The stone wall brushed my arm, pressing against me. I had to turn my body and shuffle sideways. When there was only a few feet left, I leapt, diving into the room at the end of the passage.
I hit the stone hard enough to knock the wind out of me, nearly smacking my chin on the floor. A curse dropped from my lips at the insanity of what just happened.
I’d come so close to getting pancaked. But I’d made it.
When I looked up at the space around me, my jaw dropped.
I was in what appeared to be a well lived-in study, filled with all sorts of books and furniture made of bone. It was a little messy, but the space didn’t have the same heavy atmosphere as the endless halls outside.
As I pulled myself to my feet and examined the space, I realized it was because none of these objects appeared to be possessed by dead people.
An ornate mirror sat at one end of the room. It was huge, with a pane of glass large enough to reflect the entire room in its reflection.
I moved toward a desk which was pushed up against the far wall, and sat in the huge chair that wasn’t unlike the throne of bones in my dream. My eyes moved to the window over the desk.
The view had tears pricking the corners of my eyes.
The window I’d climbed out of had overlooked an ocean, so I must have been on the other side of the castle, because there was no water in sight. Instead, the largest hedge maze I’d ever seen stretched as far as the eye could see.
It was like Alice in Wonderland, only instead of a maze made out of pretty rose bushes, this one was brown and dead and filled with twisting bramble. Even if I found a way outside, it would take me a million years to find my way through it…
“Enjoying the view of my labyrinth, little thief?”
Hatred snaked through my veins at the sound of that deep as Hell voice—Hatred mixed with something else, something I didn’t dare try and dissect.
I hadn’t heard him come in. Not the sound of footsteps or the rustle of his cloak. It’s like he’d been here all along.
I pushed out of the chair but a heavy hand gripped my shoulder and shoved me back into my seat.
I looked up to see the Lord of Bones standing behind the chair, looming over me with that ominous gleam in his eye sockets. He kept one hand on my shoulder, while he toyed with the amulet in my collar with his other. “You’re an insistent little thing. What am I to do with you?”
“Let me go.”
He gave a dark, guttural chuckle.
“So eager to escape me, when you’ve yet to know the sweet torment of my embrace. Or maybe…”
He gripped the chair by the arms and spun me around to face him, the legs of the chair scraping against the stone. He kept his hold on the armrests, caging me in. “Maybe you do know.”
“What are you talking about?” I snarled, trying to keep the fear out of my voice.
“Have any sweet dreams lately?”
“You asshole,” I seethed through clenched teeth. “Therewassomething in the food.”
“Don’t sound so vexed. You thoroughly enjoyed it.”
“I–I didn’t.”
My heart lurched into my mouth when his jowls parted and a black tongue wriggled out. It was just like the one in my dream. Only, it was split down the middle.
Jesus Christ.The sins a tongue like that could commit.
I froze, my breath coming out in short little pants as the Lord of Bones draped himself over the chair and painted a lick over my lips, tracing the seam of my mouth with the point of the monstrous appendage.
“Your sweet little lies are so delicious. Careful, I might become hooked on the flavor.”
“Let me go,” I reiterated, my eyes landing on the door just visible over his shoulder. “I don’t belong here.”
