was still damp.

I straightened my spine and lifted my chin as my voice hardened. ”I was once the daughter of a prince so in a way, yes, I was a princess. Our kingdom was destroyed. So I am the princess of nothing now.”

”I see.” That damned look of pity crossed Alysha”s face again. It made me press my lips in a hard line. I hated being pitied.

”You sound like you”re a warrior.” Billy breathed out in awe as he crept closer. ”Do you fight?”

I thought back to the basic defense classes I had taken as a child, the memories long since lost, and shook my head. My ability to fight rested on being able to knee or kick them where it hurt the most or run away and hope for survival. Obviously, that didn”t get me too far. No, it had trapped me in a cursed castle with a grumpy man and these people. My outlook seemed to darken at that moment. Thinking of the future was hard when you couldn”t see one.

”How long have you been here?” I asked to distract myself from my dark thoughts.

”Far too many centuries now, I suppose,” Alysha said wistfully as she studied the greenery out the window.

The sky was bright, and the sun was shining without a cloud, though I had remembered reading in the papers that the forecast was rain for the next week. My mind snapped out of my thoughts of rain.

”Wait, did you say centuries?” I leaned closer, studying her. It was impossible. Those of other origins, such as sifters and vampires, could live long lives of many thousands of years, but they did age. She looked as if she wasn”t a day over twenty.

”Give or take a few decades. It”s hard to keep track after a while.” She shrugged.

”You don”t look that old,” I said before stopping.

Alysha busted out laughing just as Billy took my now empty bowl and filled it again with more stew.

”Shit,” I muttered under my breath, my appetite suddenly dampened by this revelation. I clamped my hands over my lips, realizing I”d just cursed in front of a child. ”That”s... I”m sorry.”

”May I ask you a question? Please, if it is too forward, I apologize,” Alysha began as she pulled off another chunk of bread and handed it to me.

”Of course,” I answered before dipping the bread into the dish, which was just as good as the last bowl of stew. I felt myself stiffen as if I knew what was coming next. What she would ask.

”What are you?” she asked abruptly and straight to the point.

It occurred to me that Lore hadn”t told her. He knew I was part vampire, or at least suspected it. He”d mentioned how death clung to me. Perhaps that was just the smell of living with a vampire. They did smell like death in a way—the aroma of wilted and dead flowers. They covered the smell with fragrant soaps, perfumes, and deodorants, but the scent lingered.

I sat my spoon down and shifted my gaze warily to hers, ready for them to throw me out or spit on me. I squared my shoulders and held her gaze, prepared for the blow. ”Half vampire.”

”And the other half?” she asked without flinching.

I shrugged. ”Human,” I said, not bothering to mention that I didn”t honestly know the answer to that part of my heritage. When I asked my father, he responded, ”A mistake; that”s what you are.” I stopped asking.

I paused, tipping the bowl back until it was empty, and stood to paddle more into it, with Alysha”s nod that it was okay. This was more food than I”d had in a month or two.

”I”m sorry to hear you”ve been cursed,” I admitted as I sat and began on the new bowl. I knew there was some proprietary rule to follow not to eat so much, but the type of hunger I”d suffered didn”t give a damn about that. All it cared about was feeling full. So, I quickly had eaten the second bowl. I realized I”d not tasted either bowl in my haste to eat it. Which was why I’d ladled another bowl, this one to enjoy leisurely.

Only the lack of food for so long and the fact this was my third bowl made me realize my eyes were far bigger than my shrunken stomach. Soon, I felt the threat of an eruption. Mortified, I searched the room for a waste basket or anything that I could use to expel what was now threatening to come back up.

Panic seized me, and with one quick glance at Alysha, I saw her eyes widen.

I turned to the back door, feeling as if I were ready to hurl up my guts any second. I was doing everything I could to keep it contained long enough to make it outside. I ripped open the door, falling to my knees. I retched onto the ground, but boots were in the way. My three-course stew meal erupted from my throat like a volcano, splattering all over the boots as I felt the contents of my stomach empty.

