“Yes, Your Highness.” Another curtsy, and she was gone, the door clicking shut behind her.
I dressed with military efficiency, choosing a simple blue tunic that my mother said matched my eyes and dark riding pants rather than the formal attire my station demanded. Formality wouldn’t win Isabeau’s trust. Nothing seemed to win her trust.
Every time she woke, our conversations followed the same frustrating pattern. Her insistence on returning to that place of darkness. My refusal. Her silence when questioned about the beast that kept her. My growing conviction that the forest’s corruption had poisoned her mind beyond reason.
But this time she’d been awake longer. Perhaps today would be different. Perhaps today I’d break through the walls she’d built around herself.
The halls were quiet at this hour, most of the castle still sleeping. My boots echoed against marble floors as I made my way to the eastern wing where I’d ordered Isabeau placed. Close enough to my own chambers that I could reach her quickly, but isolated enough that rumors wouldn’t spread about inappropriate proximity. Not that it mattered. Court gossip traveled at the speed of thought regardless of precautions.
Two guards stood at attention outside her door, their expressions carefully blank as they bowed at my approach. I’d chosen them personally. Men from my hunting party who’d seen firsthand what the forest could do but who’d also witnessed my determination to protect the woman we’d rescued. Men who understood the danger she might represent but who wouldn’t act without my direct command.
“Has she tried to leave?” I asked, though I knew the answer. In her weakened state, Isabeau could barely cross the room, let alone attempt escape.
“No, Your Highness,” the older guard responded. “Just the maid entering with food and leaving again.”
I nodded, satisfied. “I’ll see her now. Alone.”
The guard unlocked the door, swinging it wide before stepping aside. I paused on the threshold, suddenly uncertain. This pull she had on me, was it natural? Or was it some dark magic working its way under my skin, using her as its conduit? The thought should have repulsed me, sent me running in the opposite direction. Instead, it only deepened my fascination.
Squaring my shoulders, I entered.
Isabeau sat in the window seat, a silk robe cinched tightly around her waist, emphasizing how dangerously thin she remained despite the castle’s best efforts to nourish her back to health. Sunlight caught in her auburn hair, setting it ablaze with highlights I hadn’t noticed in the dungeon’s gloom. She turned at the sound of the door, and those haunting eyes were eyes that didn’t belong in a human face. They fixed on mine with an intensity that stole my breath.
“You’re awake,” I said, stupidly, again. Obviously she was awake. I’d been visiting her room each morning and night when she rose.
“Your maid said the same thing.” Her voice was stronger today, less the rasp of someone who’d screamed herself hoarse and more the cultured tone of a woman educated beyond what her station might suggest. “Is everyone in this castle determined to state the obvious?”
I smiled despite myself. There was spirit beneath that fragile exterior. “The obvious often bears repeating when it brings relief. You’ve been more unconscious than not since I brought you here.”
“And where exactly is ‘here’?” She gestured at the room around her, at the luxury that seemed to make her uncomfortable rather than impressed. “You said Durand, but that’s a kingdom, not a location.”
“The royal castle at Durand’s heart, The Noble City,” I replied, moving further into the room but keeping a respectful distance.I’d learned from previous visits that crowding her only made her withdraw further. “My home. And yours, for as long as you need to recover.”
Her lips pressed into a thin line. “I’ve told you before, I don’t need to recover here. I need to return to—”
“To that dungeon?” I couldn’t keep the edge from my voice. I didn’t want to have this conversation again. “To chains and starvation and whatever beast kept thee prisoner?”
“It wasn’t like that,” she said, her gaze dropping to her hands where they twisted in her lap. “You don’t understand.”
“Then help me understand.” I took a step closer, careful, like approaching a wounded animal. “Tell me why thou is so determined to return to a place of such suffering.”
“It wasn’t suffering.” Her eyes flashed up to mine, defiant. “Not all of it.”
“Not all of it,” I repeated, incredulous. “You were chained to a wall, Isabeau. Starving. Half-frozen.” My hands clenched at the memory of lifting her skeletal form from that stone floor. “If I’d arrived even days later, you might have been beyond saving.”
“I can’t be saved,” she whispered, so quietly I nearly missed it. “Not the way you think.”
Something in her tone sent a chill down my spine. “What does that mean?”
She shook her head, turning back to the window. “Nothing. It doesn’t matter.”
“It matters to me.” Another step closer. “Who is he? The beast that kept thee?”
Her shoulders stiffened, the change so subtle I might have missed it if I hadn’t been watching so intently. “There was no beast.”
“Don’t lie to me.” I moved to stand before her, blocking her view of the window, forcing her to look at me. “The locals speak of it. A creature that lives in the heart of the Forbidden Forest.Something neither man nor animal that takes beautiful women as its playthings.”
Anger flashed across her face, transforming her features from merely beautiful to something fierce and wild. “Is that what you think I was? A plaything?”
