Six
Blood oozed down the side of my face and dripped into the snow. I aimed my black pistol at the wolf. His golden fur glistened a dark red in the setting sun. He growled, feinting one direction as I jerked back in another.
"P... please," I begged. My knees quaked out from under me and buckled. I clawed away from the approaching shadow. He loomed over me with his chops drawn back in a furious snarl. Why did I have to be so stupid? Why did I ever think I could get away from him? "Beast, please!"
His silver eyes flared dangerously. I flipped onto my back and crawled away. The snow around me shimmered crimson. He stepped closer. His face came within a foot of my own. A growl burst from his lips. His mouth opened wide, teeth glinting in the sun. My blood dripped from his tongue. Then he lunged.
I woke with a scream on my lips and sweat dripping down my face. The sheets were balled in my fists. Dim light waved about the room, the candle still burning on the table beside me. Sitting up and wiping my brow, I glanced about the room.
It resembled Kenji's in decor save the fact that it was much larger. Animal hides were hung on the walls and draped on the floor as rugs. I swung my legs over the edge of the bed, pushing the white canopy aside, and slowly limped over to the desk. Blank sheaves of paper were folded neatly in the middle, several shimmering crystals and ornate candle holders decorating the top. A coat rack stood in the corner with several shawls and cloaks hooked on it. A dark chestnut bureau, several garish paintings. What captured most of my attention was the mirror. Several feet long and reaching from the floor and halfway to the ceiling, encompassed with gold leaves, it reflected the entire room from the canopy bed to the large oak doors. Completely immovable. And strangely terrifying. I didn't like looking at myself in it. There was something about the way it was centered in the room that gave me an uneasy feeling whenever I stepped inside. It almost felt... alive.
Grabbing the candle from the table, I tiptoed out into the hallway and crept to Kenji's room. I didn't feel comfortable sleeping in my own. No matter where I moved, I always felt eyes latched onto me. I couldn't stay there.
I knocked on his door and waited for a moment. "Kenji, are you awake?" No response. I tried again. "Kenji?" I twisted the knob and pushed it open. His outline was a lumpy silhouette amongst the covers. Light snores filled the air. He looked peaceful. And he was taking up the entire bed. I couldn't slip in even if I wanted to.
I stepped back out and closed the door. I shifted the candle to a different hand and walked the retreat to my room. Instead of choosing the same hallway, I took the other one and wandered further away from my door and prison. I skimmed my fingertips along the stone walls, glancing at each painting that I passed. Several were just of past family members, the women in grand dresses with brooches and the men in fine military robes. Gold and silver crowns topped their heads. There were several in just the one hallway. At the very end, there was Lumea.
She wore a beautiful red dress that exposed a brief clip of her chest and circled her neck midway, a cape flowing down her back. Her face, heart-shaped and slightly tan, held a deep blush in her cheeks and passion in her dazzling blue eyes. She was stunning. But what really surprised me wasn't her beauty or her finesses: it was her hair. It was pitch black— a stark contrast to the snowy color I knew now.
And then there was Beast.
His portrait hung at the very end of the hall, apart from all the others. His dark hair was longer and slicked back, gray eyes vibrant and narrowed in a challenge. His lips were quirked upward into the smallest of smiles. He looked dangerous and— to my dislike— handsome.
I pulled away from him with a strange amount of difficulty. I meandered down other hallways and down even darker corridors. One stuck out the most. It was completely dark save a single light emitting from under a door. Some ways past it, a spiralling stone staircase that only led up. My nerves rattled inside of me, but my interest got the best of me. I tiptoed toward the ominous door. My fingers shook as it reached for the door handle and cracked it open.
A hand clamped down on mine. A yelp broke through my lips. But instead of silver eyes glaring down at me, they were a solid brown and smiling, crinkled at the corners with age and spidery wrinkles. "I'm sorry, Miss Young," said an elderly man, releasing my hand and folding his own behind his back. "The Master has forbidden guests down in the cellar."
I glanced at him warily. "Why? What's down there?"
His smile deepened. "It is forbidden." He swept his arm out as an invitation to walk in front of him, back the way I came. I cast a pointed glance at the door again and followed in step beside him. "I am Cogginton, I have been taking care of the Master's family for decades." He chuckled to himself. "I must say, it's been quite awhile since we have had guests, especially ones so exciting such as yourself."
"I can't imagine why," I mumbled.
He chuckled, understanding my reluctance. "Yes, the Master is a very peculiar fellow these days. But he is rather delighted at your presence here."
"Really?" I arched my brow dubiously."Well, your master has a funny way of showing it. He acts as if he'd rather slit our throats than have us here." I glanced at him. "Why are we here? Why doesn't he just let us go home?"
He chewed on his next words carefully. "The Master feels obligated to keep you safe, Miss Young."
"Well, he doesn't need to. I'm very capable of doing that myself." I stopped walking for a moment. "When will he release us?"
