The next few days passed in a blur. Most of Grey's time was spent in the room she slept in, staring up at the ceiling, memorizing even the tiniest of details on the walls, furniture and even floors. The only time she left was to make the long and lonely walk to the kitchen to always find every meal cooked and placed on a porcelain plate ready for her. She'd sit on the cushioned ledge in the bay window and stare out at the slowly melting snow as she ate, watching spring fast approaching. Her friends would begin to worry. She thought often about escaping, trying to run again but the fear of those magic trees was far greater than the beasts that lived under this roof. So she decided to wait.
A week passed like this, with Grey slowly going insane with no human contact. She thought she'd made a small break towards friendship with the gloomy Maksim and would've even enjoyed a 'hello' but there was no sight of him or even the beast. She secretly waited for him to come storming down the stairs and into the kitchen every time she ate; she wanted him to just look at her with those blue eyes that haunted her dreams. Even a glare she'd be thankful for.
She just wanted to see someone beside herself everyday.
On the eighth day, after she'd cleaned off her plate from breakfast she made her way up the stairs, stopping at the point where they broke into two. Staring at the stairwell to her left and that always dark hallway that called to her. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as she debated on going back to her cave or exploring the many rooms this little castle held. It seemed then that her feet had been possessed and with her heart pounding beneath her chest, she climbed the stairs she'd never touched before.
At the top, the hallway she found was - in most ways - similar to the one she'd been up and down a thousand times. The same burgundy walls and dark tiled floors yet this hall only held but five doors and not a single piece of artwork adorned the walls. There were four doors spread along evenly - two on either side - and the last one, a beautiful set of double doors was placed at the very end of the hall.
There was something about those double doors that had Grey ignoring all the other doors and making her way down the hall. Upon reaching it, she noticed how it went all the way to the high ceiling and from corner to corner of each door were beautifully carved designs, a story swirling beneath the haunting images. Wolves were carved in the wood, wolves running, wolves howling, wolves tearing each other apart. Few Russian words were written here or there but her eyes couldn't leave the image of a wolf with it's teeth in the neck of a human woman.
With a heavy breath and that image burned in the back of her mind her hands fell on the brass handle of one door. Whipping her head around, she looked back to the mouth of the hallway, expecting those blue eyes to be watching her with that ever present anger. She was almost waiting for him to walk around that corner and grow angry at her and yell at her to stay away from this place; something about this hall felt so forbidden.
Her fingers pushed down the handle and it clicked open, echoing down the hall. Pressing a palm to the intricately carved wood, she pushed the door wide open with a long creaking noise.
Creeping inside, her flats made the only noise against the tiled floors before she shut the loud door as quietly as she could and was engulfed in darkness. Pressing her hands against the wall, she moved them all directions until she found the light switch beside the large doors and flicked it on. A dim glow from a stunning chandelier lit up the light blue walls and gray tiles beneath her feet.
All breath left Grey's lungs as she took in the room, adorned with a large white rug in the middle and two white loveseats sat back-to-back atop it. There were a few statues carved from granite in the corners but what really caught her eyes were the portraits that lined the walls.
She moved slowly around the room, admiring each person, more stunning than the last, their clothes becoming more and more modern than the last with their names carved in delicate script beneath the pictures. Each man and woman carried the same surname: Volkov.
She stopped in front of one of the last ones, a woman who left her entranced by her sheer beauty. Pale skin and chocolate eyes and hair darker than the night. Her rose colored lips held a smirk as if she knew every secret of the world. Grey's eyes left the eyes in the picture to her name, but there was none, only a blank slate where it should have been. Her head tilted to the side as she stared at the woman as if she'd seen her before. There something about the woman that she was sure she'd seen before.
With a shake of her head, she turned to the final two pictures; another single person and a family. Beside the mystery woman was the portrait of a man with blue eyes so cold it made her shiver. His graying dark hair was slicked back and his mouth was set into a scowl atop a sharp jaw, with a crease between his brows. Under the man it said, "Gregor Volkov".
