Dark and Damaged: Eight Tortured Heroes of Paranormal Romance: Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (63 page)

She raised her head again and he lifted his gaze above hers, fixing it on the mountains behind her. The sorrow in his amber irises grew stronger and the sigh that slipped from his lips told her everything that he wouldn’t. He did come to this place, and she couldn’t imagine what torment it was for him to see it and not be able to step into the light.

He was in the shadows still, as if the sunlight refused to touch him. Another impossibility. The sun was at her back, directly behind her above the mountains. Its light should have reached into the tunnel, together with her shadow, but it didn’t. It stopped dead at the threshold.

A threshold that was made of smooth black stone.

A wall. Made of huge blocks. She slowly took steps backwards as she tipped her head up, lifting her eyes to the astounding view before her. It wasn’t only a wall with a door in it.

It was one side of an enormous black fortress.

It loomed over her, several hundred metres tall, topped with gigantic spiked towers. Not a single window penetrated the wall.

Impossible. That word rang in her head again. The logical part of her pushed forwards once more, stating that she was dreaming, because while the valley didn’t seem quite real, this fortress had to be a figment of her imagination. There was no other explanation.

Such a place couldn’t exist in reality.

She had been enamoured enough with fantasy stories to dream of living in castles, and had read books on the most famous ones in history, planning to visit them one day. She felt sure that if this place was real, she would have read about it. A castle the size of this one could hardly go unnoticed by the world.

“I have not visited this place in a long time.” Lucifer’s smooth, deep voice drew her gaze back down to him. It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him why when he spoke again. “Return when you are ready.”

She went to nod but froze in place when Lucifer held his hand out and a wooden flaming torch appeared in it. He casually set it into a metal holder on the wall inside the tunnel, as if making things appear out of thin air was an everyday occurrence for him and nothing for her to worry about.

She stared dumbly at the torch, tempted to go into the tunnel to touch it and see if it was real. Maybe she was dreaming, because things were getting stranger by the second.

“There is no exit from the valley, so do not waste your time looking for one.”

Nina frowned at that and saw it as an opportunity to test him and see whether he had been in it. “How do you know if you’ve never set foot in it?”

Lucifer turned his back to her and disappeared into the gloom of the tunnel.

His voice whispered from the darkness.

“Because I created it.”

Nina slowly turned her back to the tunnel and the fortress and stared out at the beautiful landscape before her.

Lucifer had created this place?

Who the heck was he?

He had powers that made her wonder whether she was losing her mind, but those small things seemed possible when faced with the thought that he might have the ability to create an entire valley.

She crouched and rubbed her fingers through the grass, crushing it slightly in the process and releasing the crisp fresh fragrance. It looked, felt and smelled real. She was sure that if she dared to place a blade of grass in her mouth that it would taste as she remembered it too.

Nina rose back onto her feet and began walking down the slope towards the longer meadow grass and the river. Her mind churned as she took light steps towards the glittering water, the strong sun keeping the chill off her skin and the earth warm beneath her feet.

When she reached the tall grass, she held her hands out at her sides, allowing the tips to tickle her palms. Her gaze remained locked ahead, her thoughts fixed behind her.

With Lucifer.

Why had he created this place if he couldn’t set foot in it?

Why would someone torment themselves with such beauty and light when they lived trapped in such gloominess and darkness?

The tall grass gave way to a strip of pasture and she crossed it to the river, walking as if in a dream as she listened to the rush of water over the rocks. The warmth of the sun faded as she stepped into the shadows cast by the trees across the river from her. She sat on the shallow bank, pulled off her ruined tights, and stuffed them down the waist of her skirt, hooking them over it so she wouldn’t lose them.

A gasp shot from her lips as she dipped her bare toes into the water.

It was freezing.

Nina steeled herself and slowly lowered her feet towards the icy water again. It seemed warmer this time and she allowed it to cover up to her ankles. She sat there on the bank and stared down into the rippling water, watching it rush over her toes. Pebbles lined the bottom of the crystal clear river, a multitude of colours, all of which seemed a little too rich to be real.

She tipped her head back and looked up at the bright azure sky.

Was this place real or fantasy?

She laughed at the thought that Lucifer might have created it. He must have been joking. The strength of the colours around her was probably down to the fact that she had been locked in a black hole for two days, starved of colour and light. Her eyes would adjust soon and the grass wouldn’t look so green. The sky not so blue.

Her toes hurt beneath the cold water and she pulled them from it, wriggling them to get some blood back into them. She twisted on the bank, so her back was to the water and her feet stuck out into the light. The sun instantly warmed them and they began to lose their redness.

Nina looked up the hill to the fortress.

It looked even bigger from down by the river, towering over her, a stark and grim sight against the clear blue sky.

The thought of having to go back inside filled her with dread, a longing to remain out in the valley instead, surrounded by light and colour. Something countered the dread though, a sense that Lucifer was waiting for her in that bleak castle, and part of her didn’t want to keep him waiting.

She didn’t want him to be alone.

She had a suspicion that he wasn’t a servant. He was the master of the house and he was alone in it. Maybe he had a few servants, but he clearly lacked companions, and he equally as clearly desired her company.

For the first time in a very long time, she wanted company too.

Nina pulled her focus away from the castle and its owner, and lumbered onto her feet. She walked the riverbank, following it towards the right side of the castle. There was a red arched bridge in the distance and she could just about make out a smooth path that led into the forest. Curiosity drew her towards it, over it, and into the woods.

The path led upwards and she followed it as it wound its way through the tall pine and oak trees. Her feet began to ache from walking but she kept moving forwards, exploring the dense forest and enjoying the freedom to move around.

In the distance, beyond another hill, the forest was darker.

