A Ruin of Roses (Deliciously Dark Fairytales 1)

“How does she not believe in demons? They’re in the castle. They have their own kingdom.”

He laughed as he stopped in front of another door. “Isn’t that a kicker? She doesn’t actually go out at night! She doesn’t partake in any of the sex stuff, yet she still turned out nuts. There was no hope for any of us, I’m telling you. She goes into her room at sundown and re-emerges at dawn. Or thereabouts. Sometimes she sees demons, but she ignores them as if they weren’t there. It is the absolute strangest thing. I mean, in the beginning, we all thought it was just her way of getting through it all. After sixteen years, though?” He tilted his head. “It’s anyone’s guess. Also, you should get used to the taunting. We’re all dejected and miserable. Taunting each other is all we have anymore.”

“It’s a nightmare…”

“Cheers!” He scowled at me. “Damn it, don’t do that when I don’t have a drink. It just makes me want to go find a party. Right, okay, what about candle making? You can do scented ones, colored ones, and… I think that might be all.”

“No, thanks. I’m not really good at any of that kind of stuff.”

“Right. But you can get good. That’s the point.”

“Yeah, but…I have no interest.”

“Me either. Okay, what else? There is a puzzle room. I’ve been working on one for three years now.”

“Are you…not so good at puzzles?”

“No, I’m great at them, actually! I really love puzzles. It’s just the rest of these bastards aren’t any good, and they’ve mixed up all the pieces. So I’m essentially doing all the puzzles in the castle to try to sort everything out.” He pushed open a door into a jungle of small and large tables covered in partially finished puzzles. Pieces were strewn all over the place. Little pathways led in between them. Two people were currently sitting on the floor, bent over a section.

“Those are the misfit pieces! Don’t mix up the misfit pieces!” He pushed into the room quickly, walking as carefully through the puzzles as I had the everlass.

While he was busy, I continued a little farther down the hallway, wondering if I had the courage to try one of the other doors. Ahead, at the end of the hall, one of the double doors stood slightly ajar. I could just make out a shelf of books on the wall. My heart filled with joy, and I started that way.

“No, wait!” Hadriel jumped in front of me with his arms out. “Sorry, I can’t show you that yet. Master’s orders.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Why doesn’t he want me to see the library?”

“He takes great pride in that library. There’s a system for checking out books. He wants to go over it with you.”

I rolled my eyes for show, mostly. I couldn’t honestly fault Nyfain for that. With all of the shenanigans that went on here, he’d need to have a very good system for keeping track of books.

Still, I itched to check it out, to run my fingers across the spines. There was probably so much new knowledge in there it would make my head explode. If the only viable hobby for me was to read through that library, no one would ever hear a peep of complaint from me.

However, it was yet another thing I needed to see Nyfain about. Staying away from him wasn’t looking so feasible.

After a deep breath, I clued in to Hadriel rattling off other potential hobbies.

“Knitting?” he asked. I shook my head. “What about making pots out of clay?”

“How about archery? Or sword work. Fighting in general?”

“Anyone good at that stuff was killed. Obviously. Love, have you heard nothing I’ve said? They were the first to go.”

“Hunting? Surely you all need to eat?”

“The master takes care of hunting. But…maybe? I’ll mention it. What about…” He walked us a little farther along.

“What if we just look in the library? I won’t take anything.”

He made a pouty face. “Not this time, I’m afraid. He’s not a fun one to piss off. Soon, though, I promise. I will mention your desire. He loves those books. He’ll make the time for a fellow enthusiast, I guarantee it.” He looped his arm through mine and pointed right. “How about dancing or singing? Do you fancy learning a musical instrument?”

“It just feels like I should be doing something more useful than taking a class.”

He pulled back from me, his brow furrowed. “Maybe don’t say stuff like that. Oh, goddess save us, how are we going to keep the demons from making you have an accident we don’t walk away from? Notice I said we? Yeah, because I’ll end up perishing with you.”

Fire shot through my blood and my fingers tingled, my animal making it very clear about where she stood on demons trying to kill us. I agreed wholeheartedly.