With one last glance at the man's chilling eyes, she looked at the family portrait. In it, was the same mystery woman standing beside Gregor who wore that same scowl, while the woman held this time more of a soft smile as the hand of hers adorned in fabulous jewels was placed lightly in Gregor's, while the other rested upon the shoulder of a stone-faced little boy. The two boys at their feet were quite opposite; the taller one wore a smile and an expression in his twinkling dark eyes that said mischief, standing in front of his father who he bore striking similarities to despite the boy's more tanned skin. Beside him, with the woman's hand on his little shoulder was the younger boy who bore an expression like he had seen the worst this world could offer. He carried such grief, such anger and loneliness in those bright blue eyes that Grey felt pity settle in her chest.
As she gazed upon that sad little boy, she noticed something about him that sent chills running down her spine. She'd seen those eyes before; haunting her dreams and wildest fantasies, the eyes she so desperately craved to see. This was the beast and Maksim stood beside him but younger and with less anguish in his stance. Yet under the portrait it read something that left Grey speechless and had her heart pounding fiercely in her chest.
"The Last Volkov Family."
There was a chill that slithered down her spine but it was gone the moment she looked at the names printed below it. And there it was, right after Maksim's name and before 'Lady Volkov', was the name she'd been wondering about since she first took his picture. It was the beast's name, written in strong lettering. Her fingers skimmed over the letters as if to make sure it was real, that she wasn't dreaming this. She'd been so engulfed in the words below the painting to notice the doors creaking open and footsteps approaching her.
"My brother will have your heart hung in this room if he finds you in here."
Grey shrieked and spun around, her hand splayed across her chest as she took in Maksim standing with his arms tucked behind his back, his eyes watching her with a glint of mischief - it was then she saw that little boy staring back at her as him.
"Don't do that to me!" Grey sighed. "I just about pissed myself."
A chuckle left his lips. "Better me than him, aye?"
Grey nodded and turned back to the painting. "These are your parents?"
"Were." He corrected. "I would say good people but that'd be a lie."
Grey turned to him again with a confused expression as he stared at the portrait. He continued, "My father was a terrible man and my mother was the same to anyone but us. She kept it hidden while my father wore his sins on his back."
"What happened to them?"
"Murdered." He looked to the ground with a sigh but he could feel the pity emitting form her. "Don't pity us, Grey, we are not weak. Our parents got what they deserved and one day so will we."
His words left her speechless, the air around them seemed to turn cold. She decided to keep the subject away from the darker parts of the past and instead, Grey pointed to the mystery woman. "Why doesn't your mother have a name?"
"She grew up on the streets of Italy, no family, no parents, she never got a name." He said. "But lord, did she have some amazing stories to tell."
Grey smiled at him. "Can I ask another question?"
"Would me saying no stop you?" He smirked at her and quirked up an eyebrow.
"No." Grey laughed. "Why does the family portrait say 'The Last Volkov Family.'?"
She watched Maksim's face drop and grow cold like his brother's. "Because we are cursed to die alone."
In that stretch of eerie silence was when they heard the front door creak open and slam shut and footsteps echo through the palace, striking fear in both of them. Yet as Grey moved with wide eyes as Maksim ushered her out of the room in a hurry, she felt it - something magical. Something that she could only classify was there by the pounding of her heart and the tingling feeling coming from that mark on her neck. Her body seemed to light up with a form life that had never been experienced before.
And there it was, standing at the end of the hallway with blue eyes swirling with anger. There it was, sizzling in the air as he stormed closer to her, closing the distance between them. There it was drawing her in, leaving her breathless as he was feet away from her. There it was when he grabbed her wrist and yanked her away from Maksim with a vicious growl. There it was all around them, crackling in the air and on their skin like electricity.
There it was: the bond.