Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

EVER

A piercing headache was the first thing I became aware of, followed by my inability to move. The smell of dusty air told me I was no longer in the woods, and somewhere in the distance, a piano played faintly.

Mind foggy, I pried my eyes open, squinting through the dim light, trying to make sense of what I was seeing. By the looks of it, I was in some kind of formal sitting room that looked straight out of the 1800s.

There was ornate furniture, a chandelier hanging in the middle of the room, a grand fireplace in the wall to my left, and a few life-sized paintings occupying most of the wall space. Everything was opulent, excessive, and looked like it belonged in a museum.

I tried to move again, unsuccessfully, and a glance down told me why: I was chained to the most extravagant wood-carved chair I'd ever seen.

What the fuck?

I blinked again, clenching my jaw against the pain in my temple. It had to be where I was struck with the shotgun, which was nowhere in sight. My backpack was also long gone, along with the beanie I'd worn into the woods. Whoever knocked me out had probably dragged me here, to the place I could only assume was Dupont Manor, and they were holding me prisoner.

But why?

The soft piano melody continued to drift through the air, and I fought against the chain binding me, trying to get an arm free, but it was impossible. It was too tight.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice hoarse. My throat was dry and scratchy, probably from the stale air suffocating me, but I tried again, a little louder. "Hello? Is anyone there?"

The piano stopped abruptly, making my stomach drop. My eyes shifted to the open door across the room that led to a brighter hallway. Outside the sitting room, I could make out more opulence, more excessive, antique decorations. A second later footsteps approached, clicking against the hardwood, nearly in time with my heartbeat, and I held my breath.

The wait was excruciating, but finally, a woman stepped through the doorway. She wore a pale blue, floor-length dress with antique beaded details, and her waist-length red hair was curled and pinned away from her face. Her porcelain skin and dark eyes gave her a haunted look, like a ghost cursed to wander the ancient rooms of the manor forever.

"You're awake," she said, a forced smile curling her lips. She made her way slowly across the room, stopping a few feet away. As she looked me over, her head cocked to the side. "What a surprise."

"Where am I?"

"You were looking for the manor, were you not?" She didn't wait for me to answer. "Congratulations, you found it."

"I-I was," I said, wishing more than ever I had water to soothe my scratchy throat. My foggy thoughts were racing, making it hard to focus. "How did you know?"

She scoffed a laugh and folded her hands in front of her. "You don't think you're the first person to come looking for it, do you?"

No, I didn't. In fact, I knew I wasn't the first to search for it, but I'd never heard of anyone making it to the manor before. If others had gotten to this point, what happened to them after? Why didn't they return to town?

"Why am I tied up? I didn't see ‘no trespassing' signs," I said, jerking unsuccessfully against the chains again. "Is it against the law to explore these woods?"

"No." Her jaw hardened, her kind expression turning into something darker. "You're here because you killed two of the Lord's servants. He will decide what your punishment should be."

Icy fear clung to my spine, spreading slowly through my limbs. "They followed me. They attacked me. What was I supposed to do?"

"Stay out of the woods," she snapped, her voice laced with venom. " That's what you were supposed to do, now here you are. The Lord will wake shortly, then he'll decide what to do with you."

Wake?

My gaze traveled involuntarily to the closest window where the rich orange light of sunset seeped in through the split in the curtains. Who the hell slept so late in the day? What would they do to me when they arrived? Would they let me go? Or would they have something sinister planned?

My mind spun, but the only thing I could focus on was getting out of the fucking chains.

"Can you at least loosen them?" I asked, my arm starting to ache from the metal digging in. "I promise I won't run."

She laughed, throwing her head back. "If you expected mercy, you would have stayed far away from here. The Lord will come for you soon."

With that, she turned around and left the room, leaving me alone.

"Fuck." I thrashed in frustration, knowing it wouldn't change a thing. I was stuck, trapped, and there was nothing I could do until the Lord of Dupont Manor showed up to decide my fate.

This was perfect. Fucking perfect.

My mother was going to kill me when she found out. Assuming, of course, that no one else killed me first.

The minutes dragged on, the light outside darkening to a rich scarlet color. Finally, all the light outside faded, and the only things illuminating the sophisticated sitting room were a couple of gas lamps and the light spilling in from the hall. They gave everything around me a dreamy look, and I had to remind myself for the hundredth time that this wasn't a dream.