The boots tried to move out of the way, but it seemed we were not in sync because every time I turned to try to hurl away from the boots, the owner seemed to have the same idea. So they stepped right back in front of me.

I heard him curse and retreat, and it was hard to tell if my stomach was the victor or the loser. Finally, once the racketing convulsions seized, I lifted my head, ready to apologize to the unfortunate recipient of my three-course meal. My gaze met his stern glare, and my apology stilled on my lips as I wiped my mouth.

Lore stood in front of me.

”Please explain to me why I”m now wearing your dinner. What are you, a barbarian?” he demanded as he stared down at his boots. Boots that were well worn and not in the slightest bit new. Now very colorfully decorated.

”Well, it”s not like it could make them any worse,” I muttered as I pulled myself to stand, still clutching my stomach, and pressed one hand over my mouth to stop further issues. My stomach had calmed, but I had trust issues, which appeared to extend to my own bodily functions. I prayed that some of the meal would stay in my stomach and that I wouldn”t wake again with hunger pains in the middle of the night.

”Barbarian it is then,” Lore muttered, shaking off his boots and inspecting them as if I”d taken something precious from him. ”These are the last pair I have. Do you have any idea how long I”ve had these?” he grumbled.

”From the looks of it, since the beginning of time.” The wear on the boot showed where his toes had pressed into the side. They were scuffed and now covered in my stomach acid and meal. ”If that”s your last pair, you”re screwed.”

I looked down at my slippers, tattered and worn to the barest slice of protection. They hugged my feet a few sizes too small. They were the last pair we”d been able to afford after we left the Vampire Court. I didn”t sympathize with him if that was what he was looking for.

Lore sighed as he inspected my shoes with me. He exhaled long and hard. ”I suppose you do understand.”

Anger bubbled up inside of me. I wanted to lash out to hide from his pity. ”You have no idea what I understand,” I growled, unsure why I was so upset with him. I”d thrown up all over him and should have apologized, but instead, I was picking a fight. Something in the way he had looked at me made me want to fight him. To rage against him, to yell, ”How dare you judge me?” It was the look I”d seen a thousand times since leaving the Vampire Court, and I”d received the same pitiful look a thousand times more at the Vampire Court. The pitiful half-breed.

I hated it, and at that moment, it made me hate him, too.

”That”s right. I do and I don”t need your pity!” I yelled before stomping off, only to slow a few paces as my stomach threatened to turn over once again. My hand shot up to steady myself on the rough stone of the castle keep. The sun overhead beat down upon me, but the warmth never seemed to reach my skin. Even in the sun, a chill seemed to cling to this place. A chill that wrapped its cold fingers around me and held on.

”It”s not pity,” Lore grumbled in a deep voice from behind me. ”I understand.”

I whirled around, my stomach protesting as I did. ”How? How would you understand? Have you ever been thrown out of your kingdom and painted the villain, the reason it fell? Have you ever gone hungry for so long that you begged for death? Have you ever had to wear shoes made for you as a child and pray that your feet didn”t get bigger because you”d never be able to afford a new pair? Have you ever had to decide between starving and being warm?” I paused, searching his face, seeing nothing in its complicated depths. ”No? You know nothing.”

I didn”t know why I lashed out, only that it felt good. So many years I had pushed that anger and resentment of my life down. At this moment, in this hopeless situation where the whole world seemed to be tumbling down on top of it, I gave it all to him.

”You”re right. I don”t know,” Lore admitted. ”We”re strangers. We don”t know each other and it”s clear that you”ve had a rough life.”

I opened my mouth to retort and yell at him again, but his earnest look and words made me clamp my lips shut, turn, and storm away. About ten minutes later, I found myself in the castle with no idea where to go, lost in more ways than one, and now mortified at how I”d unleashed a whole heap of crazy on Lore.

Because I knew he didn”t deserve it.