His tone was dark and devoid of the humor I had become accustomed to.
When I didn’t answer, he took my arm and led me back down the corridor. His grip tightened against my wrist as we walked the long, sweeping expanse of the hallway appearing to twist and turn more. We reached the open foyer, and the extent of Silas’s discontentment crossed his stone features.
Silas took a hold of my shoulders, searching wildly for a moment before releasing me and hung his armsover the banister. “What did I say? Never—and I meannever—go into the west wing alone. Do you know what could have happened?”
“What is in the west wing that is so bad?”
“Nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
“Stop being so secretive! Between you and Ebony, I’m starting to think there is more going on with your curses and my freedom than you are willing to tell me,” I said, frustration coating my throat.
My mind had been trying to wrap itself around the village deaths and the man before me—to make the connection of the serial murderer the town despised to the tender man that offered a dance and a chance to live.
“I want to know what you are hiding!”
“I can’t tell you. Anyways, I forbid you from going into the west wing!” Silas growled, giving me a hard stare from the banister’s edge.
I lowered my gaze, the momentum and adrenaline dissipating as I rubbed at my wrist. I whispered, “You were covered in blood. Can you at least tell me why?”
Silas sighed. “Go to bed, Valeria.”
I shuffled off to my bedroom door, a few heartbeats away from the banister and the glowing form of Silas. Before I closed it, I made up my mind.
Whatever Silas was hiding had to be in the west wing.
Darling,
There are so few words in which I can express myself. Tonight will be a night neither of us will ever forget. A beautiful ball, dressed in swirling colors of red and purple upon the ballroom floor—what a sight it will be.
I will be the maiden dressed in the colors of our lovely garden. Since this is a masked affair, I will have a gold mask adorned, so perhaps we can dance without restriction.
If you are unable to get away, perhaps meet me in the garden when the moon reaches its peak. Oh, how lovely. A midnight stroll through the rose garden under the light of the moon. Can you picture it? Perhaps, at last, I shall finally learn your name tonight as you had promised so long ago.
I cannot wait to see you. I love you,
—Cecilia
Rueben,
I request that we deal with the issue as soon as possible. Endovier cannot be given access to any of Amaris’s resources. With the two countries already embroiled in ongoing wars with other nations, this alliance will exacerbate if not worsen Amaris’s standing.
If you do not do anything about this, then I will have no choice but to take matters into my own hands, seeing as the original arrangement was with my family. I will not stand to be rejected in such a public manner.
Yours Truly,
Narcisa Marius Nicholae
GA
Fourteen
Weeks went by, and I stepped into a routine. I’d wake to eat breakfast and exchange a few words with Ebony, who’d move objects to let me know she was there, listening to my thoughts. In the afternoons, I spent time with Ayla at her cottage, making remedies and tending to the sick. In the evenings, Silas would always greet me with a smirk and pose his nightly anticipated question. Every night, without fail, he would disappear into the west wing, hiding his secrets and giving me little opportunities to snoop.
I’d stay awake hours after I had retired for the evening when he would leave the castle to be able to enter the wing. But sleep was unavoidable, and so were the shadows lapping at the edge of the bed, ready toconsume me alive as the dreams grew stranger, becoming more vivid and lucid as if it was my own memory.
Save him before it’s too late.
The sweet song voice called from beyond the soft scent of roses under a bloodred moon. The boy appeared in these dreams, crying and covered in blood, with shaky hands outstretched to the moon, pleading in hushed whispers.
