To Seduce A Siren

19. All Thawed Out

Raz knew he was in an unfamiliar place before he even woke up.

It was because he hadn't woken so gently, urged back to sleep by the softness of a mattress or the comfort of a shaded room. His room at Castle Elysium didn't have curtains and he usually woke up with light invading through his eyelids.

Then there was the scent.

He could smell apples and vanilla mixed with an older scent.

It was then he woke up.

Raz bolted off the bed before his body had had a chance to awake, almost tripping over his feet.

He was in a strange place. A room as spartan in furnishing as his own in Castle Elysium but this one was different. His room was spartan with a purpose and this one was bare with neglect. Mismatched furniture dwarfed by a colossal rococo closet that might have belonged to a member of a royal family.

Worse still, was the twinge in his stomach made by the barest flex of his torso.

Stab wound.

Raz had been stabbed.

He'd passed out because of it. That much he remembered, the rest was a blur. What had happened? Had Theron come to collect him? Why had he housed Raz in this place?

Raz treaded silently out of the room, into an ornate hallway. If Marie Antoinette lived today, this is how she might be housed, with baby blue walls and hand-painted floral patterns on top. Were those actual gold frames that hung up those paintings?

Where was he?

"You're up, I see," a voice spoke from somewhere to the right of him.

Selene emerged from yet another hallway, dressed in a matching set of a silk dressing gown and a satin slip, the colour of emeralds. Unfortunately for him, the material moulded onto her body, leaving little to the imagination.

"What happened?" Raz asked, rubbing his head. "Where are we?"

"My apartment, of course," Selene answered before turning back into the hallway.

Her apartment?

Raz followed her to a cavernous kitchen. Raz had expected it to look something like the kitchen in Castle Elysium, which served a thousand Redeemers who lived there; laboratory-like, spotless and filled with stainless steel appliances.

Selene's kitchen was... Unexpected.

She had the latest appliances and sure enough, marble countertops. But the room was light and airy and there was a mess on her counters, with flour scattered across and utensils crowding the space.

Raz picked up a ladle in the shape of a dinosaur from the kitchen island.

"Hey!" Selene snatched the ladle from his hands. "Don't touch my things."

Although he wanted to laugh, he asked, "Are you going to explain how I'm here?"

Selene opened her mouth to stay something but her eyes darted to his stomach, narrowing.

Raz realised he was still shirtless.

Selene reached out a trembling hand to his abdomen, at the redness left behind by the healed wound.

"It's all healed," she said.

"Yes," Raz gritted, trying not to react at the feel of her icy fingers on his warm skin. "I was stabbed then it's all a blur. What happened next?" He had more questions, namely how he'd blacked out from a simple stab wound.