Chapter Five

RAYA

It had always been the same, my nightmares of the woman in the red hood with claws for hands and her bloodied fangs extended dangerously from her twig-thin lips.

My mother had never said anything to me when she chased me through the fog, the crimson of her cape bleeding in and out of view until my breathing seized in my throat and I snapped awake.

Again and Again, night after night up until today, when I felt the thud of my heart pounding into the soft cushion of a comforter I felt under my back as her words rang in my mind’s ear.

“Run,” The woman had whispered when she’d suddenly burst through the fog to grip me with burning hands, her hot breath scalding my face.

My mouth fell open as I peered into the empty sockets where her eyes should have been, before I felt the weight of my body shoot up, gasping and twisting awake as a chill clawed at the seat of my spine.

“Are you alright miss?” A disembodied voice boomed so close to my ear that I let out a banshee scream, throwing my hands out in an arc around me and connecting solidly with what felt like bone.

“Christ lady! Watch it will yer!” The sound was harsher now, and I felt my eyes shift in the darkness as I groped about what felt like sheets, struggling to my knees before I heard rustling some ways ahead as the rush of bright white light filled the room.

“W-what is this? What am I doing here?” I sputtered, raking my gaze from the owlish-looking man hunched over with the thread of the overhead lightbulb between his fingers to the tall rake of a man looming so close that I let out another scream.

“Interesting,” The rogue-looking man with dark hair that fell around his face in tussled waves murmured derisively, leaning back as I choked more expletives, stumbling back until my back slapped against the cool stone of the wall.

What the hell was this? Where was I?

I whipped my head about the surprisingly well-decorated room, taking in the superfluous silver of the chandelier that swung slowly from the dome-shaped ceiling, the gold silk of ribbons that hung like tapestries from the walls, swirling and falling loosely over and around the silver iron of the canopy bed I was squatting on.

”Ugh,” I groaned, feeling my hands shoot up to grip the sides of my head as a sharp pain wove through to my eyes as my heart thudded wildly in my chest.

How had I let myself be kidnapped? I cursed under my breath, knowing the burly man I lived with would surely have my head for disappearing on him.

“My name is Nikolai lassie. I rescued you from the Burning Castle.” The dark-haired man murmured, his face an expressionless mask of angular lines as he watched me through the piercing orbs of his gaze.

I shifted uncomfortably before my eyebrows shot up and realization dawned on me, the heat of embarrassment rolling up my neck to my cheeks as I remembered where I had seen him before.

The Burning Castle was what the villagers called Alpha Toph’s palace, and something told me that the evil place was well worth the name.

I shuddered, allowing my shoulders to relax as I eyed the two men towering in the doorway warily, feeling a twinge of regret as the gaunt man with closely cropped sandy-blonde hair shuffled to snatch his coat from the rack beside my bed, muttering something about Nikolai having a penchant for possessed women.

”Thank you Igor, for everything,” Nikolai rumbled, throwing the grumbling man a faint, lopsided smile as he stormed out of the room, before he turned to face me.

Igor? So that was HIS name.

“What's his deal?” I murmured, shrugging into the soft white blankets as the unease seeped through my pores.

There was something about the mysterious man that made tingles erupt in my belly. The intense way he stared at me, the smoky cerulean blue of his eyes roaming seemed to strip the very clothes from my body.

”Where am I? What is this place?” I croaked, wincing at the weak squeaking in my voice, and flushing with embarrassment before looking about the room, more to avoid the pin of the man’s gaze.

Could you manage not to sound more pathetic? Goddammit!

“You’re in the Stone City Castle, Miss Banks,” The man started and I reared back as though I had been slapped, wheezing a surprised cough and snatching the silver chalice of a goblet he held out to me.

The feeling of my hands grazing his thick fingers sent a jolt of heat down my core and I choked more on the water before he took it from me, hooking one eyebrow over the smooth line of his forehead.

“You alright?” He rumbled, an amused smile lining his lips as I started holes into the space over his head.

“You should rest up here, then we can find out where you live on the morrow.” Nikolai murmured, clapping once and surprising me when a pale-faced maiden shuffled into the ornately decorated room.

”This is Judith, your handmaiden for as long as you choose to remain here,“ He murmured, stretching a surprisingly long hand to the girl who curtseyed respectfully, her hazel brown eyes shooting up from her wide face to glance at me before she fixed them firmly back on her open-toed sandals.

I nodded disjointedly, unable to keep up with the rush of emotions that swirled through my head as I watched the handsome lines of his gaunt face, the dark linen of his button-down and lose-fitted pants, and the way he crossed his hands confidently her his chest.

Who was he? I couldn't figure him out! And he had his own castle nonetheless? It felt like I was trapped in another fever dream!

“Well, I'll leave you, ladies, to it,” He intoned, effecting a graceful bow before crossing his hands behind him and storming out of the room before I had a chance to speak.