Valentine.

Unholy.

For full experience, readers are STRONGLY ENCOURAGED to read with the music.

It has almost been 3 hours since my betrothals depart. He had promised to return in an hour yet, there had been absolutely no sign of him. No lavender. No rain. No Icy stares. Just the soft sound of the cackling fireplace and the hollowing quiet of the castle. I could practically feel the emptiness.

Something just...doesn't quite feel right. Of course, I knew Valentine could be a very ill-tempered lord, but the way he'd reacted earlier...the look in his eyes as he held me... it didn't quite do much to instill any confidence. Any comfort. Why wouldn't he tell me what had got him so worked up? I think to myself, sitting up and staring at the huge hole he'd left behind in the wall.

The drawled out sigh I push through my lips forms a cool cloud of condensation that lingers in the air, stalling before completely vanishing. Fumbling for the heavy duvet, I tug it to my chest, aching for its insulating warmth to calm the shivers caressing my spine and shoulders.

When and why did it get to be so... cold in here? I ponder inwardly clattering.

Despite the fireplace burning bright and luminous, it seems the chamber's temperature was still insisting on a steady, slow decline. Uttering silent prayers that he'd return soon; I cross over to the fire to allow my frustrated mind to doze off and my frozen feet to defrost.

Another long night was the last thing I needed.

An hour later, I've finally had enough. Too many discouraging scenarios had already run their course several times through my restless mind; To the point where I was now desperate. If no one were going to tell me what was going on, I would find out myself: Why the hell the castle had been so silent. Why the hell it is was near below freezing in here. Why the hell Valentine hadn't made it back to me yet.

Bunching the heavy Duvet around my shivering body, I keep it grasped as tight around my form as I can, shielding as much of the crisp cold in the air as it's thick, bulky fibers allow. I'd been under strict orders not to leave this bedroom, but I fear I'd no longer be able to comply with those directives. Not when the tips of my fingers now match the unnatural blue tint on the surface of my quivering lips.

Valentine had told me that the puppet from the day before was being held downstairs. Hopefully, I could extract a thing or two from him if I could just somehow make it down to the infirmary. The idea of having to deceive Valentine's footman sends a hollowing, guilty sensation roiling through me however, one way or another I needed clarity so, to hell with his orders.

Gathering up my courage and shoving down any hint of hesitation before it can stop me, I stalk over to the door, pressing a soft palm against the hard wood. Bringing my ear to its hinges, I listen intently again for any sounds on the other side of the wall. Silence. An unnatural, unnerving silence.

"Hello!" I call out through the smooth surface, trying my hardest to lace my voice with as much desperation as I can muster. A task, which I realize proves to be ever so effortless as the sharp cold begins to bite its way through my weighted quilt.

When I receive no response, I frap against the door loudly with my knuckles, nearly bruising them in the process as a sense of suffocation begins to befall me. "Hello, is anybody there? Please open the door!" I try again. "Hello!" I yell through the hard surface once more. Still, nothing.

"Please. I-I'm hungry" I lie, food being the furthest thing from my mind as my stomach continues to reel from the haunting silence emanating throughout the compound.

After a few more moments of silence, I begin to grow anxious. Relentlessly, I rain down on the door with as much force as my swollen knuckles will allow, kicking and thrusting against the merciless slab of mahogany. For all it took, it might as well have been made out of stone.