Chapter 7

Barbie

The house magic had redecorated my room as a welcome-back gift.

It had shipped a rocking chair from someone else's room and put it in mine, so I could read a book by the full window and overlook the partial fairy forest. The biggest change was the theme of the room.

The wallpaper was now pale blue with flowery patterns. Tiny golden stars with wings sparkled on the ceiling. The surrounding was devoid of pink. My princess's room in my god father's palace had been all pink. When he deemed that I was a good daughter, I got to sleep in my pink, silky bed instead of the snake pit.

I still had nightmares about my father coming to my pink room to feed on me, gnawing on my essence, my screams rocking the palace walls. After he left, it'd always been Sy who took over our form and cleaned up the mess—gore and blood all over my pink, silky bed—while I cowered and curled within her, sobbing, fearing the coming of tomorrow and the terror it promised. In those years, she'd always been a solid rock that had carried me through.

The worst thing in my father's care? I couldn't die.

I'd make sure Ruin would never get a chance to feed on me again.

We'll cut him to pieces before that happens,Sy snarled, then peeked at the books on the table, intrigued. Now what smutty book are we going to read? Are you sure the house can't set up the internet like in human cities? I prefer porn over smutty books.

I thanked the house, slinked my spoiled butt onto the rocking chair, and picked a book with a discreet cover of roses, dragons, and a crown that the house had selected for me. There were a couple more books that had a manchest on the cover. The house had probably taken those books from Cami's room.

I was glad that the house wasn't a cat, or it would bring dead mice to my feet. But I wouldn't object to the house borrowing things for me to enjoy; I would just make sure not to let anyone in my room, so no one would know what went missing from their dorms. Pucker had also collected half a dozen sexy gowns for me, and I no longer bothered to ask him where he'd gotten them, just to save the headache of keeping track of his shenanigans.

That was why I hung a "Privacy" sign on the doorknob, but I doubted it would stop Killian and his important minions from coming to bother me. When they did, I usually parked myself in the doorway to block their entry, a hand firmly on the door to keep it mostly closed to impede their view and to show them that privacy was important to me.

But they never got the hint.

That was the moral of my story, a new chapter now.

This was the first place that felt like home. I'd never thought that I could have this, not even temporarily. My gaze zoomed in on the two photos that the house had framed on the sidewall—one was a selfie of Bea and me. The other one was me amid the princes with my eyes half-shut in a food orgasm, taken on a date with Rowan in his villa. Cade had sent me the pic.

The house wanted me to be attached to my friends, to the realm, to it. It didn't want me to leave. Ever. And I appreciated it.

I used to think that craving a home and relationships was dangerous. But I'd started to get used to this life, and I wanted them. A wave of shame and guilt washed over me at wanting a life while I'd tried to deny Sy when she wanted the same for herself.

I understand, Barbie,Sy chimed in. I won't fight you again. I'll take what I can have.

She'd need to feed soon. She'd see Rowan. But she wouldn't insist on sleeping in his bed and spending a night with him, which she craved.

One day, we'll figure this out, Sy,I vowed to her. When we're safe and when we take down our father. Both of us knew that we'd face Ruin eventually, and we should never forget the danger he posed to this realm, to every being on Earth, and to us.

A new kind of fear brewed in my middle, as I was suddenly terrified of being torn away from this place, this life, my friends, and Killian. To distract myself, I started to turn the book in my hands and read. After a page or two, Sy lost patience. She didn't care for the setup. She wanted me to go straight to the smut part.

It needs to build up. When the tension is high, there'll be more flavor,I told her. Going to fuck right away is erotica!

Let's read erotica!she cheered.

I propped my feet up on the armchair as I turned another page.

"Hiya, Barbie." Pucker popped out beside me in his solid form, making me jump out of my skin. "Good to see you up early."

"Pucker, do you ever knock?"

