Lair of Beasts [Book I in the Curse Of Blood Saga]

Chapter I - The Wedding Night

1370 AD (Present day)

My maid, Astrid, had placed two fresh tapers on the mantlepiece, which was unnecessary since the fire she'd started in the hearth cast a soft glow that reached all four corners of Lucian's bed chamber. It crackled heartily, echoing throughout the silent room as it steadily began to thaw the frozen stones beneath my bare feet. Would that it could banish the dread from my breast as well as it did the cold. I waited, wiping the constant stream of nervous tears from my cheeks. I cared little that my eyes were swollen and unattractively red.

Perhaps he won't come. I then scoffed at myself. Of course he'll come!

What a lark! How droll I was being tonight. I was unable to sit still, my hands needing constant occupation lest I go mad with the waiting. Ergo, I sat on a stool in front of the fireplace, combing out my jetty locks and feigning a calm I did not feel — as attested by my agitated knee, bouncing rhythmically to some wild tattoo; possibly the violent tempo of my poor quavering heart?

I waited. Still, he stayed away. The rushlights stood now halfway burned, the telltale indication of the passage of time. Our apartments, his apartments, were situated directly over the great hall and I could still hear the hurly burly carousing and clamor of celebration that seemed unlikely to diminish till dawn, by the sounds of things.

Perchance he may imbibe himself into a stupor and be unable to...

However, that was a useless notion and only served to bedevil me further so, In lieu of fruitless speculation, I turned my attention back to the din in the great hall. I could well imagine how terribly frigid the rest of the castle chambers might be tonight, except Godwin's of course, considering they were not built atop the hall, and its massive fireplace, as this room was — I was yet cold, albeit not as much as I might have been were I currently established elsewhere.

This land seemed cursed with crippling winters that culled the population each year and I wondered if I would survive this night only to waste away from the arctic midnight months ahead. Although that was unlikely in as much as I had endured perfectly fine thus far, several years in fact, and had never been confined to a sickbed; ere now — I was sick with trepidation and the giant bed, now flooded by firelight, seemed to taunt me cruelly.

I nearly yanked the hair from my scalp when the door flew open, a veritable gust of cool air announcing my husband's dreaded arrival. How strange that still sounded. Husband. He appeared to me thus, abruptly and without the warning of approaching footsteps, venting out the warmth that had tentatively began to tepefy the room.

The little hairs at my nape stood instantly erect, gooseflesh spreading lightning fast across my skin, and I was not altogether certain the chill he'd allowed in was solely to blame for the static in the air. Meanwhile, he had said nothing. Simply closed the door and watched me silently with a predatory glint in those disquieting amber eyes. I eschewed his gaze directly, never able to meet his stare long for fear he'd entice my very soul straight through my casements.

I stood therewith and moved to the window, after placing my comb on the vacated stool, to stare into the atramentous void without. The stars shunned me tonight, but 'twas the moon I yearned for; to paint her light upon that inky canvas — to bear witness to this hour. I should have gorged myself on wine so that I too could sink into oblivion as she had done... behind the blanket of thick cloud. Why was I feeling so awkward. So nervous. Had it been merely my imagination or had things seemed easier between us of late? Why then were we acting like strangers tonight?

Two steely arms appeared on either side of me as Lucian pressed his palms into the windowsill, level with my heaving chest. It always surprised and unsettled me they way he moved so silently despite being a man of so large a frame — as of a stalking cat. He made no move to touch me so I closed my eyes and imagined that I was yet alone. A most absurd endeavor, for I could feel the air betwixt our bodies thrumming with bridled energy. We, neither of us, said aught; yet the tension rained as clear as tempest fire.