Or send another man to come and take her from Lucifer.
Her fingers flexed against his hand, clutching it a little tighter, her need to feel his strength too powerful to deny. He responded by glancing down at their joined hands and, for a moment, she thought he would pull his away, but he tightened his hold instead, squeezing her hand in a way that felt both gentle and protective, as if he was being extremely careful with her.
She tore her gaze away from his face when he glanced back at her again, fixing her eyes on the glowing orb suspended above his right palm.
It was the only explanation her mind could conjure.
Somehow, Lucifer was capable of magic. Not parlour tricks like the men on the television employed, but real magic.
She had spent her teen and early adult years lost in fantasy novels about incredible lands, powerful mages, and extraordinary creatures. She had dreamed about living in such a world to see what it would be like for herself. She had never actually believed it was all possible though.
The part of her mind that clung to logic said that it wasn’t possible. She was merely seeing what she wanted to see, because she was caught up in a fantasy herself, brought about by whatever drug the man had given her to knock her out and the mysterious man holding her hand.
He was mysterious too.
He had secrets, ones that warned her to keep her distance from him in order to protect herself and her heart.
Ones that drew her to him at the same time, making her want to peel back the layers and learn more about him.
She wanted to know his deepest, darkest secrets and in return, she would share hers.
The light grew and she peered ahead of them. The glow from the orb bounced off a door at the end of the tunnel.
That orb suddenly disappeared, dropping them into darkness. Her hand jerked against Lucifer’s, squeezing it so tightly that she feared she would hurt him, but she couldn’t bring herself to loosen her grip.
“Bear the darkness but for a moment, Nina.” Lucifer’s voice curled around her in the pitch-black and she felt hazy from head to toe as her name fell from his lips.
If he could perform real magic, he was using it right now in his voice, luring her back under his spell until her fear of the darkness began to fade and she felt safe again, no longer vulnerable without her sight.
His hand slipping free of hers brought that fear right back though and she wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly cold to the bone as she waited, listening hard for a sign of him.
Metal ground against metal.
A clack echoed along the corridor.
A moment of silence.
Then the creak of rusty hinges scraped in her ears and bright light flooded the tunnel, blinding her. She flinched away from it, shielding her eyes with her right hand at the same time to protect them from the onslaught.
The scent of flowers and nature hit her hard, rushing past her on a warm breeze.
Lucifer made a low growling noise and bumped her as he backed away, leaving her in front of him. Nina squinted against the light and stepped forwards, drawn towards it and the world beyond the half-open door. She gripped the handle and pulled, eager to see what awaited her.
She was aware of Lucifer backing further into the tunnel as the door opened fully, but the vista that greeted her on the other side stole that awareness away from him.
“Go on ahead,” Lucifer gruffly said and she didn’t hesitate.
She stepped over the threshold of the tunnel, from the cold black stone and onto the soft green grass. The light washed over her and she basked in its warmth as it touched her and chased the chill from her skin. It heated her right down to her bones and she walked a few steps across the grass before stopping and tipping her head back, raising her face to the sun, her eyes closed. Bliss flowed through her and she sighed.
It was wonderful.
Nina pulled down a deep breath of crisp, fresh air into her lungs and exhaled it with a wide smile.
She stood there for what felt like minutes, stealing pleasure from the feel of the sun on her skin and the clean air in her lungs, and then slowly opened her eyes, no longer able to hold back her curiosity about the world that surrounded her.
It was beautiful.
A verdant valley right out of a fantasy novel.
Lush green hills rolled downwards from where she stood, leading to a river that twinkled as it snaked through the valley. On the other side of it, mountains rose up, covered in thick forest at their bases but capped with snow on top. The azure sky was impossibly rich, a breathtaking contrast against the rugged white peaks.
The range stretched for miles in both directions before giving way to green hills that poked out from the thick woods.
Below her on the hills, long meadow grass grew, spotted with colourful flowers, creating a beautiful barrier between her and the river.
Nina took everything in again, struggling to make herself believe it. The whole scene looked impossible. Like a dream. It didn’t seem real.
Was it even possible for the sun to feel so hot on her skin and everything around her to be so green when snow covered the higher ground?
She had never seen anything like it.
Nina walked forwards, entranced by the valley, her fear falling away. Peace flowed through her, a calm that ran as deep as her bones and made her never want to leave. It was wonderful. Incredible. She felt liberated.
A laugh bubbled from her lips, her smile stretching wider as her eyes darted over everything again.
That laughter died when she turned back to Lucifer, expecting to find him standing in the valley with her, the same joy she felt inside her painted on his handsome face.
He stood in the tunnel, swathed in darkness, a sorrowful edge to his eyes.
“What are you waiting for?” Nina rushed out, her smile coming back to the fore as she held her hand out to him. “It’s amazing. The sun is so warm. You have to feel it.”
