Winterly (Dark Creatures Book 1), стр. 53

Her eyes widened to see his teeth. He had only peeled his lips back slightly, but, from what little she had seen of them, they had appeared uncommonly white…and sharp. She swallowed dryly.

“Well, Miss Rose, if you wandered this way to discover my arcanum arcanorum, you won’t find any in there.” He gestured to the door she was propping up with her stiff back. “I keep my secret of secrets right here.” He tapped his heart.

“Yes, well, I had best get to my room.” Milli knew where to find her if indeed she had been awakened by the howling.

“Allow me to escort you there.”

“I do not think I ought…” She nearly demurred, but remembered betimes that she had admitted to being lost, so it would have been rather foolish of her if she had declined his assistance.

“Come now, Miss Rose, you are fagged to death, I insist, lest Mrs. Skinner find you asleep here on the floor in the morning.”

What a notion! She conceded and fell into step beside him, feeling naked in her negligee. “No doubt I have kept you from your bed as well.”

“Au contraire, you will find that we Winterlys are a nocturnal breed.” A short pause followed in which he seemed pensive. “Miss Rose, I hope you will be comfortable in my home while you are here, explore it at your leisure and go where you please; as I said, I do not keep my secrets behind locked doors.” He then stopped, forcing her to do the same. She fastened her eyes to his cravat. “I do, however, insist that you stay indoors from dusk till dawn, unless escorted by me. These moors are not safe at night.”

“Unsafe only when you are not at my side?”

“My eyes are well accustomed to the dark, Miss Rose.”

“And what has that to do with anything?”

“These grounds are treacherous at night, to say nothing of the dogs. Many have lost their way and their lives in the bog; the darkness has devoured more than one unsuspecting fellow, and once you are gone you are gone forever.”

His words chilled her. “You have my word, I shan’t leave the castle at night. Besides, Mr. Valko has already warned us to remain indoors at night.”

“Very good.” He made her a shadowy bow and set about escorting her back to her chamber. “The howling you heard might just as well have been some poor fool in the mire, disappearing into the underworld.”

“I know what I heard and it was nothing human.”

He made no answer; but, somehow, without even looking, she knew he was grinning again. They spoke no more after that, which only served to thicken the tension until all she could think about was the night of the Full Moon Ball when he’d kissed her goodnight. Would he do so again?

When they reached her door, she glanced up at him, at once nervous and excited. But the candle sputtered out as her gaze met his. In that fleeting moment before the light vanished, the blacks of his eyes engulfed the whites like billowing hell smoke. She gasped and stumbled backwards into her room, gaping at the tall shadow filling the darkened doorframe.

“Goodnight, Miss Rose.” There was something of mockery in his tone as he shut the door between them.

She stood palsied with dread, listening as his footsteps retreated down the hallway. Silence fell all around her, yet still she could not find the courage to credit what she’d seen. Easier to defy her eyes than to accept that the master of Winterthurse was some underworld god. Emma had dismissed the housekeeper’s eyeshine easily enough, she was bone-weary after all, but Winterly’s company always enlivened her. And what she’d just seen in that last dying breath of candlelight… Dear God, would that she’d been struck blind ere she’d met those eyes!

Emma backed away from the door till her thighs were pressed against the bed, the coverlet cold as she sank down. That infinite black stare would be forever seared to the back of her eyes. The goblet of wine sat untouched at her bedside, and thus, she promised herself, it would remain. If Emma was to sleep with her eyes open tonight, she would not have her wits dulled by Winterly’s wine.