Captive of Darkness (Heart of Darkness Book 1)

by Debbie Cassidy

  The castle is a maze that will swallow you alive …

  Yes, well, the blacker-than-black doorway could stay where it was. I headed for the gray arch instead and into the entranceway where we’d entered the ruins. It was brighter here with the stars overhead, but there was no sign of Veles. A fist began to close around my heart. What if he’d left? Really left me? This was the sly voice of doubt, the monster that hid in the back of my mind, holding me back. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Everything I knew about the man told me that he wouldn’t simply leave. But what if he’d been taken?

  Shut up.

  The stairs beckoned. Was he up there? My feet carried me up the winding structure and onto a balcony, and sure enough Veles was there. He stood with his back to me, head tipped to the stars. His hair cascaded down his back in inky rivulets that begged to be touched. The fist in my chest eased its grip.

  “Hey?” I joined him at the railing.

  He tucked in his chin. “I’m sorry. I needed some air, and you were safe in the ballroom. I was about to come back down.”

  “The fire was almost out.”

  He frowned. “Really? It was burning bright a few minutes ago.”

  “Maybe you were gone longer than you thought?”

  He sighed. “It’s possible.” The corner of his mouth lifted. “This place brings back memories I thought long lost. Between these walls, my mind is able to open doors long sealed.”

  “Was this your childhood home?”

  He chuckled. “Possibly, but I can’t recall … To be honest, I don’t recall having a childhood. But …” He held up an index finger. “I do recall tearing through these halls barefoot with a rapier in hand as I sparred with a friend. His face is a blur, but I recall the emotion we shared. Happiness.”

  He was a different man like this—softer and more approachable. I stepped closer to him, basking in the heat his body threw. “What more do you remember?”

  “I remember the sun. I remember how it would bathe these halls in gold and orange hues.” He pointed outward. “And there, do you see that ethereal glow in the distance?”

  I squinted hard until I found what he was indicating. It was a blue-tinged mist set low on the horizon.

  “What is it?”

  “That is the Soul Keep. Or at least it was. It was where all the souls that passed through the gates of Nawia would go while they decided whether to return to Yav or to evolve and attempt to enter Pav. It was a haven for the dead, and at night, it would glitter as if a thousand diamonds had fallen to earth. But now, the souls trapped there are unraveling, devolving into primal energy—aggression, pain, and hunger. All that negative power infects the very fabric of this place. Many remain in the Keep, confused and angry, but some venture out into Nawia searching for meaning. They infect nature and inanimate things simply to feel connected to something. Meanwhile the sea of souls grows outside of Nawia, it seethes with new arrivals who are unable to find the threads to lead them through the gates and to the Soul Keep.”

  “The fractured threads?”

  “Yes, Wynter, the fractured threads. Everything is made of threads. Every reality is woven into existence. A tug here, a snip there, and whole worlds can unravel.”

  “And someone messed with the threads of Nawia?”

  He glanced down at me with a speculative frown. “Yes … Yes, I suppose they must have.”

  “But who would have the power to do such a thing?”

  “Now that is the question that we’d all love the answer to.” His golden gaze swept over me slowly, caressing my cheeks and jaw and hovering at my lips. “Moonlight becomes you.”

  My cheeks heated. “You’re different here, in this place.”

  “Yes.” He ran a finger along the railing. “But we can’t stay much longer. I have been drawn here before. Some subconscious part of my mind recognizes this place as a touchstone to finding myself, to remembering. The bricks and mortar are happy to give me what I need. I think … I think they remember me too, but to a stranger, to a soul that has not left its mark here, the hallways become twisted and the doors vanish. Up becomes down and down becomes up. This place feeds on fear and pain, just like everything else in Nawia. I’ve learned that the hallway, this balcony, and the ballroom are safe zones. The Silver Riders seem to know it too.”

  “So, maybe we should—”

  “Let me go!” a male voice shouted out.

  My head whipped round to peer down the stairs. That voice … there was something familiar about it.

