A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales – B&tB Book 1)
A Ruin of Roses: Chapter 8

“Okay, what are we thinking, my darling?” Hadriel walked me down a wide hallway with towering vaulted ceilings. Mostly closed doors lined our pathway, with windows at the very top of the wall beneath the ceiling line, showering down light.

“What are we doing again?”

“We’re choosing hobbies. You need something to do during the day besides piss off the master.”

“Oh… But…”

“This is needlepoint.” He pointed at a door somewhat ajar. “Fancy making a lovely picture by poking fabric with needles? Or, in my case, a horrid rendition of a pond? It turned out like a swamp. By then word had gotten around about the watercolors and everyone accused me of failing at making a penis.” He put a hand to his chest. “I said excuse me, if I wanted to make a dick, I could make a dick, even in needlepoint. But I left in a huff and never returned because, honestly, I wasn’t totally sure that was true, and I didn’t want them to call me on it.”

I barked out a laugh before poking my head into the room. A middle-aged woman sat in a rocking chair. Glasses perched on the end of her nose as she pulled a string through a white strip of fabric. Two other women sat near her, one of them sitting in front of a white rectangle of fabric on some sort of stand, creating an intricate flowery design.

Before I could back out, the woman in the rocking chair glanced up. Her eyebrows sank low, and she startled.

“Maxine!” she shouted, stopping her rocking. “Maxine, am I dead?”

“What?” A woman up in years glanced over with a scowl. “What are you talking about?”

“I see an angel. Am I dead?”

“I see it, too,” the third woman said, her hair piled up into a bun at the top of her fuzzy head. “Is it a battle angel? Why is it dirty?”

I pulled my head back out and backed away. Hadriel filled my spot.

“Hey! Did you ladies see that ghost?” he said. I heard a collective gasp. “That was a ghost, wasn’t it? I’m pretty sure it was! It looked like that woman…” He snapped a few times and glanced at the ceiling. “That cook’s assistant from back in the day. Remember her, the one that dove off her horse and got trampled?”

“Oh!” one of the women said. “Yes! I believe I remember.”

“That never happened,” another said. “I would’ve remembered if that happened.”

“It did happen!” the first insisted. “Remember—”

Hadriel shut the door and turned back, chuckling. “That’ll give them something to discuss for at least a year. Andrelle has been obsessed with death since the start of all of this. She constantly thinks she’ll be the next to go. She hunts the grounds for ghosts, assured they are real. What she doesn’t believe in? Demons.”

“How does she not believe in demons? They’re in the castle. They have their own kingdom.”

He laughed as he stopped in front of another door. “Isn’t that a kicker? She doesn’t actually go out at night! She doesn’t partake in any of the sex stuff, yet she still turned out nuts. There was no hope for any of us, I’m telling you. She goes into her room at sundown and re-emerges at dawn. Or thereabouts. Sometimes she sees demons, but she ignores them as if they weren’t there. It is the absolute strangest thing. I mean, in the beginning, we all thought it was just her way of getting through it all. After sixteen years, though?” He tilted his head. “It’s anyone’s guess. Also, you should get used to the taunting. We’re all dejected and miserable. Taunting each other is all we have anymore.”

“It’s a nightmare…”

“Cheers!” He scowled at me. “Damn it, don’t do that when I don’t have a drink. It just makes me want to go replace a party. Right, okay, what about candle making? You can do scented ones, colored ones, and… I think that might be all.”

“No, thanks. I’m not really good at any of that kind of stuff.”

“Right. But you can get good. That’s the point.”

“Yeah, but…I have no interest.”

“Me either. Okay, what else? There is a puzzle room. I’ve been working on one for three years now.”

“Are you…not so good at puzzles?”

“No, I’m great at them, actually! I really love puzzles. It’s just the rest of these bastards aren’t any good, and they’ve mixed up all the pieces. So I’m essentially doing all the puzzles in the castle to try to sort everything out.” He pushed open a door into a jungle of small and large tables covered in partially finished puzzles. Pieces were strewn all over the place. Little pathways led in between them. Two people were currently sitting on the floor, bent over a section.

