Veils of Storm

4. Secrets of the Veil

Kat kept pacing the length of the room, fighting the unease inside her. Cage had been gone for hours. Where was he? What if something had happened to him? Cecile was dangerous, after all. What if she decided to curse him again? Or hurt him?

In a flurry, she pushed the door to her chamber open, determined to go down into the hall and check if he'd come back. It was unlikely. He would have come see her first thing, if only to dim the pain in his chest, a pain she shared and which consumed her.

"This is so annoying," she muttered, lingering in the threshold.

The sound of people milling about downstairs put her off, so she entered in her room again, and resumed her pacing. Now, she could check the hallway every time she turned or glanced in the mirror, just in case Cage showed up. But what if he wouldn't?

The pain inside her chest intensified before disappearing completely and causing a lightheadedness that unsettled her. But before her mind could catch up, her heart fluttered and she knew that to mean Cage was back.

Except when she turned towards the door, a scream died in her throat. There was a strange man standing there. Squat, with muddy hair and eyes, a broad face and squished nose, he just grinned at her as if he found her amusing.

Kat backed away, her hand reaching behind herself, towards her vanity where she was sure she'd find something to stab him with if need be. "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

The stranger just tilted his head, the amusement on his face only increasing. The lines on his face, around his mouth, made her uneasy. They were so deep, they looked like scars.

"Don't be scared, Kit-Kat."

His words made her jump. The voice was croaky and a little wheezy at the same time, as if his throat had been injured at some point and never recovered. But it wasn't that which had startled her, but the nickname he used.

"Why did you call me that?"

The man merely stared, the amusement turning into anticipation, as if he expected her to recognize him. It was foolish and insane. She had never seen that man before in her life, and yet her hear continued to thump in a very familiar way. The heat in her chest, the way he watched her even if everything about him was wrong. Why would it be wrong in the first place? What was she expecting to see? Her stomach fluttered as an answer.

"Cage?" she asked, her voice shaky.

The man grinned. "There you go."

"But how?" And why? Had Cecile decided he no longer deserved to be handsome? Sure, she'd love him either way, but the change was disheartening.

He moved forward and she scurried away. Maybe he was lying and was some assassin. But the stranger who was supposedly her fiancé stopped in front of the mirror and made a face.

"Well, this is unpleasant. She could have at least kept my height."

"Wha--?" She had no idea what to ask anymore. "Is this permanent?"

"Tsk, tsk, sweetheart. Wouldn't you love me if I looked like this?"

"Do you hear your voice?"

"No, but good thing that changes, too." He focused on her again, the grin back on his face. "So no love for the ugly frog man?"

She didn't want to answer that because it hurt her to admit that it would take a lot of getting used to.

"I'm just kidding." He fumbled with something invisible around his waist, and in the blink of an eye, he was back to being her Cage, tall and too handsome to be true. "See? Still me."