Page 45 of Grotesque

T he steady drum of rain pulled me from oblivion. The sound of it grounded me, slowly reeling me back to the waking world. I inhaled crisp, cool air. The sudden blast of it in my lungs made me realize how very cold it was.

I burrowed farther into the covers that were tucked around my body, cocooning me in a warm embrace. Somewhere down the hall I heard dishes clinking.

I didn’t remember Mom popping over, but I wasn’t surprised that she had let herself in. It would explain the drop in the thermostat.

I took a deep breath and stretched, finding the courage to open my eyes and face the day.

There were no pristine white walls of my old bedroom in Miami. Nor was there the terracotta sheets and old antique furniture of Glamis. I lurched upright, the movement bringing such a sharp, stabbing pain to my throat that immediately my hand went flying to it.

The room was a soft dove grey, save for the black vaulted ceiling, which glistened like starlight.

From it hung the most magnificent chandeliers I had ever seen, their strands woven together like spiderwebs.

Little diamonds of light dotted each thread like droplets of glowing dew.

Fur rugs covered the midnight stone of the floor, which shone with the same luster as the ceiling.

Three arched cathedral windows graced one of the walls. Their iron framing was set with countless red jewels, simmering like coals.

I pulled my knees up to my chest in the center of the bed.

A bed that was larger than any I’d ever seen.

With black sheets, black furs, black throws.

Black everything. Everything glowed with subtle magic.

It was perfect. Ominously perfect. A gorgeous, harmonious haven all cast in pale, gentle light.

Moonlight.

That’s when it all came rushing back.

I ran my fingers over my neck, blindly feeling for the tear in my throat Quint had made.

A dread weight settled over my shoulders. I clutched the sheets against my chest and followed that thread of fear to the far corner of the room where a stone-colored beast hunched in shadow.

Glowing red eyes gazed back at me.

I held my breath as the hulking shadow moved.

Its body and legs were long, with bulging muscles.

Giant leathered wings flexed, and the grey scales covering its flesh rippled and sparkled in the chandelier’s light.

It unwound a great deal, revealing just how massive the monster really was.

It wasn’t a dragon, but it favored one. If dragons had ghastly faces and crooked, stalking movements.

It was grotesque. With each step forward, something about it changed.

I pressed my back against the headboard as all sense fled me. I was frozen. My heart slammed against my ribcage, threatening to burst free the closer the thing prowled.

The beast shifted again and this time it looked a bit more like a man. Not quite human, with its grey skin and spiraling horns, but enough like one that I recognized him.

I let out a startled gasp when he stopped at the edge of the bed.

He looked more beautiful than I had ever believed he could be, a stark contrast from the horror he had been seconds before.

His hollow cheeks were fuller, his hair sleek and shining.

He was larger, his torso thicker and shoulders prouder.

Even the red of his eyes shone a little brighter. He was magnificent.

I already knew but still I asked, “What have you done?”

“I brought you home,” he breathed. He smiled softly, something like relief flashing in his eyes when he sat at the end of the bed and I didn’t move away. “I brought you to Underland.”

I looked at his very normal hand resting on top of the covers. How easy it was for him to change faces. How incredibly foolish I had been to trust anything about him.

Heart in my throat, I shook my head. “I didn’t want to come here. I told you I wanted Glamis.”

“You played my game,” he said with a tilt of his head.

“What game? Murdering those men? All those.” Oh my gosh, the bodies. There were so many bodies. “Those people,” I choked.

Corban sucked the back of his teeth. He cocked one brow high. “Would you rather have dinner in my home or walk in moonlight? Don’t you recall?”

“You tricked me.” Tears filled my words with moisture, making them thick and heavy.

“Oh love.” I recoiled when he reached for my face. A look of disapproval pinched his lips, distorting his perfect features. “Either answer would have brought you here. Underland is my home and moonlight graces my land. I saved you.”

“He was trying to protect me from you!”

“That boy almost killed you, or have you already forgotten the way he sliced your throat open? Weak men will destroy anything that scares them. They have no care who gets hurt in the process, so long as they save their own asses. You should be thanking me.”