“Those are the misfit pieces! Don’t mix up the misfit pieces!” He pushed into the room quickly, walking as carefully through the puzzles as I had the everlass.

While he was busy, I continued a little farther down the hallway, wondering if I had the courage to try one of the other doors. Ahead, at the end of the hall, one of the double doors stood slightly ajar. I could just make out a shelf of books on the wall. My heart filled with joy, and I started that way.

“No, wait!” Hadriel jumped in front of me with his arms out. “Sorry, I can’t show you that yet. Master’s orders.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why doesn’t he want me to see the library?”

“He takes great pride in that library. There’s a system for checking out books. He wants to go over it with you.”

I rolled my eyes for show, mostly. I couldn’t honestly fault Nyfain for that. With all of the shenanigans that went on here, he’d need to have a very good system for keeping track of books.

Still, I itched to check it out, to run my fingers across the spines. There was probably so much new knowledge in there it would make my head explode. If the only viable hobby for me was to read through that library, no one would ever hear a peep of complaint from me.

However, it was yet another thing I needed to see Nyfain about. Staying away from him wasn’t looking so feasible.

After a deep breath, I clued in to Hadriel rattling off other potential hobbies.

“Knitting?” he asked. I shook my head. “What about making pots out of clay?”

“How about archery? Or sword work. Fighting in general?”

“Anyone good at that stuff was killed. Obviously. Love, have you heard nothing I’ve said? They were the first to go.”

“Hunting? Surely you all need to eat?”

“The master takes care of hunting. But…maybe? I’ll mention it. What about…” He walked us a little farther along.

“What if we just look in the library? I won’t take anything.”

He made a pouty face. “Not this time, I’m afraid. He’s not a fun one to piss off. Soon, though, I promise. I will mention your desire. He loves those books. He’ll make the time for a fellow enthusiast, I guarantee it.” He looped his arm through mine and pointed right. “How about dancing or singing? Do you fancy learning a musical instrument?”

“It just feels like I should be doing something more useful than taking a class.”

He pulled back from me, his brow furrowed. “Maybe don’t say stuff like that. Oh, goddess save us, how are we going to keep the demons from making you have an accident we don’t walk away from? Notice I said we? Yeah, because I’ll end up perishing with you.”

Fire shot through my blood and my fingers tingled, my animal making it very clear about where she stood on demons trying to kill us. I agreed wholeheartedly.

“And that, yeah.” He touched his chest while shaking his head.

“Do you not usually feel your animal?”

He slapped his hand to my mouth. “No,” he whispered, standing closer. “Damn it, I knew you didn’t know much, but I wasn’t told you knew nothing at all. We’re all still suppressed. Everyone but the master. He can occasionally pull our animals to the surface with his power, but it’s rare, and in no time at all they go back to being suppressed. I’m not sure why. How you’re doing it so much is beyond me. Whatever you have lurking in there is powerful, and she never got to make her debut like other animals. She’s probably frustrated and restless and eager to work her way out, right? She’s driving you mental?”

I swallowed and nodded.

He glanced behind him. Seeing that no one was there, he continued to whisper. “When you flex your power, I can feel her lurking. The combined—”

His eyes widened, and fear leaked into them. He reached up to his throat, fingernails scoring his skin.

Alarm rang through me. I reached for him, grabbing his shoulders as he backed against the wall. My animal scrabbled to get out. Hadriel’s face turned red, and he opened and closed his mouth like a fish. No breath could force its way out. He must’ve activated the magical gag!

“Breathe,” I said in terror. I had about five minutes until his brain would suffer. I had to act fast. “Breathe!”

I felt his throat, wondering if I could slice a hole and get him air that way. Would the magical gag cover from chin to chest?

Probably.

Everlass?

