Page 19

I already knew that venturing into the barely lit corridors of the castle was a bad idea. Nevertheless, I couldn’t wait for Dovah to return. I felt like a caged bird in that room! I was suffocating and a feeling of anguish oppressed me violently.

Despite the muggy conditions, I put on one of my wool hooded coats to hide my easily recognizable hair. I didn’t want the local servants to identify me and report my escapade. After a deep breath, I set off. The corridors were empty, and only the crackle of torches broke the silence that reigned.

Since I had refused to take any Muvarian attendants with me, I had no choice but to face the solitude.

So be it. For me, Osacan was a hostile land, especially for people from my country.

So, the least I could do here was to protect the people I loved, mainly by not forcing them to live in exile, far from family and friends.

It was easier to find my way back to the entrance than I thought. In no time at all, and without meeting a soul, I found myself near the royal throne outside.

I hesitated to approach it. It was so gigantic! Suddenly, I once again spotted the red stone embedded in the back of the carved armchair, the one the colour of blood. The same shade as my hair. This detail struck me and made my heart beat a little faster.

Then, something incredible happened. The jewel began to glow.

Worse: it now appeared to be lit from within, like a light!

From then on, the entire area around the royal seat was bathed in a bloody glow.

“Magic is everywhere,” Dovah liked to say.

Even if, in theory, I believed him, seeing it with my eyes made my blood to catch fire in the network of my veins.

Without really thinking about it, I moved towards the hypnotic glow.

I was almost there! My fingers could nearly touch the ruby!

Suddenly, I heard a male voice, and I recognized it as that of King Elendur. I immediately hid behind a pillar, fearing gripping my stomach.

“Sire, do you need assistance?”

It was a member of the royal guard. I desperately wanted to tilt my head so I could observe him in secret, but the thought of getting caught held me back. I took a deep breath and tried to take a single look. It was indeed the king!

“No,” Elendur replied curtly.

He seemed to be in a foul mood. His facial features were contorted in a furious grimace that marred his handsome features. I hid again, taking the time to control my anxiety about being discovered, then crouched down further.

Elendur inserted strange steel claws into each of his fingers before bringing them closer to the stone, which no longer glowed.

This discovery shocked me. Why did the ruby no longer emit its reddish light?

“If you think you’ve got the upper hand on me, Dovah, you are sorely mistaken,” said the king, with a frightening sneer on his lips.

But what was he talking about? Then, with an expression of unfeigned pain, he unhooked the precious ruby from the stone throne. What was he going to do with it? What was it really? Why had he placed it on the throne, and above all, why was he taking it away?

All these questions jostled in my head to the point of making me dizzy. Suddenly, as if he’d sensed my presence, he turned sharply in my direction. I immediately pressed myself against the pillar, even holding my breath in fear lest it be audible.

“Your Majesty? Is everything alright?” inquired one of the guards.

“Mm. I thought that ... But no. Let’s go.”

I waited. I waited until I was sure I’d stopped hearing the sound of their footsteps.

I waited until I was sure it wasn’t a trap to test his intuition about the presence of an intruder.

I waited a long time, trembling and drenched in sweat from my coat, which could protect me from the cold of Muvaria, but not from the heavy, suffocating heat of Osacan.

What should I do? Go back to my room? Yes, of course, that was the wisest decision ... But it didn’t solve the problem of knowing where my husband had gone, and what he was doing at night to return stained with blood and with eyes as red and luminous as the precious stone on the throne.

My mind stopped on that thought.

Hadn’t Elendur said “Dovah” when he removed the stone? Deep down, I knew instantly that the two were linked. How could it be otherwise?

Heavy footsteps echoed nearby, the distinct sound of a man in armour walking.

I looked up for a moment, a very brief moment, and saw a shadow cast on the exterior wall of the castle.

My eyes widened in fright. The shadow was .

.. gigantic. Fierce. Abominable. It was that of a dragon spreading its wings, its titanic jaw seeming to turn in my direction.

In the blink of an eye, what I thought I had seen no longer existed.

I mechanically raised a trembling hand to my throat.

What was happening to me? What was that? An illusion of the mind?

