This Gothic World: A Horror Fantasy ✔

CHAPTER 8

IRENE

The world would fall soon. She felt it. She smelled it. The rot, the greed, the ecstasy of ambitious hatred. It was all there. It was all present before her in perfect clarity, seeping from his very pores.

She wanted to ignore it. She wanted to conceal her disgust and so far, she was doing a damn good job at it. Yet, something unsettled her about this situation. Something about a past event... a memory...

"We'll stop here." Irene straightened her back and no sooner, Ceres sat down beneath another giant tree's trunk. The tree screeched which only made her skin prickle with fear. Ceres didn't look up while Irene inspected him.

Milky ashen skin covered in dust. Blue eyes barely concealed beneath soft golden waves of hair. He was most certainly regal to look at but anyone could tell her that.

Still why did she know he wasn't a royal?

"What are you looking at?" Ceres spoke in mind waves. Nausea crawled up Irene's belly at the sound of his smooth voice. It nearly suffocated her senses but she knew better than to let it overtake her senses.

"I'm curious." She raised a brow. "Just why did they not kill you?"

A prickly pain climbed up Irene's spine. Hostility...

"How would I know? You're the kidnapper remember?"

Irene stared at the boy King's face a bit longer until something in his face shifted. It was akin to changing one's scales in front of an opponent. A very effective technique used for distraction.

"I am indeed. Nice of you to remember. But I find it funny just how much a callous King we have to protect the mortal realm from the High King's rot."

Bitter taste and a cloud of sooty smoke came through the connection in waves. It was disgusting. Irene wanted to wipe it out but it seemed like a wastage of time.

Don't soil your hands killing a bastard like him, Tamahine.

"Whatever, kid." Irene bit her lip. Maybe it was better she used this brat to her advantage rather than losing the opportunity altogether. "I have a proposition."

Her voice did not waver yet the waves of nausea stopped. Ceres looked up at her and for the first time, Irene could swear she saw murder in his eyes.

"What proposition?"

"It's simple really." She sank down to the ground keeping a tight leash on Ceres's body movements. If she even allowed the slightest of slack, he would explode out and she couldn't have that...yet.

"You just have to spy for me."

"Spy..."

"Yeah, Spy!" Irene nodded with enthusiasm. She hoped her sincerity showed. It was all she had left good in her heart. "Just go back to Arcane Castle and while there keep an eye on everything." Her heart thumped. "Also, I'll release you from my grip with only one exception."

Ceres's mind darkened. Sooty clouds came out in wispy tendrils which Irene ignored with great effort. She had to be strong here.

"And why would you release me?"

Irene smiled and hoped it conveyed her message. "Because you're useless to me."

Silence.

She couldn't help fear the sooty black clouds again. Yet her heart held. Her soul managed to stop the hostility from seeping into her mind. If anything, she could tell he wasn't worth it just by reading the smoke lines.