Callie
“We need to get to the roof,” Walter murmured almost to himself as he pulled me behind him.
He was fast, and I was having a hard time staying on my feet behind him. A few times, I had tried to move to his side but was quickly shoved behind the protective wall of his back. I needed to ditch him, but the more hallways and empty rooms we ventured through, the more I worried about getting caught. We had already experienced a few close calls with servants wandering about the halls dressed in finery. The black suits they all wore reminded me of something between renaissance and modern formal wear.
It seemed counterproductive to be going to the roof, but I trusted he knew where was best to go. He continued to keep me hidden behind him. Though whether that was for my sake or his, I couldn’t say.
Up yet another winding flight of stairs. This set seemed to climb forever, tucked into an intricate corner of a humungous room. I paused to take in the startling luxury of the large room.
White fur rugs covered the vast space between us and the large door. The ceilings had to be twenty feet high with beautiful slate-colored walls. Intricate crown molding lined the ceiling and various other nooks in the room. Several black crystal chandeliers hung in the center of the room. I could see another of the large sparkling crystal lights hanging outside the door. I gasped when I realized it was a bedroom. Against the far back wall rested a huge black canopy bed with a fluffy and prim-looking black and gray bedspread tucked neatly in.
Oh god. We were in someone’s room.
My heart pounded so hard I could have passed out.
“Walter! This is someone’s room! We need to get out!” I whisper-shouted.
The panic somehow seemed to grow. The anticipation of getting caught was seemingly more frightening than if I had actually been caught. Like a bad game of hide-and-seek, but if we were found, we would die.
“I know the owner, they aren’t in it right now. He’s helping a human escape,” he whispered back to my gaping face as he glanced in all directions.
Holy shit. This was his room.
“If we can get through that hallway, there is a room just past the ballroom where we can access the roof.” He grabbed my hand again, ready to pull me to the door.
I stopped him and pulled my hand free. I couldn’t let him go any farther, I just couldn’t. I didn’t want his life held in my hands, and I didn’t know how much I trusted him now after seeing his opulent bedroom. Why would he help me if he was this close to them?
“Tell me what to do after I reach the roof. You can’t go with me any farther,” I stated, not leaving room for discussion as we stared into each other’s frightened eyes.
“I will show you. There is a portal on the roof. I don’t know much about it, but I know that it will at least get us out of here, and no. I’m not leaving you. I need to know why my wolf is drawn to you, but also because my allegiance lies with the Unseelie crown, and I will not let you harm him should you actually be an assassin. I will die to protect him, so I will be your escort until you are gone from here.”
My feet pawed at the soft carpet. The trail of dirt I’m certain I left would be enough to give away our location if I didn’t get my filthy body off the soft white rugs.
I would lose him once I knew where the portal was, and he would return to the castle safely.
Walter pulled at me, but I took the lead and stepped into the hallway. My feet found the marble floor of the hall, and the cold they had felt in the dungeon returned. The hallway was large, still dark in color but brighter in lighting. I didn’t have to squint and could see everything clearly. Instead of a door on the right of the hallway, large archways led to a black-and-white checkered floor. I ended up standing in the wide entrance of one of the entryways to the ballroom.
The ballroom filled with dancing people.
They all gasped and mumbled at the sight of me.
I was too stunned to move.
Hundreds of pristinely attired Fae stood in the expanse, watching me. My stomach fell through my feet, and the blood ran from my face. There was no escaping—they all saw me. There was no questioning I was a prisoner from my filthy attire, and there was no mistaking that I was human. Even the few that seemed to resemble a human vibrated that they were a different, more beautiful species. Wings, fangs, and claws snagged my attention like sprinkles of death throughout the crowd. Hate and destruction clouded the air immediately. Every single one of them had the look of a predator. Even the small friendly-looking ones held an air of mischief when their eyes caught me. If looks could kill, I would have disintegrated on the spot.
“Oh shit,” murmured Walter, sliding in behind me as he looked out to the crowd of Fae guests that watched us.
“It seems our first course has been delivered early.”
The voice stopped the flow of blood in my veins. It was like terror had its own music, and she was the composer.
The crowd of predators parted, letting through the rhapsodist.
Glittering black vines from an onyx crown seemed to command their own respect upon her head. The vines dripped down her stunning face, snaking elegantly around her fragile-looking throat before blending into a black velvet dress that clung to her feminine curves. Blood-red lips pulled up in a sinister smile as if she truly had been gifted a present.
The woman took a step toward us. The dress elegantly trailed behind her as the people closest to her bowed their heads and stepped farther back. This continued as the crowd parted, and she walked closer to us.
“My queen, I—” Walter stuttered, placing himself between the two of us.
Closer now, her eyes scanned me, and her nostrils flared slightly. Something in her eyes seemed to light with fire suddenly.
