Chapter 6 - Corridors

The Moretti Castle - King Kade's Chambers: General Greyson

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King Kade laid sprawled across the silk sheets of the bed looking at me with an intensity I could not return.

"That girl, she is Alexanders mate is she not?"

"She is sire. If I may ask, what of it?" I assumed that Kade was conjuring up another plan to overthrow his brother and the Princess would be his newest pawn. Kade was infamous for more underhanded attacks.

It seemed that my assumption was right when Kade smiled a knowing smile, full of mischief and sinister intent.

"How fortunate for you and I that the better half of my brothers existence is a frail human girl. One flick of my wrist and her head goes flying into his hands on their wedding day." He grinned with childish joy and rolled over on the bed.

My brows raised, "Wouldn't that enrage Alexander and propel us into another war?"

Kade laughed, "Oh I certainly hope so. Because if his werewolf instincts take lead in this romance, they will have a child... and while he sheds the blood of my army, his child will have vanished."

A breath of realization left me, "His only heir..."

"The end of his kingdom."

My hands felt weak at my sides, I would never be opposed to any plans Kade would have but something about the unfamiliar glint in his eyes unsettled me. He wasn't telling me everything.

"Grey, trust me." His playful demeanor changed so suddenly and I remembered that beyond being my King, he was also my everything.

I nodded, "I trust you."

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Something about the castle walls whispered after the sun had set, everything in my body thrummed and I felt a fear that I had not known since I was a child. I pressed myself closer to the door of my chambers, eyes trained on Kade's door just ahead. Memories of when I was just a child surfaced. I was scared of the dark and the secrets it held beneath its shadows.

I shut my eyes, listening to the strange melody of the castle; knowing it wasn't human.

My body felt cold as I felt a sudden gust of something... something that didn't feel quite like air, it was too tangible. Like something had laid its hands on me and transferred a chill into my bones.

As a creature of the night myself, I certainly didn't believe in ghosts. But I could not explain the whispers in my ears and in the walls, the vengeful cold attacking me and the inexplicable fear I felt for no describable reason.

Perhaps that is why I moved of my own accord, and stood in front of King Kade's door. A trembling hand at my side and the tremendous cold still surrounding me. I wanted to knock and then I stopped suddenly when I didn't have to. Kade left the door open and sauntered to the other side of the room, to the smoldering fireplace.

"Afraid?"

I prepared to deny any and all allegations but he laughed as he gestured to the place beside him on the bearskin rug in front of the fire, "Shut the door, it's terribly cold out there."

His dark eyes looked at me meaningfully. He felt it too. The unrest in the castle.

Shutting the door behind myself and approaching Kade, I asked, "Do you know what it is?"

Kade stared into the hearth, "Grey, have you ever noticed how intricately built these castle walls are?"

I hadn't. So I sat beside him and looked up and around us. The chamber walls were covered in velvet, hiding their rawness. I scanned three walls until, there it was... a rip in the velvet on the fourth wall. Kade did not look at me when I glanced at him so I paid the wall more attention.

The most subtle engravings I had ever seen littered the stone of the wall. I understood none of it, but all of it was enchanting. It had a strange pull, the more I looked.

"Be careful, the longer you stare... you begin hearing the voices." Kade interrupted my trance.

Blinking away the daze I had been caught in, I looked at him instead. Silence ensued as I tried to gather my thoughts into one coherent question or any words at all. I needed explanations for the cold that I should not feel and the fear I couldn't understand.

My lips had just parted when Kade spoke first, "This castle was built by magic users. Witches, or faeries. Perhaps even both."

"The Princess... she knows."

I did not dare question how Kade knew. I just believed him, it explained her curious disposition in our presence.

"Why does it all feel so..."

"Dark?" Kade looked at me and explained, "Because the magic is not good Greyson, all of it is protective, but none of it is good."

My hands trembled again, "That's why we feel it, and it makes me uneasy."

A smile broke out on his face, "Do not fear Grey. I am here, you are safe." He shifted beside me and then I felt his fingers thread into my hair, he stroked my head softly, "I would never let any harm come to you. Believe me?"

Calmness washed over me, I searched his eyes for deception and found none.

"I believe you."

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Morning broke and the fear and the cold were gone just as the moon had gone. The things Kade had told me the previous evening were solidified when I inspected the exposed wall in Kade's chamber with more intention.

Intricate and mystifyingly beautiful, patterns and shapes. If this was the work of witches, or faeries, I sincerely wanted to know just what it meant. Why it covered the stone walls of a castle that belonged to a human king.

I felt the same daze as the previous night wash over me. The engravings became more enchanting. And I by default, became more enchanted. Kade had told me to be careful of staring too long.

Then I heard it, the whispers.