He started, his brows drawn together in stern silence. He looked elderly, but I knew from his posture and the way he held himself that he wasn't someone to pick a fight with. "Forgive me, madam, but it is my knowledge that you were running away when the Master found you. Are you saying that you wish to go back?"
I opened my mouth but no sound came out. Growing up I'd seen so many people die, so many lives taken by the blood rose or by the monsters of the night. I'd mourned the death of so many loved ones, lost them to the exact people I was now in the home of. But with so much death and so much pain, was Kinnot really our home? I'd fought for so hard and so long to keep us safe and feed our family. I'd prayed every night to protect us, and when those prayers went unanswered, I filled the role myself. I was tired of worrying over something happening to them. For now, I just wanted to be able to breathe. Yet that didn't seem possible here, either. I didn't want to go back Kinnot, but we couldn't stay here. I wanted to see the city over the mountains, the one Papa had told us about when we were kids. But he'd never left Kinnot. How did we know if it even existed?
Coggington escorted me back to my room, but as soon as he turned the corner I ran the opposite way to Hendric's. I slipped through the doors and snatched up the pail and several scraps of cloth.
"God, it's so good to finally see you."
I dropped the cloth in the bucket and spun to face him. Tears burned in my eyes. "You're..."
"Not blind anymore, not dead, feeling better— take your pick, Ada. They're all true." He grinned and lifted his hand for me to take. I couldn't help it. I flung my arms around his neck and crushed myself against him, burying my face into the crook of his neck and sobbing. His hand rubbed soothing circles into my back, his arms tightening around my waist. He pulled me off and searched my face, cupping his warm hands around my wet cheeks. "I don't think I've seen you look more beautiful."
I laughed. "You sure you're not still blind?" His warm breath blew over my face. "You still smell as terrible as ever." I missed his barking laughter. I'd never realized it until this moment how much I missed the way he always smelled like winter.
"Dying does that to you." I grimaced, but I couldn't let his words taint how happy I was. He was alive. That was all that mattered.
We stayed awake through most of the night and spoke in hushed voices. When the sounds of footsteps approached the door, we clamped our mouths shut and laughed when they left. It was the first time in a month that I'd seen a real smile touch his lips and I couldn't help but be mesmerized by it. Half the time he spoke I couldn't focus on his words. All I saw was him: my brother, alive and on the mend, awake and watching me in a way he hadn't been able to for so long. We laughed and talked about absolutely everything that came into our heads— from our lives as kids in Kinnot to my "idiot idea" to save his life.
"You could have gotten yourself killed," he said distantly. I nodded. "And Kenji."
I shrugged. "I didn't want to lose you, Hendric. I still don't."
He sighed, his energy beginning to fade again. I knew he would need to sleep, but I wasn't ready to let him go just yet. It'd been forever since he had looked and felt this way. I just wanted to remain selfish for a little longer. "It was my decision to volunteer, Ada. You shouldn't have interfered."
I scoffed and drew back. "You can't just expect me to let go of the one person who has always been there for me. I couldn't let you sacrifice yourself because you were done trying to live. I wasn't. You and Kenji mean the world to me. We are all that's left."
He considered me from the corner of his eye. His bottom lip pulled between his teeth and gnawed on the chapped flakes. "Well, we were lucky enough that these people helped us. They seem like good folks."
I tilted my head and watched the door, skeptical of all the shadows that lived beyond it. "So they seem." His eyebrows stitched together at my words but I shook it off. For several more hours we laid awake and recalled past memories. I told him of Gabriel, everything from his discreet proposal to me pointing the gun at his chest. His frown deepened into a hard look of disbelief. I shied away. I knew it was wrong what I'd done. But in that moment, when Hendric's life was literally in my hands, I did the only thing I could think of. I never would have hurt him, but he didn't know that. And if these so-called "good folks" had their way, he never would. I was beginning to think that maybe Hendric and Kenji had been right. Maybe Gabriel was what I needed. He certainly was a good enough man. In time I one day could have loved him as more than a friend. I should have listened and kept my mouth shut, but those were two concepts I wasn't at all familiar with. Lying here, I recalled those countless days where he'd pretend to come rescue me from the winter wolves. Now, I found myself wishing for him to come save me from the real monsters of the mountain.
Kenji entered the room with a startled look at both of us. He leapt out of the doorway and onto the other side of Hendric, wrapping his arms around him in a tight embrace. He rubbed his eyes and motioned toward the candle on the table, the fire having devoured more than half of the stick. It was long past morning, he told us. Lumea had already knocked on his door to invite him to breakfast.
As if one cue, the door to the wing opened once again. Her head of bright white hair poked in. "Good morning," she said sweetly. Kenji and I sat upright and nodded. Her eyes drifted over Hendric, lingering for several curious seconds. "I'm glad to see you are feeling well. Your siblings have been worried about your condition even after I informed them you were improving."
He smirked at her in a smug way. "Well, neither of them are exactly good at listening." His elbow dug into my side. I bit back a smile.