My mind shot through all the possibilities as my animal bled fire into me. She shoved her way forward, up and up through my middle until she was throbbing against my limbs. As worry and panic consumed me, I slipped in my hold of her.

She filled my body like a person pulling on a latex suit. Power roared through me, and my senses heightened, the scents and sounds I was processing so complex I couldn’t make sense of them. But she could.

It was like I was a passenger in my own body, but instead of blanking out the way I had before stabbing Nyfain, I could see all that transpired.

She picked up Hadriel like he weighed nothing, draped him over our shoulder, and went running through the hall and then down a couple sets of steps. She stopped instead of continuing on to the door we’d used to enter. Inhaling, processing those complex smells, she turned left and put on a burst of speed.

A woman who’d been walking toward us stopped in confusion.

“Mind your business, Florence!” my animal roared as we passed by.

The woman, who probably wasn’t called Florence because I’d never seen her before, jerked as though she had been slapped. She stumbled and fell onto her butt as we ran by.

Florence? I thought.

Hadriel said these people were simple.

I tried to widen my eyes, but they weren’t solely mine just now, and she had more control than I did.

You can speak to me? I thought. He didn’t say they were simple; he said they did a mediocre job.

Whether or not she is simple, now she’s confused. She’ll hopefully forget all about this. I get the sense that we are a rarity in this place, and we need to keep a low profile. You’re doing a piss-poor job of that so far. Great work.

She sounded like me, only surlier. I doubted my personality needed more salt, but here we were.

We entered a small hall off the side of a little den, the ceiling low and the walls tight. Servants’ hall, probably. At the other end, she kicked through a wooden door to the outside.

How did you know—

Smell, she interrupted me. You need to allow me more room so you can access my power. That delicious alpha is letting me out of my cage. Use it until we can abuse it.

Yeah, except you clearly want to get in his pants. That’s a nope. He’s not a nice guy.

Fuck nice. I have a dark and damning need for that alpha. I want to take a running leap, wrap my legs around his head, and force-feed him my pussy. This bitch needs some cock. Wham, bam, call me ma’am.

Great goddess. What the hell kind of creature did I have inside of me?

We ran out into the deadened grass and around the castle. Hadriel kicked and writhed over our shoulder, trying to get air. She inhaled and then changed direction, running faster than I’d ever moved in my life. In a flash, she darted into the Forbidden Wood, choosing our footsteps carefully. Twigs crackled and branches whipped out behind us. The side of one foot caught a rock, and I surged up and adjusted our weight so we could drop into a roll. Otherwise it would’ve resulted in a sprain. I was an old pro at accounting for missteps.

You’ve kept us in great shape, she thought. Our body has great tone and dexterity. Nice job.

Kinda had to. Wild boar would have been the death of me otherwise. Bastards.

She hit an animal trail and turned right, putting on another burst of speed. I caught Nyfain’s delicious smell, the effect vibrating through my person.

Yummm, she purred.

He took me prisoner. He’s the enemy.

That just makes it hotter.

I was really annoyed that I couldn’t roll my eyes.

We burst through a wall of thorny bushes, scraping our skin. She growled in challenge.

It’s a fucking bush. Don’t challenge a bush.

You can hold a machete, can’t you? It won’t be a bush for long.

Again, it would really be helpful to my overall wellbeing if I could roll my eyes.

Nyfain bent within yet another small field of everlass, nude from having shifted, brushing one plant gently before moving on to the next. He plucked a couple of dead leaves and checked the soil before brushing this plant as well. I’d always been labeled weird for how much I babied the plants. Compared to him, I was nothing. I wanted to stop and watch, to soak the sight in, but Hadriel wilted on our shoulder, giving in to the darkness.

Hurry, I thought, covering the distance between the bush and the everlass field in a few quick strides. Nyfain hadn’t looked our way. Why doesn’t he hear us? Or smell us?

He is clearly lost to his thoughts and has nothing to fear out here. He is the predator.

