“Seeing whose bed you’re chained to, you’re not a normal prisoner, are you?”
Every sinew in my belly tightened. “Wait. I thought this was to be my new room? Whose bed is this?”
Could this be the Lord of Bones’ bedroom? A flush of heat washed over me at the thought.No.This room wasn’t fancy enough to be the Lord’s chambers. Sure, it was huge. But it lacked all the grandeur of the first room I’d been in. This one was depressing with its dark fabrics, faded wallpaper, and dusty tapestries.
So, whose bedroom was this, if not the Lord’s? Maybe a high-ranking member of the court.
Was I supposed to be some kind of gift to them? I shivered at the thought.
“This realm isn’t kind to the living,” the woman said, avoiding answering my question. “I’m here to help keep your delicate heart beating. To start, you must eat.”
She gestured to the tray in her hands.
I had no idea how much time had passed since my last meal, but my stomach growled at the smell of food. I was almost afraid to know what passed for food down here, in the realm of the dead, but I’d eat whatever was on that tray.
“What do they call you, dear?” she asked, stepping closer.
“Rayven.”
“Lady Rayven,” she repeated slowly. “I’d say it’s a pleasure, but… well, this isn’t the best of circumstances to meet under, is it?”
Holga sat the tray down on the bedside table, and with a snap of her fingers the shackles around my wrists popped open to set me free. I gasped, surprised to be released, and rubbed feeling back into my hands. Then, I watched her reach inside her torn dress and–impossibly–produce a half-empty bottle of wine.
“No need for those rusty old things,” she said, waving a hand in the air. The manacles floated over to the bedside table and settled next to the tray. “I bet that’s better isn’t it?”
I nodded, still taken aback. “Can you undo the chain on the collar so I can at least walk around and stretch my legs?” I tried to keep my tone innocent, and my expression blank.
The second I had a chance, I’d make another run for it.
“I’m afraid I can’t,” she answered. “My power is not enough to override the dark magic infused in the collar, but it will extend enough for you to roam freely in this room. There’s a shelf of books over there.” She gestured to the other end of the room, where a giant built-in shelf held an assortment of ancient, leather-bound books. “You can read beside the hearth. Take your mind off what’s to come.”
“And what’s to come, exactly?”
“Much suffering,” she muttered, more to herself than to me.
I cocked an eyebrow at her, wondering how long this poor woman had been here, and how much suffering of her own she’d endured.
“Whatareyou?” I asked after a beat.
“A witch, " she said matter-of-factly. “Although my magic isn’t as strong as it was when I was alive. I can still manage simple spells.” She turned to head toward a door on the opposite end of the room. “First things first, let’s get you clean. Then you can eat.”
As hungry as I was, I was even more desperate for a bath. Between the blood and dirt staining my body, and the grimy feeling left on my skin by the hands in the oubliette, I wanted to scrub my skin until it was raw.
Holga opened the sleek black door and revealed a sliver of an elegant bathroom with mirrors and a clawfoot tub in the center.
“Come, dear,” she said, waving me along behind her. “I’ll run the bath.”
I hesitated, staring after her and wondering how she expected me to reach that far with the chain around my neck. It was slack, sure, but not nearly long enough to reach the bathroom. Skeptically, I got to my feet and made my way slowly across the floor, waiting for the moment the chain would catch and prevent me from going any further.
However, just as Holga had said, the chain kept going, stretching out of the headboard with every step I took. I stopped in the doorway of the bathroom and turned to look back, amazed at the length of chain keeping me tethered.
Then, I turned back to Holga, who was retrieving a towel from a polished black cabinet next to the sink as the bath continued to fill.
“How long have you been here at the castle?” It was an awkward attempt at small talk, but maybe if I prodded just enough, Holga could answer some of my burning questions. The ones the Lord of Bones had left branded on my brain with no explanation.
“Many, many years.”
She moved to cut off the tap, and my eyes settled on the steam swirling up from the bath water. I could already imagine how incredible the warmth would feel against my chilled skin, and it took everything in me not to run and dive in right then.
