15. Scarlett

CHAPTER 15

SCARLETT

The King of the Elite City knows my name…

I dumbly realize that I previously prayed to Cain. Did that mean he had actually heard me?

"H-hello…" I manage as I allow his embrace to move me closer.

I have to tilt my head up to look at him. To anyone else, he's a beautiful man with bright blue eyes. I can see deeper, just as I always can. And I can see that he wears a mask, but it's unlike any mask I have ever seen.

There's something grand about Cain. A shadow seems to unfurl two feet taller than his current form, flashing in and out of existence as a low growl rumbles through my head.

The edge of my nightmares seems stronger in his gaze, but that's to be expected.

Cain is a Dream Eater.

What taste would he divine from my scandalous dreams of a figment who wears his face?

Except the figment is much larger and has sharp teeth and mirrorlike eyes.

And a monster cock between his legs.

My cheeks flush when he pulls me against him, and I definitely feel something large along my hip that suggests he knows where my thoughts are going.

I invited him in when I prayed. I can almost feel him in my head.

I've made a grave mistake.

The room is still cast in shadows, and the music has changed. Before, it was a festive tune of instruments. Now, a haunting melody has taken its place.

I realize it's coming from all directions, and Cain seems to be the logical culprit of the dreamlike music that drifts around us. "I wanted a moment to talk," he says, which I suppose is his way of explaining why everything in the room is cast in shadows.

Reflections splinter off from what seems to be broken shards of glass that float through dark gaps. I can't see any of the multitude of guests or even Earl Rinhold, but every now and then, I see their silhouettes in the broken reflections.

This isn't my world, I realize.

The King of the Elite City has brought us somewhere else.

A tingle of fear skitters up my spine, and the mark above my navel throbs.

Cain seems to react to my trepidation and puts distance between us while holding my hands. I have a feeling it would be a terrible idea to let go.

Without his body warmth shielding me, chill air wraps around my middle and makes it hard to breathe. I feel as if I've been immersed deep into the under layer of an ocean that hasn't seen sunlight in a thousand years. He's an anchor I need in this alternate world.

Without him, would I be lost forever?

"Does this have something to do with the blood contract?" I guess, trying not to let my teeth chatter. I can't rightly think of another reason that the King of the Elite City would personally make a visit just to see me or go through the trouble of slipping us into this strange in-between of worlds. I have witnessed magic before, and I know power when I see it.

This is a display of both in immeasurable quantities. As far as I can tell, I'm his only audience. Everyone else is hung in suspension on the outside.

Is he really here for me?

I mentally kick myself. Of course not. He's here for the Rinholds. They're on the verge of moving to the Immortality Sector, and that would justify the King's attention. It doesn't happen very often that a family ascends to the Immortality Sector.

If I'm to wed Earl Rinhold, I become implicated. Cain's scrutiny of those who might be worthy would also fall to me.

I hadn't considered my worthiness of the ultimate prize offered by the God of our city. With the constant threat of failure looming over my head, I've always been Lady Nightingale.

Hidden, insignificant, and unworthy of anything but my brother's wrath and my father's passing affection.

My mother's love is certainly something I don't deserve. I am a fleeting dream, a fantasy, of the daughter she wished she had. She has never treated me as such, but that is the truth regardless.

Cain seems to look right through me with his blue eyes that pierce the darkness. Just like in his painting, they seem to reflect an inner light that doesn't match the dullness of the ballroom.

"The blood on that contract was mine," he explains.

That knowledge makes my stomach flip.

Edward managed to pen the contract with Cain's blood?

That made the courtship itself incredibly powerful and binding.

It must have also been obscenely expensive. Maybe even enough for a family to buy their way into the Immortality Sector.

Why would the Rinholds pay such a price just for me?

An insane urge to curl into myself overcomes my senses. I release one of his hands so I can press my fingers to the throb on my stomach. It's almost as if I can feel the slice through my corset.

His power is inside me.

That explains why my nightmares have taken on their strange form. The magic woven by the King himself has taken root in me.

A tic of my jaw threatens to release the bubble of hysterical laughter from my mouth, so I clamp it down hard.

"I was given little choice in the matter, Lord Cain," I say. Even though a trained apology was lingering on my lips, a suicidal tirade of truth seems to be coming out instead. I straighten as I cling to one of his hands, knowing that if I let go, I could be lost to this dreamworld forever.

But I keep my other hand plastered to my stomach as if to keep myself from bleeding out. The mark throbs so badly now that my toes curl against the pain.

He raises a brow at my defiance but doesn't strike me down. Instead, he seems amused by my lack of self-preservation. "We always have a choice, Scarlett. I'm simply curious about what yours will be."

A flare of anger in my chest surprises me, but I don't care for the notion that I'm a curiosity to the God of our city. My life isn't the subject of entertainment for others.

Yet, that's how Monsters Night always seems to go. Selections are called to become Offerings for the monsters who will come to this world in search of a mate. Many moments are documented throughout their travels to Monster City. Their wide eyes are put on big screens when the monsters hunt them down.

We all know they are the ones who have it easy. The objective of Monsters Night is for monsters to find their compatible mates. If successful, they will treasure their mate and protect them against any threat.

In a world like ours, that is a boon indeed.

The Offering always has an option to say no. Those pairings aren't mandatory, but I can't ever recall seeing a rejection. Resistance, perhaps. Fear, naturally.

But eventually, that sort of bond roots itself in incomparable love.

While I find myself growing fond of Earl Rinhold, I haven't seen any such sort of vicious protection in his eyes.

And now this monster looks at me like he wants to devour me.

Because I'm in a courtship with one of his citizens? Men always want what they can't have.

I would have thought monsters were above that petty tendency.

"I'm afraid I will only disappoint you, Lord Cain," I say, unable to hide the sneer in my voice. It doesn't matter how beautiful this monster is. How safe I might feel in his arms against the cold of the outside world.

He's the reason I'm here to begin with.

He's the reason I don't have a choice at all.

Something aggressive flares in his eyes. I'm not sure how to name the surge of unexpected emotion that makes the shadow above him grow taller.

He pulls me in close so that I'm forced to lean on my toes as he presses his lips against my ear.

"The only one who is a disappointment here, dear Scarlett, is me ."