“Alain, please—”
“I said no!” He stepped closer, close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “You’re not going anywhere, Isabeau. Not back to those woods, not to that castle, not to whatever beasts left their mark on you.”
“That’s not your decision to make.” I lifted my chin, refusing to be cowed despite the fear coursing through my veins.
“Isn’t it?” His laugh was bitter, almost cruel. “You’re in my castle, under my protection. The guards answer to me. The servants answer to me. You have nowhere to go that I can’t find you, nowhere to hide that I won’t search.”
He moved to the window and ripped down the makeshift rope with a single violent motion, the fabric tearing under the force of his anger. “This ends now. Tonight. Whatever fantasy you’ve constructed about returning to that place, whatever connection you think you have to those creatures—it’s over.”
“You can’t do this,” I whispered, horror dawning as I realized he meant every word. “You can’t keep me prisoner.”
“Prisoner?” He whirled on me, eyes flashing with fury and something else, something wounded. “Is that what you think this is? I saved you, Isabeau. I fed you, clothed you, nursed you through fever and poison. I’ve given you every comfort, every courtesy, and this is how you repay me? By trying to sneak away like a thief in the night?”
Tears burned in my eyes, frustration and fear combining into something that threatened to overwhelm me. “I never asked for any of that.”
The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them. Alain’s face went blank, a shuttered expression I’d never seen before dropping over his features like a mask.
“No,” he said quietly. “You didn’t. But I gave it anyway, because that’s what decent men do. They don’t chain women indungeons or mark them like cattle or starve them until they’re nothing but skin and bone.”
He moved to the door, his movements precise and controlled in a way that frightened me more than his earlier rage. “I’m doubling the guards. Putting men beneath your window as well. You will not leave this room without me at your side, and you will not leave this castle until I say otherwise.”
“Alain—” I started, but he cut me off with a raised hand.
“You’remine, Isabeau.” The words were soft but laced with steel. “Mineto protect,mineto care for,mineto keep safe from Coventry and the forest and your own self-destructive impulses. You will never leave me. Do you understand? I can’t let you leave me.”
The possessiveness in those words chilled me to the bone. I’d heard their like before, whispered against my skin in Gaspard’s chambers as his hands bruised my flesh. Different context, different man, but the same sentiment.
Ownership, control, the denial of my right to choose my own path. It made him no better. Just because he didn’t physically hurt me during my gilded stay didn’t mean I wasn’t a prisoner nonetheless.
“You sound like him,” I whispered, the accusation hanging in the air between us.
Something flickered in Alain’s eyes—hurt, regret, shame perhaps—but it was quickly buried beneath renewed determination. “Think what you will. But you’re staying. That’s final.”
He yanked the door open, pausing on the threshold without looking back. “I’ll have food sent up. Try to rest. Tomorrow will be... difficult.”
The door slammed behind him, the lock turning with a finality that echoed in my chest like a death knell. I sank onto the window seat, the bag I’d packed falling from numb fingers to thefloor. My fists clenched against the rich fabric of my borrowed gown, tears threatening but refused release.
I wouldn’t cry. Not here, not now. Tears were a luxury I couldn’t afford when I needed to think, to plan, to find another way out before Gaspard arrived and recognized me.
But beneath the fear and determination, an unwelcome emotion curled through my chest. Guilt. Guilt that I had hurt Alain with my attempted escape, that I had repaid his kindness with secrecy and flight. As much as I wanted to hate him for his possessiveness, for locking me awayfor my own good, I couldn’t ignore the genuine pain I’d glimpsed beneath his anger.
“Mine,”he’d called me. Like I was a possession, a pretty bauble to be kept on a shelf. Yet it wasn’t the same as when Gaspard had claimed ownership. There had been no threat of violence in Alain’s words, no promise of pain if I disobeyed. Just desperation and something darker, something that looked disturbingly like love twisted by fear of loss.
I gazed out the window at the night sky, stars scattered across the darkness like diamonds on velvet. Somewhere beyond those castle walls, beyond the carefully tended gardens and guard towers, lay the Forbidden Forest. And within it, my princes suffered, waiting for my return. The claiming mark on my shoulder throbbed in time with my heartbeat, a constant reminder of promises made and bonds formed.
Prince Theron’s eyes at dinner had sent ice down my spine. The same calculating assessment Gaspard had given me that first day after my father was taken. The same look that said I was meat to be devoured, beauty to be possessed. And the king? He’d called Gaspard friend, respected his opinion, would believe his word over mine without question.
I was trapped again. Different prison, finer chains, but captive nonetheless.
A soft sound at the window drew my attention. A dark shape perched on the stone sill, sleek feathers gleaming in the moonlight. The raven cocked its head, obsidian eyes regarding me with an intelligence that defied its avian form.
“You,” I breathed, recognition flooding through me. My little friend from the forest castle, the one who had helped me know the path to the castle when I had to run after nearly drowning.
The raven cawed softly, hopping closer. Hope bloomed in my chest, sudden and fierce. In the villages, ravens were harbingers of doom, death’s messengers sent to collect wayward souls. But to me, this creature had always meant something different. Resilience, survival, the promise that even in the darkest places, allies could be found.
I reached out a tentative hand, and the raven butted its head against my fingers in a gesture so affectionate it made my throat tighten. “How did you find me?” I whispered. “How did you know I needed you?”
The bird offered no answer except another soft caw, but its presence was enough. If the raven could find me across the distance separating castle from forest, perhaps the connection to my princes was stronger than I feared. Perhaps there was still a way to fulfill my promise, to break their curse, to restore what the Dark Lord had stolen.