  “One of the souls,” Veles said. “There is nothing we can do to help. The castle has given us refuge; we cannot take any more from it.”

  “Crudding hell!” the voice said.

  “Finn! Oh, God. It’s Finn.”

  Veles’s brows shot up. “How can you be so sure?”

  “I know that voice and that phrase … it’s ours. He must have tried to escape from the Silver Riders. We have to help him.”

  Veles shook his head.

  I grit my teeth. “No. I don’t want to hear it. I saved your life. You owe me!” It was a low blow, because heck, he’d saved me too, but it was all I had.

  His mouth thinned. “Fine. But there are no guarantees we’ll get him back.”

  I gripped Veles’s arm. “Thank you.”

  He winced and rubbed his chest. He’d done that several times on our journey.

  “What? Are you hurt?”

  “No. It’s … those words, the gratitude. It brings pain.” He headed for the stairs without further explanation. “Come.”

  He led me through the foyer and back into the dark ballroom where the fire had finally breathed its last. He held out a hand, and I allowed his palm to swallow mine.

  “Whatever happens, whatever you see or hear, do not let go of my hand. Do you understand?” he asked.

  I nodded. “I understand.”

  He looked toward the darker-than-dark doorway. “Are you ready?”

  “No.”

  He smiled coldly. “Me either.”

  We stepped through.

  Chapter Twenty

  Finn

  My throat was raw from yelling for help and my feet throbbed from walking, forever walking. I’d been a fool to run, a fool to think there was an escape. Although there had been an escape from the riders, there was no freedom from this place. Was that why they hadn’t followed me? They’d known what lay beyond the door. They’d known, and they’d let me run, and now I was trapped in this never-ending, bleak corridor that pressed in on me, getting narrower and narrower, and just when I felt it would brush my shoulders it would bulge and expand once more. This was a nightmare, a hall of mirrors without any glass.

  I’d read Wynter enough fairy tales to know an enchantment when I saw one. But honestly, this felt more like a curse. These ruins were cursed, and now I was tangled in that curse. But all the stories I’d read had one thing in common—a happy ending, a way to break the spell and save the prince or princess or whatever. There had to be a loophole, a weakness to this place’s hold on me. I just needed to find what it was.

  I stopped walking and pressed my hand to the brick wall. Ice traveled through my palm and up my arm, biting and holding me in place. Crud. I yanked my hand away, cradling it to me. My faintly blue fingers stared back at me, and then they slowly bloomed pink once more.

  All right, touching the walls was a no go, but what if they touched me? What if the next time the corridor narrowed it didn’t stop? The ice that had penetrated my hand was now in my chest, crystalizing around my heart in jagged shards of dread.

  No.

  There would be no despair. Wynter needed me, and I needed to get back to her. I needed to tell her what was in my heart. Then we would have our happy ending, I’d ensure it.

  There had to be a way out of here.

  A door materialized on the wall to my left. Had I summoned it with my thoughts? Was it a trick? Dammit, anything was better than traversing the eternal, bland corridor. I twisted the handle an
d stepped through. A crimson room greeted me, dimly lit and wreathed in shadow. An armoire, a bed, drapes pulled shut, and the glint of what must be a chandelier above. Why here? Why this room?

  A low growl lifted the hairs on the back of my neck. Something was in here with me. Something that wasn’t human. The large shadow to my left shifted, and ember eyes looked my way. My heart stalled in my chest but then the eyes looked away, down to the ground, to the body I’d missed, or maybe it hadn’t been there before? It was female, and her head was turned away from me. Dark locks spilled across the crimson rug like an ebony river. The creature with the fiery eyes reached for the figure. His long, talon-tipped fingers curled around her neck, and then he turned her head to face me. Sapphire eyes, unseeing and devoid of life, stared my way, a pert nose, and cupid’s bow lips, slightly parted, pleaded with me. It was a face I knew. A face I loved.

