I gruffed, “He does not appear to have lost everything. He lives here as an immortal being watching the rest of us grow old.”
She gave a wryly smile. “But at what cost? A cost in which none of us will have to pay in this life or the next. He is alone, watching everyone around him move on.”
There was a time when I was not like this.
Ebony left me to ponder these words, to curse silence and solitude. I flipped through the journal from the library. The ferocious scribbled writing across the page gave me some indication of whoever it was may have been in distress, desperate to try and capture his words before something bad happened.
Before something got to him.
I rubbed at my face, eyelids drooping. I slid the book onto the nightstand and took the bit of the herbal remedy Ayla prescribed as directed, letting the icy chill settle into my chest to ease the ache. I placed the satchel of herbs back onto the small table, picking up the knife from under my dress and held the blade into my hand. I came so close, only to fail. The next time—the next time I needed to make sure I did not fail.
I tucked the knife under my pillow, blowing out the lights and succumbing to the dark.
Shadows lurked in the corner of the room, watching and waiting as a wolf does when on the hunt—for theopportunity to strike down vulnerable prey. Terror seized my body and soul, chest tightening as a heavy weight pressed down. Snarling teeth tore into my flesh, ripping muscles and sinew until I was but a bloodied corpse. Whether a dream or reality, all there was is blood, splattered against the wall, the bed sheets, and staining my soul. I’m held down, chest rushing and falling, becoming heavier as ragged gasps filled my ears as a plea for air.
Valeria. Oh, Valeria—such easy prey.
The shadows whispered to me, beckoning to follow into its twisted dark depth of the underworld. A sweet song pulsated, and my own body fought to retain control with the icy grip burning cold against flesh.
I wasn’t ready, not now.
The embrace was dark, cold, and familiar. Its shadow threatened to consume or tear me apart. I snapped my eyes open as snarling jaws crawled up the bed, snapping into a faceless grin accompanied by a distant, cruel laughter. It flicked out a forked tongue, licking its maw intermittently, the metallic scent of blood clinging to its breath as a claw pinned me to the bed.
You’re mine.
A scream erupted from my lips, rubbing my throat dry and raw with the taste of blood. It was too much, the overwhelming agony tearing to pieces upon the chamber bed.
“Stop, stop!” I screamed, sobbing.
“Valeria! Valeria, open your eyes.”
It was still dark, a candle burning softly on the nightstand illuminating enough to see the shadows and the void receding from my mind and the bed. Body shaking, I wrapped the blanket tight around myself, darting to the rest of the room.
In my panic, I nearly missed him.
Silas was holding my shoulders, face hard set as the candle licked at his features. Silver hair draped over his shoulder and tickled my nose. The other item I missed was he was bare from the waist up, pale scars etched across dark skin in the same grotesque manner as the one upon his face. Lean muscles in his arm tensed as he continued to restrain me to the bed, breathing in tandem with me.
I shook his body off, the terror still fresh as the taste of blood and death coated dryly in my throat. “Let me go,” I said, gritting my teeth. I glanced toward the armoire and found it hadn’t moved. “How the hell did you get in?”
Silas frowned, sliding his hands from the blanket and barricading me to the bed as I attempted to flee. “That is what you’re concerned about! You woke up screaming bloody murder, and that is what you are concerned with?”
“Of course that is what I am concerned about! The fact that you got in here without having to use the door is a cause for alarm!” I pushed against the headboard, determined to get away from the weight of his body. I kept my eyes glued to the wall, hoping that if I acted indifferent, he’d leave.
Silas paced about the room and ran his hand through his hair. “I don’t know how they got in. None of the barriers were breached, and yet they were able to get this close.”
I huddled in the blanket, and the icy chill tingled against my skin, heart still racing. Chest heaving, I groused, “Are these your minions? Did you send them simply because I upset you with the truth? Is that it?”
In quick movements, he climbed onto the bed, cornering me. His face leveled with mine as he growled out, taking a hold of my body, dragging me down the bed. “If you want me to be the monster that I am, so be it. I will be the beast that so many people fear.”
I thrashed against him, grabbing at his hair and beating his chest. He pinned me down, his head and mouth dropping to the space between my neck.
“It would be so easy,” Silas hissed. “It would be so easy to take your life—to swallow it whole and feel no regret. Isn’t that what a true beast is—a monster that feels no pain—no regret that takes and takes and takes.”
“Stop... don’t. I—” I pounded at his chest, and a cough let loose before blood spilled from my lips onto the sheer nightgown—and his bare chest. I took hollow gasps, groping for as much air as I could. Each rile cough brought forth more blood that glistened crudely under candlelight.
Silas released me, and I fumbled my way to the nightstand. The satchel hue blurred as the coughing worsened. I knocked over the items on the side table, herbs flying to the floor. The heavy book alongside thescattered pieces. I collapsed, clutching my abdomen. Blood splattered across the floor as a pool formed over the spilled herbs.
I can’t breathe—I can’t breathe.
