Crown of Thorns (Legends and Lovers)

Follow the signs, came a voice in my head. In a blink of an eye, I saw a phantom arrow to the left and went that way. The next junction I didn’t slow. I continued on, trusting the next sign would appear in time. It did. Left again.

Not used to vigorous exercise, I felt my energy waning. I pushed forward and felt relief at spotting an opening that didn’t lead to the beach.

Only the man with glowing eyes stepped into the opening and blocked my path.

I spun too late. Hands caught me around my waist as I was flung in the air. I landed over the shoulders of the beast—or whatever he was—as a cry of something more than pain came from not too far behind me.

“We must hurry,” he said, his voice more guttural than it had been before.

I used my fist to beat his back. But like the fish had been to the bird I’d seen earlier, I was helpless prey to be swallowed in one gulp.

Four

Consciousness came to me in a rush before my vision. I lay there in a bed more comfortable than any I’d known.

After not hearing movement nearby, I fluttered my eyes open. It was as if blinking would clear the images of a room that wasn’t mine from my head. I was cautious not to make too much noise as I took in my immediate surroundings. The bed with its four posts held up a grand canopy the color of walnut. There was little doubt I wasn’t at home. As much as I wanted the events of the recent past to be a dream, the clues I’d been given suggested otherwise.

Was the beast who had carried me off in the room with me?

“Miss?”

I might have been scared out of my skin if I had not seen the girl before she’d spoken. She was dressed in a maid’s outfit from centuries in the past—a sack-colored dress covered by a white apron with a matching white bonnet upon her head.

“You are awake,” she said, in a bid to gain my attention. “I brought you tea.”

The tray she held indeed had a steaming mug sat upon it. She walked over to a side table and set the tray down.

“Is there anything else you require?”

“No,” I said, my voice croaking from disuse.

“If you are hungry, dinner is being served in the dining room.”

I nodded before closing my eyes. The events of the day fell heavy on me. How I had screwed things up. I just wanted to be home. For all its prison qualities, it felt safer than the unknown.

As much as I tried, the alluring man with golden eyes coalesced in my head, even though I hadn’t been focused on him. I’d been trying to get away. Now, I had nothing but time to remember his glossy black hair that fanned over broad shoulders and ripped chest—at least what I could see of it from the loose tunic top he’d worn. He was handsome in a way that would be pleasing to most who gazed upon him.

Even I, who wouldn’t have said a man with hair as long as mine was attractive, was drawn to him like a fly to a trap. The only word to describe him was beautiful.

It was the menace in his gaze that chilled my bones. Though he could grace the heavens with his beauty, it was hell that I saw in his eyes.

Annoyed with myself for fawning over a man, I finally got out of bed. The room was fit for a princess, from the royalty-like bed to the delicate bench that sat in front of it, elegant in style with classic button tufting resting atop turned wood legs that looked hand carved. The rest of the furniture in the room matched its style.

It was an antique for sure. Given all the time I had at home, I’d dreamed of a room like this. Every piece looked custom crafted specifically for this room.

Even the heavy drapes that covered most of one wall must have cost more than I could imagine. When I reached them, fine silks slid over my fingertips as I pushed them aside to peek out the window.

My perch afforded me a view from high above. Down far below and out a ways was the beach. The moon lit the sky enough for me to see from the water to the hedge I’d fled through. Closer in was a garden manicured to dazzle those that would gaze upon it, even in little light.

Yet it was the figure at the water’s edge, a stallion, that had captivated me as it turned in my direction. Though I couldn’t be certain, it felt like he was staring directly at me. It was disconcerting enough that I shifted back, allowing the curtain to fall back in place, hiding me from his gaze.