His sensual lips twitched but he didn’t smile. He didn’t speak. He raised his hand, holding her gaze the whole time, and held it out with his palm facing her.
His flesh compressed, as if he had placed his hand against glass and pushed.
Nina’s smile faded again, a frown replacing it. She didn’t understand. She moved back to him, the valley forgotten as she tried to comprehend what was happening. Her eyes searched his but they didn’t give her the answers she desired. Was she trapped in this valley now, separated from him by a glass barrier?
Was that the reason he had said that only she would be allowed here?
That panicked her and she reached out to touch the glass.
A gasp escaped her when her hand pressed against his, nothing keeping them apart, and she snatched it back.
“I don’t understand,” she whispered and clutched her hand to her chest, frowning at him.
He looked down at his feet and then slowly lifted his gaze back to hers, the pain in them catching her breath in her throat and making her ache to reach out and pull him through the invisible barrier somehow.
“I told you,” he said, his voice cold but edged with sorrow.
He looked beyond her, a brief glance that tore at her heart and had her reaching for him.
He stepped back, the darkness closing in around him as if embracing him, and shook his head.
“Only you can enter this place.”
Nina stared at Lucifer, his words ringing in her mind. She looked over her shoulder at the beautiful valley and then back at him, and it struck her that he wanted to enter it. There was longing in his golden eyes, a need that seemed deep, as deep as her desire to have him explore this strange new world with her.
“Have you ever set foot in this place?” She held his gaze when his eyes dropped to her again.
He shook his head. “I cannot.”
That wasn’t the whole truth. She could see it in his eyes. He had been in this valley but now it was forbidden to him for some reason. She needed to know that reason, but she didn’t want
to hurt him, and she knew that pushing him to answer would pain him.
He was already suffering enough.
“But you come here?” Nina looked down at his feet, at his polished black leather shoes that blended perfectly with the dark stone of the tunnel, and then at her feet, cushioned by soft green grass. “You come here to look at it?”
She raised her head again and he lifted his gaze above hers, fixing it on the mountains behind her. The sorrow in his amber irises grew stronger and the sigh that slipped from his lips told her everything that he wouldn’t. He did come to this place, and she couldn’t imagine what torment it was for him to see it and not be able to step into the light.
He was in the shadows still, as if the sunlight refused to touch him. Another impossibility. The sun was at her back, directly behind her above the mountains. Its light should have reached into the tunnel, together with her shadow, but it didn’t. It stopped dead at the threshold.
A threshold that was made of smooth black stone.
A wall. Made of huge blocks. She slowly took steps backwards as she tipped her head up, lifting her eyes to the astounding view before her. It wasn’t only a wall with a door in it.
It was one side of an enormous black fortress.
It loomed over her, several hundred metres tall, topped with gigantic spiked towers. Not a single window penetrated the wall.
Impossible. That word rang in her head again. The logical part of her pushed forwards once more, stating that she was dreaming, because while the valley didn’t seem quite real, this fortress had to be a figment of her imagination. There was no other explanation.
Such a place couldn’t exist in reality.
She had been enamoured enough with fantasy stories to dream of living in castles, and had read books on the most famous ones in history, planning to visit them one day. She felt sure that if this place was real, she would have read about it. A castle the size of this one could hardly go unnoticed by the world.
“I have not visited this place in a long time.” Lucifer’s smooth, deep voice drew her gaze back down to him. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him why when he spoke again. “Return when you are ready.”
She went to nod but froze in place when Lucifer held his hand out and a wooden flaming torch appeared in it. He casually set it into a metal holder on the wall inside the tunnel, as if making things appear out of thin air was an everyday occurrence for him and nothing for her to worry about.
She stared dumbly at the torch, tempted to go into the tunnel to touch it and see if it was real. Maybe she was dreaming, because things were getting stranger by the second.
“There is no exit from the valley, so do not waste your time looking for one.”
Nina frowned at that and saw it as an opportunity to test him and see whether he had been in it. “How do you know if you’ve never set foot in it?”
Lucifer turned his back to her and disappeared into the gloom of the tunnel.
His voice whispered from the darkness.
“Because I created it.”
CHAPTER 7
Nina slowly turned her back to the tunnel and the fortress and stared out at the beautiful landscape before her.
Lucifer had created this place?
Who the heck was he?
He had powers that made her wonder whether she was losing her mind, but those small things seemed possible when faced with the thought that he might have the ability to create an entire valley.
She crouched and rubbed her fingers through the grass, crushing it slightly in the process and releasing the crisp fresh fragrance. It looked, felt and smelled real. She was sure that if she dared to place a blade of grass in her mouth that it would taste as she remembered it too.
Nina rose back onto her feet and began walking down the slope towards the longer meadow grass and the river. Her mind churned as she took light steps towards the glittering water, the strong sun keeping the chill off her skin and the earth warm beneath her feet.
When she reached the tall grass, she held her hands out at her sides, allowing the tips to tickle her palms. Her gaze remained locked ahead, her thoughts fixed behind her.
