He jerked a thumb to his left and turned away to continue digging in the closet. I followed the direction to spot two huge double doors with lion-head handles at the far end of the room. With his back still turned, I bolted toward freedom.
The soles of my boots squeaked against the marble floor as I skittered to a stop and flung open the front doors. A blast of cold hit me like a slap and I reared back momentarily before forcing myself forward into the night. White completely blanketed the ground in front of me, while more white dots swirled through the air, smacking against my skin in freezing little bursts. I swatted away the offending flakes in a panic before I fell back on my ass with a scream.
“What the hell is this?” I cried out, crab-walking back into the castle before kicking the door shut. Frantic, I beat the white stuff off me and shook as much of it as I could out of my hair.
“It’s just snow,” a voice called from behind me. I turned to see Dante leaning against the closet. He had a hand covering his face while his shoulders shook from laughter. “I swear to you, wife, it will not kill you.” His face broke out in a grin as more laughter floated through the entryway.
Embarrassment made my face heat, and I stopped my frantic patting. “Right,” I sputtered. “I knew that, I just… I never saw it in person before.”
He cleared his throat then nodded. “Of course. Completely normal reaction.” The last of his words came out in a laugh as he lost his composure once more.
“Listen you, it’s been a very rough day. Just point to the direction of the nearest port and I’ll be out of your hair,” I hissed.
“Princess, you’ll be dead before you even make it down the mountain if you try to leave on your own. Come back to dinner and I’ll fly you wherever you want to go in the morning.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do you plan on staying wherever I am once we get there?”
“Obviously.”
“Then I’ll take my chances on the mountain.” Thunder boomed. Its deafening roar nearly made me fall to my knees.
Screeching pumas. How is it storming so bad here too?
The dragon-shifter let out a breath before leaning away from the closet to make his way over to me. Instead of waiting for him, I hoisted myself up and shoved my way out the door. The wet cold slapped against me once more but this time I was ready for it. I pulled my hands into the coat sleeves to protect them against the bitter frost before trudging forward. My boots sank into the calf-deep snow. I looked around trying to see if there was any sign of a path. Yet each way I turned there was only endless white and darkness.
“Cherry, stop being foolish and come back inside,” Dante called from the doorway.
“Foolish?” I snarled, turning to face him. “I’m trapped in a castle with a psycho dragon who thinks we’re married. You could be a deranged cannibal for all I know. Besides, I just escaped the clutches of one dragon. You really think I want to be snuggled up next to another?” Angry tears welled up in my eyes, then froze on my face. Quickly, I scrubbed them away and turned to leave. “What is it with you guys and kidnapping? Get a hobby, damn it.”
Lightning flashed and the wind picked up to blow the hood from my head. I reached back to pull it over my ears, shielding them from the harsh cold.
“I understand that you’re upset,” he bit out. “But there are better ways of expressing discontent than marching off to certain death. Now get back inside before you get hurt.”
I gritted my teeth, irritation making me clench my fists so hard my nails dug into the skin. “What did I tell you about telling me what to do?” I yelled before continuing down the path in snowy darkness. The aurora above didn’t give off much light, and I had to squint to make out a stone archway that appeared as I trudged further away from him. As I got nearer, I could just make out snow-covered steps leading down through it. Without looking back, I placed a hand on the railing and made my way down.
His deep voice rose to shout over the wind. “Oh, wise and stubborn princess, won’t you grace my halls with your presence once more?”
The sarcasm in his voice had me seeing red. Which was probably why I didn’t see the consequences of my (admittedly foolish) actions before it was too late. There was a squelch under my foot where there should have been the crunch of snow. I looked down to see the offending boot covered in red. Backing away from the mess, my gaze followed the blood trail to a dark moving lump a few paces away from me. The shadowy mass paused, then dropped something on the ground that fell toward me. It was the severed head of a deer. Its long antlers were the only thing still intact, while its face was half eaten, the eyes plucked clean out.
I shivered and backed away. My heart pounded against my chest as if trying to escape through the lining. The mass moved forward, revealing two large fuzzy antennae that swiveled in my direction as if tasting me in the air. A set of orange eyes bulged out of a furred head. With a hiss, the giant moth spread its wings wide, the painted eyes on its wings shooting me a deadly glare. Blood dripped from its mandibles as it reared itself up higher and let out a piercing screech.
“Oh, shit!” I yelled.
The demon moth flapped its wings, the force nearly knocking me back before it screeched again. A flash of blue lit up the world around me as a lightning bolt shot forth and severed one wing clean off. The monster’s screeching morphed into terrified clicks as it fell back. Another bolt of lightning shot forward, striking the monster in its torso before it screamed and curled up into itself, then fell very still.
Sparkles faded when the lightning fizzled away, leaving me in a world of near-darkness once again. I stood frozen. Footsteps approached from behind before Dante placed a hand on my shoulder. “Have you finished your little tantrum?”
Some deep stupid part of me opened my mouth before I could stop it. “No.”
“You can’t be serious,” he replied. His silver hair draped over my shoulder as he pulled me back against his chest. I turned to look up at him, letting myself admire his handsome features for a moment. If he were a normal man, the sinful way his lips curved into a brooding scowl would’ve had me on my knees. The thin scar that stretched from his brow to the corner of his mouth gave him the appearance of a hardened warrior mixed with a devilish rake. In every sense of the word, the man was unfairly sexy. But the sharp curved horn jutting out of the left side of his head buried any notion of normality.
Maybe it was the shock or maybe it was the fact that my life had once again been laid at the feet of dragons, but I wanted nothing more than to continue on my path. If nothing else, just to spite him. The dead monster in front of me should’ve filled me with a fear of what else was lurking around the castle. Yet I felt calmer than I had in years. “Honestly, I think I am,” I said, before shrugging off his hand and making my way around the moth’s corpse.
Dante let out a frustrated noise and caught up to me. His long legs had no trouble carrying him through the heavy snow, whereas I was half crawling. Which only added to my irritation. “Are you insane?” he asked.
“That’s a strong possibility,” I admitted. It would explain why I was crawling off into certain death. Though I doubted I was the only woman in the world who chose death over marriage. Men were often more trouble than they were worth.
My boots made a sucking noise as Dante plucked me off the ground and threw me over his shoulder. He ignored my indignant squawks of protest and turned to head back into the castle. “What do you think you’re doing?” I snarled, slamming a fist against his back.
