*Book One of The Accursed Chronicles*
August was a man from a normal world, living a mundane life until one night everything changed, and he was sent spiraling into a world stuck forever in winter, full of magic, creatures, and a curse that has grip...
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After I had ran my ass to bed, I had felt like I had switched with Gloom because I hadn't been able to sleep. I'd lied wide awake, eyes shifting at the slightest creak or sound, and then body tensing in stress that I would have to fight someone off me or I'd wake to someone strangling me.
Nobody ever came though.
I couldn't get the thought of the people out of the head, those that I had left behind. Those people didn't have hope and that had been why they had given up and chosen their fate at Eirith's hands. Gloom couldn't see that and to him it was their choice, and that it wasn't for him to intervene. I'd admit I had been a bit overboard with my words towards him, but somebody had to say it. He acted like only his position and work mattered and never thought of anything outside of that.
It made me worry that he would leave me the second that Daesa released him from his duty. He hadn't said a word about what he was going to do with me either. I was beginning to believe I was going to be dumped and left to my own devices.
Soon the thoughts had been far from my mind as I had gradually slipped into sleep, but then the next thing I knew I had been woken up being shoved by Gloom. He had dragged me and Leuthar along to breakfast this morning, and with each step I had taken closer to seeing Eirith again, I had begun to feel sick.
Gloom didn't know half of what had happened. He had just thought that Eirith had taken me to be sold as one of the other humans, but I didn't believe that anymore, not after what had happened with Lara.
"Don't fret about Eirith. He may be a cunning adversary, but like any adversary he has his weaknesses," Gloom had muttered to me before we had entered the dining hall.
And those words alone I had managed to sit through breakfast with the tightest tension in the air, all while Eirith had bore his gaze into me. I'd wanted to glare him back, but I couldn't find the courage.
"Did something happen that I do not know of?" Daesa asked, breaking the silence.
As the servants cleared the table of dishes and empty platters, Daesa had noticed the long quiet between everyone. I swallowed hard and chanced a glance to her before I remembered when her eyes had turned black after touching me. It had been the same with Lara. Was I cursed or something?
"Eirith locked August inside a storage room," Gloom began plainly, making Daesa look to me then to Eirith. "It was in the servant's quarters behind a hidden door and beneath the keep."
"Lies. You're mistaken," Eirith spat immediately, double chin wiggling with his anger.
"You should show Daesa then and clear your name," Gloom replied, sounding calm but I caught a sharp edge to his tone. "While you are at it, you can explain to the Ambassador of Darrose, why you have humans confined on Krak's land."
Eirith scowled as he rose from his chair, confident enough to go along with Gloom. "You will see that that storage room only contains precious goods from all over Laelmos." He turned to Daesa, softening his scowl. "I would never go against Krak's laws. His and Her Graces have made it clear and firm that slavery is not permitted in Krak."
