Stupid. So stupid to want the demon who’d bought him, who’d locked him up, who’d created this entire situation. But Isaac’s brain latched onto the memory of Whichello yanking Dimitri off him, of those eyes going black with protective rage, and the way the demon had asked permission before moving Isaac to new quarters.
Stop it. Stop thinking about him like he’s safety when he’s the reason you’re here in the first place.
But logic held no power over a nervous system in full meltdown. Isaac’s heartbeat raced faster, each thump distinct and painful. His vision swam, the passage tilting at angles that didn’t match reality. Dimitri’s face flashed through his mind, those pale eyes and that predatory smile, hands pinning Isaac’s wrists above his head while—
No. Not going there. Not thinking about that. Focus on something else. Anything else.
The walls kept closing in anyway, the passage shrinking around him like a throat contracting. His back hit the wall behind him, legs finally giving up on the whole standing thing. He slid down to sit on the dusty floor, phone clutched in hands that wouldn’t stop shaking.
You’re fine. You’re safe. Nothing's happening. Just breathe.
But breathing remained a theoretical concept rather than a practical skill. Each inhale stuttered, catching on nothing, while his heart tried to beat its way out of his body.
“Isaac?”
His breath froze mid-draw, lungs seizing completely. That voice came from somewhere to his left, footsteps approaching with purpose now rather than stealth. Marcus came into view, his expression shifting from annoyed to concerned in the span of a heartbeat.
“How the hell did you get into the tunnels?” He drew closer, movements careful like he was approaching something breakable. Which was a fair assessment given Isaac’s current state of barely holding it together.
Words tried to form and failed, coming out as incoherent sounds that might've been language if Isaac’s tongue remembered how to function. He tried again, forcing air through vocal cords that felt paralyzed.
“I wasn’t—” Another breath, too fast and too shallow. “Wasn’t sneaking out. I swear. Just hungry and wanted—” The words tumbled over each other, racing to get out before his brain shut down completely. “The kitchen. I was looking for the kitchen and found a panel and it opened and I wasn’t trying to escape I just wanted some food and maybe some air because the room was too small and I couldn’t breathe there either and—”
“Hey.” Marcus crouched down to Isaac’s level, not touching but close enough that his presence felt grounding. “Slow down. You’re okay. I’m not here to drag you back in chains or whatever you’re thinking.”
Isaac gulped air, trying to slow his breathing enough to form coherent sentences. “Promised I wouldn’t run. Wasn’t running. Just wanted...” He gestured vaguely at nothing, because explaining the desperate need to escape four walls without actually escaping the castle felt impossible.
“Kitchen's two levels down and about forty feet east from where you are now.” Marcus’s tone shifted into something almost gentle, the kind of voice you’d use with spooked animals. “Come on. I’ll take you there before you pass out in a dusty tunnel and make my job significantly harder.”
Strong hands helped Isaac to his feet, steadying him when his legs wobbled like they’d forgotten their purpose. Marcus kept one hand on Isaac’s elbow, guiding him back through the passages with the confidence of someone who’d memorized every turn years ago.
“How did you even find me?” Isaac asked, curiosity overriding his earlier panic.
“Heard the panel open from the hallway. Figured you’d either found it by accident or were planning something stupid.”
“Stupidly using the passages like a back alley to snacks.” He gripped Marcus’s arm. “Trust me. Won’t happen again.”
* * * *
The meeting with Dettori had dragged on interminably. Whichello had never been so mind-numbingly bored. The only thing that had kept him from going dark was thoughts of Isaac. The feisty red panda who both infuriated him and also made him want to bend Isaac over a flat surface and fuck the defiance right out of him. Which could possibly take a month or two, considering Isaac’s steel spine and mouth.
He still couldn’t believe Isaac had agreed to stay. The promise should’ve eased Whichello’s mind, but he didn’t have that luxury when the shadows he walked past stretched and shifted in ways darkness shouldn’t move.
As he headed back through the castle, his footsteps echoed against stone that seemed to absorb the sound rather than amplify it.
Those stone walls remembered every secret, every death. It was a miracle Isaac had survived his journeys through these halls.
The thought chilled Whichello more than he cared to admit.
Demons who’d lived in the castle for centuries had vanished without a trace, their screams absorbed into ancient mortar.
Even Whichello, who feared little in this realm, hesitated to enter them. On moonless nights, the corridors shifted. Doorways appeared where none had been. Voices called from empty rooms.
As skilled a fighter as he was, not even he could defeat a massive structure that sometimes seemed to breathe.
Rounding the corner, he found Marcus stationed like a sentinel outside Isaac’s quarters. One look at the enforcer’s grim expression made Whichello’s stomach drop before Marcus even opened his mouth.
“What happened?” Whichello snarled the demand, prepared to kill everyone under his roof if Isaac was harmed.
