AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She did another quick sweep of the room.Without the overhead lights, she almost missed the black screen of the monitors for the surveillance system.There’d been footage of every play space when she had been here last.
But the biggest setup with cages, restraints, and the giant gold throne that was gaudy enough to be a high school drama set piece now that she’d seen Queen Clio’s twisted masterpiece?She hadn’t found that room tonight.
She opened the pantry, the cupboards, and the drawers looking for a flashlight or a candle.There had to be a better alternative here than fumbling around in the dark.Under the sink, she scored a battery-powered candle, warped and crooked as though it’d been left out in the sun.Whatever.It still worked.Crappy flickering light was better than no light at all.
Two harmless bathrooms with thankfully clear shower curtains and a closet full of wigs on mannequin heads later, she found the last door and pressed her ear to it.
Nothing.
Shocker.
Pushing open the door, she swept the light into the room first.Its yellowish cast jumped high on the windowless walls.The throne dominated the center of the room with its back to the entrance.That worked for human kink roles, but as queen, she wouldn’t stand for someone approaching her from behind.She shook herself out of the thought.Hours into her never-wanted-it ruler gig, and she’d become an expert?
A low moan made the tiny hairs on the back of her neck stand straight.It could be the wind whipping around the house.But it wasn’t.
She rushed the throne with goblin speed, not slowing when the plastic candle blinked out.A deep shout had her skidding to a stop.In the darkness, she could make out the shape of a man tied to the seat.He struggled, but the bindings held.
“No.”His plea caught in a gag.
“I won’t hurt you.Let me get this light back on.”She smacked the electric candle’s casing gently, not wanting to startle the poor guy even worse with a loud bang.A quick flicker of fake flame revealed matted and dirty dark hair hanging in his face.Red human blood dripped from his ripped clothes, but the light shut off again before she could tell where he was hurt.
He said something unintelligible through the gag.A question?A name?She had no idea.The man had obviously been tortured.If he was frightened now, he’d be terrified when he saw her.
She fumbled with the little switch on the bottom, her claws making the movement difficult.“No matter what you see, don’t be scared.”One click, two, three.Finally, the candle came on again.“Let’s take care of that gag.”She raised the light and lifted her hand to brush the hair out of his face.Perry’s father blinked back at her.She gasped.“Mitch?”
His response came out muffled, garbled by the gag.
“It’s me, Vori.Perry’s safe.”
Relief filled his gaze.
She tugged at the cloth stuffed in his mouth, but it wouldn’t budge.“Petra?Did she do this?”
He jerked his head in a nod, and she had to yank away to keep from cutting him with her claws.
“Hold still.”She would have to remove the gag gently, and she would need both hands.
Setting the candle on the throne’s arm, she curled her fingers between his cheek and the gag, careful to keep her claws from deepening the slashes already scoring his skin.“Where’d you last see her?”
He glanced over her shoulder, widening his eyes, and Vori spun.A spotlight clicked on, blinding her.She blinked, trying to clear the streaks filling her vision.Now wasn’t the time to be anything less than her fighting best.Not if she wanted a chance to save Mitch without slipping into insanity.
“I’m right here.”Petra’s voice came out of the darkness behind the glaring light.“I see you’ve met Perry’s neglectful daddy.We’ve been having so much fun, right?”
Mitch’s frenzy in jerking at his restraints and his muffled yells were answer enough.
“Release him.”Dark spots and that damn light crowded Vori’s vision.“Then we can talk about the amethysts.”
“Oh, so you’re the all-powerful queen now?”Petra’s laugh was a brittle, fragile sound.One that might crack into tiny slivers.Not the one she’d had before.“Giving orders, Your Majesty?”
Vori hurled the candle in the direction of the spotlight.The plasticbounced off metal with a clatter, and the bright-as-the-freakin’-sun spotlight blinked out.She stared past the haloes and blotches.
Petra stood in goblin form, the scrolls of silver with gold accents across her forehead.She wore a black latex version of a goblin gown.The woman had perverted the realm’s royal wear into something wrong.The same as she’d taken this safe haven for humans to express their hidden desires and twisted it into a house of nightmares.But something even more sinister sat on her head.
Vori’s stomach dropped.Seven amethysts flashed atop a circlet of golden vines and thorns.“The blood crown.You recreated it.”
“Let’s see if it can be as wicked as the legends say.”
“It drives every goblin who wears it mad with greed.”