Then another shadow emerged from the void, but this one was very much human. A man, to be precise, with glowing eyes and reeking of cigars. Around me sounded a growl I could only describe as animalistic, but couldn’t quite compare to anything I knew. Dovah. For it was him, no doubt about it.

“Ashana, what are you doing here?”

He wasn’t happy. For my part, I did not move from my pillar, as if it were supporting me through some sort of magic.

“I was looking for you,” I croaked.

I needed water. A lot of water. The heat, my coat, I was completely dehydrated. Dovah smiled. It wasn’t a tender smile, oh no. It was a carnivorous, carnal, wild smile ...

“Were you looking for me? Really?”

I swallowed hard. What situation have I put myself in again?!

I simply nodded, vigorously, momentarily unable to string two words together.

He wasn’t himself, that was obvious. What’s more, far from reassuring me, the detail of his black armour marbled with a sticky liquid that I guessed to be blood—because he had some on his cheek—did not help me regain my composure.

He moved a little closer into the torchlight. The features of his face remained breathtakingly beautiful, but what was in his now black eyes was terrible. I watched, hypnotized, as he took a long puff on his cigar.

“Was this coat necessary?” he inquired in a nonchalant voice, without taking his eyes off me.

The way he stared at me was strange. As if it wasn’t really Dovah who was lurking behind those obsidian reflections.

In a deft movement, he undid the knot on my coat and pulled it off.

Without any consideration, he threw it to the ground.

I was literally sweating, and the dress Elendur had given me clung to me like a second skin, revealing more of me than I would have liked.

I was acutely aware of this, as Dovah was letting his eyes wander over me with significant slowness. I blushed.

“What state have you gotten yourself into?” he whispered.

His tone was intended to be peaceful, as if he were trying to keep control of himself. He held out a hand as an invitation to follow him.

“Come on, I know what you need.”

I hesitated.

“Dovah ...”

“Yes?”

“You have blood. Everywhere,” I added, after a brief moment.

His gaze crossed mine; a cold blade devoid of humanity.

“And?”

“Why? Who?”

He didn’t answer me right away, but I had the impression, truly incredible, that the hue of his irises had darkened dramatically.

“At night, I kill monsters, my lady. Monsters with teeth so sharp they’d make mincemeat of your delicious, milky skin. I watch and protect. I atone. I release one terror to annihilate other, nastier ones. That’s how it is. Sleep flees me. Darkness torments me. I am a cursed being.”

With a snap of his fingers, Dovah was right up against me, his warm breath gently caressing my ear. I shivered.

“You risk nothing with me. Be proud of this fact, you may be the only one in this chaotic world of ours. The day when our bodies, but also our souls, are definitively linked through sacred love, you will become invincible ... immortal,” he finished in an almost inaudible tone.

My whole being tensed, but it wasn’t an unpleasant tension. He remained like that until my body absorbed the warmth of his. Suddenly, he stood up abruptly and offered me his hand again.

“It is not the blood of the innocent that stains the ground beneath your feet. So come.”

I accepted it, just as I had entrusted my life to him on our wedding day.

It was what the Osacanians called an oasis. A watering hole bordered by tall trees with braided trunks and enormous triangular leaves shaped like fish tails.

“You can cool off,” announced Dovah, pointing to the large expanse of calm water.

The night seemed peaceful, with a clear sky of a thousand stars and the moon, as round as a loaf of bread, shining brightly.

What a wonderful place! I took one step forward, then another, until the tips of my toes brushed the deliciously cold water.

I smiled, strangely happy at the idea of swimming. This was rarely possible in Muvaria.

“I can’t swim very well,” I warn him without turning around. “Just enough to avoid drowning when our lakes freeze over, if ever ...”

I paused. Dovah was behind me: very, very close, in fact. Again. I often had the intuition that he couldn’t help it, or even that he hardly noticed his own behaviour.

“Stay where you are. I’m here anyway. I am a very good swimmer.”

He kissed the back of my neck. A quick kiss, but gentle. Yet it seemed as if I now had an indelible mark where he had pressed his lips. I was reacting to his touch. There was no denying it. It was beyond me.

Unsettled, I didn’t dare turn around, so I just listened to him shed his armour.

“Do you need help?” I finally asked, out of a clear conscience.

I knew from experience that removing this kind of heavy equipment was usually no easy task. He laughed kindly.