Page 33 of My Dark Obsession
The sudden whoosh of air and sound penetrating my ears made me flinch back against Rí. His hands settled on my shoulders as all sound resumed, the wind, the waves. My damn noisy mind.
The double doors swung open of their own accord. Darkness greeted us for a moment, before candles burst into life and the foyer lit up in a warm glow.
Holy fuck this was actually a castle.
“Ah, there you are my Lady.” Jerry the ghost appeared bowing low.
“Jesus–please call me Amaya. I’m not a Lady." That title would never stick, and I would never answer to it.
His moustache jiggled but he didn't reply.
I walked to the wall where paintings of women all looking vaguely similar sat in stunning black dresses. Their long black hair was either straight like mine or held a wave or curly spindles. They all wore a necklace with one black jewel nestled between their breasts. Looking closer I noticed that a small glow of purple could be seen in the jewel. Purple like each of their eyes.
Every single one of the women in the paintings held features similar to each other, their dark hair, pale skin and full lips. But it was their eyes that stood out. Purple gazes stared out as if looking directly at me.
Dark Witches.
“Your ancestors my L–my Darkness.” The ghost's eye twitched beneath his tiny spectacles.
“Not that either.” I raised my brow at Rí as he stifled his chuckle.
“Tell me about them, please.” I asked.
“Each Dark Witch born is female, their magic pure and strong. You all came from the same witch, the first ever Dark Witch, Lady Samara.” He glided to a larger painting further down the wall, this one held above the biggest fireplace I had ever seen, its stone yet again perfectly polished.
Holy shit.
Lady Samara. I looked just like her. Our pin straight long hair and pale plump lips, our noses, our flat expressionless faces. If I didn't know better, I would have said someone had painted me and put it up there.
The cold empty look in her purple eyes sent a shiver down my spine.
Her soul had been empty. Cold and barren. I recognised that look in my own gaze.
Rí must have assumed my shiver was from the cold as he waved his hand towards the fireplace and started the flames. I preferred the cold, always had but I actually enjoyed the heat it created on my cold skin.
“Lady Samara discovered Wisteria, and along with it, portals to the other realms. Where she went on to meet her four Circle Mates. She is the only supernatural to have ever had four within their Circle.”
Shock had me gaping at Jerry. She discovered Wisteria. I was a descendant of someone who discovered the entire realm.
If I was part of a line of powerful purebred witches, how had I landed up in the human realm, weak with no magic and beaten daily by a pathetic human?
“Why was I in the human realm? Why wasn't I with the Dark Witches to begin with?” I had to know, I needed to know.
Rí’s hand rested upon my shoulders once more. I didn't shake him off, which surprised us both.
“Why, you were with them at first of course, until your third birthday. Then you were taken to the human realm. But I’m afraid that is all I know. All I was allowed to know. Rightfully so of course.” He bowed low once more before sweeping his arm to the side where a winding stone staircase led down somewhere cold and dark.
“Please, your suite awaits where you can settle in with your Mate.”
All he was allowed to know? I was three and with the Dark Witches? Was I with my mother? Why had I no memory of this? Nothing at all. Not even a hint. I gritted my teeth as my head began to throb once more.
It had been an incredibly long couple of days. My stomach cramped in hunger, and I realised that Rí and I hadn't eaten since the soup.
I frowned at him and asked why he hadn’t eaten.
He tilted his head; red eyes glowing in the candlelight and mussed his hair. “If my Mate won’t eat then nor shall I.”
Okay, there it was again. That word. ‘Mate.’ It infuriated me. I had never actually agreed to be his mate. Not once. And he and everyone else was throwing it about as if it had been accepted already.
