Enid's breath caught in her throat as the palace rose from the fog in front of her, the long trek through the forest feeling a lifetime away.
It was nothing like the crumbling palace of her childhood books. The books which had warned her and the other children in the village to stay away from the royal palace. The palace that housed beasts and savages.
No. This was much grander, and sprawling. The towers reahed for the sky, the light from the torches illuminating the dark iron wrought gates.
Although the castle was much bigger and sturdier than she had expected, she could picture beasts living in it.
It was dark, as it fought with the night sky to claim the title of the darkest beauty. The blood moon, which was still shining a blood red bathed it in crimson. It made the whole palace look carved out of blood and shadow itself.
Enid stood like a gawking fool in front of the gates, words stumbling out at the grandiosity in front of her, "This is where you live?"
Kaelith lined up next to her, looking at her amazement and releasing a soft smile before he turned back to his home. A look between familiarity and unease warring on his face.
"Yes."
Of course Thorien had to interject.
"What were you expecting?" He drawled as he sauntered past them from her other side, "a cottage with roses? Like your fairy tales?"
"More like a desolate wreck from the nightmares." She shot back, before looking at Kaelith regretfully at her sharp resply, only to find him looking amusedly down at her, his blue eyes twinkling.
She turned away from his attention as she felt her cheeks warm. Clearing her throat, she took a step forward.
"Perhaps a desolate wreck would have been better..." She heard Kaelith say softly from behind her, almost in contemplation.
She refused to think what it meant as she pushed open the iron gate. The large gate swung open with a haunting creak.
_____
The first thing Enid noticed as she woke up in the strange room was silence.
No birds, no noises of people bustling about. Just the walls. They seemed to be aliive with something, humming.
She sat up, blinking at the feel of the sheet as it slid down her body. Something was different.
She looked down.
Enid was wearing a loose silf gown, that almost went down to her knees. Her torn dress was gone.
Someone had changed her. After she had been led into the room to rest, and after Kaelith had repeatedly assured her that she would be safe...someone had changed her clothes.
Her blood froze at the realisation that she had been unaware. Tired by last night, and foolishly believing the man.
Cheeks blazing, she jumped up from the bed, just as the door swung open.
"Glad to see you're-"
Thorien paused in the doorway, the glib expression on his face smoothening away to something primal. His eyes roamed over her slowly, taking her in from her legs up to her face, where they rested.
Enid shifted uneasily, her arm coming up to rub her neck as it grew hotter, before realising it pulled her already short dress higher up her thighs and she hurriedly brought her hand down.
Thorien swallowed.
"S-someone changed my clothes." She was unsure why she was stumbling in her words the way she was.
The man blinked at her.
"Yeah. Yes." He cleared his throat, "The maid changed your clothes." He nodded at her, "That's my shirt."
She froze in her place.
Her head snapped to look down at her gown, which she could see was indeed a large shirt, and back up to the smug Thorien.
Something in his expression gave her pause, as the stubborn side of her emerged.
"So?" Enid praised her casual voice as she finally, finally!, moved from her spot. Looking around the room, she tried to find her dress as languidly as she dared. All the while aware of the eyes still on her.
Not on the chair, not behind the partition,...on the table? No...
She heard a scoff behind her before the intruder passed her by, opening the door to a cupboard and tossing a dress at her.
"What about my-"
"Torn. Badly. Wear these and come out."
And he sauntered out of the room.
_______
Kaelith had joined the two of them as they made their way to the hall. Enid tried not to stare.
Everything gleamed-golden light spilling through stained glass, long corridors lined with silver wolf motifs, crystal chandeliers that caught the sun and scattered it into shards of color
The two of them were walking ahead of her, or rather she lagged behind them as she took in the sights.
"Where are we going?" Enid asked.
Thorien didn't turn. "To meet the people who think you should be dead."
Kaelith turned to his brother, a stern look on his face as he looked back at Enid, "He's kidding. Mostly."
Well, that was reassuring.
...Maybe it wasn't supposed to be.
For when they entered the long hall, filled with deceit and perfume and whispers that followed her, eyes that mapped her every move and made her want to hide and run, she knew she should not feel at ease.
Human.
She survived the Hunt? Impossible.
What do they want with her?
At the far end stood a woman in crimson. Her beauty was flawless, her smile colder than the marble floor. "Prince Kaelith. Prince Thorien." Her gaze slid to Enid. "And your… guest."
Enid froze. Princes?
Thorien's smirk didn't slip. "Lady Seris. Always a pleasure to be ogled before breakfast."
Kaelith said nothing. His eyes, unreadable and dark, never left Seris's face.
"Tell me," Seris said sweetly, "is this the same girl from the Hunt? How… fascinating. The prey that lived."
The murmurs turned vicious as the words, though spoken softly seemed to reach every person in the large room, down to the farthest corner.
"She must have cheated the ritual."
"No human survives that."
"Maybe she's cursed."
"Prey..."
The walls and seemed to be closing in around Enid. The predatory gazes of the people around her, that she had somehow failed to notice before-How had she missed this!- looked at her from all sides of the room.
The gazes, while not currently in their wolf form, were familiar. The bloodlust in them was familiar.
The breaking point came when she noticed people raising their noses to smell around them, before focusing in on her.
What in the hell had she found herself in?!