  “Wynter!” I lunged at the beast, but he melted into ribbons of black smoke, taking her with him. My knees met hardwood, pulse racing with the heat of adrenaline as I scanned my surroundings. Brick walls to either side and darkness ahead. Always darkness ahead.

  A scream tore from my throat.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  The temperature dropped as we stepped through the doorway and darkness slid around us, cocooning us in syrupy nothingness. If not for the sensation of his hand wrapped around mine, I’d have thought Veles was gone.

  “Wynter, stay close.” He tugged me toward him, so his arm brushed mine. “I’m going to walk forward now,” he warned.

  My breath came out shallow and quick as we stepped farther into absolute darkness. My mind struggled to adjust to this nothingness using Veles’s presence as an anchor. But then the dark was no longer black but more a deep gray.

  “Do you see the light?” Veles asked.

  A spot of light far ahead, growing larger as if it was rushing toward us. As if we were falling toward it, and it was only then that I noticed the brush of air on the nape of my neck and the tickle of a breeze at my crown. The panic that had tightened my muscles ebbed a little. This wasn’t nothingness. And then the light was on us, sweeping over us and blinding me. Were my eyes closed now?

  “Wynter. Wynter, open your eyes,” Veles said.

  I obliged, cracking them open slightly to find myself in a bland brick corridor. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

  Veles frowned. “Indeed.”

  Doors lined the walls to our left and right, and wall sconces lit the corridor with amber light.

  “Do you recognize this corridor?”

  He shook his head. “No. No, I don’t. This isn’t part of the original castle.” He ran his fingers over the brick. “This brick is all wrong. And the floor … I had hardwood fitted, but this is stone.”

  “So, what is this?”

  “There’s only one way to find out.” He reached for the nearest door and grasped the handle. “Are you ready?”

  I nodded.

  He pushed open the door and stepped through. “Oh, God!” His grip on my hand loosened a fraction.

  “What is it?” I made to follow.

  “Wynter!”

  “Finn?”

  The sound came from behind me. I stepped toward it and my hand slipped from Veles’s. The door slammed shut between us, leaving me alone in the corridor.

  “Finn!”

  Silence greeted me.

  Crud. I grabbed at the door handle. Oh, God. What had I done? The handle refused to turn, the door refused to open. No panic. Both Veles and Finn were somewhere here; all I needed to do was stay focused and calm and find them.

  If this door wouldn’t open, another might. I walked down the corridor to the next door and tried that one. This door opened easily. Sunlight streamed into the corridor, bathing me in warmth and tugging me forward. I stepped over the threshold and into the ballroom. But this wasn’t the ballroom with a dead fire in its midst, this was a magnificent magnolia and gold gilded affair. Windows lined the walls, and sunlight streamed in, splashing across the marble floors like liquid gold. Laughter echoed, high and infectious, and then a woman ran into the room, golden hair bouncing on her pale shoulders, voluminous lilac skirts hitched up to reveal dainty bare feet. She ran, trailing melodious laughter in her wake, glancing over her shoulder periodically with evident glee to catch a glimpse of her pursuer.

  Her gaze swept over me and passed through me. She didn’t see me, and neither did the magnificent male who careened into the room a moment later. His cream shirt was partially unbuttoned, sleeves rolled up to expose tanned forearms, and his dark hair had escaped from the tie at his nape. His golden eyes were crinkled in mirth.

  Veles.

  A lump formed in my throat at the sight of him, so free and unchained. Veles without his horns. Veles happy and running, and the woman … Who was the woman who was stopping now and turning to face him, hip cocked?

  “You will submit to me, Giselle,” Veles said, the mirth melted to be replaced by the heat of desire.

  “You have to catch me first.” The woman’s voice was breathy, not from running but from the anticipation of the culmination of the chase.

  He stalked toward her slowly. “There is nowhere else to run.”

  Her gaze flicked to the door behind him and then to the one at her back. She caught her bottom lip between her teeth. “Are you sure about that?”

