Life, Death, and Time - A Books Of Beginning Collection

Oneshot: Dancing With The Devil

Background: The Black Reckoning Alternate Ending AU - The Dire Magnus wins the war and starts remaking the world with the power of the Books of Beginning. This Oneshot is based on a prompt/idea given to me by the amazing Lucy_Hood with whom I did a little prompt exchange and writing exercise. For those of you who don't know, Lucy is an amazing writer and I would recommend her stories to anyone. She is also a very kind person and someone I am happy to be able to call a friend. So this is dedicated to her, obviously. (Also I finally learned how to tag people properly, I'm so proud of myself!)

Content: Angst, Darkness, Obsession & Romance, Kate x Rafe. This is very much not a nice oneshot, and if the phrase 'the Dire Magnus wins the war' didn't clue you into that, I'm warning you now. 

Kate knew something was wrong before she even opened her eyes. She felt warm, comfortable, and well rested. There was a cushioned softness underneath of her and something warm and heavy - a blanket - resting on top of her. There was also a pillow underneath her head, squishy and inviting. This was perhaps the most comfortable place she had ever woken up, and she didn't trust it one bit. 

Kate couldn't remember the last time she got a good night's sleep. Even if her life wasn't in danger, even if she wasn't plagued by constant nightmares, she still ended up exhausted to the very bone. She was used to lumpy, breaking, and uncomfortable orphanage beds, usually with one or both siblings pressed into her side, seeking comfort from the only person they had caring for them. For her to feel so rested, and to wake up in such a comfortable place, something definitely had to be wrong. 

What happened? She thought. How did I end up here? 

She was - she had collapsed, in the garden of the Rose Citadel, on Loris. Michael was with the army fighting against the Dire Magnus's forces. Emma had just arrived from the world of the dead with the Reckoning. And Rafe - the Dire Magnus - he was taking the power of the books from her and her siblings. She hadn't wanted to give in to his demands, but Emma had insisted that she had a plan, and Kate had been desperate to save the lives of her brother and sister, so she agreed. If she could have taken on the power herself to save them, she would have, but that hadn't been an option. So she had let the power of the atlas be ripped from her, and then -

And then she had no idea what had happened next, but the first step in figuring it out would be opening her eyes. So, Kate did just that. 

She was lying in a plushy, comfortable bed, a soft pillow under her head, a thick gray blanket pulled over her body. There was dim light - the dullish kind, as though the sky were filled with clouds outside - pouring in through two large windows on the wall to her left. She blinked a few times, before looking around at the rest of the room. It was large, comfortable, and quite luxurious. The walls were painted a cream color, the fluffy carpets a dark brown. There were curtains hanging on either side of the two windows that were a brass color, and on the wall between them, a mural had been painted of curling vines and pink roses, stretching from floor to ceiling. The heavy door was opposite the bed. 

The room was furnished, too, Kate realized as she sat up. An old-fashioned armoire sat in one corner, and a dresser was set against the wall across from the windows. A night table sat to the right of the bed, a large bookshelf in the corner opposite the armoire. There was also a desk and comfortable chair set up on the same wall as the dresser. All of the furniture was made from a rich, dark wood, although the chair had a checkered light and dark gray pair of cushions making it comfortable to sit in. 

Everything felt warm and yet grand, like it was fit for a queen. The room seemed old fashioned but not decrypt, and the style of it would have usually appealed to Kate, but now it just served to put her further on edge. What had happened after she passed out in the garden? Who had brought her here, and why? And where were Michael and Emma?