“I do.”
He gestured wide—an invitation for me to begin as he moved to his wardrobe and slid a cream tunic over his head.
“The door to this room,” I began, settling back into the chair. “Are those the fae who built the Underrealm?”
Arthur sat on the edge of his bed, folding his arms across his chest. “This is your question? About a carving on my door and not how my mouth eased your fever?”
A flush rose along my cheeks. “I understand the workings of an antidote. It does not surprise me that the Beast’s bite is poison while the man’s is the cure. That aligns well with how a curse from the Veil would counter itself.”
His brows rose in surprise. “I did not know it would work in that way.”
I smirked. “So you put your mouth on me as an experiment?”
It was his turn to blush. “The Beast knew. I asked him what to do when you weren’t recovering like you should have.”
“You can speak to the Beast?”
He nodded slowly.
“And the Beast is capable of speech?”
“No. I communicate with my mind. He has a grasp of some…particular words.”
“Such as?”
He shrugged too casually. “Blood. Hunger…others. Simple things. He knew who you were before you pricked your hand. He said he could smell the ‘Bringer’ which I assumed was the one who brought him to this land from the Veil.”
“Curious…”
Arthur stood, grabbing a blanket across the bed to dry his hair. “You should go. I’ve just come from the surface and it’s after the transition that he becomes the most volatile." He folded back the crimson bedding, ready to slide inside. “You really shouldn’t be here.”
Pocketing the book of poetry without his notice, I headed for the door. “I shouldn’t be here at all,” I muttered under my breath.
“Reshina.”
I made it to the archway, feeling faint and bracing a hand against the stone to keep myself upright. He took a knife from his bedside drawer, tossing it onto the sheets. The silver metal glinted and the handle shone, carved in bone.
“You have a way out,” he said softly. “Take it.”
I glared across the room, gathering my skirts and leaving him with a determined, “No.”
Each step to the door strained my body, but I managed, focusing on sheer stubbornness as a Ravenfae. I pressed the pads of my fingers into the claw marks leading up to the exit, focusing on each one. When I reached the top, I braced against the wood, catching my breath. I’d pushed myself too far too quickly and the desperate need to get back to my rooms washed over me.
I took one step, then two, taking deep breaths each time. Ileaned against the wall leading up the stairwell out to the surface, allowing the biting chill to breeze over my body.
A darkening sky with soft snowflakes falling in clumps of white opened above me. Without much thought, I took one step up. Then another.
If Arthur was resting from his transition from Beast to man, might I make it across the boundary?
I’d call myself a fool if I didn’t try…
I’d call myself a fool when I fell down the stairs and broke my neck.
Five steps.
Six.
Seven.