With Lucifer.
Why had he created this place if he couldn’t set foot in it?
Why would someone torment themselves with such beauty and light when they lived trapped in such gloominess and darkness?
The tall grass gave way to a strip of pasture and she crossed it to the river, walking as if in a dream as she listened to the rush of water over the rocks. The warmth of the sun faded as she stepped into the shadows cast by the trees across the river from her. She sat on the shallow bank, pulled off her ruined tights, and stuffed them down the waist of her skirt, hooking them over it so she wouldn’t lose them.
A gasp shot from her lips as she dipped her bare toes into the water.
It was freezing.
Nina steeled herself and slowly lowered her feet towards the icy water again. It seemed warmer this time and she allowed it to cover up to her ankles. She sat there on the bank and stared down into the rippling water, watching it rush over her toes. Pebbles lined the bottom of the crystal clear river, a multitude of colours, all of which seemed a little too rich to be real.
She tipped her head back and looked up at the bright azure sky.
Was this place real or fantasy?
She laughed at the thought that Lucifer might have created it. He must have been joking. The strength of the colours around her was probably down to the fact that she had been locked in a black hole for two days, starved of colour and light. Her eyes would adjust soon and the grass wouldn’t look so green. The sky not so blue.
Her toes hurt beneath the cold water and she pulled them from it, wriggling them to get some blood back into them. She twisted on the bank, so her back was to the water and her feet stuck out into the light. The sun instantly warmed them and they began to lose their redness.
Nina looked up the hill to the fortress.
It looked even bigger from down by the river, towering over her, a stark and grim sight against the clear blue sky.
The thought of having to go back inside filled her with dread, a longing to remain out in the valley instead, surrounded by light and colour. Something countered the dread though, a sense that Lucifer was waiting for her in that bleak castle, and part of her didn’t want to keep him waiting.
She didn’t want him to be alone.
She had a suspicion that he wasn’t a servant. He was the master of the house and he was alone in it. Maybe he had a few servants, but he clearly lacked companions, and he equally as clearly desired her company.
For the first time in a very long time, she wanted company too.
Nina pulled her focus away from the castle and its owner, and lumbered onto her feet. She walked the riverbank, following it towards the right side of the castle. There was a red arched bridge in the distance and she could just about make out a smooth path that led into the forest. Curiosity drew her towards it, over it, and into the woods.
The path led upwards and she followed it as it wound its way through the tall pine and oak trees. Her feet began to ache from walking but she kept moving forwards, exploring the dense forest and enjoying the freedom to move around.
In the distance, beyond another hill, the forest was darker.
She frowned and moved more quickly, striding with purpose towards it, wanting to see what obscured the light in that part of the woods. Her breath sawed from her lungs and sweat dotted her brow and trickled down her back. She swiped her arm across her forehead, pushed her wild auburn hair back from her face, and trudged onwards.
At the top of the hill, she ran straight into an invisible obstruction.
Nina stumbled back a step and pressed her hand to the wall of black. It cut through the trunks of several trees and stretched in both directions.
Lucifer had been right. There was no way out of the valley. Had he simply built a wall around it?
No. Half of the trees were missi
ng, as if the barrier cut through them, and now that she was squinting, she could almost make out a shadowy empty land on the other side.
Cold crept through her veins, bringing with it a sense that something was staring back at her from that darkness, and she backed off, each step quicker than the last.
She didn’t stop.
As soon as she was a few metres away from the shadows, she turned and hurried back along the path. Each step sent pain bolting up her legs from the sore soles of her feet, but she kept walking, almost jogging along the path. She wanted to reach the river again. The sensation of being watched grew stronger and she threw a glance over her shoulder, afraid that she would see something behind her.
Her eyes widened.
In fact, she hadn’t seen any sign of life in the entire time she had been in the woods and the valley. There were no birds and no animals. No fish in the river.
She was alone here.
Her panic increased, her heart thundering against her ribs as she reached the river and ran across the arched wooden bridge.
The shadows gave way to sunlight, easing her fears.
The grass cushioned and cooled her feet, stealing away some of the pain.
Nina slowed and breathed hard, chastising herself for letting her solitude panic her. She switched to cursing herself when she realised where she had been running.
She hadn’t been running towards the light.
She looked up at the castle ahead of her.
She had been running towards Lucifer.
As if he would protect her from the monsters in her mind.
Nina laughed aloud at that and shook her head. She had gone insane. It was the only reasonable explanation for everything.
Rather than heading back to the castle, she walked the curve of the hill towards the start of the long grass and sat down.
Lucifer had promised she would be safe here and she did feel safe. Her gaze slid back towards the bridge to the woods below her to her right and she shuddered before shoving away the fear that tried to claw its way back into her heart. She was alone in this place. No one could set foot in it but her.
It was just fear and fatigue playing tricks on her.
Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set Page 49
