I got no more than to the door when he said, “Silas.”
I stopped, fingers grazing the handle of the door. “Excuse me?”
“Silas. You may call me Silas. It is not my true name, but it is a name you may refer to me rather than ‘demon’ or ‘beast’.”
I stared for a moment, the name settling over the air between us as the beast.
Silas, my captor, placed his hand into his pocket and cocking his hip, awaiting my answer.
I nodded, turning back to the door. “Good night, Silas.”
I found the heaviest item in the room and barricaded it along the door, the armoire my only defense against the beast—not that it’d help much.
I was not going to take my chances with Silas or any other creature.
I went to the window and locked it. After grabbing a nearby chair, I shoved it under the handles, shaking it for good measure.
Once the room was secured enough, I laid back onto the bed, cradling my hand—the feeling of his tongue still fresh upon my skin. With my mind a mess, my body was just as confused between the fear and the budding fascination. I shook my head, dislodging any and every thought of the man.
The darkness called to me. With the pull of the pillows of soft satin against my back, the exhaustion from the day was sweet, inviting, and warm. All I had to do was close my eyes and fall.
Forget sleeping soundly. Leaving myself defenseless in an unknown place wasn’t an option.
I jolted from the bed, stripping the comforter off from it. Grabbing a pillow, I dragged myself into the bathtub. I was not going to make it easy for the monsters in the night to make me their midnight snack, and having an extra door to barricade myself in was better than being out in the open.
Pitless black eyes waved in front of my plan. “What are you doing?” Ebony questioned, poking her head through the wall.
“Ebony! Don’t sneak up on me!” I cleared my throat of the blood gargling upwards to the tickle of my lungs and clutched the soft down comforter. “I was going to sleep in there.”
Ebony raised a translucent eyebrow, placing her hands on her nonexistent hips. “There is a perfectly good bed there.”
“I know.”
“Must you make this difficult?” She sighed. “If you are worried about the other guests in the castle, I can assure you that they’d been instructed not to bother you.”
“And Silas?” Cold hands took the soft comforter from mine as Ebony shuffled me toward the bed despite protests. She remade the bed in record time, fluffing the pillows with unusual detail I found difficult for someone who was opaque at best.
Smoothing out the creases, she softly added, “The master is not all bad. He has just been alone for too long.” Ebony pursed her lips together. “I can assure you he means no harm and will treat you as a guest. He is out of practice with having guests, so it might take some time for him to adjust, but you are not a prisoner if that is your concern.”
She clasped her hands, bowing her head. “If there is anything you need, do let me know!”
I whirled around and hastily said, “Wait! What else should I know?”
Black pools flickered to the willowy orbs bouncing outside the open door. Whispered conversations werejust out of reach as Ebony delivered her bone chilling advice to uphold during my time at Castle Briar.
“Take care to not wander the halls at night. There are beings far scarier than the master that haunt these halls.”
The coughing returned within the night with such relentless force. I leaned over the bed, spitting out blood bubbling within my chest. I groaned, heaving myself to the bathroom to rid myself of the mess. I turned on the facet to only find disappointment.
Of course there was no water in a haunted castle.
Clutching my dry throat, I crept to the bedroom. The armoire was pressed close to the door but not enough to where the door was easily accessible to someone of slim stature. Peeking out the door, I noticed an eerie quiet had lain itself over the hall before I snuck out. I wandered down the corridor, flickering candlelight guiding my way toward the kitchen.
I stopped in my tracks.
I had no bloody idea where the kitchen was, and clearly, it was not as if I was at home. Sighing in defeat, turning on my heels, I decided to toughen out the murderous scratchiness when a dim light at the end of the hall and faint voices beckoned me.
Shuddered behind the cracked door on the other end of the hall, I leaned against the wall and begged a closer peek inside.
