●Prologue●
Grrr... Grrr...
“Mmm?”
Grrr... Grrrr...
My brows knit together as slow tremors of awareness rippled through my limbs. Consciousness stirred, spreading like the gentle sting of waking blood, clarity rushing in and embracing me, making me feel the softness beneath me.
I was... lying on my back?
“Mmm...” A faint moan escaped my tightening lips as my eyes fluttered open, only to be met by a sudden, merciless glare of light that pricked at my sightless gaze.
When had I fallen asleep?
Where... where in the world was I?
I blinked—and blinked again, squinting until shapes began to take form above me. An unfamiliar ceiling stretched far, far above, painted in the purest white, its surface glinting with elaborate golden mouldings that I could hardly decipher through my haze. And there, crowning it all, was a grand rustic chandelier, its magnificent branches wide as a tree’s canopy, gleaming with such delicate splendour that the very notion of it falling made my stomach coil. It could crush me into dust.
Wall lamps flanked the chamber, casting their gentle golden glow upon white walls. Gold-trimmed panels, though partially obscured from where I lay, adorned the high stretches of the room, lending it an air fit for a high lord—if not something more divine. I could not see much more, but I could feel a strange tang soaking into the very air I breathed... almost drawing my senses aimlessly as I couldn’t decipher its source.
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr—haa… haa… haa—Grrrrrrrrrrrr...
That sound again.
Growling? And—was that... panting?
My head turned slowly, trying to locate the source, but the moment I moved, a vicious wave of dizziness struck me. The bed—if that was what this pillowy thing beneath me truly was—seemed to tilt sideways, and I whimpered, pressing my hand against the silken sheet in an attempt to anchor myself.
A strangled gasp lodged in my throat as a much louder growl rumbled through the room, vibrating through the very air like thunder rolling across stone. My body went rigid, every muscle freezing in place, my breath hitching in my throat.
“GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR”
Gods... what is happening?
“Haa… haa… haa…”
That breathing—loud and erratic—was no longer distant. It felt close... no, it was close. Far too close.
With a grit of my teeth, I gathered what little strength I had and pushed myself upright. My arms trembled beneath me, my vision spun still, but I forced my eyes forward—and alas, my heart nearly stopped the moment my gaze landed on what loomed ahead.
A beastly silhouette of towering height loomed at the edge of the bed; his broad shoulders rose and fell with every heavy breath, a part of his sculptured chest bare beneath the tatters of what once may have been an elegant robe. Sweat glistened across the warm rose-beige of his skin, and his long, ruffled hair curtained his face in a tangled veil of silver waves.
The attire hung in shreds from his form, revealing the hard ridges of a powerful chest, sculpted thighs, and legs that looked far too strong. What skin remained visible was laced with bulging veins, throbbing red beneath the flushed surface like rivers of fire.
Heat flooded my face, but the fear curling through my stomach was greater than my rising shame.
His fingers and toes ended in claws... actual claws...
"GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!”
The sound tore from his chest with animalistic force prompting a squeal to break free from my lips. Without thinking, I scrambled backwards, my limbs flailing until my spine struck the bed’s carved headboard. My hands fumbled blindly, seizing the first thing they could—pillows—and I hurled them at him in frantic succession.
“Haa… haa… haa…”
His breathing was almost laboured at this point, a droplet of sweat fell from his clenched chin.
He caught one mid-air with an impossibly fast hand and ripped it apart as if it were nothing but gossamer. Feathers exploded into the air like snow, fluttering around the bed in a soft, cruel dance.
What in the name of all gods was happening? Where... why was I here?
My chest heaved with silent sobs. I drew my legs up, curling into myself as if I could somehow disappear. My quivering arms wound around my knees and I buried my face briefly before a rush of air tickled my thighs, and I glanced down.
What I saw made my soul nearly leap out of my body.
A white dress—if one could even call it that—clung to me, the fabric so thin it left little to the imagination. It was sleeveless, the straps narrow as ribbons, and the hem barely brushed the middle of my thighs. I could feel the air against my bare skin, feel how exposed I was—and the shame of it, the sheer indecency—made me burn.
I had never owned anything so scandalous in my entire life. I had never even imagined myself in such a thing.
My hands leapt to the silver locks spilling down my chest, fingers shaking as they grasped the familiar strands. My hair...
My wide gaze flitted back to him at the sudden flash of movement; he took one heavy step closer, and another, forcing my heartbeats to pound like a war drum.
I couldn’t breathe. My eyes stayed locked on him, not daring to blink, not daring to move again. Like a cold slap, recognition bloomed at the close sight of his approaching figure, perhaps it had since the very first moment my eyes landed on him, yet denial had made sure to delude me... until now that I could see him more clearly, properly see the outline of his curtained face, appreciate the unique grace even as he moved so... roughly?
My back pressed harder into the carved surface behind me. I could feel every ornate detail of its coldness biting into my spine, but it didn’t matter, not as my lips parted on their own, paving way for a name that left my mouth in a shaky breath..
“L-Lord Dveris…”
He halted mere inches before me, looming like a demi-god, his massive frame shuddering as though restraining something within. The golden glow of his eyes pierced through the strands of his hair, locking onto me with a force that left me breathless.
His lips parted, and I saw the glint of elongated canines. “You...” he rasped, his voice deep and raw, barely human. “... what are you doing here?”
The growl in his throat curled around every word, and my skin broke into gooseflesh, the hairs on my arms rising as though the very sound had turned the air cold.
Veins had begun to protrude even more, crawling like vines beneath his skin—lining his neck, tracing the cut of his jaw, down the breadth of his bulky arms to his hands, further still, rippling down powerful thighs to his legs. The more they appeared, the deeper they burned red, as though fire had been trapped beneath his flesh. It looked agonising. It must be...
“I... I...” I could not summon the words. I wished I could tell him I didn’t know, that I hadn’t meant to trespass, that I wasn’t even sure how I ended up here. But the words tangled in my throat, lost.
In a breath of a moment, he struck the headboard behind me with both fists, the sound shattering my silent moment of perplexity and contemplation in an instant. The wall shook violently, and with it, so did my entire body. I gasped, wide-eyed, my gaze fastened to his.
“Run,” he growled lowly in warning, his eyes blazing like magma. “Save yourself.”
My chest heaved, breath catching as I tried to calm my thundering heart. But I couldn’t move. I wanted to obey him. Every part of me screamed to flee, to escape the peril dripping from his every limb—but my legs refused to listen. I couldn’t feel them—I couldn’t feel anything at all—
“NOW!” he roared, and the sheer force of it lifted me off my trance. I scrambled instinctively, flinging myself off the bed, bolting blindly towards the double oak doors across the chamber.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!”
His agonized roars chased me, echoing like thunder in the vast chamber, making the ground itself tremble. Tears blurred my vision as the sound of splintering wood and something crashing and shattering filled the air behind me.
Was I truly to leave him in such a state?
Could I even escape?
