Beauty In Her Madness (Winterland Tale Book 3)

by Stacey Marie Brown

  But after ten minutes, all I did was exhaust myself. Frustration, fear, and anger bubbled sobs in my chest, my spine sliding down the wall to the ground, my ass hitting hard. Pulling my legs into my chest, my muscles felt weak, my head heavy. I wrapped my arms around my legs, my forehead on my knees.

  You are smart, Dinah. Don’t waste your energy. Think. Come up with a plan.

  But the fog curled inside my brain, weighing down my lids. I tried to fight it, but sleep finally decided now was a good time to take me.

  It carried me in its arms to the realm between this one and that.

  The constant feeling of something trailing over my arm stirred me from sleep, my eyes still too heavy to open. I brushed at my arm with a grunt.

  “Scott, stop,” I muttered, wanting to dive back into slumber, my eyes already burning from the little sleep. But awareness moved over my body, feeling aches and stiffness in my neck and ass. Did I fall asleep in the chair?

  Blinking, I lifted my lashes, peering at the room. Reality didn’t softly wake me up to the day. It punched me dead in the face.

  Dungeon. Trapped.

  Frost.

  My lungs filled with anxiety, realizing it was not a dream. I was wide awake.

  A tickling on my arm darted my head to the spot. A gray mouse sat there, no bigger than a shelled walnut, its huge round ears twice the creature’s size. But a piece was missing out of one of them, like a chipped cup.

  It lifted its tiny paw and waved at me.

  “Holy shit!” Scrambling back, I slammed harder into the wall, toppling the little thing onto my lap with a squeak. All the animals here seemed more human or like animated cartoons than real animals, but it still didn’t take away from the shock when they acted how I would consider normal. Human?

  It leaped back up, and I pushed my spine into the surface as it perched on my knee, tilting its head at me.

  “Do-do you talk?” I licked my lips, waiting to hear a tiny voice come from the rodent, for some reason knowing it was a boy.

  His shoulders slunk down in a sigh, and it shook its head. It understood me, though.

  He lifted his arms, and his tiny hands started to move around. It took me a moment to realize what was happening.

  “Jingle berries….” My mouth dropped open.

  He was signing.

  I had taken a sign language class for an elective in high school after we had a few kids come into Santa’s Cottage who were deaf, and I didn’t want them to feel left out of the experience. I loved learning it. I found it beautiful and fascinating.

  His fingers moved quickly, but I understood enough to know he was saying he couldn’t speak.

  “What’s your name?” I spoke and signed back.

  His nose twitched, his eyes widening in awe. He stood there for several moments staring at me with huge eyes.

  “You okay?” My fingers asked.

  “Oh cheesewhiz, you can sign?” His hands asked back, his expression still stunned.

  “A little.” I knew he could hear me, but I still replied with my hands.

  His whiskers trembled, his eyes watering, making my heart melt on the floor.

  “Only Mr. Frost signs with me. It’s so nice to talk with someone else.”

  “Frost knows ASL?”

  The mouse nodded its head. “Learned it for me.”

  Peering back at the red stains on the floor and the chains, I couldn’t imagine the guy I knew taking time to learn sign language for a mouse.

  “I’m Dinah, by the way.” I was having a full conversation in sign language with a mouse. Could this place get any weirder?

  His finger danced around. “I’m Chip.” He pointed up at his ear with a touch of shame. “Was born like this. No voice and a damaged ear.”

  “Well, it makes you unique and special.”

  I swore I saw his fur blush.

  “Do you know where Frost is?”

  Chip shook his head.

  “I need to get home. Scott, my boyfriend, will freak out if he wakes up and I’m gone. I have to get out of here.”

  Chip watched me for a beat, then abruptly turned around, scuttling down my leg and across the floor, his tiny body slipping under the door.

  “Chip?” I called out, but was met with silence. “O-kay. Strange.” Though I was not sure what I was expecting here. This place was truly bonkers.

  Burying my head in my hands, I took a deep breath. How long would Frost keep me here? Was I a prisoner now? Never to leave Winterland again? No one would ever know what happened to me. I could imagine the pain and suffering my family and Scott would go through. I didn’t even know how long I had been here already. Maybe Scott had already woken up and called the police.

