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Kaleid doesn’t say anything, but he comes forward and takes the headpiece from my hands and places it on my head, the beads and red metal filigree draping across my face.
“How do I look?” I ask sarcastically.
“Like a blood bride,” he answers. Then he reaches out, displaying his palm. “I have to take you to him either way,” he says. “You might as well take my hand.”
I stare at his hand then breathe in deeply, placing my palm in his.
His fingers grasp me, cold and strong, and he leans in close, lips at my ear. “I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. I owe Solon that much.”
He pulls away enough to gaze at me and I meet his eyes. “Define what bad means in this world.”
From the way his face pales, I know he means he won’t let what happened to his sister happen to me. So, great, basically everything up until being torn in half while still alive is totally game.
He doesn’t say anything else after that, just takes me from the room and back down the long corridor, up the stone stairs until we’re back in the courtyard. This time we go into the blackened void of a room, the one we stopped outside of before.
Are you taking me to the holding cell? I ask inside my head, directing my words at Kaleid.
I’m not surprised when he answers. Change of plans, he says. You’re about to get married instead.
Well, fuck. I think I preferred the idea of a holding cell.
Just play along, he says. Pretty sure marriages down here aren’t binding.
Pretty sure? I repeat.
He doesn’t say anything else to that. Instead, he leads me into that dark cavernous room, the one he seemed afraid of earlier, and as we walk in I feel the pressure in my ears changing.
Eventually my eyes adjust to the dark and we’re in a place that feels both underground—the walls are damp and smooth, like the walls of a cave—and a place that’s open to the sky in places, hints of red peeking through.
In front of us is something dark, tall and large, a vague shape, then a shaft of red light comes through, illuminating Skarde. It’s like he’s being lit up by Hell from above.
“Here she is, the bride to be,” Skarde says proudly, holding out his hands. He’s dressed in a black cloak, like something an evil priest would wear, and standing at the top of a few steps, in front of the dark shape, which on closer inspection seems to be a giant throne of some sort.
I try to ground myself, pressing my bare feet into the stone, not wanting to go up the steps, but Kaleid is strong, and I know if I don’t move, he’ll drag me up. For some reason I don’t want to be delivered kicking and screaming to Skarde. I think he’d like it too much.
I go up the steps and Kaleid brings me right over to Skarde, who immediately grasps my hands, holding tight. I try to rip mine away, but he merely tightens his hold and smirks. Yup. Definitely the type of dude that the more you struggle, the more he enjoys it. This does not bode well for me.
“I take it you’ve never been married before,” Skarde says to me. “Don’t worry, neither have I. I’ve been waiting for you, like a noble King.” I almost snort but I manage to rein it in. “You see, I was created here.” He looks behind him at the throne. “I was brought here because I wanted eternal life. The Dark One took me in and he granted me that. Made me the King of Death. But he tricked me, you see. He does that. I didn’t quite know what I was getting into and then he told me that I had a bride that was willing and able. I fucked that bride, even when she was screaming at me to stop. But it was never a bride at all…I won’t fill you in with the disturbing details, but that’s how I became what I am.”
He pauses, looking back at me, his eyes hard. “I was upset at what I’d become at first. The Dark One promised me that one day I would have my bride to rule at my side. As the years went on and the Dark One didn’t interfere with my life so much, the prophecy of the bride was passed to the old folk. Oh, I had women. I bred with women, created Kaleid here, Natalia, countless others. I created vampires too, like Absolon. Did you know he used to be a clergyman? Small town in Norway, by the sea. A well-loved, light-hearted, god-fearing man. When I finally ventured out of this world, I fed on whatever human I could find. Then I found Absolon and I was so taken by his devotion, his piety, I thought…what if I could change him? What if I could drive his love for God right out of him? After all, that would impress the Dark One like nothing else. So I took Absolon and I bit him. Drank his blood. Almost killed him before making him drink my blood and bringing him back to life as a vampire.”