She frowned and moved more quickly, striding with purpose towards it, wanting to see what obscured the light in that part of the woods. Her breath sawed from her lungs and sweat dotted her brow and trickled down her back. She swiped her arm across her forehead, pushed her wild auburn hair back from her face, and trudged onwards.

At the top of the hill, she ran straight into an invisible obstruction.

Nina stumbled back a step and pressed her hand to the wall of black. It cut through the trunks of several trees and stretched in both directions.

Lucifer had been right. There was no way out of the valley. Had he simply built a wall around it?

No. Half of the trees were missing, as if the barrier cut through them, and now that she was squinting, she could almost make out a shadowy empty land on the other side.

Cold crept through her veins, bringing with it a sense that something was staring back at her from that darkness, and she backed off, each step quicker than the last.

She didn’t stop.

As soon as she was a few metres away from the shadows, she turned and hurried back along the path. Each step sent pain bolting up her legs from the sore soles of her feet, but she kept walking, almost jogging along the path. She wanted to reach the river again. The sensation of being watched grew stronger and she threw a glance over her shoulder, afraid that she would see something behind her.

Her eyes widened.

In fact, she hadn’t seen any sign of life in the entire time she had been in the woods and the valley. There were no birds and no animals. No fish in the river.

She was alone here.

Her panic increased, her heart thundering against her ribs as she reached the river and ran across the arched wooden bridge.

The shadows gave way to sunlight, easing her fears.

The grass cushioned and cooled her feet, stealing away some of the pain.

Nina slowed and breathed hard, chastising herself for letting her solitude panic her. She switched to cursing herself when she realised where she had been running.

She hadn’t been running towards the light.

She looked up at the castle ahead of her.

She had been running towards Lucifer.

As if he would protect her from the monsters in her mind.

Nina laughed aloud at that and shook her head. She had gone insane. It was the only reasonable explanation for everything.

Rather than heading back to the castle, she walked the curve of the hill towards the start of the long grass and sat down.

Lucifer had promised she would be safe here and she did feel safe. Her gaze slid back towards the bridge to the woods below her to her right and she shuddered before shoving away the fear that tried to claw its way back into her heart. She was alone in this place. No one could set foot in it but her.

It was just fear and fatigue playing tricks on her.

She leaned back and lay on the grass, her arms spread at her sides and her eyes on the sky above her. Pale fluffy white clouds scudded across the azure canvas, catching her focus. She followed them one by one, until she fell into a sort of trance, lazing in the sunshine and letting the world drift by as she relaxed.

The sense of peace returned and with it came the calm she needed. She embraced it this time, using it to keep all the questions at bay so she could steal all the pleasure she could from this moment.

Minutes ran into each other until she lost track of time and her thoughts turned back to Lucifer.

Did he own the castle? She wanted to believe that he lived there by choice, but she couldn’t make herself swallow that lie.

He had said that he couldn’t leave it, and she hadn’t believed him until he had pressed his hand to the invisible barrier that kept him caged within the walls of the fortress.

Like a prisoner.

One who longed to taste the freedom she could eat to her heart’s content in this strange valley.

Nina slowly lifted her left arm above her head, so the sleeve of her blouse fell back to reveal her watch. The second hand ticked in a steady rhythm, the sound cutting through the silence. How long had she been in the valley? It felt like hours, but nothing seemed to have changed.

She sat up and frowned at the position of the sun.

It hovered above the mountains.

In exactly the same place it had been when she had entered the valley.

Nina checked the shadows, sure she must be wrong, but their lengths and angles were all the same too.

Did time not move in this valley? She would have thought herself insane to ask that question just hours ago, but now anything seemed possible. But the water flowed and the clouds drifted. It was only the time of day that didn’t change.

“Food is being prepared for you.”

Nina jumped and quickly looked back over her shoulder, towards the tunnel. Lucifer stood there, shrouded in shadow, the golden light from the torch playing over his handsome features. They were sombre again, clouded in a way she found she didn’t like. One that made her want to say or do something to lift the sorrow from his heart.

She rose onto her feet and padded up the short incline to him, stopping on the grass just a few metres from him.

“How long have I been here?” Nina turned and looked back down at the river, watching the water sparkle in the dappled light as it raced around a bend near the bridge.

“In the valley?” he said, his soft voice soothing her almost as much as the sun on her skin and the beauty surrounding her.

More so in fact.

It comforted her, chasing away the lingering trace of fear in her veins. When she looked at the red bridge to the forest now, she wasn’t afraid of what might be in those woods.

She felt safe with Lucifer standing at her back.

She felt he would protect her.

A ridiculous notion. She barely knew the man. Just because he had protected her once, didn’t mean he would do it again. And what was there out here that she needed protection from anyway? There was nothing in this valley but her.

And Lucifer.

She turned her face towards him but stopped just short of looking at him, keeping her profile angled slightly away from him instead. She felt his gaze on her face, slowly roaming it and then lower, igniting that low burn in her blood that she felt sure would always be there when he looked at her.

She nodded.

“Fourteen hours.” He sounded distant. Lost in thought?

Lost in looking at her?

A blush climbed her cheeks and she looked away from him, needing a moment to compose herself so she could focus on what was important. It didn’t feel as if she had been here fourteen hours, but she had lost track of time. She checked her watch again and frowned as the second hand ticked past the minute mark.

If she had been here fourteen hours, it should be dark. Presuming time moved in the same way here as it did back in London.

Heck, she really had lost her mind if she was beginning to believe it was possible she was in a place where time flowed at a different pace.

“Does it ever grow dark?” She lifted her gaze to the bright orb in the sky. Was that even real? Was any of it? What if it was all just an incredible illusion and she was really standing in another grim black room?