“What you did was monstrous. You are a monster .” As if I didn’t know that already; hadn’t known it since he knocked on my front door and chased me through the house.

Corban slunk up the bed until he was straddling me.

His palms pressed into the wood on either side of my head.

“Yesss,” he hissed, long and low so the word dragged out.

“A monster you willingly let in to your body, your mind, your heart, and out into the world. I never tried to hide what I was from you.” He gripped my chin when I looked away from him, forcing me to stare into those pulsing red orbs.

“You gave yourself to me of your own free will. You knew you were fucking a monster the entire time, well before you grabbed hold of my wings and horns when I was deep inside you.”

He swiped a tear from my cheek that had escaped one of my eyes.

“What are you going to do with me? Will you finally kill me? Like you did everyone else?”

Corban took a deep breath. “Love, I never planned on killing you. Do you want the truth?”

What truth could be worse than the horror I had already experienced? Than all the murders I had seen evidence of?

“The truth is I planned to leave you in Glamis, transfer the curse from me to you.” He ran his fingers along the side of my head, pulling at my hair carefully as he parted the strands.

“You see, Glamis is nothing without me. It wasn’t just the food and treasures I made real; it was the house itself.

I was the living beating heart that pumped blood into that cursed place.

Without me, without a soul, Glamis does not exist. There was nothing for you to keep, without me there. ”

His eyes flickered back and forth between mine as he continued to stroke my hair.

“Your grandmother was a keen woman. She knew about me.

Well, not me exactly but she knew about fae.

About real fae, not the silly little princes in your story books with pretend powers and soft romances.

Fae that come from Underland, from the Seelie and Unseelie courts.

“‘Mad Macky’ they called her.” The corner of his mouth cocked at that. “Maxine was perhaps the smartest woman I ever met. She was a challenge I’ll admit I was sore to lose to.”

All the times my mother had complained about Grandma Macky, had she known?

Had she even entertained for a moment that there might have been truth to her rants about monsters and ghouls?

Was the woman in the window my mother told me of as a child real?

Was the cruel nickname, given in spite, based on nothing at all?

“Did you kill her?” I asked.

The stroke of Corban’s hand slowed, his touch gentled. “As much as I would have liked to, she stole that opportunity from me. If she’d been more thorough with the hiding spot of her will, perhaps you would have escaped me too.”

“I don’t understand. If you needed me to break the curse, to take your place in Glamis, then how am I—” I looked around the room, “—here?”

A low hum purred inside Corban’s chest. It sounded like stones grating against each other. “Because I left a piece of Glamis inside of you.” His fingers crept to the back of my scalp, down to the slope of my neck, caressing gently.

I dropped my hand to my stomach in horror.

Corban chuckled. “No. No Silly Sorcha.” He stroked the back of my neck affectingly.

“It is rare for fae to have children and much harder to do so with a human. No, I left it somewhere safe. It was the only way I could pass my curse onto you and bring you with me. Don’t worry, it can’t be removed.

I made sure of that. Our night out solidified my theory. ”

Rain splattered against the windows. The storm had picked up rather quickly. A flash of lightning brightened the room as if to emphasize a point.

“And now?”

“Now I am going to make you a queen.” He grinned, flashing long pointed fangs, so long they touched his lower lip.

“Queen of the Unseelie. While you were resting, I was getting everything ready. I had some unfinished business to take care of, but with that now out of the way the throne is ready for my ascension. For our ascension.”

“You’re a prince?” I choked out. So he hadn’t been lying to Rosaline all those years ago.

He grinned again. “A king, now, my love.” His fingers wrapped around the back of my neck. He settled himself closer to me. The cool breath exhaling from his lips fanned against mine.

“I’m scared,” I said. “Of this place, of you.” Corban had always scared me, but this had finally driven the knife home. I had died, or almost died. I assumed all five men had died, not to mention the numerous bodies piled in the basement.

The entire time those bodies had been there I had been fucking him. I had been letting Corban inside of me while his curse infected and condemned me. I played each of his games willingly, tying my soul to his. His to mine.

“Don’t be scared, Sorcha. I love you. I’m going to love you forever. For all of time.” He nudged my nose with his. Instinct had me tipping my face up so that it was our lips that touched next.