Page 39 of Grotesque

C orban stayed on me like an addict chasing a high.

There wasn’t a day over the next week that he wasn’t filling me with his cock or tongue, sliding under my skin like a needle.

As toxic as it was, I loved it. It felt like worship when he caressed me, his fingers carefully kneading my worn muscles and rich curves.

Reverence filled his eyes with radiant light.

Color graced the tops of his cheeks, and his body, which had always been ice cold, had begun to warm to mine.

Something had changed after that day in the library. Something that revived and softened him, yet his hunger for me was no less ravenous.

We hadn’t spoken about him leaving Glamis, and I was too afraid to ask. Every day had been so perfect, and I did not want to break the spell by bringing up the inevitable.

Selfishly, I hoped he’d changed his mind, and that this adoration was his way of showing me that he would stay.

“I love you,” he had said. I hadn’t been able to shake those three little words. Over and over they played inside my head. He’d been so wild and desperate when he said them. His eyes as raw and open as I had ever seen them.

My heart and head worked actively against each other. Part of me wanted to return the words, say them right back to him, but the other was afraid that him saying what he did was just another play in one of his twisted games.

I don’t know what happened to the sketchbook and diary. When I finally worked up the courage to ask about them Corban had looked through me with cold, flat eyes. “What books?” As if they had never existed.

Whether he kept them hidden or destroyed them, I never saw them again.

It made the matter of his affections more unnerving.

Within the week he had become softer, kinder, gentle in the moments when he was not buried between my legs.

It was so out of the ordinary that I daresay I missed his darker nature.

At least I knew what to expect of him that way.

It made it all the stranger that he no longer hid himself from me.

The wings, horns, red eyes and stone-grey skin were there to stay.

Even the shadows had started to move with him.

Every time he entered the room they would gather at his back, his feet, as writhing tendrils between his fingers.

Any time he left me alone, they too would retreat.

Corban was up to something, and it was only a matter of time before I found myself trapped in another one of his games. I could feel it like an electric crackle in the air. Something powerful and dangerous was building.

I reclined in the rocking chair I’d moved from the front porch to the upper balcony.

My feet were perched on the railing between two of the gargoyles.

They both looked over the front drive. One’s ear was broken off and the other had a great gash carved down its back.

I had tried speaking to them but if they heard me, if they were even alive, they never answered.

The sun was making its slow descent behind the trees. Dark orange painted the sky with luminescent strokes of color. It really was beautiful here. Magical even.

I scratched the back of my neck, ran my hand into my hair and sighed. Corban had created quite the haven within his prison.

If this is what he could do with magic while bound, what could he do in Under? I’d been toying with the idea all week, what it would be like to leave everything behind and run away with him to the fae realm.

I thought to my books. To the one I’d read where the mortal girl was turned fae and married a High Lord. Or the other who was given a crown and a throne. Would I be granted immortality? Power? Did I want that?

I’d be an idiot to refuse Corban. Right?

Corban was Glamis. Without him, what would the manor even look like? Could I let a being as otherworldly as him slip through my fingers, and go on with my life alone, in order to hold onto something materialistic?

Something caught the corner of my eye. I looked over my shoulder to the parlor behind me. It had appeared so barren and dusty a moment ago, hadn’t it?Another one of his tricks probably.

My phone buzzed.

Mom: Are you going to stay angry at me forever or are you going to grow up?

I rolled my eyes. Of course I was still the problem.

Me: I’m not selling anything. Drop it.

I hated matching her energy, but I was tired of being walked over. Being with Corban had given me a little bit more of a backbone. A little.

My phone buzzed.

Incoming call: Mom

“Who are you texting?” Corban’s silent presence never failed to startle me.

“My mom,” I said, bumping her call. I tipped my head back to look at him.

Corban leaned against the doorframe, taking up the entirety of the entryway.

He was dressed in charcoal linen pants, belted, and a fitted short-sleeved sweater top.

He spun a ring on his finger, one he had recently acquired that matched the chain around his neck.

It looked like a signet ring, with a moth stamped into its face in sterling silver.

