Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

11

It was a struggle to hold Marius’s stare as he made himself known at the threshold of his room.

“May I come in?” he asked, voice dripping with velvet.

I fussed with the sheets, making the bed and puffing the pillows. Doing anything to busy my mind from the dream that had occupied it. But it did not work. “You left me last night,” I said through a slight pout.

“I did.” I had to admire his bluntness. “And I come with an apology.”

I glanced up at him as he clearly held something concealed behind his back with both hands. The jacket Marius adorned today was midnight black and had a cloak attached to the collar which swept proudly behind him. His white locks had been combed over to the side, not a single hair out of place.

I realised all too late that my pause in response was noted as Marius smiled, following my gaze as I searched him up and down.

“Is something wrong?” A single brow lifted in question.

I turned my back on him and sighed. “I am trapped in this castle knowing that my end is weeks away. Of course something is wrong.”

It sounded funny, even to me, as I spoke the complaint aloud.

“Well put.” Marius voice was right behind me now, forcing a small yelp to escape my lips, silenced by his hand as it rested upon my tensed shoulder. “I did not mean to frighten you.”

Beneath his touch, my stomach jolted. Yesterday I was confident that I had him in the palm of my hand. But the dream had left me feeling a way I could not explain.

I turned to him, keeping my face void of expression. Shrugging his touch off my shoulder, I stepped back until the frame of the bed pressed into my lower calves. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this evening, Marius?”

Marius pulled a face, fingers flexing where they hovered in the air. “If my disappearance last night has truly angered you, perhaps this will help.” He held in his hand a small china plate. Atop it was a single bun, glazed with white icing and drizzled with an amber, sticky substance. “A sweet treat as promised.”

“You are far too late,” I lied, stomach grumbling in disagreement with what I said. His lips curled upwards as I snatched the plate from his hands. “But I will take it.”

My body clock had changed dramatically since arriving. Only a few days of sleeping during the day and staying awake during the night had settled over me with ease. It felt as though I should be eating breakfast now, even though the crescent moon hung in the darkened sky beyond the window.

I used the sweet bun as an excuse not to speak to Marius who stood, longingly, before me as I ate it. Each swallow became harder as my throat dried in response to his stare. He did not look at my eyes as I ate. No. His gaze flicked down to my lips, transfixed by them. I found myself raising my hand to block his view out of discomfort.

As if shaking himself from the trance he spoke. “I was hoping you would join me for a stroll this evening?”

“Where?” I said through a mouthful. The glazing was thick and stuck to my teeth. It seemed to amuse Marius who hid his smile with his slender fingers. “I fear I have searched every corner of this castle and you will not see me stepping foot beyond it because the threat of those creatures are enough to keep me comfortably inside.”

“Need I remind you that the blood hounds will not hurt you if I am with you. And I do not mean to disappoint but you are wrong about this place. My home has many rooms in which you have not yet stumbled across.”

I scrunched my face, lips covered in powdered sugar. Marius leaned forward and, with his thumb, cleared my lower lip. Ice. His touch was so cold my lip faltered beneath it. I could not move, not as he lifted his hand to his own mouth and sucked the remnants of white powder from his thumb.

It became hard to swallow as I watched him take his time making sure not a single speck of sugar was left.

“I forgot the delights of food,” he moaned through a grimace.

“You do not eat?” I asked, remembering how he had not touched anything during our supper the evening before.

“There is no need to eat, unlike humans who must feed themselves to survive. For me food is something to busy myself with, but if I did not eat it would not make much difference to me.”

I knew so little of him. All my life I had studied this creature yet it was becoming more apparent daily that Mother and the coven’s teachings had barely scraped the surface of this enigma.

“Care to join me then?” He turned on his heel, extending a bent arm to me in offering.

I stared at the waiting, crook of his arm as though it was the answer to the universe’s deepest secrets. Marius must have sensed my hesitation in taking up his offer. The remnant memory of the dream was still so real. Too real. Marius put his arm down to his side and waved dramatically with the other for the door. “Please, follow me.”

* * *

Marius was right. There was much of this castle I had not explored. As I followed him swiftly through seemingly endless corridors and up curving stairwells, I was left muddled as to where I was. The further we climbed up through the castle, the more the darkness seemed to shift to reveal unseen rooms and unexplored pathways. I almost questioned him on what lay in the deep pits of the castle, the same area I had drunkenly followed him into. Was that where his servants stayed, preparing all the food and drink that had been presented to me? I gathered from their conversation last night the mysterious servants of this dwelling had to keep out of the way. Once again I buried my interest, for now was not the time.

“I was certain I had been everywhere,” I said, breathless from yet another climb up a grand staircase to another upper floor of the castle.