I wondered what those thoughts might be, causing him to act with such gentleness and ease when he was usually rough and surly. I quickly shifted my attention, though, as we laid Hadriel carefully onto the ground, his lips turning blue.

In a moment I was totally myself again, my animal slinking back so I could take control.

“Nyfain!” I yelled.

His head snapped up. He stood in a rush, withered leaves sprinkling from his hands. In a moment, he quickly picked his way to us.

“I think it’s the magical gag,” I said as he crouched beside us. “My animal took over. She brought us to you.”

He studied me for a second, and it was hard to breathe within that intelligent golden gaze.

He nodded. “Ease her out. Just enough that you can maintain control.”

I took a deep breath and did as he said, ready for the onslaught of lust when she emerged. It didn’t come. The fire I’d grown to realize was her power coursed through my blood, but her focus was solely on Hadriel.

We glanced at Nyfain, needing direction, and for the first time I could feel his beast. Raw need, desperate desire, and something so strong I couldn’t quite define…

The world tilted. Everything inside of me tightened up. I felt my presence shoved down, but it only took a moment for me to push my way back into myself.

“Work with me,” Nyfain said urgently, holding out his hand.

I watched as we took it, mine so dainty in comparison. He put his other hand on Hadriel, who’d gone still.

Fear and sorrow ricocheted through me.

“Please,” I said to no one in particular. “This is my fault. Please, he needs to live.”

I spun, looking at the everlass.

Nyfain used our joined hands to yank me back around. He leaned closer, his eyes claiming my focus.

“You have been using some of your power all your life without knowing it. You can heal. You are life. You don’t need the plant right now. You just need me for strength. Pull him away from the demons’ magic. Think of what your soul wants and will it. Take from me, Finley. Use me. I am yours.”

Pull him away from the demons’ magic.

The thought echoed through my mind. My animal pushed power into me.

Together we focused on Hadriel, and our power continued to build, pulling up from my roots, bubbling and turbulent.

“Now,” Nyfain commanded.

For the first time, I didn’t push back.

I sank myself into the thought: Breathe. Please, Hadriel, breathe!

A shock of power reverberated within me before blasting out. I could feel Nyfain’s power swirling and merging with mine, becoming a tidal wave of force that stole my breath. Then, to my shock, it swung back around and slammed into my middle. I nearly fell back from the force. My vision wavered and my animal roared, bucking and jumping within me. My skin prickled and fire rolled over it. It felt itchy, somehow, my skin. Like it was stretched too tightly. I needed to shed it.

“Easy now,” Nyfain commanded, his rough voice washing over me comfortingly. “Take it easy. Use the power, but not to shift. You cannot shift with the curse in effect. I will not let it disfigure you as it has done me. Just settle into the power. Push anything you can’t handle back into me. Use me, Finley.”

The raging storm within me thrashed. My vision was peppered with black, and I did as he said, leaning against him as I tried to shove some of the power away. The haze cleared a little, but it didn’t calm the raging inferno.

“That’s my girl,” he murmured, his voice seeming to hum within me. “That’s it. Hold on to it.”

I whimpered under the strain as his arm came around my shoulders and pulled me in tightly. His heat caressed my skin and then settled deep and low. Throbbing. Electricity fizzed within our touch.

His head dropped a little, and I swore I heard the softest of moans, like a decadent sigh.

“Will it again,” he whispered against the shell of my ear. “Use your will to pry him away from the demon magic.”

I closed my eyes, feeling my animal basking in the glow of our combined power. Shivers raced up my skin and across my scalp. Again, I did as he said, clutching at him and taking in a bit more power, the swell stretching my skin unpleasantly. Raging to the point of destruction.

Breathe, Hadriel, I thought, my eyelids fluttering.

My power scrabbled against something slick and oily, like a sheen over garbage. I clawed through it, wild and raw. Ripped it away.

Hadriel sucked in air, convulsing upward. He gripped the ground, his fingers digging into the dirt like claws. He coughed and bent, flopping sideways.