  “Fuck,” I screamed into my arms. Why did I come here at all? My life was good. I liked things in boxes and being organized. What was wrong with that?

  CLANK.

  The sound of metal echoed against the stone in a loud chorus, my head jerking up from my arms, the wood door creaking as it swung open, my form going on the defensive.

  I expected to see Frost on the other side, his cruel, beautiful face sneering at me. But all I saw was an empty hallway. Movement in the doorway drew my gaze to my new, tiny friend. He bounced on his back feet, his arms up in victory.

  “Chip!” I leaped to my feet. “You are amazing. Thank you!”

  “Easy-peasy,” he signed. “I don’t think anything should be locked in a cage. Especially something as pretty as you, Ms. Dinah.”

  “Thank you,” my hands said back, before I placed them on my heart.

  He dipped his head shyly before he motioned for me to follow and was zooming down the corridor, far faster than I could keep up. He was so small, blending in with the stone, I lost him as he weaved us down a labyrinth of passageways, each one looking identical to the rest.

  “Chip?” I whispered, scanning the floor ahead of me for any kind of movement. But in the dim light, I couldn’t find him. “Chip, where did you go?” Of course, he couldn’t answer me, but I hoped he’d hear me and come back.

  Coming to a fork in the path, my feet slowed to a stop, my brows furrowed with confusion. The division in the road was not here last night. When Frost brought me to the cell, it had been right off the main corridor. Simple. Two turns.

  This was a never-ending maze, and it reminded me of something…

  “Toadstool sandwich!” I stomped my foot in frustration. “The passages change!” Like the ones in the forest, which kept altering every time I looked away. “Ahhh.” I gripped my head, my brain already exhausted trying to fight the inconsistency and the lack of logic of this place. “Why can’t anything make sense?”

  It felt like Frost was watching me, laughing, as I tried to get out of his underground revolving maze. I glared around me, rolling my hands into fists. I would solve this. I would get out.

  Choosing the left path, I followed the hallway down, coming to a dead end.

  “Okay, then it’s the other one.” I turned to go back and halted. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!” I bellowed. Four passages splintered off in all directions; the singular hallway I had just come down already shifted. Nothing stood out, each identical.

  “Choose one, Dinah.” Hoping I picked right, I went down the third tunnel. The ground started sloping, the sconces dimming. I flipped around to choose another one, my face slamming into a wall—my path was blocked.

  “Ow!” Anger bristled up my spine as I rubbed my nose, twisting back around, the same passage still ahead of me, leaving me only one way to go. Something told me I was being led; I would be herded to the same spot no matter which way I picked.

  I stared down the shadowy hallway, something in my gut contracting, making me feel like I was on a roller coaster. Dark. Foreboding.

  As I traveled through the corridor, more anxiety stabbed me like needles in my skin, my throat struggling to swallow. I couldn’t describe what scared me. The hall looked the same as the others, but my gut still sank, submerging into murky fear.
It also felt oddly familiar, as if somewhere in me I knew what was down there but had no clear memory of it.

  Glancing back, I saw the wall was still blocked, so I forced my feet to keep moving. Up ahead I saw a doorway, stairs leading down.

  No. Stop. A voice in my head peeled at my nerves, slamming dread into my veins. Don’t go down there.

  I stopped, my skin flushing with cold, the sensation flicking a sense of déjà vu, as though I had been here before.

  If I have, how come I don’t remember?

  Terror and curiosity battled for control over my legs. Taking a step closer, I knew which won. The need to know. To figure out the missing puzzle piece. I certainly would be killed off first in a horror movie. Shaking, I stepped up to the threshold. Wind blew up from the depth, sounding like a growl and shrieks. My pulse pounded in my ears. I leaned into the doorway. The air played with my hearing, and murmuring voices hummed under the gust. I knew some wind did whine and whisper to you here, but this sounded different.

  Like children.

