Crescent (Old Version)

+ Part 38 +

The sleepless nights had continued. The incessant thoughts had only grown in magnitude. The dreams began to fill my every waking moment. Images of the creature in the wood haunted me.

As usual, Ceth was asleep next to me. In the wake of sleep, I'd memorized his routine well enough to know that he would be for hours to come. Tonight, I waited. I'd shaken him, and he still hadn't stirred. But, the terrified part of me always wanted to wait.

I listened for any movements in the dark. The quiet scuffle of guards' boots in the hall, servants waking early to prepare for chores, the cat that liked to scamper down the corridors at all odd hours of the night. I waited, but I had been right. Between two and four, there was little that stirred in the castle.

Ceth breathed peacefully, and I shuffled out of bed, careful not to wake the high lord from his slumber. The evening before, I had stored a warmer set of clothes and boots in a nook between the closet doors and the bathroom entrance, and I quickly slipped into the clothes and ventured into the hallway.

No guards- just as I'd expected from previous nights.

I didn't dare bring a candle with me for the fear that a servant or one of Ceth's many spies might see me roaming the halls. Instead, I felt my way to the end of the hall and down the stairs to the stone hall below. The fire had been left to crumble to simmering embers- no doubt too tedious of a task to keep it roaring all night.

Walking past it, it made me wonder just how much magic the castle had if tending fires for the guests was all it could manage.

As if that alone wasn't a feat.

The path to the cavern felt colder. The darkness felt thicker. When I finally reached the wooden door shaking on its rusty hinges in the wind, barricading very little from the frozen wood outside, I stood staring at the dark between me and the freedom outside.

It was the only freedom I could manage in a forest owned by my captor. But, images of the figure with the crimson red cloak invaded my thoughts.

I had to know.

Death comes on swift wings, the voice echoed.

I pulled the creaking door open and pushed myself out into the rocky snow-covered cavern. It was serene and blue, reflecting the light of the still moon that hung just above.

I had to know.

Beyond the tunnel, the snow swallowed my feet to the ankles. Each step left messy tracks behind. Despite the cold, I continued through the wood until my toes were numb and my skin felt hard and inflexible. I used that ancient sense buried underneath layer after layer within myself. I focused and felt the world crash into me like a tidal wave, my senses blaring.

Like a switch flipped, I silenced the noise of it and truly felt. I felt the world around me, deeper than the wind and the trees and the dirt beneath the snow. I tasted movement and saw the scent trails animals, having scavenged hours ago, left behind. I felt in the darkness that surrounded me for any sign of a creature unlike the quiet furred animals hibernating somewhere dark and warm.

There was no cloaked creature, no answers in the snow. Hope turned bitter on my tongue, too hard to swallow. The reality of the world came fumbling back. The sounds of the wilderness filled my ears, eerie, loud.

I was far enough out that I knew I needed to turn back now if I wanted to be back before anyone woke. I found the tunnel again, walking somewhat sullen now that my nighttime escapade had proven uneventful.

Childish.

When I made it back to the grand hall, I found that servants had indeed begun stirring. The fire was back to crackling at full blast, and servants carried freshly dried linens to and from the wash room.

I was late.

I headed towards the still-dark stairwell. Maybe if I was fast enough, I could still get back before Ceth even knew I was gone.

Just as I rounded the first level of stairs, I felt a presence looming above me in the dark. I stopped, knowing someone stood just ahead. Not Ceth, I loosed a breath in relief, but I still held my tongue as I greeted him:

"I'm beginning to think you're fond of hiding in the shadows just to frighten me."

In the candlelight of the stairs, Gabriel seemed to smile as he stepped forward and leaned against the wall across from me on the steps. He wore a much simpler black tunic than usual, and from his disheveled hair, I assume he'd just woken up.

I did not make the mistake of bowing again.

"I know few others who are awake as early as the people who serve them." He looked me over carefully as if wondering why I was up.

"I just needed a drink to help me sleep," I lied coolly, and those grey eyes glimmered as if he recognized the lie. He brushed his hair from his eyes gently and assessed me again.

"One would think that most Ladies would use magic for that."

Shit.

Luckily, he didn't push further. "I often find pacing comes more easily than sleep sometimes."

I wasn't the only one then.

I nodded, not really knowing what else to say for the sake of never knowing just how easily he might recognize my lies.

Talking to him was-- unnerving.

I raised a brow at him in question instead. "Is that why you're wandering the halls so early in the morning?"

His face remained stoic, but he shrugged. "I guess I just needed a drink too." In an instant, he uncrossed his muscular arms, and I realized he now held a steaming mug of coffee in one of his hands. He took a swig of the russet liquid, and I found myself too caught up in watching him to notice he'd leaned forward until his empty hand brushed a lock of hair down the side of my jaw. My skin ignited in heat, and I was frozen as he whispered, smile heavy in his voice. "You still have snow in your hair."

My muscles went taut as he disappeared down the stairs.

He knew he knew he knew.

Part of me wanted to chase after him, to explain myself, to cover my tracks with more lies and deceit. But, I stopped short as the memory of him standing there filled me again.

I wasn't the only one who was up wandering when they weren't supposed to be.

Some part of me knew he wouldn't tell. I knew he wouldn't tell Ceth or the guards. Despite myself, I swallowed my fear.

I knew there was a price for keeping secrets in this world. But, somehow, I knew he'd keep mine. And as I considered the past few days, the files, the training, everything that had happened, I came to one final conclusion.

The price for keeping my secrets would be to keep his too.