"But it's me, darling girl," he said. "We haven't had a chance to have a long talk since your return. I have to tell you that you didn't look too hot in that godforsaken dungeon." He wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Blackened eyes. Left swollen beyond recognition. Pitiful bruises and small cuts all over your bleeding face. And you looked terrified and crazed at the same time. Those motherfuckers put an iron mask on your face. That barbaric practice was banished twelve centuries ago. The princes were all shell-shocked when they first spotted you, and so was I, but I swallowed the sting of my tears." He tilted his head as he studied me before he nodded in approval. "You look peachy now, Barbie. I'm not surprised at your speedy recovery, considering you're basically a goddess."

"Shush. Shush!" I said, cutting him a stern look, as I didn't want anyone, especially Killian, to find out more about me.

Also, I was still pretending to be in an agonizingly slow process of recovery to keep reaping all the perks Killian bestowed on me.

First, I got room service. Second, I hadn't gone to any classes—the boring organized study—for two days now. I considered it a small win and would drag it out as long as I could. I especially didn't have the spirit to attend the druid's divination class. I hoped that the committee or whatever organization they called would void the requirement for me to join the coming bride trial if I could also pull it off.

Everyone thought I was traumatized, which was partly true, so I wanted to keep playing the role well. I put on the look of a puppy being kicked too hard and unable to get up too soon whenever I had an audience. I even put on a show of limping and wincing for good measure while rubbing my side where a blade had gone in when I was grabbed, especially in Killian and his minions' presence.

My performance worked so well that Killian had blocked Mistress Ethel and the druid from seeing me again. He insisted that it was a house affair, and it wasn't their business to keep interrogating me.

That was why he'd gotten me into his house in the first place, so he could shield me and sweep anything that concerned me under the umbrella of house affairs.

"One shush is sufficient." Pucker rolled his eyes. "It's not like anyone can hear us or I'll reveal any of your secrets, as there're too many."

"The walls have ears! Your ghost lady guardian pal might be listening right this moment. We all know she's vicious, and she might have a big mouth as well."

"True and true, regarding her vicious heart and big mouth. However, I rig a muting spell on the walls around your room whenever I visit you," my ghost guardian familiar said smugly. "Even you haven't detected it, since it's a ghost spell."

I blinked at him, impressed, but I was eager to get back to my romance book and read the steamy scene.

Plus, I'd thanked him many times. I couldn't pretend to be unwell, though. My familiar was too smart for his own good, and he didn't care about anyone's PTSD even if it was real. I'd let him take a sip of my goddess juice just to get it over with, so I had no idea why he'd come back so soon.

"This experience changed you, Barbie." He regarded me. "You look more mature than a twenty-year-old now." His voice turned mournful. "Gone is the last of your innocence and the baby fat on your cheeks."

He had no clue that I'd lost my innocence a long time ago in my father's brutal care. All my scars were internal, and nobody would want to peek at those.

When you stare at darkness, darkness stares back,Sy chimed in.

Yet it didn't exactly please me that Pucker did not mince his words. And even though I sat my ass in my room and enjoyed all the perks, I was still jumpy.

No wonder he got murdered,Sy offered gleefully.

"You should go for an early patrol at the Veil, Pucker," I said. "We don't want any Shriekers to sneak in, especially after what happened."

"But it wasn't the Shriekers who kidnapped you."

"It doesn't matter. The point is that we should not let our guard down."

"You're worse than a slave driver, Barbie!" he complained, waving his ghostly wand at the variety of cakes on the desk and the empty ice cream cups piled in the waste bin. "And you're taking advantage of the situation."

I was. I also felt a little guilty at having good things in my life, as if I kept wearing this old mentality that I didn't deserve anything good.

"After being kidnapped and maimed, I deserve a little break!"

He eyed me. "There's no need to be defensive."

"You don't know what it was like to be forced to wear that foul iron mask and be locked up in a dungeon," I said more defensively.

"Believe me, I know the horror more than you think," he said. "The prince and I will make sure no one comes near you again. Trust us."

I stared at him suspiciously instead of in trust, a half-eaten cake in my hand.

"So you and the prince are two peas in a black pod now?"

He grinned. "We've reached our gentlemen's agreement."

"What gentlemen's agreement?" I demanded. "It sounds bad."

"Well, let's just say, when it comes to your safety, the prince is amicable to some of my terms."

"You must tell me, Pucker. You're my familiar, and I demand your loyalty, even though in your past life you were a cheater, a liar, a conman, an identity thief, and…"

He brandished his ghostly wand wildly. "Drop it!"