This was all real, and shortly I would meet the very real consequences of my actions.

I swallowed hard.

After what felt like an eternity, I heard footsteps, faint and slow at first. They grew louder, closer, and my throat tightened. They weren't the same rapid clicks from before; they were heavier, slower, like whoever approached was in no hurry at all.

Finally, a figure appeared in the gaping doorway and I straightened as much as I could, nerves mounting. The light from the hallway cast him in shadows, his tall frame filling most of the doorframe. He lingered there for a second before entering, crossing the room slowly with fluid movements. I'd never seen anyone so graceful. It was like he floated on air rather than walking, even though I could hear his footsteps.

The closer he got, the more of him I could make out in the limited lighting, and my blood ran cold. A spill of blond hair fell around his shoulders, and his eyes were impossibly dark, like two black holes determined to suck me in and destroy me. He wore a vintage suit with a tailored vest and a shirt with a ruffled white collar, much like the clothes I'd seen in the photos from the library. They were pristine, like they'd been perfectly preserved since the 1800s.

He was handsome, but not in the conventional, rugged way. His features were timeless, elegant, exactly the way I'd imagine a rich manor owner to look. Except for the fangs, which flashed as he smiled down at me. Those were a surprise.

"Welcome to my home," he said, his words punctuated and proper. "I hope it's everything you thought it would be."

I cocked an eyebrow at him, wondering why he was being so polite. If what the woman earlier said was true, I'd killed two of his servants, and he was going to make me pay for it. Why would he attempt pleasantries first if his intention was to hurt me? Maybe he was playing the long game. Maybe he was…

He stepped closer, and my heart shot into my throat as I prepared for the worst. However, rather than hit me, he simply stared down the bridge of his thin nose, his gaze crushing down on me with impossible weight, before producing a key from the inside of his coat. Without a word, he unlocked the padlock keeping the chains in place, and they fell limp a second later.

"You'll have to excuse Edith," he said. I could only assume she was the woman from before. "She can be a little over-zealous, but she means well."

I rubbed the feeling back into my arms and shoved the chain away, letting it fall with a clanking thud to the floor. The man took a step backward, and I stood, lingering next to the chair apprehensively, still terrified of his next move. I was unsteady, my legs shaky, and I gripped the back of the chair for balance.

"Why did you let me go?" I asked, unable to contain my curiosity any longer.

"Do you prefer the chains?" He cocked his head to the side. "You'd be the first, but everyone has their kinks, I suppose."

Heat creeped up my neck, scorching my cheeks, and thoughts of being chained up in a different scenario bloomed to life in my mind. I quickly shook my head and the thoughts from it. "No, no. I just… Edith said you planned to punish me for killing your servants. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to cause any harm, but they attacked me and…"

The man lifted a hand to silence me, and against my will, my words died. Whether it was magic or awe that made me stop mid-sentence, I wasn't sure, but I stood there speechless, waiting for him to explain.

"You will pay," he said, running his tongue along his to teeth as he stared at me. "But first, I shall give you the answers you came for."

I froze, my eyes glued to his unusually sharp canines. I'd seen enough cosplayers wearing fake fangs to not be alarmed immediately, but the more I looked at them, the more uncertain I grew. Surely, a man so private and sophisticated wouldn't spend his free time wearing fake vampire fangs.

Then again, everyone had their kinks.

Despite his threat to punish me, I wasn't nearly as afraid as I should have been. Something about his proper demeanor, the charm that oozed from him, settled the terror that otherwise would have had me losing my mind. It was a false sense of comfort that made me feel like he wouldn't hurt me, but that was probably part of his plan.

"Why?" I asked, unable to keep my mouth shut. "Why give me answers?"

"Others might paint me to be a cruel monster, but I'm not as vicious as you think."

I looked him over again, memorizing every detail. No matter how long my eyes lingered on him, it wasn't enough. I wanted to drink him in, brand him on the backs of my eyelids, because he was unlike anyone I'd ever met before. Plucked straight from another time period, or perhaps the set of a movie, this man was so unusual and so mesmerizing, it frazzled my senses and left me desperate to know more.

"Who are you?" I asked, finally finding my voice. Legs no longer wobbling, I took a half-step to the side so that more light from the hall fell on his face, and his dark eyes shone with intrigue.

"Forgive me. Where have my manners gone? It's been so many years since I've had visitors." He shook his head. "My name is Corvin. Corvin Dupont."