“Vexing little thing,” he curses, his fingers flexing like he might shatter my jaw.
I’m afraid. I haven’t been afraid of him for a long time. “Yourvexing little thing,” I whisper.
His face falls, and I would kill to know exactly what he’s feeling. “Minnie…”
A shrill voice interrupts us. “Prince! My Prince! Oh, praise to the Hell-pit you're home!”
Rosier and I both turn towards the sound, despite him still holding onto my face. I almost jump back with surprise.
The figure is about my height, with the face of a bullfrog, his moist skin the color of dry cracked earth. His lower half is hairy, covered in mud brown fur, and he has hooves. He wrings his hands, which are small and rodent-like.
“What isthat?” My voice is pressed and panicked, especially as the thing walks towards us, its hooves clicking against the floor.
“My page, Lithobates,” Rosier says, like the answer is obvious.
He finally releases my face, only for Lithobates to get right up in it. One eye blinks, then another. His sideways pupils go wide, and he jumps back with a croak. “She’s alive!”
“Yes,” Rosier grumbles. “Unfortunately.”
“Should we kill her, my Prince?”
My voice is embarrassingly shrill. “Kill me?” I look up at Rosier, who has his arms crossed like he’s considering it.
Lithobates hops from hoof to hoof. “Torture her? Throw her on the stakes beneath the castle?”
Rosier’s wings open wide, then he grabs my hip and pulls me to him. His wings flap, a gust of air pushing Lithobates to the floor. “She is much too precious to harm. Understand?” From the ground, Lithobates nods vigorously. “Minerva here is a guest. Treat her as you would a Devil of the highest caliber.”
Lithobates lets out another croak. “B-but she’s not–” Rosier opens his wings wide again, and his page stutters, “Y-yes, my Prince. Of course, my Prince. She is our most honorable guest!” He gets up and starts clopping out of the room into a massive hallway. Leaf chases after him. “Make way for our esteemed guest! Minerva Minnie!”
Close enough, I guess.
I crane my neck to look up at Rosier, who isn’t moving to follow Lithobates, though he’s looking straight ahead like he might. Or maybe he’s avoiding looking at me.
“Rosie?” I say in the hopes he’ll turn to me.
Instead, his grip on my body tightens before he starts running. His wings flap, and we’re soaring off the ground. The ceilings of the hallway are lofty and wide, Rosier gliding beneath them with ease.
Meanwhile, I’m not too happy to be ten feet off the ground. My fingers grab at his muscles, trying to find a secure grip. We pass Lithobates, who’s still announcing mine and Rosier’s arrival to the palace. I struggle to take it all in as we fly. The palace is completely made of red sandstone, with pillars reaching towards high ceilings like an ancient temple.
Rosier flies through an archway, and I don’t immediately recognize we’re outside, the sky blood red and the air hot and sticky like the worst days of summer. I look back over Rosier’s shoulder to see the palace in full. It’s built into a cliffside, made of the same stone as the mountain itself. The top floor is decorated with spires, while the second floor where we came from has several open archways. The bottom floor is the complete opposite, closed off with only small windows to the outside and no obvious entrances.
My stomach feels the drop first as we start to fall. I scream and dig my nails into Rosier’s skin as the palace becomes smaller and smaller. But then he opens his wings wide, and we start to soar. I still cling to him, my nails leaving crescent-shaped reminders of his little prank.
“Jerk,” I mutter into his chest.
His body rumbles as he chuckles. “Look down.”
“I’d rather not.” But of course, I look.
A flowing river cuts through the mountains. At first, I think the water must be deep because it’s practically black, but the more I look at it, I realize it isn’t water flowing. I can see wide, moaning mouths and eyes transfixed in fear. The ghastly expressions roll and bounce against each other. I can hear the river, and I tell myself it’s the normal sounds of rushing water, though in my gut, I know it’s a chorus of agonizing screams.
It would be easy to say those people deserved what they got, that they must have been terrible people to end up here. Except I’m here. Though maybe I’m not an exception but the rule itself.
Rosier’s wings snap down, propelling us back up towards the palace. He only has to flap his wings a few times before we’re settled on a balcony on the second floor. Rosier tries to set me down, but I refuse to let go, pulling myself up and trying to wrap my legs around his waist.
“Good, I’ve finally scared you.” He holds my hips, his very sharp nails poking my stomach as he holds me so my feet dangle off the ground. “Now do you regret coming here?”
“I told you…” I snap my head to look at him. “I want to be with you. You can’t scare me out of that.” I kiss the curve of his nose. Then his lips and cheekbones. I kiss every inch of his face, slowly and methodically.
