Page 43 of His Darkest Desire
With a grin, she glanced at Shade, who hovered beside her. “Guess I should make myself at home.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Kinsley stepped out of the bedroom and ran her clammy palms over the gossamer skirt, which flowed around her legs as she walked. She’d brushed her hair, which now hung in soft waves down her back, applied a little makeup after washing her face, and had finally put on the dress.
It fit perfectly. The diaphanous fabric was thicker at the bodice, concealing and supporting her breasts, but the rest left little to the imagination. Thankfully, the underwear covered her sex and ass—if only barely. The loose short sleeves fluttered against her arms, leaving her shoulders bare.
Confidence had come easily while she was locked away in the bedroom by herself, but now that she’d left that relatively safe space, she couldn’t deny the truth. She was nervous about seeing Vex.
She was nervous to be seen by him.
Their relationship hadn’t exactly started off in a great place, and their every interaction had felt like they were walking a tightrope from opposite ends, disrupting each other’s balance more and more the closer they came.
But Kinsley sensed his loneliness. More than that, she sensed in Vex the same deep desire she harbored—to make a true connection with someone. She’d thought she’d had one for so long, yet in the end, it just…hadn’t been enough.
She hadn’t been enough.
So Kinsley would do what she did best—she would make the most of this. She was going to ask Vex every question that came to mind, was going to examine every interesting, mysterious object he owned, was going to talk to him no matter how rudely or dismissively he responded. She would wear him down until he accepted her as she was, as a presence in his life.
He had, after all, chosen her for this. He had proposed this deal.
And if this cottage was to be her home, she wanted to be familiar with it. There were parts she hadn’t yet seen. She knew the kitchen lay to the left, but what was behind the closed door on the right?
Destination decided, she walked around the mighty tree trunk. Shade followed her, their luminescence adding to the glow of the crystals, making the space just as wondrous as it had been the first time Kinsley had seen it.
When she reached the door, she paused and sniffed the air. There was a faint smell here. No, not a single smell, but a collection of scents that was not unpleasant despite the hint of a sting it bore. It was like incense, potpourri, and pipe smoke. The designs carved into the wood were different than those on the bedroom door. These weren’t patterns mimicking vines, leaves, and trees, but deliberate symbols laced with tiny, precise runes.
It was the sort of door behind which dark secrets or terrible monsters hid, the sort of door that one should never try to open.
The sort of door Kinsley couldn’t resist.
She pushed on the door. It didn’t budge. She grasped the metal ring handle and tugged, but the door remained unmoving.
Kinsley glanced at Shade. “Guess I’m not allowed in there?”
The wisp shook their head.
Her eyes widened. “What dark, dirty secrets is he keeping in there? Is it a family of elves he enslaved to tailor his clothes? A secret collection of human memorabilia he’s stolen from passing hikers?” She covered her mouth in mock shock. “Or is it the ritual chamber where he inserts an enchanted stick into his ass every morning?”
Shade’s flame pulsed with laughter, but the wisp made no gesture to either confirm or deny her speculations.
“Guess I’ll have to revisit this room another time,” she said, stepping away from the door to continue toward the front of the chamber. “Maybe I’ll even teach myself to pick a lock. I have plenty of time, right?”
Rather than take the steps down into the foyer, Kinsley grasped the sides of her long skirt and followed a curving staircase up to the next floor.
At the top was a large, arched door adorned with intricate, abstract carvings. The door opened easily when she pushed on it. She walked through to find herself in a library—the most fantastical library she’d ever seen.
Sconces standing on the floor and mounted on the walls throughout bore luminescent crystals, which put out orange and yellow light like that of a fire, bathing the space in warm radiance. There were countless shelves built into the walls, some sections tall enough to have rolling ladders standing against them. All of them were filled with books and scrolls.
Branches and vines snaked along and between the shelves, their lush leaves making the place feel alive, but nowhere did they seem to actually touch the books. On the far wall, several of those branches twisted together to frame a large, circular alcove across which spanned a cushioned bench with several plush pillows set upon it.
Kinsley walked the length of the library, which curved around the cottage’s central chamber in either direction. Her path led her back to the entrance after she’d beheld what must’ve been thousands of books and scrolls. She ran her fingers over the spines. Like the books in Vex’s bedroom, these were old-fashioned but in excellent condition, and most were marked with symbols Kinsley could not read.
She stopped and withdrew a blue leather-bound book with silver adornments and writing on its cover. Opening it, she flipped through the pages one by one. While she couldn’t understand the writing, the drawings inside transcended language—charts of stars and constellations filled many of the pages, some accompanied by drawings of creatures both mundane and mythical. There were also charts dedicated to the moon and its phases.
“Should I be concerned that there is a book in your hand, mortal?”
Kinsley shrieked, jumping reflexively and losing her grip on the book. She scrambled to catch it but wasn’t fast enough. It struck the floor with a thump, landing open with its pages down.