Page 29 of Manor of Wind and Nightmares (Fae of Brytwilde #3)

Now

A nother dead end.

I’d lost all sense of time as I’d attempted to find my way back to my rooms. The manor was playing tricks on me, shifting rooms and twisting passages.

I’d walk down a familiar hall, counting my steps and making note of the paintings and other décor I recognized, only to find myself suddenly facing a blank wall and forced to turn back.

Even the guards I’d passed refused to offer me any help, merely blinking at me when I’d tried to approach one.

I hadn’t recognized any from my time in Willowbark previously—and even if I had, none would have known me in my human form.

As far as servants went, the manor seemed empty.

At last, I caught sight of Callista’s and my door, my weary eyes drinking in the carved cherry blossoms and winding river in relief. Silence and darkness greeted me as the door swung silently inward. My stomach sank; I’d half-hoped that Callista had made it back to our quarters during my wandering.

The servants hadn’t yet lit a fire, and the room was drafty.

I closed the door softly, but the darkness was smothering, and I instantly regretted it.

I’d need the candlelight streaming in from the hall to find my way around and strike a match.

Turning back, I tried the knob, but the door was locked.

My heart slammed against my ribs.

What was the manor doing now?

Shadows clung to me like a blanket, heavy and restricting. The hair at the back of my neck lifted as I turned toward the room again, scanning the blackness. I was certain I could hear the shadows breathe .

Scratch. Scratch. The sound was like claws scraping along wood floorboards. I stifled my breath, trying to be as silent as possible.

My mind raced through different options, going over every creature I’d learned of or faced in the fae world already.

Red eyes appeared in the darkness, boring into mine. I couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe.

Don’t let fear rule you, I chided myself.

I had no weapons, but my eyes were at last beginning to adjust. A sliver of light pierced through the curtains across the room, a glimpse of moonlight.

I blinked and the fireplace came into focus, a poker resting on its hearth.

Scrape.

The thing in the room with me was moving closer, its blood-red eyes growing larger, brighter.

Calling upon every hour of training I’d received, praying my body remembered them a year later, I sprang for the poker. The creature was unnaturally fast, springing toward me in an instant. I barely had time to seize the poker and swing.

As I turned, I met its gaze and caught my first solid glimpse of the creature.

It looked more like a fae than I’d first thought, though its eyes were that awful red and fangs protruded from its mouth.

Its fingers ended in long, claw-like nails, and its bare feet had similar claws that scraped along the floor when it moved.

Blood dribbled from its chin.

Heart in my throat, I stopped myself right before swinging the poker, my gaze snagging on its eyes. They were unfocused and cloudy, like swirling white clouds covering a red sky.

The creature wasn’t looking at me.

I hurled the poker across the room, and just as I’d hoped, it tilted its head and charged toward the noise.

Holding my breath, I crept along the floor as softly as I could, praying its hearing wasn’t keen enough to detect the sound of my racing heartbeat.

Could I pick a lock in the dark? I plucked a pin from my hair, silently blessing Wisteria for insisting on styling it for tonight’s dinner.

But when I reached the door and once again tested the knob, it was unlocked.

Relief and nerves fluttered like butterflies in my stomach, making me feel ill. Cold sweat snaked down my spine.

I wasn’t sure I could trust the door and where it led, now that the manor was allowing me to open it again. But I had no other option to get out of this room, away from the prowling monster.

Casting furtive glances over my shoulder at the creature’s shadowy form while it paced the area where the poker had fallen, I pulled at the door. The hall outside was the same one I’d left earlier, bathed in gentle, flickering warmth. Empty. Welcome.

My freedom—or so I hoped. How many more of these creatures stalked the manor?

Was Callista safe?

My thoughts whirled, but I forced myself to quiet them, focusing on my first step: surviving this encounter.

As I cracked the door just enough to slip through, the previously silent hinges let out a creak. My breath snagged in my throat. Was that the manor’s cruel trick?

Behind me, the monster snarled.

Forsaking all stealth, I flung myself into the hall, slamming the door behind me.

The sounds of its pursuit were right behind me as the door swung wide. Footsteps pounded after mine. The creature’s hungry cry—high-pitched and unearthly, unlike any sound I’d ever heard human or fae make—rang off the walls.

Ahead, a door swung open and Verity peered out in alarm. She was barefoot, her hair a tousled curtain down her back, as if she’d been awoken from a restless sleep. “What is happen—”

“Go back!” I shouted. “Lock your door!”

At my commotion, a guard strung an arrow to his bow and shot. He struck true, but the creature didn’t even slow, didn’t even seem hurt, too caught up in its bloodlust now that it had heard Verity speaking.

She tried and failed to stifle her cry as she reached for her doorknob, but it was too late. Leaping with horrifying speed, the monster snatched Verity in its hands, long nails piercing into her flesh. Then it dipped its fangs toward her throat and tore .

I clamped my hand over my mouth to stifle my scream.

I turned toward the first item I could find, a heavy candlestick in a holder on the wall, and wrenched it free.

Slamming it against the creature’s head with all my strength, I tried to ignore the sight of ripped flesh and blood streaming from Verity’s neck.

But the creature was undeterred, lost in a feeding frenzy, and swiped at me, drawing a vicious line of scratches along my arm.

Reeling back, I scarcely noticed the flash of pain or my blood dripping onto the floor.

Verity was already limp, her eyes glazed and unfocused.

There was nothing left to do for her. Even the guard, who’d been joined by a handful of others, seemed to recognize that. He’d focused his attention instead on releasing more arrows, trying to stop the creature.

I didn’t want to wait to see if the guards succeeded. I had to find Callista before she and I met the same fate as Verity. Racing onward, I sought a staircase that would take me to the great hall.

Ahead, the hallway twisted in an unnatural curve, as if the manor was once again bending, playing tricks on me. Moonlight cast long, strange shadows along the walls. Screams behind me made my breath catch—the guards were losing the battle against that strange monster.

And I had no idea where I was. No clue how to find Callista. Nothing here was familiar.

How could I find my way if the way always changed? What strategy was there against madness and magic like this?

Muted footsteps on the carpet alerted me that the creature was pursuing me once more.

Throat burning, I clutched the candlestick more tightly.

Ahead and to the left, a staircase loomed, leading upward into darkness, but the hallway continued to the right.

I flung the candlestick as hard as I could onto the hardwood steps, listening to it clatter.

The creature veered left as I went right. Not wanting to linger in the hall, I approached the first door I found. The knob turned easily, and thankfully, these hinges remained silent.

Every muscle taut, prepared to flee or defend, I crept inside, finding myself in a quiet room, but thankfully, with no sign of another awful creature lurking in its shadows. Cautiously, I shut the door behind me.

Embers burned low in the hearth, leaving the space dim. Moonlight spilled through a gap in the curtains, illuminating the large bed in the center and the form within—the one that I’d awoken with my intrusion.

Prince Kaede.