Black wings, like those of a butterfly, shot out of her back, casting a menacing gray shadow over her face. She moved fast, instantly thrusting a bare arm toward me. Black painted the tip of her graceful finger, quickly bleeding as it grew down her hand until it dripped across her skin like she had dipped her fingers into ink. The air crackled with power. Smoke rose from her now inky hands. Her blood-red lips pulled into a malicious smile.
“Run,” Walter whispered to me with quiet urgency as he shoved my shoulder so hard toward the hallway I almost fell onto the floor.
The action shook me out of my trance of panic, and I spared a last look at Walter. The smoke from the queen’s black hands shot toward him. I heard a loud pop, and the sound seemed to shake my eyes as I watched Walter transform into a larger-than-average dark-gray wolf.
“Walter!” I shrieked, barely hearing my cries over the hard slap of marble under my feet.
There was only one opening at the end of the hall, and I took it. It was another large archway that led to yet another luxurious and expansive room.
Shit!
I spun around inside it. It was just a room, there was no exit to the roof!
There! Tucked in the back corner. A small door to the roof.
My breath threatened to stop completely as I slammed into the door, and I struggled desperately to use my shaking hand and turn the knob. Finally, it gave way and opened.
My eyes adjusted to the darkness and saw a large flat roof surrounded by a portcullis, the gray stone now a charcoal color with the drizzle of falling rain. I closed the door behind me and pressed my back against it as I struggled to catch my breath. The roof was empty. I was safe for the moment.
The night sky was a dreary bluish gray, only brightened slightly by small eruptions of lightning that backlit the clouds with a warm yellow. The soft pitter-patter of rain filled my senses. It was almost peaceful. The taste of fresh air in my lungs felt invigorating. I was outside again.
I was so close.
Thoughts of Walter flashed in my mind. Was he dead? I callously shook the thoughts off. I needed to find the portal. He could handle himself.
I stumbled to the front corner and leaned over the portcullis to see what lay below the castle.
Panic shot through me, and I fell to the hard floor. My butt slid back against the rough rooftop as I scrambled to get away from the short wall. The drop was so much farther down than I ever could have imagined.
The castle was nestled against the farthest edge of a mountain. It was huge in and of itself but was made even taller and more frightening by the precipice of the mountain’s edge.
Where was the fucking portal? Where was it!?
Nothing was on the roof but short walls and a drop to your death.
I pushed myself farther back, and the roof scraped against my rear as I sought to get farther away. I had expected it to be a steep drop, but I had no idea just how high.
I continued to scoot farther back. I just needed away from that ledge.
Please get me out of here, anyone—I just want to go home.
Sobs racked my body. The hot tears that fell down my cheeks were a startling contrast to the cold rain that fell upon the rest of my body.
A low note of thunder rumbled deeply across the expanse.
Goose bumps rose across my skin, paired with an unsettling feeling, as I slowly turned around.
A shadow fell over me, blanketing me with terror.
My eyes traveled up from his black boots as they dripped with the falling rain.
It was as though he had fallen from the sky silently.
Several black leather strappings and buckles covered his broad chest. A black cape billowed in the wind behind him as he watched me, his pale blue eyes pinned on me with icy ferocity. His wings were spread wide, taking up too much space on the rooftop. Raindrops fell through the black smoke as if afraid to touch it.
“No,” I whispered, scrambling to get back on my feet. “No! No, please!”
He strode forward, his long muscular legs covering the ground too quickly. I spasmed with fear as I tried to scrape myself away from him, but he was too fast, too big.
His palm fisted my hair, wrenching my neck back.
I cried out as he yanked me to my feet by the fistful of matted hair. He roughly pulled me closer to him.
I looked up, fighting against the rain to look into his cold blue eyes. I tried desperately to kick and scream, but the few hits that connected against his hard stomach and thighs seemed to hurt me and not him. Even standing as he was, he towered over me as if I still lay on the ground.
“Please, you’re hurting me,” I cried, feeling completely helpless.
“Why won’t you die?” His voice was so quiet and deep. It was like a tiger’s growl, powerful even in a whisper.
My arms pushed against his chest as I tried to balance myself and ease the pain on my scalp from his grip.
His pale eyes flickered as I touched him. Something seemed to pull at them cracking his stoic expression. Confusion crinkled his eyes as he inspected my features, so close now I could smell his spicy fragrance. He was ungodly attractive, like an angel of death.
Out of nowhere, a gray blur slammed into him, loosening his grip and sending us both to the ground. My body moved me away from the predator before my mind had even registered the command.
A large gray wolf bit into the prince’s throat.
Walter!
A yelp rang out as Prince Mendax slammed the wolf to the ground with a grunt.
“After everything we’ve been through, you betray me.”
