“So, you changed your mind?” he asked, sounding surprised. Did he really expect me to stay here with him?
“Excuse me?”
“About the wedding.”
“I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”
“Everything involvingyouis my business, Gwendolyn,” he declared angrily, speaking my name like he owned me. But then I kept thinking he threatened to spank me because of my attitude, so I guess he really was that delusional.
“How do you know my name? Did your little bird tell you?” I asked, sounding more mocking than I intended. Instead of answering, he just shook his head and smirked, like he found the entire situation very funny.
“You are acting like a spoiled little brat. You’d better stop,before I really throw you over my shoulder and spank that attitude out of you.”
I should be sorry for declaring Alexander arrogant, when this man right in front of me was the personification of arrogance.
“Tell me, would you have said yes to him?” he asked.
Why did he even care about my decision? Not even my own mother ever asked me during the wedding preparations if it was something I wanted. One of the reasons why I never prepared a concrete answer to this question was because women’s opinions on marriage never mattered, at least not where I was from. So, it was better to stay silent, furthermore it was not his concern whether I would have married Alexander or not.
“That’s what I thought,” he mused. The silence around me grew even louder. The man turned around and began to walk away. Soon, he became only a shadow in the dark.
“Follow me and don’t forget mydemon bird,” he suddenly called back. I peeked over my shoulder, noticing the raven had settled itself there on one of the lanterns.
The tunnel I was following seemed to have no end, the further we went, the brighter the torches began to flicker.
All of a sudden, I perceived the voice again, the same one I’ve been hearing since I was a child. But where was he? And why did he always speak in my mind, but never showed himself?
Or maybe the voice in my head had never been real and it was just the beginning of a descent into madness.
My whole body started to shake and I recognized the green eyes that were full of acid and danger. I must have been in some state of trance, because it took a while to feel fully alive again. “Humans really are of no use,” the dark-haired man commented. “You don’t pay a lot of attention to your surroundings, like you should.” His breath was hot against my skin, causing a weird shiver running down my spine. Why was this man affecting me so weirdly?
Was this madness?
“Eyes up here,my little demon,” he said, gripping my chin softly, forcing me to gaze up at him. His face was even more beautiful when close-up. “You can admire my beauty later… you need to rest.” With these words, the man took my hand, leading me further down the tunnel.
I began to feel very dizzy and sleepy, and before I could ask where we were going, everything went dark.
What if it really was a trap, and the man with the black hair was the puppet-master of this game?
Chapter 4
I woke up to find myself in a foreign room with high ceilings that were decorated with many black ornaments and a long, oval-shaped mirror on the desk. The windows in front of me were adorned with heavy crimson-red satin drapes and stained-glass panels, casting a very muted and opulent feeling through the room. Right beside the bed was a huge black dresser, as ornate and luxurious as the rest of the room. Antique chandeliers provided a flickering, soft glow, adding to the mysterious and gothic atmosphere.
I stood up, my legs sore and tense as I took my first steps. Beside the wardrobe stood a long mirror decorated with filigree ornaments in the shape of roses, in which I was able to catch a glimpse of my appearance. My white dress was dirty, and the sleeves were ripped, opening up a little view of my shoulders. I was not entirely sure how much time had passed between my falling into the rose hedges and now. It could have been days or only hours. My sense of time was completely muddled.
As I examined my dress, a sinking feeling washed over me.
Something was missing… my compass necklace was gone. It was the only thing I’d ever owned that held true emotional value.A quiet panic began to rise in my chest. I had never taken it off. Not once. Not even when I was twelve and accidentally slipped into a pond so thick with mud it felt like quicksand. I’d scrubbed myself clean while still wearing it, too terrified to lose it.
When did I lose my necklace? I remembered showing it off to the faeries and it hadn’t been that long ago.
Had I lost it in the tunnels, or much earlier? There had been the man with the long raven hair in the tunnels… but everything after that was a blur, a gaping hole in my memory, no more.
It was the last thing I had left of my father. I tried not to let myself drown in sadness. Nothing could change what happened now.
A sudden knock at the door jolted me from my thoughts. My eyes wandered around the room, searching for something to defend myself with. A weapon, anything. The best I was able to find was a heavy, leather-bound book on the dresser, wedged between a hairbrush and red ribbons. Not exactly a sword, but it would have to serve as one in any case. Not that I even knew how to wield a sword to begin with.
“Miss, may I come in?” a female voice called through the door.