  Tilting my head, I tried to pick up on one voice when a loud giggle came from behind me. With a cry, I flung around, facing the tunnel, my heart feeling like it would burst from fright, my body crouching, ready to defend myself from the intruder.

  Except the intruder was me—a seven-year-old version of me.

  “Roasted chestnuts,” I croaked, watching three young kids coming down the hallway. Blaze and the girl were far ahead of Frost with their arms linked, scurrying down the path.

  “Guys, don’t do this!” Frost bellowed, trying to catch up. “Mom and Auntie said not to go down there.”

  “Santa’s elf, you are such a goody-goody. Bet you’re on top of Santa’s brownnoser list. You better not tattle on us.” Blaze groaned, pulling the girl tighter to his side, speaking to her. “Can’t believe he’s my twin. He’s so lame and boring. Right?” My eyes shot to the girl, her eyes looking away from Blaze, her teeth scraping her bottom lip, her expression suggesting it was the last thing she’d call Frost. “Right, Dinah?”

  “Oh, right.” The girl nodded, rolling her eyes dramatically. “Totally lame.”

  “That’s why you’re my best friend. You’re fun.”

  The girl blushed at his compliment, getting all awkward.

  “Guys, I’m serious,” Frost called out stronger, frustration creasing his forehead. “They said it was really dangerous.”

  “They always say that,” Blaze responded.

  “Mine do too,” the girl said to Blaze. “If they knew I was here? My mother would flip out.”

  “That’s what makes it so fun, huh?” Blaze let go of the girl’s arm, turning to her. “I triple-reindeer dare you to look at it first.”

  “Ohhhh, you’re not fair,” she blurted, stomping her foot.

  “Too bad. I dared you first.” Blaze nudged her. “You gonna wimp out?”

  “No.” The girl’s chin went up defiantly. “I’m not gonna wimp out.”

  “Good!” Blaze grabbed her hand, yanking her toward the stairs, zipping right past me. “Come on!”

  “No! Blaze! Dinah!” Frost raced after them, their feet pounding the concrete surface. “Don’t!”

  I couldn’t budge, hearing their shouts and calls to each other. I tried to move, but it was like a force field kept me back, not letting me follow them. The more I pushed, the more everything blurred around me. Spinning, nausea bloomed up my esophagus. Darkness crept into my vision, and my legs bowed.

  As I felt myself collapse, ear-piercing screams from far away filled my ears; the girl’s cry sent bullets of terror through me. Shattered images hovered at the cusp of my consciousness.

  “Dinah! Run!”

  Chapter 14

  Growls nipped at my heels, panic pounded in my chest, sobs hiccupping in my throat as my little legs ran forward, my feet stumbling, crashing into the stone.

  No! I could feel the monster getting closer, slamming terror into my veins, but I couldn’t get up.

  Fighting against the invisible hold, I struggled to rise, feeling darkness crawling over me, my little body shaking with fear.

  A snarl echoed off the walls right behind me. My body stilled, not able to turn around and look at it.

  I stood frozen in place, and I felt it stand behind me. A wet cry belted from my mouth as a claw scraped up the back of my neck. “Little one.”

  Hands grabbed me.

  “No!” Kicking and screaming, I shoved at the monster, scratching and clawing, my nails digging into its flesh.

  “Dinah!” Fingers twined in my hands, pinning them down. “Stop!”

  His deep voice yanked me from my dream, bolting me awake with a lurch, my lungs sucking in air.

  Frost crouched over me, his hair damp and smoothed back, his intense look drilling into me.

  Sitting up, I glanced around, seeing I was in one of the passageways, but once again, it looked nothing like it had before everything went black. No stairs, no dead end.

  “Wha-what happened?” I started to rise. Frost grabbed my arms, pulling me up as if I weighed nothing.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing.” He slanted his head, his lips rolling together.

  Damn, they are full and sexy. It’s totally okay to be curious how they would feel, right? I mean, anyone would. He has the most perfect mouth I’ve ever seen.

  “Dinah?” He snapped his fingers in my face, jolting my attention fully back to him. “How the fuck did you get out of the cell?”

  I stared at him. I was not going to give up Chip.