Marius carried an iron chamberstick with a single white pillar candle burning. The flame did little to cut through the darkness of the castle, but it did not deter Marius from walking forward with confidence. “The dark can play tricks on one’s mind. I did not want you to simply stumble here so the dark acts as a shroud to keep unwanted visitors out. If I will it so.”

I skipped up a step, his strides long and powerful. “You make it seem that the darkness is a thing that can do your own bidding.”

Marius slowed to a stop, so abruptly that I nearly bumped into the back of him. I caught the shift of his movement as he raised a hand over the flame, fingers outstretched. “It does.” He curled his fingers into a fist and the flame in the candle dimmed. Not because it shrunk in size, or was blown out by a gust of unseen wind. I watched as the darkness that hovered beyond the halo of light fought for control. Shadows of darkness spun around the flame hungrily, blanketing it in gloom. If I squinted, I still could see the glow of orange, but it was faint, like looking through a curtain of liquid obsidian.

“Incredible,” I spoke without truly thinking.

“You are not frightened?” Marius questioned.

“More intrigued than fearful,” I replied, as the flame sprung back to life with the removal of Marius’s hand. “That power should not be possible.”

“There is nothing about me that should be possible, Jak.”

It was the curse. There was no other explanation for what Marius had just revealed to me. I knew he was not a witch, not when my own ancestor gifted him with this life. He was a greedy, selfish man. One that was mundane and lacking any natural ability. Not like me.

“Your silence unnerves me.”

I laid my hand upon his arm, revelling in the slice of surprise that widened his handsome features. “Says the beast that will soon kill me. If anyone deserve the right to be unnerved, it is I.”

He winced, even in the minimal light from the candle I saw it. “If I had the choice…”

“What exactly are you going to show me?” I interrupted. “Because I fear my legs will soon give out if you have me walk up any more stairs.”

“We are close.” Marius faced the corridor. “It has been many years since I last invited a Claim up here.”

“You still have not explained where here is exactly.”

Marius continued his walk forward, leaving me in his wake. “You will soon see.”

The destination waited beyond the door at the far end of the darkened corridor. It was closed, like all the others we passed. Marius handed the chamberstick to me as he fussed with a key he had fished from the breast pocket of his jacket. For such dramatic mystery, Marius took his sweet time unlocking it.

He pushed the door open and I was bathed in light. I raised a hand to block out the sudden flare of orange and gold, almost catching my hair alight from the candle I still gripped onto.

Then a warmth washed over me. Its welcoming embrace relaxing both my limbs and mind.

Marius kept the door open as he invited me to enter. “After you.”

I did not hesitate to enter a moment longer. Before me was a vision of excellence. Towering shelves of dark mahogany, each filled completely with books of different sizes and bindings. Twin roaring fires sat at either end of the long, yet narrow room. Before the largest fire sat a plump chair. Gold clawed feet held up the velvet upholstery. I could only imagine sitting upon its plush cushioning would have felt like dwelling on a warm cloud.

“What is this place?”

I inhaled, breathing in the scent of sandalwood and ink. On a large desk sat open glass bottles of black liquid that I could only guess was the origin of the smell.

Writing ink. And a desk covered in loose, empty pages.

“A kitchen.”

I paused, turning to Marius who chuckled into the crook of his arm. “This is my study. A haven for me of sorts. This room was my sanctuary long before I was cursed to never leave it. I thought you would like to see it. Take it as yet another apology for my… rude disappearance last night.”

Walking towards the shelves, I noticed the thick layering of dust across them. Looking back to the desk, I could see where the papers had not been moved for a time as they too were framed with dust. This room had not been used in a long while. All but the newly lit fires had changed. Even they still had the remnants of cobwebs across the piles of untouched brickwork.

“Could you not have dusted before you brought me here?” I held a finger to my nose to fight the sneeze.

Marius looked away for a brief moment. “It was a spur of the moment decision.”

“Yet you had the time to light two fires?” I pushed.

“I did not light them,” Marius said coldly, closing us in the room. “Besides the obvious need for a—” he ran his finger across the untouched desk “—clean, what do you think?”

“Well I’m not much of a reader, but I must say I’m impressed,” I replied, neck aching as I swung my gaze around the room.

“That is the first thing you have said that truly makes me ready to end you.”

Silence thickened between us.

“I am only joking,” Marius said, rubbing the back of his neck.

I forced a laugh. “Messy and inappropriate. What two charming qualities you have.”

Marius flashed a grin, one that did not reach his ruby eyes. He pulled a plain, oak carved chair from beneath the desk and sat down upon it. From his seat he studied me, as I continued to examine the room.

