Heartless

❆Seven❆

Seven

It had been two weeks since the offering and my brothers and I were still getting used to the idea of being "hosted" by our inhuman attackers. The days passed with the three of us barricading ourselves in Hendric's solitary bedchamber. We seldom left his side for more than a couple of hours when we needed to sleep. Kenji and I took shifts, but most of the nights passed with us simply sleeping on the floor. We'd slept on worse, and for stone it was oddly comfortable.

On the days where Hendric didn't seem well enough to talk, Kenji and I busied ourselves walking around the castle and mapping the layout of our captors' home. It didn't matter that they clothed and fed or showered us with euphoric baths and extravagant clothes— escape would never not be our goal. As soon as Hendric was healthy enough to walk outside without keeling over in pain, we would be long gone from this place. But for the time being, we smiled as nicely as we could manage without gagging and kept our guards up. It wasn't much different from living in Kinnot— everywhere you turned, someone was watching you. Here it felt like the exact same thing, only these people really were the monsters.

Today was the first time Lumea was allowing us outside. Surprisingly, her brother Beast hadn't objected. Then again, I hadn't seen him in several days. Not that I was complaining. Every time he was around I couldn't shake the feeling that I was some prey caught in his trap, exactly where he wanted me to be.

The second I felt the familiar, brisk wind graze against my skin, a squeal left my throat and I jumped into the snow. I wiggled my toes in Lumea's borrowed boots and giggled at the sound of it crunching beneath me. God, how I'd missed this. I missed the feel of the sun on my face and the wind slicing my skin. I missed the way the snow felt like heaven when it melted and became a part of me. Laughing, Kenji and I plopped down in the snow and cupped handfuls until our fingers ached from the cold. Lumea had been kind enough to lend me several outfits from her wardrobe, including two dresses which I had immediately buried in the back of the bureau. Today was a simple shirt and pants, but she insisted on the bodice to keep my chest in place. The fur cloak she'd clipped around my neck now piled around my in a thick blanket of white. She'd insisted on keeping warm, though didn't bother wearing a jacket herself.

I could tell she was trying to be cordial since our argument in her room, and I didn't want to admit that she had been right that day: adjusting was easier with friends— or, at least someone I didn't want to kill.

Cold ice suddenly smashed against my face. I gasped and glanced at the two of them. Kenji's eyes were wide open, but his finger was pointed at Lumea instead. She grinned, a playful challenge in her sapphire orbs that made my fingers itch. She launched another ball. It gleamed off my shoulder as I scooped up a ball and flung it at her. Another struck my chest and ice slithered down my shirt, making me shout at the cold. Kenji pointed a finger at me and laughed, his face turning a bright shade of red. Snow shattered across his forehead. He stared at me in shock, but instead I turned to Lumea and grinned. She nodded at me, winking.

I grinned and turned back to him. He held his hands up in surrender. "Wait, hold on. That's cheating," he cried. I scooped up another ball, then another. Lumea did the same, lining herself up beside me. "Ada, no fair! It's two against one!"

I only grinned. Then I fired.

He let out a high-pitched shriek as the snow pummeled into his head and chest. I balled up more snow and fired blindly, running further out of the courtyard and into the treeline. I ducked behind the pines. Lumea turned back against me and launched several at my figure, but only one managed to catch my leg. I ran faster and climbed a tree when I was safe. I watched them gather below, their hoods pulled up high to protect their ears.