She nodded. "So I've learned." She paused, sweeping her blue eyes over me and Kenji before returning to him. "Do you feel well enough to join us for breakfast?" He started to stand, but his face suddenly blanched and he collapsed back onto the bed, exhaustion leaking from his features. I felt a stab of guilt at having kept him awake all night. She rested her hand on his foot and gave a reassuring squeeze. "Not to worry. We'll have the food brought to you here. As for you two—" she pointed her fingers at Kenji and me "— if you would like to follow me, I have surprises for both of you." She flashed her eyes briefly back at him. "Someone will be in here shortly to attend to you." And with that she left. Kenji and I said a few parting words to Hendric before following her out.
I was beginning to learn my way around the halls and it terrified me. I didn't want to get used to this place. I wanted to be as far away from it as possible.
Lumea took us down a new passageway today. It was brighter than the others, with a single glass window lighting up the hall. I darted over to it and glanced at the outside world. I'd grown up in the cold and the snow, in the fear of losing my fingers and toes to the harsh frost. It never occurred to me that'd I ever miss it, but I did. White crystals rained down from the sky in a blurry array of wind and ice. Snow-topped mountains stretched up toward the sky and pierced the clouds. They stretched out as far as the eye could see. I yearned to have the cold nipping at my cheeks again. I wanted to feel the thrill of being close to something so powerful.
I turned back to find Lumea watching me with a curious stare. Her lips were curved into one of the softest smiles I'd seen from her. Kenji was gone. Before the panic could set in, she shook her head at me. "He's in the bath rooms." She suddenly grabbed my hands in her own and pulled me toward her. Her lips spread wider. "Let's get you out of those nasty clothes, shall we? I think I may have something that fits you."
❆
Hot water soaked down my back in a mixture of both pain and euphoria. The smell of fresh pine wafted into my pores from the steam. I sighed and laid my head back against the cushion, spreading myself out in the marble tub. I couldn't remember the last time I'd taken a hot bath. It took too much effort to grab the snow and melt it. It was a waste of dry wood to try and heat the water, so most of the baths we'd taken were no warmer than a frozen pond. Here, I felt a small sliver of resentment toward Papa; it had been his rule to conserve the kindling. Mama couldn't stand to linger around the house when that day of the month rolled around. She said that the incessant chattering of our teeth gnawed away at her heart, watching us suffer like that. After the first few minutes, though, the pain ebbed away into numbness and our skin would develop a callous against the cold.
A fire roared not too far away from the bath, keeping the room a pleasant temperature that felt too luxurious to be real. Lumea had added extra salts to the water to make the room smell of heaven, but I think it was her subtle way of telling me that I reeked of a swamp on two legs. Suds and bubbles dripped down my body as I scrubbed and clawed at the grime that clung to me like a second skin. I finished and wrapped myself in the silk robe of gold material that she had laid out for me. It was like being hugged by clouds that caressed me with the softest touch.
I stepped into her room and glimpsed a part of her I never would have guessed. It was much larger than mine or Kenji's, just like I'd suspected, and was much homier. Instead of cold and detached like her brother, she was light and gentle, a far cry from the monster that Beast was. Half-finished paintings were strewn about the room, some sitting on the floor against the walls, others stacked in a corner near several large easels. Her bed was concealed by dark red curtains, her blankets a sea of dark violet. I pulled back the canopy and stared in shock at the clothes she had laid out for me. My fingers grazed the soft cotton of the white dress, but they didn't dare grab at it in the fear of staining it. Baths were only once a month; the filth wasn't just superficial, it went deep under my skin and into my bones. Sunlight streamed in through frosted windows. I rushed over to glimpse the outside and was met with a tall view of the mountains. It was a steep drop down.
I must have taken too long. Her knuckles rapped on the door and when there was no answer from my frozen lips, she poked her head in. "Are you dressed?" She clicked the door shut behind her and walked toward me, eyebrows drawn together in a combination of worry and confusion. "What's wrong?"
I scoffed. "I'm not wearing that," I said, my voice suddenly stern and cold even to my own ears. "I'll take my old clothes back, please." Even my 'please' sounded like an insult. I crossed my arms over my chest and shifted my weight to one hip, glaring at her with a challenge.
Her head jerked back, stunned. "I don't understand— "
"I don't know what you think this is, but it's not a game. I'm not some doll you can keep locked up in a chest and dress up whenever you feel like it."
"That's not what this is, Adaira, and if you would just give me a chance to explain then it won't be as hard as an adjustment. It'll be a lot easier to have friends here than enemies."
I threw my hands up in the air, taking a step toward her. "You already are the enemy! And I don't want to adjust to anything! We've been trapped in this goddamn prison for nearly four days. When are you going to get it that we don't want to be here? If you're not going to let us go, then just kill us and get it over with, because I'd rather die than remain you and your brother's prisoner."
She curled her hands into white-knuckled fists. "If we wanted you dead, we would have killed you back in the forest. Clearly, that isn't our objective here."
"Then what is?"
She paused. "You'll see." She went into the bureau, pulled out some clothes, and flung them at my chest. Then she stomped out of the room.
I was really starting to hate those words.