That beautiful smile pulled his lips again as he caged me against the wall. My cheeks flushed the closer he leaned down. “You are in a hurry to fulfill your duty.”
“Ugh.” I dipped under his arm to put distance between us. “No!”
He clenched his jaw and stepped back. “Why are you in such a rush then? I thought you’d like to take a walk around your new home before returning to the confines of the castle.”
My new home? This was temporary. I would find a way to break our bargain since escape was out of the question.
“Don’t you feel it?” I frowned at the plant life. “It feels….”
I stopped myself when he cast a sharp look my way.
He crossed his arms over his chest. “It feels…?” When I didn’t respond, he huffed. “Finish.”
I jerked from his tone and tried to cover it by walking away. Showing fear wasn’t an option. They would eat me alive if they sensed it. More than one memory of it battled in my brain for center stage, and I didn’t want to give it an audience.
The faint sound of bells tolled three times. I hadn’t been out here but maybe an hour and already half the night had passed. I noticed how quickly the days seemed to go while wallowing in my room. Jet lag was a bitch in this place.
“Time is weird here.” I glanced over my shoulder to an empty corridor and rolled my eyes.
“There is no such thing as time.” His voice echoed from somewhere off to my left.
“I beg to differ.”
“You beg to argue yet refuse enjoyable conversation.” I followed his voice, moving along one wall before going back the way he came. His chuckle threw me off and seemed to come from everywhere at once. “Humans are confusing creatures.”
This man—fae creature—irritated me. “You call us confusing, and yet there is no rhyme or reason behind what you all do.”
“I beg to differ,” he mocked me, humor lacing his voice. I nearly growled as I juked back the way I came and found an opening to move forward, only to hear him come from a different direction. “Everything we do is for reason, and reason spurs everything we do.”
Brows furrowed in contemplation, I stopped before face-planting a dead end and spun around to double back. Another dead end met me where I came from.
I studied the walls, confused by the sudden change in them and by his statement.
“I have left you speechless. That is new.”
“No, I just refuse to argue with a lunatic,” I spat and felt along the bricks until I discovered an opening and slipped through.
Astaroth leaned against one of the walls with his foot propped up. He twirled a leaf between his fingers. “Finally.” The leaf floated to the ground, forgotten in his haste to get moving again.
I ran to catch up. “It wouldn’t take me so long if you didn’t keep leaving me behind.”
He tossed over his shoulder as he rounded a corner, “It wouldn’t take you so long if you’d open your eyes.”
“My eyes are open,” I huffed. “It’s dark! Could you slow down?” I asked when he disappeared again. “Your legs are longer than mine.”
A whisper tickled my ear.“You need to remember.”
I whipped around to an empty corridor. Therein lay the problem. I didn’t want to remember. Drudging up all those memories was traumatic, and I didn’t want to suffer them again.
Growing angry, I asked. “Remember what exactly?”
This time I didn’t jump when Astaroth appeared in front of me. “What did you say?”
“What exactly do I need to remember?”
His head cocked to the side before that loud roar sounded again. “It will be upon us soon.” His gloved hand slipped into mine. “Keep up.”
Resisting him would’ve been stupid. When he took off at a jog, I ran alongside him. Steady thumping followed us at every turn. I gripped his hand tighter as I lagged slightly behind. I felt like a little kid being dragged along.
