Allure

Chapter eight

Maisy

  Tears flowed freely as I remembered what Eric spat right into my face.

It just didn't add up. He loved me in Linsea and now, He hated me.

I had made a grave mistake. I remembered father's warning and how I had ignored the warning signs.

"I'm so sorry father." I wept and tried the door multiple times.

Eric had kept me under lock and key and if I concentrated well enough, I could hear his guards say something about Tatia.
Everyone had been saying that since I arrived.

What was going on?

I sank to the ground, the marble was food and unforgiving, Freezing my essence.

I wished I could turn back the hands of time and amend my mistake.

My worries began when we got here...

***
Flashback

Nodith

  Guards watched me walk in, arms locked in Eric's.
The stares made me self conscious. I could sense fear and disbelief in their eyes.

"Why are they looking at me like that?" I quizzed Eric, expressing my discomfort.

"Get back to work." Eric sneered authoritatively at them.

They immediately got back to what they were doing but I didn't miss the air of tension.

"It's all right. They are just surprised to see you." Eric said, trying to ease my distress.

"Okay." I held him tightly while led me around the castle.

I made up my mind to focus more on the magnificent scenery.

The Castle walls rose out of the darkness, out of the silent charcoal curtain. They are pitted and forlorn, no longer the bastions of protection and glory that I was sure they used to be.
  Under my fingers, the stone was rougher than the callused skin of a mare and it left my skin cold, drawing dampness into my bones.

"Maisy..." I heard someone whispered and instinctively turned around.

"Did you hear that?" I shrunk.

"Hear what?" Eric questioned, walking double the speed to where his family were dining, as a maid had told him.

"I heard someone call my name," I answered, a bit petrified.

"You're just nervous." He determined and pushed open an oak door.

Golden lights streaks killed the blinding darkness and I caught a whizz of roast beef.

Eric and I had been traveling days without the basics and had to survive on what nature gave us. It was good, all that was beyond us.

The passage led us to an array of rooms.

Appearances could really be deceiving indeed. From the look of things outside the castle, I thought this place would be in the dumps.

"Before you think of picking a room, I want you to meet my family," Eric stated with a charming smile for me.

I took in deep breaths and remembered my father.
I tried convincing him to follow us but he refused every time I tried. He had a lot of memories with mother at Linsea, that I knew but I always thought old memories could be let go off to remember good ones. I badly wanted him by my side but he had already revealed to me that he couldn't support my marriage to Eric.