The large wolf got up and strode in front of me with a low growl, guarding me.
I couldn’t let him do this again. I would not let him die for my sake.
“Walter! No!” I shouted as I attempted to move in front of him.
The prince straightened slightly as one small corner of his mouth curled up.
“How sweet.” He looked from me to Walter. “The human assassin protects you. I wonder how far she’ll go to save you, brother?”
Brother? Well, that explains the room.
A snake of black smoke shot out from his hand, wrapping around Walter’s furry throat. It was only then I realized he hadn’t really been fighting the wolf. Rather, he’d been playing with him.
“No! Please, let him go! Take me! It was my idea! I convinced him, it’s not his fault!” I shouted as I ran to Walter.
The smoke snake wrapped around the wolf’s neck drew a gargled choking sound from Walter as it squeezed, still attached by a smokey trail to Mendax.
“I must commend you. I thought it was impressive, the scheme you two worked out. Walter kills the bog while you fashion some sort of key? I’m just dying to hear all about it,” Mendax said pleasantly as a twitch of his fingers caused the smoke snake to constrict tighter around the wolf’s neck.
“Stop now! He had nothing to do with this! I killed the bog, I used the acid to soften the bone, I carved the key, and I escaped!” I cried, trying to break whatever hold the smoke had on Walter, but it was no use.
My hands swatted through the smoke as if it wasn’t even there. All the while, it held as strong as steel against my friend’s throat. I ran to Mendax and slammed my fists against his chest and arms, blinded by adrenaline and panic for Walter.
He chuckled lightly.
This was a game to him.
“When you told me all your theories about the human girl, I had no idea you meant to actually become a traitor with her,” Mendax said, keeping his eyes pinned on the choking wolf.
He hooked his pointer finger toward himself, and slowly the smoke pulled the fighting wolf to the front of his boots. The horrible prince reached down and picked up the wolf by the scruff of his neck. The smoke dissipated as soon as his arm had reached through it, thoroughly commanded by him and only him.
Collecting a whimper from Walter, the prince lifted the large wolf as if he were a piece of paper. He moved swiftly against the pelting rain, lifting the lupine until he was high over the roof’s edge. High above the empty precipice below.
Lightning flashed, silhouetting their bodies against the gray sky.
He was going to drop him.
“Please! No! Stop!” I tried desperately to tug Mendax backward from the edge.
“Finish him or I will,” stated a familiar cold voice.
The queen stood in the center of the roof, her black dress shimmering in the shadows of the night. Several of the Fae from the ballroom stood behind her as more poured in from the open door.
“Hello, mother dear,” the prince bit out, a hint of irritation in his voice. “Why don’t you go back to your little party and let me handle this,” he said, still holding the wolf over the ledge.
“Well, it is my sister’s child you hold over the portcullis,” she said matter-of-factly. “And had you truly taken care of it, my party wouldn’t have been ruined by a human.”
She crossed her arms. They looked normal again, save for a small bit of black near her pointer finger that had just flared. “As a matter of fact, had you truly taken care of it, my love, there would have been no more humans,” she sang, her voice dripping with hate.
The hulking prince rolled his eyes. “Get back inside, now.”
The air rumbled with his words as raw power pulsed from him. Even the scary Fae in the back shrank away with his words.
The queen flinched.
Holy shit, was she afraid of him?
“Not until you finish the traitor off. You see, my friends missed out on their dinner”—she looked me over briefly—“and I feel I owe them some entertainment now to make up for it,” she purred.
“I have all kinds of entertainment for you now, mother.” The prince grabbed a handful of my hair again. “You see, I’ve just taken a new pet.” He looked to the wolf with a devilish smirk and a glimmer in his eye. “Don’t worry, brother, I’ll take extra good care of her,” he whispered darkly as he looked back to me, and his eyes devoured my body as the rain continued to pelt us.
He opened his hand and dropped Walter.
“Nooo!” I screamed as I watched Walter, still in his wolf form, fall from the roof. Down, down, down until there was nothing left to see but darkness; his shape grew smaller and smaller until there was nothing.
I looked up in horror to see the dark prince staring at me, his smile now gone. His eyes traced every horrified line of my face.
“Move her cage to my room,” he said loudly, his eyes still holding mine.
I gripped his arm in panic and tried to pull it free from my hair.
“Disgusting. I’d rather you throw her over the ledge too,” said the queen, standing like she was bored at a BBQ. “Have your fun, but make certain she’s dead before next week, or I will handle it,” she bit out, each word laced with venom.
She turned and walked through the doors as the guards and the other Fae followed close behind.
Mendax loosened his grip on my hair slightly, staring into my eyes as if he would find a secret hidden behind my pupils.
“You have turned my best men against me. First Alistair, now Walter. Somehow my men have failed to kill you now three times. I will not.”
