Unsettling feeling

Selah's POV

Hours later, I woke up to the unsettling feeling of someone being in the room with me.

My eyes snapped open, and I instinctively pulled the thick blankets up to my chin. The morning light was illuminating a figure standing right at the foot of my bed.

It was a tall and gangly girl with beautiful, thick black hair that fell past her shoulders. She had protuberant, owl-like eyes that stared down at me without blinking.

"Oh, good, you're finally awake," the girl's voice was much too loud for me. She didn't look dangerous, but after everything I had been through, everyone felt like a threat. "My name is Vera. I am Lord Garrick's niece. I'm seventeen, and he's sent me to stay with you."

I sat up slowly, keeping the blanket pressed against my front and watching her warily. I couldn't greet her, or tell her to leave. But my silent stare didn't seem to bother her at all.

Vera walked over to the side of the bed, leaning against the wooden post. She tilted her head and fixed her large eyes on my silver hair.

"I think you should know two things right off the bat. First, these quarters are directly beside Lord Garrick's own private chambers. They have been empty for two years, and nobody is ever allowed inside them. Second, my uncle has a fiancée. Her name is Lady Cynthia, and I know she is going to lose her mind when she finds out he brought a strange girl home and put her here."

I almost gasped. A fiancée? The weight of the mate bond I had felt at the market flared up again, unwelcome in my chest.

Before I could really process what Vera was telling me, the door of the room opened and Lord Garrick walked into the room. He had already changed out of his traveling clothes, wearing a dark tunic that made his broad shoulders look even more imposing. His silver-grey eyes roamed over the room before landing on his niece.

Vera didn't seem to be scared of him. "You have a lot of explaining to do, Uncle."

Lord Garrick didn't look angry, but his voice had that same authority from the market. "Excuse us, Vera."

Vera glared at him for several seconds. She didn't move right away, making it clear to both of us that she was leaving on her own terms, not just because he ordered it. Finally, she let out a loud huff, uncrossed her arms and walked out into the corridor, shutting the door behind her. The room became suffocatingly quiet.

Lord Garrick walked over to the wooden chair across from the bed and sat down. He didn't look cruel, but the power radiating from him made me pull the blankets ever so closer to me.

"What is your name?" he asked.

The question felt like a trap. The name Selah belonged to a girl who had been murdered in the eastern woods. It belonged to a body I was no longer in, so giving him that name felt like telling him a lie.

I looked around the room in a panic, trying to figure out how to respond. Then I found a small notebook and a charcoal pencil on the bedside table. I reached out and pulled it onto my lap.

I wrote quickly, then turned the book toward him.

*Does it matter?*

Lord Garrick leaned forward, reading the messy script. Then he nodded curtly.

I pulled the notebook back and quickly scribbled another question, one that had been burning in my mind since the moment he killed the warden. I flipped the page and held it up.

*Why did you buy me?*

Lord Garrick looked at the paper, then up into my eyes. A shadow flashed over his face, causing my mouth to go dry. I knew I shouldn't have asked that question so soon.

"I think you already know the answer to that. I bought you for the exact same reason you are asking me this question."

The mate bond! He was talking about the magic that had snapped into place between us.

He kept staring at me with those uncomfortably grey eyes. "Did you feel it at the market, when our eyes met? Did you feel the bond?"

My hand shook as I brought the charcoal back to the paper. I pressed down hard, the black tip nearly snapping against the page as I wrote my response in jagged letters.

*I don't want the bond.*

I thrust the notebook toward him, wanting him to see exactly how much I detested the magic binding us. I had trusted a bond once before, and it had ended with a blade in my heart. I was not going to let love kill me twice.

Lord Garrick took the notebook from my hands, reading the words closely. I waited with bated breath, but he didn't seem angry. Instead he set the notebook down on the edge of the bed.

"I didn't ask if you wanted it," He murmured. "I asked if you felt it. Because that is all that matters right now."

I stared at him, waiting for the catch. I waited for him to demand that I accept him, maybe force me into his bed, or treat me like the vermin the warden called me.

"I will not push you," Lord Garrick continued, as if he had read my mind. "I am not going to force anything upon you, girl. But I want you to know that you are safe here. You are under my protection now."

He stood up from the chair, towering over me. Then he smoothed down his tunic and walked toward the door. Before he reached for the handle, he stopped and looked back over his shoulder at me.

"All I ask is that you must stay indoors until I say otherwise," he instructed. "The castle grounds are not safe for you right now, especially with what the market called you. It's dangerous for you out there. Do not leave this room."

And he stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind him.