“It has been so long that it seems the chair has forgotten my shape.” Marius wiggled in the seat.

“Is there a reason?” I scanned the tomes before me, drifting a careful finger across the leathered spines. Some had ridges, others were smooth. What I had told him was true, I was not much of a reader. Besides studying the coven’s many grimoires, Mother did not let me read works of fiction. Stories distract the mind, and I need yours to be as sharp as a knife. As clear as glass.

“There are memories in this room that I had long wanted to keep behind a locked door.”

“What has changed now?”

I kept my back to him so he could not see me grin when he responded. “I am alone most of the year. Forgive me for wanting company when I can get it.”

“Except you are not alone,” I said, pulling a book from the shelf. Holding it in both hands, I opened it carefully, worried the ancient pages would simply crumble beneath my touch. “You do not light fires. Nor do you prepare the food that is presented so wonderfully every day. You say no one else lives inside this castle but…” I turned to him, looking up from the book to where he sat. “I do not believe you.”

“Kristia,” Marius said.

“What?” Confusion furrowed my brow.

“The book you are holding. It is about Kristia.”

I flipped the page, revealing the swirling writing of beautiful calligraphy. A single word, just as Marius had said it. Kristia.

“She was the fourth Claim that was sent to me. A shy girl, but the further I got to know her the more I sensed the fire within her. I have not met another like her.”

“And you just so happen to have a novel about her.”

“Wrong… I just so happened to write a novel about her.”

I flipped the page yet again. Once, twice, until the pages were filled with handwritten words. The pages so full and sentences so close together that it seemed there was no space left.

“I do not understand.”

“I brought you here so you could learn something about me. You think me a beast. Katharine and those before her have told me the stories people believe about me. And most of them are true. But I do not want to… kill anyone. I never have. Unfortunately you will soon see that I am not in control when it happens. I simply cease to exist for that final night. I understand this is strange to you, and you did not choose this. And I apologise for discussing the matter of your demise so frankly. But I too did not choose you. Just like I did not choose those who came before you. In truth, this room fills me with nothing but guilt. It is my reminder of what I have done, and what I will do again.”

I could not breathe as Marius spoke. Nor could I take my eyes off his. Not once did he blink as he spoke to me, unravelling his story as I held onto another of his.

“That book, and those around you, are my way of dealing with the guilt. I write stories for those whose lives I take. Create worlds and futures on pages in which I know they will never get to live. It is my way of honouring them.”

“Sounds like a lot of effort to me.” I couldn’t fathom it. Even holding the proof in my hands it did not seem real.

By the time I took my eyes off the page Marius was before me. His movements soundless and light. He took the weight of the book from my hands, closed it and turned it so the spine was facing upwards.

“Kristia is one of many of those stories I have conjured. You are welcome to read them… in your own time though. Just the thought of someone going through my work in front of me unnerves me.”

I crossed my arms, unsure what to do with them. What Marius had divulged did not sit well within me. It caused a strange, unwelcome tugging in my chest.

“Will you write one for me?” I asked, sharply.

There I went again, pushing the boundaries of the topic knowing full well Marius would not live long enough to write my name on the inside of a book.

“I will.”

I stepped towards him, closing the small gap until the book he held was the only thing separating us.

“And what will it say?”

Marius breathed deeply, eyes flicking across every inch of my face.

“That is yet to be determined.”

Being this close to Marius after the dream I had made my stomach jolt. I fought to hold his stare and keep up this illusion of confidence. But being so close made my knees shake.

“I fear I have lied to you about something,” Marius muttered, his face inches from mine.

Me too.

“Tell me.” I peered deep into his blood-red eyes, wondering how far I could see into his soul.

“There is someone I would gladly kill, without thought or hesitation.”

My arms prickled as his voice softened to a whisper.

“Who?” I said, watching his stare follow the movement of my lips.

“The witch that did this to me. I know she has since died, but I also know that her family live on. And one day, when I find a way out of this place, I will be certain to rain hell on them all. Out of the memory of those I have been made to kill, I will do it. For them.” He gestured to the bookshelves. “And for you, Jak.”

His cold touch found my chin and held it.

I parted my mouth to respond, but there was nothing I could say. His warning made the air around me so thick that it was almost impossible to breathe. And I was certain he felt my body tremble in the aftershock of his threat.

There, in that moment, deep in the stormy pits of his gaze, I felt the presence of the beast I had been brought up to hate. I sensed his hatred as though it was a scent in the air. It was palpable, honest and true.

Yet the worst part was the bud of fear that twisted far down in my gut. What Marius said was not a warning.

It was a promise.