Lord of Eternal Night by Ben Alderson

9

Istudied myself before the mirror, this time wearing more than just the loose nightshirt I had found yesterday.

Someone had been in my room as I’d slept. For the pile of clothing had been laid out ready for me at the end of the bed. The thought unnerved me, knowing someone had watched as I slept. Being vulnerable was a new feeling, yet I woke without harm. That was enough to prevent the feeling from becoming overwhelming.

The clothes were grand. Each thread screamed wealth and privilege. The perfect outfit for the supper I had been invited to. One that I clearly had no choice but to accept — not that I would have declined.

The jacket was made from velvet. Each touch left marks in the dark navy material. In the candlelight it looked as though I wore the very ocean captured at midnight. I turned my body, from left to right, taking in the beauty of the material.

The breeches were fitting, hugging my slender legs to the cuff which was held together by a button made from the iridescent belly of a shell.

Everything was tailored to my body. All besides the shirt that was countless sizes too big. If it was not for the jacket holding the shirt in place, it would have slipped over my shoulders each time I moved.

I could have tied it up at the neck with the cream cords that were strung loosely. But I didn’t. I kept my neck on show purposefully.

I took my time preparing my brown hair, smoothing it down with the cool water that had been left in the tub. I ran my hand through my fringe, tucking it backwards to expose as much of my face as I could.

My weapon. More powerful than my magic could be against a creature of notable hunger.

He wants a feast. So I shall give him one.

* * *

“At last, he arrives.”Marius stood at the head of the table. He wore a dark cloak of shadow that swallowed the chair he had only moments before sat upon. “I was beginning to believe you would simply ignore my invitation.”

“I did not realise I had a choice,” I answered, walking towards the chair that Marius gestured towards.

“One always has a choice.”

“They do?”

Marius teeth chattered as he smiled. “You interest me, Jak. I cannot deny that.”

I forced my own smile and bowed my head. “I am no more than a boring, simple Claim. I am certain you have had far more interesting company than what I can offer.”

“Perhaps,” he mused, “there is time left for that to be determined.”

I held his stare, and he kept mine, as I pulled my chair out and sat.

“I trust you slept well,” he said, still standing long after I took a seat.

“I did.”

He lifted his chin, nostrils flaring. “And you took up the not-so-subtle offer to wash?”

As his gaze traced me, I lifted a gentle finger and ran it across my collarbone, slowly until I was certain his eyes followed my every move.

“It was glorious.”

Marius sighed as I dropped my touch and picked up the silverware beside the empty plate. Without looking back at him, I began to fill my plate with the delectable foods that waited around me.

Our conversation was a string of short sentences. I found conversation hard to start as I busied myself with the food, whereas I felt Marius was silent for other reasons.

“Not that you need me to offer, but please help yourself.” Marius finally sat, which settled the nerves that itched beneath my skin. “You must be hungry.”

“Famished,” I said, picking a charred leg of cooked meat that must have been chicken.

Marius whispered, enough for me to hear, “You have no idea.”

He sat watching me, his stare burrowing into my soul. But not once did I look up, focused on piling my plate even more just to keep myself busy.

I usually preferred the quiet of silence, but as time went on I could not bear it. “Are you not hungry?” I questioned, flicking a forkful of meat at him. Marius had not touched anything, his hands remaining in his lap as he watched me.

“Starving.”

My blood chilled, the skin across my exposed neck tickling beneath his stare. “Then eat.”

Marius groaned, rocking back in his chair. “There is not a single item on this table that would satisfy me, Jak.”

I shrugged, keeping my gaze low. “Suit yourself. I trust you did not prepare all of this for me? Or all the food presented to me since my arrival?”

Marius raised his hands, both of them in surrender. “Do these hands looked overworked?”

I scoffed, taking my time to chew on the chicken that dangled from my fork.

“It seems that little has changed in the way of conversation, Jak. Still your kind discuss small matters such as weather, or in your case, food. Let us have more of a deeper, more interesting conversation.”

