Into the woods I P U B L I S H E D

24.

„It's funny how the truth can be so cruel sometimes,

all the lies I have to face, but at the end, I know how it feels."

- Elizabeth

Elizabeth

The Nightclaw mansion was one of the biggest and one of the most beautiful mansions I have ever seen. The beauty of the mansion could be compared to the Drottningholm palace in Sweden, but even the Drottningholm palace wasn't a match to Henry's home. There was something creepy and mysterious about his mansion that made it beautiful.

The mansion itself was placed behind giant iron gothic gates, guarded by two giant wolves. The same wolves from the library. Each wolf stood on two feet, carrying a giant sword with their tongues sticking down their nuzzles.

Two living crows were standing on the top of those wolves, looking everything around themselves, and I could swear that they were staring at me as two men dressed in black opened the door for Henry and me.

They bowed their head in respect, avoiding any eye contact with us.

Henry stopped the car, and without saying a word, he opened the door, walked to my side and opened the door for me. I thanked him as I got out and took his already reached hand in mine.

„Mr. Nightclaw," Said the man on the right. Henry nodded his head, and as the two men took the car and drove it on the right side of the path, more men showed up in the property wearing the same exact black suits. Just like the two men before, they bowed their head too.

„Why do they bow their head?" I whispered to Henry as I waved to the men.

„It's a sign of respect," He leaned his head down at me. „They show their respect to their king and queen."

„Queen?"

He nodded, leaned down and kissed me on the lips. „Yes, you are their queen just as you are mine." I looked at him speechlessly, my eyes focused on his green ones as I was searching for something different, like some redness or blackness.

„You are weird," I shook my head, turning my attention the never-ending maze in front of me. We walked down the maze, on a path between big green bushes, surrounded by the same headless sculptures that I saw the first time I was here.

But these sculptures looked newer, unlike the other ones. There were fountains placed in the middle of the paths, and they were full of small black fishes.

„They look scary," I said as we passed another sculpture.

Henry laughed. „Yes, they are. My brother liked to sculpt things like that. It gave him a sick satisfaction to creep people out with them," Placing his hand on my left shoulder, he pulled me into his body so I could feel the warmness coming out of him.

„Which one? Tyler or Nicklaus?" He shook his head, his eyes closing for a second before he bit his lower lip. „Noah."

"You never talked to me about him," I said.

"I never will."

As I was about to ask him about what he meant by that, the giant mansion appeared in front of us, and it looked even more beautiful than from far away.

The mansion itself was peach black, some of the black stones were broken, replaced by the beautiful ivy that also covered more than half the mansion. The windows were black too, and at the end of each window, two gargoyles in the shape of a man with a wolf's head were placed, the water already pouring down their mouths.

„Why are they pouring the water out? There is no rain," I asked Henry.

„Ask my mother. She designed them," Henry pulled my hand as I returned to my attention back to the beautiful nightmare in front of me.