Already, the stormy skies were brightening just a little as the sun started to rise.
With rain pouring down on me, I made my way to the first wall—the one with open arches that would let me pass through. To get out of here without anyone noticing, I’d need to scale the outer wall.
Skulking through the grass, I pulled my cloak tighter. Through the open arch, I looked behind me at the castle looming over the hill. Lights flickered in some of the windows.
I turned back to the outer wall, gazing up at it soaring into the sky. Then I started sliding my fingers into the little cracks of rock, gritting my teeth because the stones were slippery in the rain.
But before I could get off the ground, my heart skipped a beat, and my breath went still. It was as if my body knew something was wrong before my mind did. And then I realized what it was.
The smell of iron and sweet fruit coming up from behind me, and a dark magic skimming over the ground, up the stones.
My body froze as I heard the sound of soft footfalls in the grass.
When I turned my head to look, I saw the faintest outline of a cloaked figure stalking toward me. I recognized his precise, swift gait right away. His movements suggested a restrained violence.
I’d never make it up the wall far enough. And besides, he’d probably just bust out with a set of wings. So I turned to face him, meeting his gray eyes.
For a moment, my mind simply went blank as I looked up into his shadowed face. A line formed between his dark eyebrows. He looked ... perplexed. I felt a rush of his electrical power heating me up.
As he reached behind my head, I shuddered. He pulled down the hood of my cloak. Cold rain hit my face, and my breath shallowed.
His expression was one of confusion, but I felt he was judging me, weighing me, deciding if I was worthy.
The icy rain slid down my skin. When lightning rent the sky behind me, I caught a flash of his sharp cheekbones, the long black eyelashes.
What the fuck was he doing out here anyway? Why was he out prowling the courtyards just before dawn?
"Didn't I tell you not to betray me?" His voice sounded cold and distant.
“I was scared," I said. "I'd heard rumors that you killed some of the women who worked for you. I was worried you would do the same to me. I thought maybe I’d made you angry with everything that happened tonight. So I thought it best to leave.”
Another flicker of confusion in his eyes. Like he couldn’t quite read me.
“I don't care that you were drunk." His voice was a low knell that trembled through my body. “But I do care if you betray me.”
“But how am I supposed to trust you?”
He frowned. “You don’t need to trust me. You fear me. That should be enough.”
And he was right—I was afraid of him. It was instinct. So how the hell was I supposed to seduce him?
Samael was hard for me to read, too. But stalking the courtyard at night suggested to me an unquiet mind, maybe even loneliness. Maybe that was a starting point.
I widened my eyes and hugged myself. “I was afraid my room was haunted. I heard about those two little princes that were killed by a mad king long ago. And I'm positive that I heard them screaming, and saw their ghosts in my room. I woke up and I saw the big blue eyes of two little blonde children dressed in black, staring at me mournfully, and their necks were covered in blood.” I was starting to get so into the macabre story that I forgot how this was connected to any sort of seduction.
He cocked his head. “You had a vivid dream?"
I shrugged, and touched his shoulder for a moment, looking up at him. I thought he flinched at the contact.
“Well, I don't know if it was a dream or real life,” I said. “But all I know is that room is haunted. And maybe if I'm going to sleep, I could sleep in your room. You seem like you could keep me safe from ghosts.”
“Ghosts don't exist. And even if they did, they’re not who you should fear.” He let the threat hang in the air.
“Well, I believe in them.” And I did, sort of. After all, I felt the Raven King’s spirit here.