“Hadriel?” I reached for him, but Nyfain’s grasp kept me immobile. Those strong, scarred fingers clutched my chin and he pulled my face his way.

He searched my features for a moment before landing on my eyes. It seemed as though he was looking for something. An answer to some question. His brow dipped, and he suddenly released me and stood.

The unexpectedness made me lurch forward, falling to my hands.

“Get him cleaned up, and then let’s go,” Nyfain barked, striding away right and behind the trees.

By now his mood swings and shitty behavior weren’t new or shocking. The guy took brooding to a whole new level.

Shaky from the power, which was now dissipating quickly, I bent to Hadriel.

“Are you okay?” I grabbed his arm.

He coughed again, curled up in the fetal position. His chest rose and fell. “You guys saved my life,” he rasped out, clutching his throat. “That was a close one.”

“Too close.” I waited until he was ready and then helped him up.

He sucked in a deep breath. “Fuck, I thought I was going to die. When you started running me into the wood, I thought it was to hide my dead body.”

“My animal was in control.”

“Thank the goddess and her secret kinks that you have access to her and chose to listen, because yeah.” He stood with his hand pressed to the base of his throat for a long moment, looking out at nothing. “I don’t really want to comment because I don’t want to go through that again, but…”

He gave me a pointed look and nodded.

Butterflies fluttered up through my stomach, although I had no idea why.

“You can tell me about the curse now,” I said, gesturing to the castle. “Maybe I can help—”

“No way.” He waved his hands. “I wasn’t even talking about it directly, and it did that. It might have been worse if I’d said more. Stronger magic, maybe.” He shook his head adamantly. “I’d seize up before I could give you anything of note, and even if I did…” He paused, clearly going over what he would say.

“Even if you did, there’s no need.” Nyfain walked back into the area, still completely nude.

I tried not to let my gaze wander down his sculpted body and end on his large—

I jerked my head away so my animal didn’t try to fight to the surface and jump him.

“She can’t help.” He stopped a few paces away, scowling.

Hadriel studied his feet and didn’t comment.

“Can’t I?” I asked with a sudden rush of anger. “Clearly I have some worth. Maybe I don’t know how to fight as well as you do, but I’m told you have a big library. If you’d fill me in on the checking-out system, I could replace something to help me. I know I could. I learned about the everlass from books, about making elixirs and draughts. I can be ready when the time comes.”

Hadriel looked up again with a furrowed brow, tilting his head slightly. I didn’t know him well enough to interpret the expression.

Nyfain closed the distance and snatched my upper arm. He jerked me to face him. “You can be ready when the time comes, can you? To what? Sacrifice your life and your happiness to protect your village?”

I gritted my teeth, making a note to start carrying a knife around him.

“Obviously,” I said through a tight jaw.

“Sacrifice your future? Reduce yourself to nothing more than a cause?”

“Your staff isn’t simple, you are,” I said, balling my fists. “Sacrifice my future? What future? All we have to look forward to is sickness and death. Seeing our loved ones die horribly around us. You call that a future? Of course I will sacrifice myself, you great ape. Why do you think I left my house when you showed up in your beast form? I’d endure any fate to see my loved ones survive this. I’d pay any price to give Sable and Dash a chance at a real life—a real life where they can travel and see other kingdoms and marry for love.”

He stared at me for a long time, doubt plain in his eyes. But also…pain. Sorrow. Regret. These were old hauntings, I could see that. His torment wasn’t just because of the curse.

“What happened to you?” I asked softly, unable to help myself.

His eyebrows lowered. “It makes no difference. I’ll be damned if I let it happen to you.”

“Why do you care? I thought my life was forfeit…”

Emotions warred on his face. Then he stepped back, and suddenly the beast grew before me. His sheer size and power shocked terror into my bones. I pushed back as Hadriel did, driven by a primal warning to get away.

The beast opened his mouth into a great maw filled with large teeth. I quaked, turning. I didn’t get far.

The teeth closed around me for the second time in my life, and then he was running me back to the castle.