Page 52 of Nocte

She stares up at me as I stand and wrench my pants back into place. She watches me, naked and breathless and fucking beautiful—no, she isn’t. She isn’t.

I snatch her robe and throw it at her. “Get dressed.”

We don’t have long. Mere minutes before the vamryre hoard descends, and my punishment begins. Oh yes, Cassius, bring them all. It will take all of his collective minds to bring me down. To take me back.

I’d rather die than go back.

She’ll die then. He’s angry enough to let them do it—rip her to pieces right in front of me. Teach me a lesson that will really sting. That’s why he’s so angry. So furious. So vengeful.

I wanted to fuck her, and I enjoyed it. More than any other time he made me dance and preen and fuck for him. I enjoyed it. I’ll do it again. All over again.

I’ll pay her stupid price.

“Something’s wrong.” Her voice is so hoarse, but it still breaks. She can sense the tension in the air. Cassius’ anger is audible from his damn mansion, even for fae ears to hear.

But no. Her black eyes are focused inward, and she shakes her head, sweat-damp hair clinging to her skull. “Something’s wrong. I…” Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she takes my hand. Clings to it. “Day! I hear him!”

“Who?”

The male fae. He never left. He listened at the door and heard her whimper. Heard me claim her. He heard his little piece of prey be fucked by another monster—and enjoy it.

She closes her eyes, her mouth an o of pure pain. “Oh no. Oh no?—”

“Hush,” I tell her. I need to think. I need to move before the hoard reaches me. I start forward, intending to leave—but my hand is still in hers, only I’m the one gripping tighter. I tug her along, and she scrambles to keep pace.

Right to the door, she struggles. Digs her heels in and tries to resist. “Not that way. I can’t?—”

But it’s the only way. Through the door and past her stupid, male fae. He gapes, wide-eyed, but he’s already a shadow, fading in the distance. I need to move. Through the courtyard. Up to the main tower complex.

After that, I should face my punishment. Face my dear brothers and sisters. Rip them to shreds.

I shouldn’t keep moving, blowing past the main door. Then, toward a staircase?—

“Wait!” She tugs on my hand. Makes me stop. “Please!”

She wants a detour. Down a short hallway paved in stone. Up a rickety set of stairs. Into her little hovel.

My ears twitch, picking up a distant toll. An alarm bell. Oh dear. The little fae are all riled up. Soon they will amass, joining the vamryre already on my heels.

Oh, what fun.

“Come,” I snap at her.

She does, shuffling toward me with a bundle under her arm. It’s square-shaped, wrapped in a set of torn robes. My nostrils flare, catching the faint, rotting scent of a rose.

“I’m ready,” she says, just as shouts rise up in the distance—near the archive. Too many voices. Too many fae to fight off at once.

Don’t fight,the monster in my head growls.Stand and face me, Caspian! Face me! OBEY ME?—

I snatch for the fae and he’s gone. Her wrist in my grasp, I head in another direction. Down a dusty, narrow passage that opens onto a larger one with pretty paneled walls and plush green carpeting. I don’t recognize it… No, wait, I do.

The ceremonial antechamber. Don’t know how I remember that name. Remember this place or the fact that if I open a set of gleaming black doors I will find a forgotten staircase. It leads to a dusty dead end: a landing piled high with crates and cobwebs. A deceitful illusion. If one shoves aside a stack of junk, it reveals an old statue carved into the very wall.

The statue of an old, hunched fae with one staring, carved eye and a space where the other should be. If one sticks his finger in that hole, he’ll feel a pinch—the bite of some unseen mechanism. Fed just a mere drop of blood, the sated statue will spin to reveal a doorway. Old. Crumbling.

Behind it lies a space where an indigo light emanates.

A forgotten cavern. Here I need to run, too fast for the lazy guards to catch. Deep down into a tunnel that cuts beneath the earth—beneath the very realm.