My captor wasn’t holding me by the arm this time. He didn’t need to. We both recognized that his display of power outside had broken my will to attempt escape again.

At least for tonight.

He walked across the hall, and I kept shaky pace beside him, knowing that he was leading me somewhere though not quite knowing where. I stole a sideways glance, observing him in the strange orange light that seemed to emanate from lantern-like rocks along the walls. He looked more like some cruel fae prince, or a fallen god, than an alien. Rugged yet regally cut jaw and cheekbones, hair like midnight moon, an entire sprawling starscape etched into his skin and wings.

Beside him like this, I could get a sense of how truly huge he was. At least seven feet tall, with shoulders that seemed even more broad than they really were because of the wings. His dark reddish, fox-like tail and ears were features he shared with the other two aliens who’d been here before, but though clearly somehow related, it was obvious they weren’t the exact same species. Comparing the other two to him would have been like comparing sparrows to a dragon.

We reached the foot of the hall’s impressive curving staircase, made of more deep green crystal. The centre of the staircase was plush with some kind of white fur carpeting. For an absurd moment, I wanted to take off my boots so I didn’t ruin it. Nearly bent to do it, too. Old habits die hard.

The alien began ascending the stairs without even turning back to see if I’d followed. The arrogance in that astounded and enraged me. He won’t check if I’m behind him because he knows I will be. Trailing behind him like a fucking puppy, helpless to do anything else.

I stood shaking and seething at the bottom of the stairs, wanting to plant myself there, to wait so long that he’d have to turn around and see I hadn’t followed. I was desperate to take a stand, in some small way, now that I knew I couldn’t run. But I was afraid of what would happen if I did. And while I wrestled with what to do, he kept moving up the steps in measured strides. One. Two. Three. With every step he took, my nerve dwindled. Four. Five. My mouth went dry, palms sweating in my gloves. Six. When his foot touched down on the seventh step, he halted. He remained there for a moment, one foot higher than the other, thick leg muscles on display in his tight leather-looking trousers. For the first time, I noticed the material wasn’t just black, but stained with bright silver-white, like smeared paint. It was coming from his skin above, coursing in shimmering rivulets. Now that I’d noticed it, I saw it everywhere – running in narrow trails down his arms and splattered across his wings.

Is he... bleeding?

If he was, it didn’t seem to be bothering him, at least to my eyes. He practically thrummed with restrained power as he posed on the stairs, his muscle-corded arms loose and relaxed by his sides, his stance perfectly balanced between the two steps. He stood entirely still except for his head, which turned in a subtle movement to the left, allowing me a glimpse of his hard jaw and nose in a one-quarter profile view. I doubted he could even see me from that angle, and yet I suddenly felt completely exposed. Stripped bare by a set of eyes that weren’t even on me.

Swallowing hard, I mounted the first step. He faced fully forward once again and continued walking.

And just like the bastard knew I would, I followed.

WE MOUNTED SO MANY stairs I grew dizzy and thought I’d fall all the way back down. These trees, or towers, or whatever they were, were definitely as large on the inside as they’d appeared on the outside. Eventually, we ended up on a broad landing of sorts. On each side of the landing was an opening that led into what looked like a tunnel. I’d seen this from the outside, I realized. Suspended, tubular walkways made of crystal that connected the three towers to each other. Without pausing, the alien headed for the exit to our left, stepping out onto the protected walkway.

My failed moment of defiance at the bottom of the stairs taught me not to bother standing around here. Whatever was ahead – pain or prison cell – I had to face it. I could walk. Or I could get dragged.

I hurried to catch up.

I gulped as I stepped into the suspended tunnel. I couldn’t help but peek downwards, immediately wishing I hadn’t. The crystal was translucent, which made it seem like I was walking on something that only half-existed. The ground below was a dizzying distance away. My stomach twisted and dropped.

Gritting my teeth, I wrenched my eyes up, finding the alien further ahead. It was quite a long tunnel, at least twenty metres, maybe more. Even though it was cold in here, I ripped off my gloves and shoved them into my parka’s pockets, needing to feel the solid tunnel wall with my bare skin. I remained close to the right side of the walkway, my hand moving along the rounded wall as if I couldn’t see and needed to feel my way along.

I tried my best not to look down again. For a while, I kept my gaze fastened to the winged alien’s back. But before long, it drifted to the walls and ceiling of the tunnel. The crystal shards hadn’t been randomly put together, but, like the floor in the entrance hall, had been artfully arranged. It created a stained-glass effect. Starlight filtered through crystal flowers and fields above my head, dappling my white snowsuit and the alien’s hair with petals of light – rose and lilac and jade.

Was that a good thing? That this alien’s home (at least, I assumed it was his home) was beautiful? That he appreciated art, or nature, or both? That aesthetic and design were considered important? It made him seem a little more human, at least, but that wasn’t necessarily a point in his favour. Look what humans did to me.

The starlight gleamed in his blood.

And to him.

We reached the end of the tunnel, emerging onto another landing. If what I remembered from my brief view from the outside was correct, this tower was slightly shorter than the largest centre one we’d just come from, and the tunnel connected somewhere close to the shorter tower’s pointed top. And yet, there were still more fucking stairs.

I sucked in a breath, swallowed my groan of complaint, and started to climb.

OceanofPDF.com

OceanofPDF.com

CHAPTER TWELVE Wylfrael

Aiko met us on the stairs, descending to the landing outside the room I’d chosen just as we reached it.

“Ah! My lord! The chambers are prepared. There was not much to do. Though we did not know when you would return, we have kept everything ready for you.”

“Thank you,” I grunted. I stepped aside, making room for the panting, wobbling human who trailed behind me. At several points on the walk here, I didn’t think she’d make it. But every time I paused, sensing the need to go back and haul her up myself, she’d made it abundantly clear she did not want any assistance. She didn’t have much further to go, now. The only thing left above this landing was the room I’d chosen for her, and it was directly overhead.

“Take her up to her room,” I said to Aiko, jerking my chin at the human. “I assume she eats, so bring her a meal.”

The human watched me flatly. All the warmth was gone from her eyes in the gloom of the stairwell, endless obsidian pools.

For some reason, that bothered me.

“And bring a blasted firestone for this landing,” I said, more curtly than I’d intended. “It’s too dark here.”