  “Tell me!” He clutched my arms. “It should be impossible.”

  “Only if you believe it is.” I smiled smugly back, thinking my answer would piss him off. Instead, a slow smirk twitched his mouth.

  “There is a little of the other Dinah in there.”

  “You talk like you knew me so well. I was seven, right? A child. Plus, wasn’t I more friends with Blaze than you?” I lowered my lids on him.

  “Yes.” He inclined closer to me, his grip on my arms still tight. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t know you.” He tilted his head, his mouth almost brushing my ear. “Probably better than Blaze. I saw you, Dinah. I still do. I could demolish you, peel away everything, wreck, crush, and spread you open and still know every piece to put you back together again.”

  His tall, well-built physique loomed over mine. His smell and energy felt overpowering and severe, scaring me in a deeper way. The kind that knows he could do exactly what he claimed.

  “Funny, because I know nothing about you. Nor do I care to.” I lifted my chin haughtily.

  “Oh, little Liddell, you are wrong on both counts.” He smirked, his face getting within an inch of mine. “You made me who I am.” His sneer shifted into something dangerous, alarm running down my limbs.

  “Let me go.” I tugged to free my arm. “I need to go home.”

  He yanked me away from the wall. “You are home.” His hand manacled around my wrist, and he marched down the hall, pulling me along.

  “Frost! No. Don’t do this. Please.”

  He stopped short, spinning around on me, anger bristling off him.

  “Funny, that was exactly what I had said to you,” he growled, his blue eyes flashing. “Shouldn’t those who have done a crime be punished? Isn’t it the rule in your world?”

  “I didn’t do anything to you,” I exclaimed. “We were friends.”

  “Friends?” He laughed cruelly. “Friends don’t do what you did… They don’t run away. They don’t leave.”

  “Is that what you are mad at? I grew up and stopped believing in Santa Claus?” I stabbed my fingers into his chest. “Your feelings are hurt because I stopped playing make-believe?”

  “Make-believe?” He snorted, his boots nudging my toes, his body pressing into mine. “Do I feel make-believe to you?” His fingers slid down my arm, leaving goosebumps in his wake. “Was it pretend when my fingers slid deep into your pussy? When you were crying out? Wanting more?”

 
Heat flamed inside at his blunt words, my cheeks burning with the memory. My body reacted instantly, leaving me wet and yearning as embarrassment and shame dove in, stirring up a battle inside.

  “Was it, Dinah?” He toyed with me.

  Huffing out my nose, I turned my face to the side, only making him smile.

  “Let me guess, as someone who likes all the facts and information, you need me to try again, just to be sure you got all the data to make a proper evaluation?” His breath slid down my neck. “Am I right?”

  I gritted my teeth, my body and mind standing on opposite platforms, both berating me. My mind had always been in control, my body playing a far second when it came to desire. I didn’t care that Scott didn’t give me earth-shattering orgasms. A relationship was more than that. He was my best friend, so I ignored the times I faked it or my mind was elsewhere.

  With Frost, my body seemed to step to the forefront, shoving my mind far back. Lust took over, bouncing and screaming for him like a fangirl. I hated it. I was always proud of being levelheaded, never getting stupid over a boy like my sister and friends had just because he was good in bed. That stuff waned anyway, right? I needed to get home to Scott—to feel safe and comfortable again.

  “Poor Dinah.” Frost chuckled darkly. “The lid on your box is coming loose. What will you do when it pops open and lets everything out?”

  My head jerked to him, glaring. His comment reminded me so much of my sister’s.

  I moved into his space, anger not letting me back away. “I’m happy with my life, with my choices. Maybe it’s you who needs to stop believing in fairy tales.”

  “Fairy tales?” Frost stepped back, snorting.

  “Look around you. Castles with dungeons, talking animals as best friends.” My voice rose, my arms motioning to him. “The moody, reclusive man who’s pouting in his tower because he’s so misunderstood? Sound familiar?”

  “Try betrayed,” he growled.

  “Even more soap opera worthy.” I clapped my hands. “Even the name…Frost. Jack not moody and dark enough for you?”