His comment was an insult buried beneath his posh accent. As though I had been slapped with a feather.

“Then please, ask away,” I told him, swallowing the lump of food that struggled down my dry throat.

“There is something about your participation in the previous evening’s events that do not sit right to me.”

I almost choked.

“Would you be so kind as to explain what happened again. Truly, it is extremely… interesting to me.”

I held Marius’s stare. He wanted me to trip up, I could sense his distrust. “Is it hard to believe I do not have the bravery to take on one of your hellish beasts?”

Marius huffed, rocking back with his arms behind his head. Muscles flexed, threatening to rip his jacket. “I do not doubt your bravery. You raised a hand to me only moments after I welcomed you into my home.”

“You make it seem that my visit here is something worthy of welcome.”

“Then we should toast.” Marius nails tapped on the glass he raised. “To my hundredth Claim.”

“You do not eat, but you drink?” I asked, studying the red wine that sloshed within his glass. He kept looking at me as he raised the rim to his lips and took a swig. The wine stained his already dark lips. The vision of him biting his own wrist flooded my memory.

“I drink because I am thirsty. Wine has been the only substance to curb the deeper appetite the curse bestowed on me.”

Intrigue spurred me to question further. “And what is it you crave?”

I knew. I did not need to ask, but I could see the glint in his dark gaze when the subject was brought up. The lust he had for it made his lips part and his tongue traced his lower lip.

“Blood.”

I lowered my glass back to the table, shrugging off his comment and digging back into my food even though my appetite had dissipated in that moment. I left the meat on the plate, opting for the boiled and seasoned potato.

“Where do you go during the days?” I asked, changing the subject to one that did not threaten the contents of my stomach to reappear.

“Why do you care to know?”

“You asked for conversation and I am giving it to you. Questions breed answers, is that not what you want?”

Marius released a bated breath. “Tell me about yourself instead, Jak. I find myself wanting to know more of your life before you were so unfortunate to be delivered to me.”

“Has Katharine not told you about me? I thought that was the point of her visits.”

“I do not care to know about my Claims. It is part of the mystery, waiting to learn of their stories myself.”

“Stories,” I huffed. “So you are a keen reader?”

“More of a writer. But enough about me. I asked about you, yet I am coming to understand you are skilled at diverting the topic from yourself. It is as if you have something to hide.”

As do you, I thought, forcing a smile.

Part of my training was for this moment exactly. Weaving a lie to tell him of myself. To paint a picture I want for Marius to see of me.

“Then ask away.” I waved a steady hand, whereas my leg beneath the table was bouncing uncontrollably.

“Tell me of your home.”

I focused on the food and let my false story loose.

“My father is a baker. My mother a seamstress. I spend my time flitting between both and helping. Our home is used as the bakery and Mother works from the back rooms.”

“You are good with your hands?”

I swallowed the lump of boiled potato. “Awful. Mother will do anything in her power to stop me from ruining her projects. And the most Father lets me do is split the flour, that is it.”

“Shame.” Marius shrugged. “And do you enjoy helping your parents?”

“I— no.”

“No? Then what is it you would have wanted to do in your life?”

I couldn’t answer aloud. To end you.

“It does not matter what I want now. Does it?”

He knew what I meant. For any other Claim, a visit to this place never resulted in a return home.

Marius’s grin melted away, his stare lost to a spot on the table. “Because you are to die.” His voice was as cold as his touch. It lasted only a moment before he shook himself out of the strange trance I had watched him slip into.

Opting to steer away from this conversation, I presented Marius with a question.

“What do you do during the rest of the year when you are not… entertaining your Claim?”

It was a question I truly wanted an answer to. I had longed stared up at this castle from my bedroom window. Studying the dark, lifeless windows and seemingly empty place. It was only during the month of the Claiming when the castle came to life.

“I wait.”

“That sounds awfully dull,” I joked, trying to lighten the suddenly heavy atmosphere that laid upon the room.

