I took a step, crushing something under my foot. A shattered vase had lain on the floor for some time, judging by the fine layer of dust coating it.
The soft patter of drizzle drew me deeper into the room, and on the far side I spotted another door with fogged glass. I moved towards it, the sound of rain growing louder, and opened it.
Somebody rushed past me outside, walking through a narrow alley of cobblestones in the pouring rain.
Rain.
I looked up, finding a grey sky with dark clouds.
I was outside.
My breath caught when I looked back into the room and realised it was on the ground floor, and far darker than the rest of Erisea Hall. In fact, it lay outside the estate’s castle walls.
Turning back, I walked to the door I had come through and gasped the moment I opened it.
It was a broom closet.
Searching the room did nothing but quicken my pulse. I cursed and stepped back into the rain. There was no sign of where I was. No beach, no castle, no familiar buildings.
Somehow, I’d made it out, but to where was the damned question.
Eventually, I chose a random direction and pressed into the alley. Rain blurred my vision, soaking the dress that was painfully out of place.
The streets were nearly deserted under the relentless downpour, no one in sight to ask for directions to Erisea Hall. After crossing several roads and walking down yet another alley, two figures came into view.
I exhaled in relief, my body shivering.
As I drew nearer, I noticed one more figure approaching—not two, then, but three men. One of them nudged the other, pointing my way, and my heartbeat lodged in my throat.
An instinct deep within me told me to slow my pace and turn in the opposite direction. And I did, but not before I saw the strangers, hidden beneath long cloaks and deep hoods, striding deliberately toward me.
“Lost, are you, luv?” one called, his voice unnervingly close.
I quickened my pace, the same instinct warning me to hurry. My foot slipped on the wet cobblestones, and a sharp jolt shot through my ankle, but I kept going, debating at what point I should just run—until one of them stepped in my path.
His dark cloak, frayed at the hem, covered his wet boots. Messy lavender hair and a slender face smirked at me.
“Need help, luv? You don’t look like you’re from here,” he said, his eyes scanning me slowly.
“No. My husband is expecting me.”
I cursed inwardly the moment I realised what I’d said and pivoted to my right, only to crash into a bald man marked with tattoos around his neck.
His hood was down, letting the rain drench his shaved head and his creased forehead. He loomed over me, easily ten centimetres taller.
“Husband?” the fair-haired one echoed. “What in the skies is a human doing in Erisea? Alone.”
“It’s none of your business, is it?” I said. “Let me pass.”
“She must belong to someone, Zarren,” came a voice behind me. Glancing back, I saw a brown-haired man, closer to my height. His tone sounded younger than the other two, who appeared to be in their late thirties.
They tightened their circle around me, blocking both ends of the deserted alley.
My heart pounded in my chest, my body on high alert.
“If you’re really from Erisea, where do you live, luv?” the one with lighter hair pressed, stepping closer.
“That is not your concern,” I gritted out, trying to push past the two in front, but the lavender-haired man blocked me, his hood slipping back to reveal eyes glinting with interest.
