The maze was just as confusing as ever, but something about the path Belial created was different. Trees and small bushes broke up the monotony of the knotted brambles, and the identical pathways opened up into clearings the size of rooms.
I was still trapped, but it felt less ominous. It felt like I was making some kind of progress.
A river, deep and wide, wove its way through the maze. The crimson water was filled with decomposing corpses flowing lazily between the plants, disappearing beneath the walls of the labyrinth and blocking paths. Every time I ran into the river I had to turn back. I was too afraid to cross it, or even go near it. It was a place for the dead, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that if I got too close, I’d join them.
As the last light of day faded overhead, fear crawled through my blood. Where would I spend the night? There was no shelter, no place to sleep. Nothing but the never-ending walls of hedges and the not-so-comforting whispers that followed me everywhere I went.
The only thing that gave me the slightest reassurance about being stuck out here all night was the lack of predators. Aside from the countless corpses surrounding me, I seemed to be alone. The disembodied heads might have been royal pains in my ass, but they weren’t threatening. There were no beasts lurking around the corners–except for maybe Belial and the monster he kept in his pants.
I was utterly alone, forced to endure the night out in the wilderness, hopelessly lost in the maze. I could have given up, asked Belial to lead me back to the castle so I could sleep in a bed.
Fuck. A bed. My aching muscles rejoiced at the thought, but I quickly shoved the notion away. Nope. Not an option. After all I’d been through, I couldn’t turn back now.
I reached up to thumb the dagger earring I’d pushed through my right earlobe. Even if it wasn’t to whisk me away to the castle, I could still summon him. But what would I ask for? A massage? A bubble bath? My phone back so I could fall asleep to my latest monster romance book on audio? No. Those were all stupid human things. He’d make fun of me, and I didn’t have the energy to deal with that right now.
I fucking hated that I cared about what he thought.
I shouldn’t have cared at all.
All thoughts of Belial drained away when I rounded a corner and stepped into an enclosed courtyard filled with several trees.Fruittrees! I rubbed my eyes, half expecting them to be a figment of my imagination. Surely I wasn’t hallucinating.
I stumbled toward them, delighted that the lowest fruits were just within reach. I didn’t have the energy for tree-climbing. My mouth watered, excitement bubbling under my skin, until I plucked one and registered the deep purple skin.
It was a plum.
I turned it over in my hand, my mind drifting back to my dinner in the castle. I'd suspected there was something wrong with the food when Holga had given it to me, insisting I eat every bite. Then I'd had that dream, the one where I was chained to the Lord of Bones’ throne and he'd made me pleasure myself in front of a room full of souls.
He’d all but admitted he caused the dream. It had been some kind of dark magic and I was sure the food had been the source. There had been a few other items on the plate Holga had brought me, but the plum had a weight to it that the bread and the wine hadn't.And Holga had stayed to make sure I finished the fruit…
Had the plum been picked from this same tree? Would I have strange dreams again? My eyes slid to the few other trees in the garden but they were all the same. Plums. Weird magical sex plums.
My stomach growled in anger. I had to eat.
I sat down on a stone bench beneath the plum tree, my muscles unclenching in relief. This garden was relatively protected from the rest of the maze, so it would be a nice spot for me to rest for the night. The bench wouldn't be comfortable, but it beat sleeping in the mud.
Plus, there were countless plums for me to gorge on, so I wouldn’t go hungry.
What if I dreamed of him again?
It wouldn’t be the worst thing. The nightmare the plum gave me hadn’t been bad. At least, I was pretty fucking sure he intended it to be a nightmare. Instead, it was the best dream I'd ever had. It had been dark and luscious, calling to a part of me I hadn't even known existed.
Bend over and show me all that I own.
His words played in my head over and over, making my thighs clench and my palms sweat. I should have felt exposed, obscene, wrong. Embarrassed, degraded. But while I’d felt all those things, it had feltright, like a part of myself had come racing to the surface for the first time ever. That part of me had felt safe under the heated glare of the Lord of Bones.
It had just been a dream. A lie. A spell, fabricated to crawl under my skin and leach into my mind. Leaving me to question everything.
It didn't change the fact that I loved every second of the fantasy. If I took a bite of the plum, and it ended up magical like the other one, I wouldn’t be disappointed.
Before I lost my nerve, I put the plum to my mouth and sank my teeth into its flesh. The flavor exploded in my mouth, so sweet and delicious that I moaned. It was probably just the hunger talking but I was pretty sure it was the best thing I'd ever eaten.
I took another bite, and then another, until it was finished. Then I plucked a second fruit, and a third. I feasted on them like a starving animal, juice and bits of pulp streaking my chest. I didn't care. No one was here to see, and even if they were, the plums were too intoxicating to pay attention to anything else.
"I see you've helped yourself to my fruit trees," a guttural voice snarled from the darkness. "Then again, I should have expected as much from a little thief."
That familiar voice sunk into my bones and turned my marrow to stone. I couldn't move for several intense beats as my mind reeled, grappling with the fact that the Lord of Bones was here. And he'd caught me stealing.Again.
I gathered my nerves as the Lord of Bones emerged from the shadows, the dense blanket of fog that had settled on the ground coiling up around his ankles. He looked so ominous shrouded in the night, with the tips of his horns scraping the blood-red sky.
