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And as for Anástasi, she also had something to prove.

It just happened to be something that she never could, because I knew the truth.

So, after grabbing a long black velvet cloak, she wrapped it around our shoulders, covering the moss-green dress.

A dress that I would have usually found beautiful, with its floaty crepe fabric hanging around my legs in layers.

The edges of lace making it flare out in places, whereas the bodice made of the same lace, fit tight to my torso.

This lace continued over my shoulders and along the edges of my cleavage, all of which was pulled tight, thanks to the lacing at the front.

A single brown belt at my waist meant that she could gather the front of her skirt and tuck it up, so it wasn’t trailing along the floor.

Neither could it get caught up in the heels of the brown boots that laced up to just below the knee.

Cloak secured, we left the room and walked the dark, dank stone corridors in a different direction than we had been before.

It seemed I had planted the seed of exploring and now she was rolling with it.

Not that it was all that exciting. For what seemed like the longest time, there was nothing but doors that led to dusty bedchambers…

Rooms that looked as if they hadn’t seen life in decades.

It made me wonder what this place used to be like before Garmr had taken control.

Had there been parties and gatherings? Other demonic royalty that had stayed here amongst a flurry of activity and life?

I didn’t know, but I assumed those rooms once had more of a purpose than just a place to store furniture for gathering dust and cobwebs.

But then we reached one room that wasn’t like the others.

Because unlike the rest, this one clearly held life.

The bed had been slept in and clothes could be seen peeking through the open door of a large wardrobe.

There was a plate left on a small table where someone had eaten a meal and left it in a hurry, because the food wasn’t moldy or spoiled.

And the room was clean. All of which lead us to believe that this room was in use, but the question now was… by who?

“Let’s go inside,” I pushed, making her hesitate by the door.

“We shouldn’t,” she said quietly, as if someone would hear us and we would get into trouble.

“Why not? Are you not to one day be the queen of this castle? Isn’t that what Garmr already calls you, his queen?

” I reminded her, and thankfully, it was enough to convince her to step inside.

Because she knew, if she didn’t, then once again she would only be adding fuel to my fire.

She would be proving me right. So, she stepped inside, turning to close it behind her so someone wouldn’t notice.

I could have taunted her about doing this, but I didn’t want to piss her off enough for her to back out.

“I have never been in this room before,” she admitted aloud.

“I wonder who it belongs to?” I said, leading her down a path I wanted her to walk, because of course, I had my suspicions already.

“Those are Garmr’s clothes,” she said after walking closer to the wardrobe.

“Why has he never brought you in here, if this is his room?” I questioned, and again, I felt like I was poking at her. Because here I was, just call me the doubt farmer, with my bag of seeds aplenty and at the ready to toss some at her any chance I got.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, and if I wasn’t mistaken, was that hurt I heard in her tone?

She walked over to the bed, which was practically a replica of our own, as was most of the room. The only difference was the theme was red instead of black. For some reason, with the splash of crimson against the black, it only ended up making the room look more sinister.

However, in the eerie silence, the moment we heard a voice, it hit us like an alarm blaring. Anástasi stopped reaching out for the bedsheets before whispering,

“It’s Garmr.” And she wasn’t wrong because we heard him speaking to someone outside of the room.

“Tell me as soon as they are seen traveling down the mountain pass, until then, I am not to be disturbed.”

“Understood, my Lord Geryon.”

I could feel her frown at the title and I don’t know whether it was the idea of being caught in here or what she may discover.

But either way, she decided to hide, much to my own relief.

Which meant that this time when I spoke to her, I didn’t push for it to come out of our mouth, but did so directly in her mind like in the beginning.

‘That’s strange, why did he call him that?’

Of course she couldn’t answer me, not without being heard herself. But again, I didn’t want to miss the opportunity for another seed of doubt I planted to take root.

She slipped behind a privacy screen and crouched down next to a vanity unit, where we found a tiny crack just big enough to watch what happened next.

Something that quickly grew that seed of doubt into…

A freaking tree!