Though I couldn’t see the skull in its wings, I assumed it was a death’s-head.

The scar above my tattoo itched. I ran my hand over it absentmindedly as he watched me with a tilted head.

“Do you miss her?” The aloofness didn’t match the glint in his eyes.

“I told you I’m not going anywhere if that’s what you’re worried about.”

The corner of his mouth twitched into an almost-smile before it jerked away. “You couldn’t if you wanted to.”

I sucked the back of my teeth. He swept around me and leaned against the railing, where he casually placed his hand atop the broken head of the gargoyle. He stroked his claws through the granite, chipping off flakes with each strike.

“Sometimes,” I finally answered. “I love her, but she can be…difficult. She’s been pressing me to sell off pieces of Glamis.” I watched him carefully for any sort of reaction. A jump in the corner of his jaw was there, then gone. “I told her she can never have any part of Glamis, but she’s greedy.”

“Most humans are,” he said. “Tell me, did you want Glamis before or after me?”

I met the challenge in his gaze. “I uprooted my entire life to come here. What do you think?”

He gave me a long look before turning his head to look out over the property. His eyes slid over the woods and then to the long drive that ended at the iron gate. “Perhaps you should give her a piece of it. Something that will satisfy her appetite.”

I scoffed. “The will states–”

“I wrote the will, Sorcha.” His eyes snapped to me momentarily before darting off again. “The part about the money at least. I was desperate, and I needed you.”

I shut my mouth, which had dropped open. “Was any of it real?”

He held out his hand. I looked from his closed fist to his face before extending mine in turn.

Gold coins spilled out of his palm, landing in mine.

They bounced off each other and dropped to the ground.

The moment he shut his hand the coins stopped flowing.

I clutched what was left in my fist, looking about the ground which was now littered in gold.

A thistle topped with a pointed crown was carved into each piece. Script in a language I didn’t recognize framed the image. The edges of the coin had a dull red coating.

“All of it was real. I had to make sure that whoever came to me would be willing to stay.”

I didn’t know whether to be offended by Corban’s original treachery or grateful that he was finally opening up to me.

“You’ve been bribing me.” I said thinly.

Corban purred, the sound sending a thrill through me.

“I’ve been seeing to your comfort and needs.

” The clack of his claws came to a stop as he made a sharp swipe against the granite, knocking one of the horns off the gargoyle.

It hit the top of the banister before disappearing somewhere into the gathering darkness below.

“Enjoy the spoils, Sorcha.” He kissed the top of my head.

I caught his hand as he eased back. The faint light of the sun dipping behind the trees highlighted his sharp features. The shadows of night’s arrival slithered over the banister all the way to his feet. He turned out his hand, palming one like you would a snake.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

He flicked his wrist, sending the shadow scurrying up his arm before tucking a piece of hair behind my ear. “I have a surprise for you. I need to finish preparing it.”

I scrutinized him. Corban had been softer, but he wasn’t exactly sweet. On instinct my hackles rose.

“Don’t look at me like that,” he chuckled. “You’ll like it.”

“Another game,” I tested.

At that he grinned. It was broad and feline.“Would you rather have dinner with me in my home or take a walk through moonlight?”

“Care to elaborate?”

Corban shook his head.

I chewed on the inside of my lower lip. There wouldn’t be a full moon for almost a month, which meant this option had something to do with magic. I was hungry, but I was far hungrier to understand just how powerful Corban was.

“A walk in the moonlight sounds nice.” I said carefully.

I wasn’t ready to go to Underland. I was only just starting to accept what Corban was, and then there was the bomb he had dropped on me about the will being crafted by his own hand. I needed time to process everything. And to figure out exactly what he was up to.

A dark glint sparkled in his beautiful eyes. “And so we shall.” He ducked his head, brushing a kiss across my temple, before turning on his heel to leave me with the turmoil of my thoughts. “I’ll return for you later this evening,” he said over his shoulder.

I leaned back in the rocking chair, thinking. Whatever Corban was up to, I needed answers first. I grabbed hold of the balustrade as I lurched forward, to keep the curved legs from knocking into the ground . Later this evening could mean anything, I had to move now .