“Time is an odd concept in this place. It has taken me years to not dwell on it. For the more I did in the beginning, the more I let myself slip into madness.”

A just punishment.

As I thought it, his inquisitive stare settled on mine and held it. His furrowed brow made me believe for a second that he could infiltrate my thoughts.

“It is my turn again.” He groaned, lifting the rim of the glass to his lips and holding it there.

“For what?” I said, licking the dregs of wine from my lower lip. Appetite was failing me as the beast bored into me. Instead, I opted for a chug of fruitful, red wine to dull my anxiety at the questions to follow.

“It is my turn to ask you a question.” Marius leaned forward on the table, finger tapping his defined jaw. “What did you know of me before you were chosen as my Claim?”

“You want to know?”

He waved a hand, urging me on. “Entertain me… please.”

Little is more.Lamiere’s words echoed in my mind and my chest warmed at the memory of the old maiden.

“I know you were cursed for killing the betrothed of Morgane De’Fray.” My own great-grandmother.

He scoffed, draining his own glass of wine in one fell swoop. “Go on,” he said, teeth stained red.

“That you have lived out your days in an eternal cycle. One that can never be broken.”

Lie. I will break it.

“I know that those who are sent to your castle never return home.”

“Why?”

I kept my face straight, no matter how the wine I had devoured made me want to act. “You kill them.”

“Why?” he asked again, a low hiss sounding from the back of his throat.

“To drink from them, to keep yourself—”

“Without pain!” Marius shouted, standing abruptly and slamming his palms on the table. It shook beneath the force, glass and china hitting into each other in a chorus of high-pitched clinks. “I drink because I must. Every year I have asked these same questions hoping that I may hear something else in response. To share in my own confusion as to what the bitch turned me into. And every year the same, empty, answers are provided. Believe it or not, Claim, I know little more than you.”

I stood, swaying slightly. “My name is Jak.”

The flames of the many candles across the table sang to me, willing for me to reach out for them. But I resisted, only just.

“And I do not care.”

I pushed from the table, not caring about the chair that fell across the floor in a bang.

“Where are you going?” Marius hissed, demand dripping from his tone.

“To bed.” I kept my voice steady, fighting the urge to use magic as a means to shut the creature up.

“Dinner is not over,” Marius said, face twitching as it began to relax.

“Believe it or not, I have lost my appetite.”

Turning around, I took large steps away from the table, until Marius called out, “Wait… wait.” His deep voice cracked. “Please. My… my anger gets the best of me. It is that or I simply forget myself.”

I paused, his apology hanging in the air between us. I felt the need for magic slip away like butter over an open flame.

Get close to the beast. Lure him.

“I need more wine,” I said, turning back to face him and ignoring his apology. “And something sweet — that is my price.”

“Price to stay?”

I grinned, lowering my chin. “Precisely.”

“Then forgive my disappearance. I will return shortly.” With that he left through the door at the end of the dining hall. From his pocket he pulled a brass key and fit it into the door. One sharp turn and it unlocked, and he disappeared into the shadows beyond.

Marius left swiftly, just as I drank yet another glass of red wine in the same manner. Down to the bottom of the glass I drained it. Then another, and another, until my mind was fuzzy and eyes heavy and slow. It became apparent quickly that Marius was not returning. I must have sat like this for a while, waiting, with the hope that I was finally getting somewhere with him. Getting close to him as I had planned. But clearly, I was wrong.

The sky beyond the room lightened, signalling the arrival of dawn. And the disappearance of Marius for yet another day.

Frustrated, I wobbled from the chair, not caring as it tumbled to the floor. It was time for sleep, I knew that much. But as I walked towards the door I had entered in, I stopped.

Marius had not left for his promise of sweat treats through here. He had gone through the unexplored door at the back of the dining hall. The one that was still left ajar.

On awkward legs I stumbled towards it, ready to explore yet another part of this maze of brick and mortar.

Where do you hide, Marius?