The sound of footsteps echoed around the large marble hallways, bouncing off the dark blue walls and adding another layer of mystery to your adventures, to your exploring with the floor cold beneath your feet and the certainty of a trail of mud following wherever you went, your motivation for exploring the fae mansion continued to be kindled.
Although your ultimate intentions were to escape and return to your family, you had a feeling that having a rough mental map of the house and later the grounds, would help you in planning an escape. As you passed the golden handles of doors you were sure had nothing behind them, you heard a new pair of footsteps approach you from behind.
"Please stop!" Taehyung called, following you whilst desperately grabbing a handful of your top and then tugging on it repeatedly to try and slow you down.
When you came to a halt he breathed a sigh of relief instantly beginning to lecture you about running around without an escort to prevent you from going anywhere you weren't meant to be. But your eyes and mind were occupied with the intricate carvings surrounding the fireplace you had stopped at, placing a hand delicately to the wood you decided it was from an oak, a tree only found in the realm of the fae now.
There were small characters with pointed ears dancing up the pillar, a huge beast in the middle of their circle and then in the centre of the mantelpiece, the carving of that same beast kneeling with a smaller figure pressing their lips to his head. Before you could continue looking at the story that was being depicted on that piece of wood, Taehyung cupped your face and forced you to look at him.
"We need to leave," his eyebrows were furrowed, glancing around frantically before holding your hand and beginning to tug you back down the corridor you had just walked down, "Jeongguk said not to come in the East Wing and of course," he glanced back at your petulant expression, "of course the little human goes straight to the East Wing."
You grinned and tried to pull your hand out of his grip, "why can't i be here?" You questioned, standing firmly and not budging with the intent of finding out something interesting.
Taehyung looked frazzled, hair no longer perfectly groomed as he tried to pull you away from the hallway that ended in a pair of majestic wooden doors, your fingers itched to wrap around the handle and tug it open.
"I knew I'd find you here," Jeongguk laughed when Taehyung yelped, dropping your hand and instead of taking up position standing slightly in front of you as if you protect you from something - or someone. He noticed this, tilting his chin up at Taehyung with a teeth-baring smile, "stop worrying Tae, you'll get wrinkles."
"Stop making me worry then," the older boy replied, running a hand through his hair before pouting at Jeongguk and having spared one glance at you, he walked away leaving you at the mercy of your captor, again. It was a painful repetition of you being at Jeongguk's mercy over and over and it was getting annoying.
Even so, Jeongguk had been surprisingly calm having found you in the forbidden East Wing and you were surprised by his reaction, a hand landing on your forearm and squeezing it brought you back to the future, "I'm taking you to the library, I need to explain a few things."
Jeongguk's palm was hot, wrapped around your arm as he dragged you away from that grand door, "so you're planning your escape?" he mused aloud, glancing back at you to smirk when your eyes widened and you stared at the floor, a thick blush dusting your features.
"I was admiring the carving on those oak panels," you replied, watching him slow down so he could walk in sync with you, admiring you insolence whilst you appreciated his features. Jeongguk had a face so perfect it had to be fae; the sharp jawline and those eyes, the colour of a tree's old bark that most likely held as many stories. You continued to stare until that eyebrow quirk warned you that Jeongguk was aware of what you were up to.
His heart-shaped lips stretched into a smile, "you listened better when I was in my other form." Jeongguk laughed, letting go of your arm and taking your hand instead to drag you through a door, whilst you coughed at his comment.
"Who wouldn't listen to something with the ability to rip their throat out?" your voice stuttered to a halt when you took in where you were standing. You felt so small as you surveyed the shelves surrounding you and covering every wall, "there can't be this many books."
Jeongguk choked a laugh, already walking down the stairs as he stopped and turned to look at you, watching as you wiped at your eyes, wondering if you were about to cry, "times like these I wish I'd listened when Jin taught me and Hoseok how to read." You grinned at Jeongguk before running down the stairs, embarrassed by your accidental display of vulnerability, especially to your captor.
And you had meant it, because whilst you had been outside learning how to set rabbit traps and shoot an arrow, Jin had taught Hoseok how to read and write, how to use the wisdom of others to inform how you live your life.
It felt like you had wasted so much time, and now, living in a realm where time was practically non-existent for the fae who lived hundreds of years longer than a human, you wondered if you were being given a second chance.
"I can teach you?" Jeongguk questioned, he was sitting in a low leather seat, one leg crossed over the other whilst gazing at you, obviously watching as you had skimmed your fingers across the spines of the books. He seemed to sense your hesitation, "I know how to read and write the human language, as well as fae, your father was able to do the same."
For a second you were tempted to let your anger and frustration at the situation you were in getting the better of you, clutching your hand until a fist was formed at the mention of your father. Then your mind filled with thoughts of Jin and Hoseok in that small cabin and exhaled. "Don't talk about my family so casually, but I guess it'll help me kill time."
Jeongguk placed both feet on the floor, leaning back in his chair and before you could think about the implications, your gaze fell on him with a build so different to both of your brothers and more similar to the warriors who would pass through the village every now and then. One of whom had thighs almost identical to Jeongguk's and you had spent one of the hottest night of your life with Jimin.
"What have you got there?" Jeongguk asked, snapping you from your lust filled memories to stare down at the book in your hands, opening it softly as you worried that you might rip it. He stood behind you and watched as you began to turn through the pages, staring in awe at the illustrations on each page and for a second you let the feeling of his breath brushing against your neck, calm your confused mind.
Until you realised where you were, why you were there and jumped away from Jeongguk, brandishing the book as if it were a weapon, managing to ask, "why are you so comfortable with me?"
He ran a hand through his hair, "humans don't scare me, they are merely small annoyances."
The book fell from your hands, "why didn't you kill me?" His hospitality had been endless since that first mouthful of food and your eyes widened as you began to back away, "what am I doing here?"
"This is all a bit sudden," Jeongguk laughed, bending over to retrieve the fallen book and tap your head lightly with it, "what's ruffled your feathers now?" But you shook your head, trying to think why a fae who had no interest in humans would spare your life but then bring you back to live with him. Your father had told you that fae always had a motive; was his to make himself feel better? Or something more sinister?
Your heart was racing as Jeongguk placed a hand above your head and leant into your neck, taking a long inhale before smiling at you, "I made a promise to never kill a human and why would I kill the mistress of this house?"
"Mistress?" You tried to duck out of the cage he had created with his muscular arms but to no avail, as Jeongguk licked his lower lip before smiling at you and pulling away from his hands, sauntering back to his seat.
"I called you Persephone, didn't I?" you nodded cautiously and walked to sit on the window seat which was far enough from Jeongguk that you could hear him but still feel safe, "Persephone was the mistress of hell because she ate the food. When you ate the food I offered you, it sealed a fae contract that you not only belong to this house but are its rightful mistress."
"How can someone you've never met before be called rightful?" you ventured, smiling to yourself at just how blind and ignorant you had been, trusting a fae, you tried not to laugh at your own idiocy.
"Magic?" Jeongguk gave you a goofy smile but nothing about your situation felt funny, only worrying.
