Blood.

The word rang through my mind like a bell.

Blood was the start of Caleb’s and my downfall.

Could it also be the end of it?

I looked down at my palms. Then at the pile of unused nails lying on the deck few feet away.

I knew Caleb had a particular weakness for my blood. I also knew the consequences that would come with tricking Caleb into drinking it.

He would crave me. Desire me. Possess me.

Perhaps even consume me.

But as I looked at him across the deck, still so distant from me as he mourned the loss of Rose Novak, I realized that I’d found my answer.

There really is no other way…

Chapter 33: Rose

As Anselm and I reached the exit of the tunnel, we went hurtling through the air and landed on sand. I tried to scramble away from the creature as soon as we reached the end of the tunnel and landed on a beach. Before I could even fully take in my surroundings, he grabbed my arm and, pulling out another silk handkerchief from his waistcoat, tied it around my eyes.

Still gagged, I couldn’t even scream.

I felt him pick me up again and begin walking.

Where is he taking me?

There was a knocking against metal. And then the deafening sound of heavy doors creaking open.

“Your Highness,” a rasping voice said. “Would you like me to carry her for you?”

I shuddered as Anselm’s rough lips brushed against my earlobe.

“No,” he said, breathing heavily into my ear. “I’d rather handle this little beauty myself.”

He started walking again. I kicked and thrashed, but he held me in place.

What felt like the next half hour passed with the sounds of his footsteps in my ear. At some point, the light seemed to dim and I heard the opening of a door, so I could only assume we’d gone inside. The sound of Anselm’s footsteps turned from what sounded like crunching over stones to a clacking against some kind of smooth surface. I shivered. The air seemed to be getting colder by the moment as Anselm continued walking forward. I felt him climbing several flights of stairs.

Finally he stopped, and another voice spoke a few feet away from us. It sounded eerily similar to Anselm’s voice, except that it was a little deeper and older-sounding.

“So this is her?”

Footsteps approached and leathery fingers brushed against my cheek.

“Yes,” Anselm said. I was so close to his chest, I could feel his voice rumbling through it.

The fingers tugged on my blindfold, loosening it and pulling it down. My heart pounded as I found myself staring up at an almost splitting image of Anselm, except that he had silver streaking his hair and more lines in his face. I was granted this sight for but a moment before the creature fastened the blindfold over me again.

“Do you approve?” I could tell by Anselm’s tone of voice that he was smiling.

“She needs to be fattened. Otherwise, yes.”

What are these creatures?

“We shouldn’t mix her in with the other girls. This one’s special. I’ll give her private quarters in the west wing.”

“Of course.”

Anselm continued walking. More stairs were climbed, more floors crossed, and by the time I felt him lowering me to the ground, my whole body was shaking. Not with terror, but rage.

I kept replaying the few seconds before Anselm had jumped with me through the gate. Annora’s smug tone of voice. Her smile as she waved goodbye.

I was burning up inside.

I couldn’t believe that I’d just been kidnapped again. I was beginning to lose count of the number of times it had happened in the last few months.

I swear, this is the last time I’m going to be swung over someone’s shoulder like a sack of onions…

A door clicked open. I was dragged forward and pushed down onto a cold, smooth floor. The blindfold was removed again, and finally so was my gag. I coughed and spluttered, the edges of my lips stinging.

I turned around, expecting to see Anselm, but the door slammed shut again before I had a chance to swear at him. I cast my eyes around, taking in my surroundings. My breath hitched at the beauty of the room I was standing in. I hadn’t expected to be brought to such a luxurious room. In the center was a dark mahogany four-poster bed covered with fur blankets. A large gold-plated mirror was fixed to the wall opposite me, and next to it was a dressing table. The floor was made of some kind of polished white stone. In the far corner was another door, left ajar. A bathroom, I assumed. Strangely, the whole room smelled of roasted spices.

My eyes were drawn to the source of light in the room. Tall window panes took up an entire wall. I gasped as I approached them. Pitch-black mountains stretched out for as far as the eye could see. Gray smoke swirled around their sharp peaks. The sky was overcast, no sign of the sun breaking the thick, low-hanging clouds.

Where am I?

“Hullo.” A thick voice spoke behind me.

As I whirled around, the blood drained from my face. I stumbled back as my eyes fell on a grotesque-looking creature… an ogre. Had it not been for Brett, I wouldn’t have even known what it was. But it shared the same thick, muddy brown skin, tusks, small squashed nose, and bulging eyes. There was only one real difference between this ogre’s physiology and Brett’s. And that was that this ogre had long hair and breasts. It—or rather, she—wore a long beige smock over her bulging form.

She plodded forward, holding out a meaty hand. I kept my arms firmly behind my back, pressing myself harder against the wall.

“I’m Arabella… But you can call me Bella.”