  She made a break for the door behind her, and Veles moved so fast my eyes struggled to track him. He hooked an arm around her waist and plucked her from the ground. They spun for a moment and then crumpled to the marble floor in a heap of silk and a tangle of hands and mouths.

  Look away, I needed to look away.

  Their passion was addictive and compelling, a beautiful symphony that they created together. His tanned hands played alabaster skin, their mouths fused in a song of passion.

  Veles.

  This had been Veles before Nawia had been plunged into darkness, but this wasn’t the Veles that I’d entered the ruins with. This Veles had no horns. I needed to find my Veles, and loitering here wouldn’t help me do that. Turning my back on the couple and their passionate antics, I opened the door and stepped back into … a library?

  Books lined the circular chamber’s walls, set neatly in what had to be custom-made bookcases. The floor was polished cherry wood and the ceiling was domed and made of glass, letting in the twinkling starlight. A fire crackled in a hearth large enough to accommodate a mountain and a figure stood before it, cast in shadow by the backdrop of flames. Even then, the stature and form were unmistakably Veles. His hands were clasped behind his back and his expression was masked by flickering embers.

  The woman was here again, but there was no mirth on her face this time. Her eyes were dark with the weight of sorrow, and her mouth trembled.

  “How long?” she asked.

  “Not long enough,” Veles said.

  “And after?”

  “We wait.”

  “And what if he’s wrong. What if she never comes?”

  “She will come, Giselle. He is never wrong.”

  She slipped to the floor, her skirts pooling artfully around her, and buried her head in her hands. “I can’t bear it. I can’t. I won’t go back. I won’t.”

  Veles walked up to her and crouched before her. “I will find you, Giselle. I promise, I will find you.”

  “And what if you do not recognize me when you do? When I am stripped bare and nothing but ether?”

  “I will know you, because I know your soul.” He cupped her face and kissed her softly.

  Their lips lingered as they breathed each other in. I averted my gaze, not wanting to be a voyeur. Instead, I turned their words around in my head. What did they mean? What was coming? Could this be the beginning of the end? Why? Why was I being shown this? I backed away. I had to break this spell somehow. I had to find Finn. But maybe there was a clue in this scene? Something I was meant to decipher.

  Veles had loved this woman. It was obvious in the way he held he
r, the way he breathed her in with every kiss. My chest tightened. This wasn’t my Veles. Crud, he wasn’t my anything.

  I walked closer, running my gaze over the hearth and then over the shelves lined with leather-bound books of red and black and blue, their gold lettering glinting in the firelight.

  What was I even looking for. I turned my attention back to the couple. Why show me him with her? The woman’s eyes were closed as she reveled in Veles’s touch, and then they snapped open and she looked right at me. Not through me, but at me. My gasp was too loud in the sudden silence and then she was slipping from his grasp. Oh, God. She was slipping out of her own body, transparent and ghostly. She stood before me in ethereal form.

  “Mine,” she said softly. “You can see he’s mine, can’t you?”

  “You … you can see me?”

  Her lips curled in a cold smile. “I can see you, Yav-born. I can see you, and I can touch you if I want. Would you like me to touch you?”

  I took a step back. “No. I just … I’m looking for my friend. Finn. Have you seen him?”

  “The Silver Marked? Oh, he’s here somewhere. We’re playing, you see. He was hard to frighten… not much pretty juice to be had from him, but enough for a taste, enough to sate my hunger a little.”

  “Please. You have to let him go. Let us all go.”

  “Go? Oh, he’ll be gone soon all right. Not long now until he’s ripped from me by a prior claim, but I intend to milk him for all I can get.” She closed her eyes and moaned. “Oh, fear may not be his poison, but lust … desire … that he is filled with.” Her hand traveled down her abdomen and paused at the juncture of her thighs. She tipped her head back. “Yes. Oh, yes. That feels … More.” Her voice changed, the pitch, the inflection. “Please, Finn. More. Show me how much you want me.”