Page 28 of Dark Souls

“It wasn’t just any spider!” Ilaria shouted. “Leif sent it from Heroux. You should have seen the thing. So I am living the nomad lifestyle now. I’m quite enjoying it. But I do need to do laundry.” She dumped her overflowing holdall on the table and smiled sweetly at Arius Romano. I could tell it was him by the mismatched eyes he was notorious for, as well as his reputation.

He chuckled, nodding his head. “Anything for you, Princess. Just stay here. I don’t like you travelling all over and not knowing where you are.”

She rolled her eyes. “Which is exactly the reason I can’t stay here!”

“Why?”

“Because you suffocate the poor girl with your overbearing love!” the blonde woman sitting on his lap exclaimed.

“I do not!”

“You do,” they all said in unison.

As if she could sense someone watching her, Ilaria’s eyes lifted to the glass window and locked with mine. Her features turned into an angry scowl at the guard eavesdropping on her family. But then I twisted my lips into a devilish smirk. Her whole body stiffened and her expression turned to panic when she realised who was behind that knowing smile. Just as her family noticed the shift in her demeanour and moved their attention to the window, I darted out of view.

“Everything alright?” someone asked.

Ilaria cleared her throat before replying quickly, “Yeah, fine. I saw a movement outside but it was just the guard on patrol.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’ll stay for dinner but I’m going to go for a walk in the gardens while I wait for my laundry.”

I heard her footsteps fall away as she left the room and the voices of her family dipped to a lower tone.

“She’s been acting so odd lately. I don’t know what’s got into her,” Arius whispered.

“She’s missing her brothers and Neve. She’s just feeling a little lost, that’s all,” her mother said. I couldn’t help but feel elated. If her family were picking up on a change in her, then my plan was working. I was becoming her addiction.

The light from the entrance hall shone out across the driveway when the front door opened and the silhouette of her shadow appeared on the ground. I smirked, loving that she was no longer hiding from me. She knew she’d been caught and instead of running; she was surrendering to her curiosity. Perhaps she’s even missed me as much as I’ve missed her. One could only hope.

Pushing off from the castle wall, I strode across the lawns and towards the forest, not bothering to check if she was following. I knew she was. She wanted answers. She wanted information. The mystery of me was slowly driving her crazy. But I was limited to what I could give her. Because of the confines of my captivity, I couldn’t speak freely. But I could show her. Let her put the pieces of the puzzle together. I was under no illusion that she would try to capture me at some point. Her loyalties were with her family, her righteous morals and obligations to the crown, and I was the deadly beast that lurked in the shadows that threatened everything she’d ever known. But the story is never quite so simple. And I needed my Snow to put aside what she thought she knew, what the world wanted her to think and figure shit out for herself.

For the second time in my life, I was taking a gamble with my fate. I would risk everything to have this little spitfire. I only hoped that when the time came, she’d be willing to do the same for me.

True Form

He’dfinallyfoundme.Adrenaline spurred me on as I marched out of the castle doors and turned just in time to see the back of the guard’s broad frame disappear into the forest. Except it wasn’t my grandpapi’s loyal guard. It was my heart thief. My stalker. Heathen.

The past week had been a mixture of excitement, stress and anticipation while I tried to hide from him. The constant need to move and fabricate reasons for not staying in one place was exhausting. It was almost a relief that he’d finally appeared and I could stop running because that meant I’d finally get some answers. The most terrifying thing about purposefully keeping my distance was how much I thought about him. About who he was. What he was. Why was he doing this? I’ve spent a lot of my time asking people aboutThe Underground, trying to gather any information anyone might know about it, but I’ve found out very little. My gut tells me he’s connected to that club somehow. I’ve been reading people’s minds but no one I’ve questioned has in fact been a member, so they are as clueless as I am, only relaying rumours they’ve heard.

Using my vampire speed so I didn’t lose him, I zoomed into the forest and stopped in the thick woodland, completely concealed by the vast trees towering overhead. Only the odd hoot from an owl nearby broke the silence, and a sinister fog clouded the eerie atmosphere, sending a shiver down my spine. I knew how this looked. The stupid, helpless girl walking into the woods alone at night to lure out a dangerous creature had a slasher movie written all over it. Except I wasn’t stupid or helpless. I was curious. And angry. How dare he walk around my grandpapi’s home disguised as one of his loyal men and spy on my family? It was one thing to stalk me from the shadows, but to be eavesdropping on my family’s personal business was a step too far.

I spun around in a circle, my eyes narrowed and my vampire senses on high alert. He was close. Very fucking close. But even the tree trunks looked like figures in the mist.

“You’ve found me. Time to show yourself, asshole. We had a deal.”

“The deal was that you needed to impress me, Snow.” My head snapped up to the baritone voice that rumbled through the air from the trees above. The guard’s body was crouching on a thick branch in the tree, one hand leaning against the trunk. His eyes, those black soulless pits that gave his true identity away, twinkled with mischief and pure trouble. Giving him my most lethal glare, I placed my hands on my hips.

“It’s taken you eight days to find me. I’m the one that should be unimpressed. I expected so much more from you, Heathen.”

He chuckled darkly, glancing out into the distance with a thoughtful expression. “Eight days, huh? Felt longer. Let’s not do that to ourselves again. I didn’t like a single fucking minute. It felt less like days and more like eight centuries.”

My treacherous heart did a weird flutter. I scowled harder to hide it.

“It was your idea.”

He nodded, smirking as those terrifying eyes connected with mine once more. “I may be a callous killer but I can still admit when I’m wrong.”

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