Chapter 31 CHAPTER 31
It slipped out before I could stop it.
The hallway went completely silent.
The beast looked genuinely caught off guard.
So did I.
Slowly, his eyes narrowed. “Did you just laugh at me?”
A smile tugged at my lips despite everything. “Maybe a little.”
Something different shimmered in the beast’s eyes.
It only lasted a second.
Then he quickly looked away and shook his head slightly, almost like he was trying to snap himself out of something.
My smile slowly faded.
The hallway suddenly felt too quiet again.
The beast took a step forward, but his body swayed dangerously this time. One of his large hands slammed against the wall to steady himself, and I saw the tension in his shoulders as he fought to stay standing.
“Okay, enough,” I said quickly. “Just let me help you before you fall over again.”
“I am not falling over.”
“You’re literally leaning against the wall.”
“I’m fine.”
“You keep saying that while looking half dead.”
A low growl rumbled from his chest, but honestly it sounded exhausted more than threatening now.
The servant creature suddenly started tugging on my sleeve again before pointing down another hallway and making excited clicking sounds.
“You know where to go?” I asked.
The creature nodded quickly.
The beast let out a frustrated breath. “Traitor,” he muttered again.
Ignoring him, I stepped closer carefully. “Come on.”
His glowing eyes narrowed slightly. “I do not require help walking.”
“Good. Because I’m pretty sure I couldn’t carry you even if I tried.”
For a second, he actually looked offended.
Then, surprisingly, he allowed me to help guide him anyway.
Well… “guide” was probably a better word than help. The beast was huge. I was almost certain he was holding most of his own weight, but I still kept my arm around his side while we followed the little servant creature through the castle halls.
His body felt incredibly warm beside mine.
Too warm.
The servant creature led us down a narrow stone hallway before stopping in front of an old wooden door. It pushed it open quickly and hurried inside.
I stepped in after it and blinked in surprise.
The room smelled strongly of herbs and smoke. Shelves lined the walls from floor to ceiling, covered in jars, dried plants, old bottles, and bundles of strange roots hanging from the ceiling. A large wooden table stood in the middle of the room while candles flickered softly around us.
A healing room.
The servant creature hurried toward one of the shelves and started pulling down herbs before tossing them into a stone bowl. It grabbed a small grinding stone and immediately started crushing everything together.
The beast moved toward the wall slowly, clearly trying not to show how much pain he was in.
I watched him carefully for a moment before finally speaking again.
“What was that thing?”
The room went quiet except for the grinding of herbs.
The beast didn’t answer right away.
His jaw tightened slightly before he finally looked toward me.
“A failed curse,” he said again.
I frowned. “That tells me absolutely nothing.”
His glowing eyes held mine for a second before he looked away again.
“It was once human.”
The words made my stomach twist.
“What?”
The servant creature stopped grinding for a second, its huge eyes flicking nervously between us.
The beast let out a slow breath. “The curse changes people,” he said quietly. “Some survive it longer than others.”
I moved toward the shelves while the servant creature continued grinding herbs in the stone bowl beside me. My eyes scanned across the jars until I finally found cloth bandages stacked near the back.
At least some things in this cursed castle still looked normal.
I grabbed a small pot and poured water into it before placing it over the fire near the corner of the room.
The beast watched me carefully the entire time.
“What are you doing?” he finally asked.
I glanced back at him. “I’m cooking.”
One of his brows lifted slightly.
I rolled my eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing?”
To my surprise, he didn’t snap back at me this time.
He just watched me.
Intently.
Almost strangely.
The look in his glowing eyes made my stomach feel weird for some reason, so I quickly turned back toward the fire and focused on the bandages instead.
Thankfully growing up on a farm taught me a thing or two. Animals got injured all the time, and when there wasn’t enough money for healers, you learned to make do yourself.
I dipped the cloth into the warm water before glancing back at him again.
“So…” I started carefully. “That thing.”
The beast’s jaw tightened instantly.
I noticed.
“There are more of them, aren’t there?”
Silence.
The servant creature slowed its grinding beside me.
The beast leaned his head back slightly against the stone wall behind him before letting out a tired breath.
“Yes.”
The single word sent a chill down my spine.
“How many?”
His eyes slowly lifted toward mine. “Enough.”
Well.
That wasn’t terrifying at all.
I shook my head slightly while wringing out the cloth in my hands. “You know, if you don’t want me wandering around the castle trying to accidentally get myself eaten, you could’ve just explained that from the beginning.”
“You do not listen.”
“Because you tell me things like some mysterious dramatic cave monster.”
One of his brows twitched slightly.
I pointed at him with the wet cloth. “Seriously. You could’ve said, ‘Hey Vera, maybe next time don’t go wandering around that part of the castle because there’s a monster down there that’s going to kill you.’”
The beast stared at me.
I continued talking while mocking myself dramatically. “‘Besides me, of course.’ See? That sounds way more helpful.”
To my complete shock, something almost like amusement flickered across his face again.
Small.
But there.
“You are exhausting,” he muttered.
“And yet you keep saving me.”
That wiped the amusement right off his face.
Oops.
The second the words left my mouth, I wanted to throw myself into the fire.
Why did I keep saying things like that?
I quickly bit down on my lip to stop myself from talking again and turned back toward the pot hanging over the fire, pretending to be very interested in how slowly the water was heating up.
Maybe if I stared hard enough, it would boil faster.
The room went quiet behind me.
Too quiet.
I could still feel his eyes on me though.
Then finally, he spoke.
“They were once people.”
My fingers paused against the cloth in my hands.
Slowly, I looked back at him.
The amusement from before was gone now. His expression looked distant. Hard.
“People?” I repeated quietly.
The beast gave a slow nod. “Servants. Guards. Villagers.” His jaw tightened slightly. “Some were soldiers.”
A chill crept down my spine.