I put down my book and gave him a forceful look. "What did you do this time?"

"I want to make sure we aren't exactly exclusive, right?" he asked.

I narrowed my eyes.

"I'm so sorry!" he said, throwing himself, now in his phantom form, onto my bed.

I half rose from the chair. Should I go hug him and tell him everything would be all right?

No!Sy said mercilessly. We should not believe in his tears or any sob story.

She was tough.

Then I registered that Pucker wasn't crying. He had tossed himself to my bed to smoke weed, real weed this time. And his form had turned solid again, more solid than ever.

"What the fuck?" I said.

Pucker puffed out a ring, savoring the smell of the weed. "Prince Killian also let me drink his energy in exchange for me being your bodyguard twenty-four seven! His power is amazing, Barbie, and it complements yours."

"Motherfucker!" I shouted. I dogeared the page of my book, tossed it to the corner of the chair, and shot to my feet. "You're getting double pay for the same job?"

"Technically, you use me as an errand boy and a scout, but he uses me as a certified bodyguard. I can multitask."

"I don't need a bodyguard!" I yelled at him. I thought of throwing a book or a cake at him, but it would waste resources. "I don't even need you around me every day. I just want to make sure none of the Shriekers get in so they won't report to?—"

Pucker's eyes brightened eerily. He wanted that piece of crucial information, but I'd stopped myself just in time.

"You know what, Pucker?" I threw up my hands. "You can have a gentlemen's agreement with Sir Killian, but I'll dissolve our contract!"

His eyes widened in panic.

I was bluffing, of course. The ghost guardian had two centuries of experience at deception. I had to outwit him.

"I'm so sorry, Barbie!" he cried out. "I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. But I got lonely. In my moment of weakness, I couldn't resist the temptation when Prince Killian offered me a drink of his starlight power."

No one could resist that temptation.

"You should've stayed stronger!" I growled. "And have you learned anything about the investigation on my kidnapping? I hope you didn't neglect your spy duty after you got a full drink of Killian's whatever starlight."

"Not much." Pucker sighed. "None of the princes can agree with one another. Putting all of them in one room is like dynamite about to go off anytime."

I'd given the princes my account of the incident. All we'd learned was that the mastermind behind the kidnapping had hired the mercenaries from CrimsonTide to prevent the trail from going back to them. The mercenaries had been hexed to bind their tongues, so even if we'd captured them, we couldn't get any intel out of them. Only two of them escaped; the rest were either cut down or self-destructed.

It seemed like a dead end, but we still hoped that the princes' spy networks in CrimsonTide could eventually find out something.

I'd also given Killian a long list of suspects—Ethel, the druid, Medea, America…for starters.

"Basically, you included everyone you don't like." Rock had frowned at me when he also reviewed the list.

He didn't get it.

America had predicted that bad things would happen to me from the tarot cards I'd drawn right before I was kidnapped. She must've known the machinations behind my kidnapping.

But before I sprang to call her out, Pucker had stopped me.

"When you suspect your enemies plan to put you in an unmarked grave, you don't go straight to challenge them. You wait for them to slip up. You lurk in the dark, set a trap, and lure them into it. You don't show those psychopaths how brave and clever you are and give them a chance to get away. We can't win in a straight fight. Let's give the bad guys a false sense of security, and they'll eventually slip up, and then we'll pounce. They won't see it coming. That's the way to get them hard. Believe me, I have centuries of experience when it comes to crime and murder."

I didn't point out that in the end, he'd gotten murdered and didn't even see his foes' faces. He was too clever for his own good, but then he also made sense.

I wasn't entirely tactless either. I hadn't included Killian's betrothed on the list of suspects even though it churned in my mind.

I didn't want Killian to think I was crazy due to my jealousy toward his fiancée. And I had to hold back the most crucial information—my origin—during the investigation. But I would keep my eyes wide open.

"Could you make one more round to the Veil while I finish reading the book?" I asked Pucker, then over his look, I added, "Please?"

"Am I forgiven?"

I sighed.

Pucker smiled and faded through the wall.