The Devil's Smile

Chapter 20

Amina found herself annoyed by the comment and almost forgot she was afraid as she answered. "Do you find it amusing to let us grope about in the dark, frightened and lost for several days?"

Moras walked toward her. His purposeful strides made her wonder if this was it. He was going to bite her. She let out a yelp and fell back into the door, dropping the lantern on the floor with a clatter. When he reached her he stared into her eyes searchingly. His expression was hard and icy and his cold blue eyes seemed to look into her soul. When he replied to her question his voice was low and warning. "No, I don't find it amusing. But I do find that after a few days alone in the dark even, my company is looked upon as a welcome alternative. Usually when they see me after the darkness they don't jump in fear. Like you did."

Amina felt a little ashamed. "I didn't- I mean I'm not-" She stared into his eyes as he stood over her and tried to find the words to explain why her lessons hadn't properly prepared her to take on her duties with more strength than she had shown.

He cut her off. "I'm used to it." As he spoke he leaned in and breathed heavily. Amina got the impression that he was smelling her. When he pulled away his pupils seemed to bleed into the rest of his eyes until they were solid black. Then he blinked and it was like she had been seeing things.

"I'll show you where your room is," he said. Then he turned and went back to the dummy wearing the armor, picked up the sword, and walked out of the room. Amina took a moment to collect herself and then followed him out. She almost forgot the lantern. As he disappeared into the darkness she grabbed it and then hurried to catch up.

She followed him back down the hallway she had come from. He opened one of the doors that was toward the very beginning of the hall. It led into another hallway that was lined with more tapestries and doors. As he led her down the hall she tentatively asked, "Is it always this dark in here?"

Moras abruptly stopped, turned around to look at her, then he grabbed a candle off a sconce on the wall. He tossed it to her. "These are your quarters. This hall and these rooms. There are candles. You can light them if you wish, but the rest of the chamber is mine. There it is always dark." With that he turned around and led her to the door at the far end of the hall. Pushing the door open he walked into the room and crossed the floor to a fireplace that was against the far wall. He picked up a tinder twig and walked back toward her. Moras used her lantern to light the twig and then tossed it into the fireplace.

As the fire spread light and warmth through the room Amina realized how cold she had been to this point. "Explore the rooms in this hall. You'll find a small store room. There should be everything you need to feed yourself or make clothes. It'll probably take you a while to bore yourself with what's there. If you decide you need something I can be found usually where you found me tonight." With that he turned and appeared to be leaving.

"Lord Tiernay," Amina started and almost didn't finish the question when he turned to look at her. "Um, what about you?" She spoke slowly and was trembling a bit as she did.

"You're not ready yet." Then he left, leaving her staring after him dumbfounded.

Her room was beautiful. As she lit the candles that were set on woven metal sconces around the room, light fell on a large canopy bed covered with silken blankets. There was a wardrobe, and she opened it to find that it was full of dresses. A morbid feeling went through her body when she realized that these were the clothes of the women who had previously been Lord Tiernay's companions. She sighed. They were still beautiful clothes. The women who made them must have had a great deal of time and talent. There was a dressing table with a large mirror and silver hair combs and several different brushes. There was a jewelry box with a number of necklaces and bracelets and broaches. There was a table with wine glasses and plates, forks, knives, and spoons. There was a pot near the fire and other cooking implements. She wondered if the elders knew that he did this and left it out of the lessons on purpose or if he kept this secret.

He had been right. It took her a couple weeks to explore the other rooms in her chambers. There was a small library. There was the store room that contained meats and vegetables. Now she knew where the items that the druids left went. She realized a couple days into her stay that he was gathering the things that the others left and was placing them in the store room when she was unaware, maybe when she was sleeping. There was a room that was just a big open room with mirrors on some of the walls. Mirrors of that size would have been difficult to bring here. She wondered what the room was for. Dancing maybe, she thought. There were a number of musical instruments in the store room. Finally there was a room with a bathing tub. There was space for a small fire or hot coals beneath the tub and a warmer for water. There were towels and a dressing gown in this room. There was also a tub for washing her clothes on the far wall, but it was the bathtub that kept her attention.

The water in the basin next to the tub appeared clear and clean as did the water in the tub itself. Amina lit the coals under the tub. Then she lit the coals under the warming basin for more water and waited for the water to warm before she got in. She enjoyed her bath. It occurred to her that she was being pampered probably as well as any noble in the roman palaces to the south. Lord Tiernay certainly knows how to try and keep his women happy, she thought. But that thought led to the more morbid thoughts. If he's so good at making sure his women have everything they could want that only leaves a couple alternatives. The women beg for death because he is so vicious in his feeding, or they die from the loneliness.

Amina had grown up with so many people always around. As she continued her explorations of her chambers she realized exactly how solitary this life was. He must keep us alone so that we won't run away. A person doesn't long for something as badly, if she's not being tempted by it.

After she was familiar with everything her chambers had to offer, she started reading the books in her small library. They were mostly history books or folklore. Some of them were in languages she didn't know. She set herself a routine. She found that her water was replaced regularly, and her store room was continually replenished. There were occasions that she felt as though she was being watched. But she was never able to catch him in her chambers even when she tried to wait up and see him.

It was several weeks worth of her solitary existence, in what she had come to see as a prison, before she was desperate enough for company that she ventured out the door at the farthest end of the hall. Carrying a lantern in one hand, wearing one of the simpler dresses, and walking cautiously down the hall, she listened for signs that Lord Tiernay was nearby. She managed to find her way to the room where she had originally met him, but he wasn't there.

The chandelier hanging from the ceiling was not lit and the room was dark and silent. Suddenly she was overwhelmed by the irrational fear that she would never see or hear or speak to another person ever again. "Hello," she whimpered into the darkness, but there was no answer. She walked around the room looking for another door or some clue as to where he may be. She hadn't really realized how lonely she was. Somewhere in her mind, she had always thought he was just down the hall. But now that she was standing here and the room was dark she felt as though her entire body was going numb. She continued her search for another door, hoping she'd find. As she came back to the door she had come in and had turned up nothing she fell to sitting on the ground in the middle of the doorway and began to cry.

She didn't care what he would do to her now. She only wanted some company. Any company. As she sat sobbing, a gentle hand touched her shoulder. "Shh. I'm here." His voice seemed, at that moment, to be the most beautiful sound in the world. She turned to see him bending on one knee behind her and she flung her arms around his neck. He held her and spoke softly. "I understand. Calm down." He stroked her hair and waited for her to stop crying.

"Amina, come with me," Moras coaxed as he helped her stand up.

She left the lantern on the floor as she held onto Moras. He led her through the darkness and set her in a large armchair. She could make out his shape in the darkness by the light of the lantern as he lit the fireplace that was near the chair. Light spilled into the room from the fireplace, forming an intimate circle of warmth around the hearth. Moras stepped over to the lantern that was still sitting on the floor and picked it up, blew it out, then set it on the floor next to the chair he had placed Amina in. "You picked a bad time to look for company. I was sleeping." Moras sat down on the edge of the chair across from Amina. He leaned forward, staring at her measuringly.

"Um, is it nighttime?" Amina was tentative. She felt as though she had forgotten how to have a conversation.

"No. I usually sleep during the day." Moras's voice was resolute and almost harsh.

Amina wasn't sure what to say to him. She knew that he slept during day. She had been taught that. Why couldn't she think of anything intelligent to say? All she knew was that she didn't want him to go away and leave her right then. "I, I'm sorry to have awakened you. Um, do you need to go back to sleep?"

Moras didn't answer right away. He had been up several days and wasn't overly interested in consoling his latest sacrifice. He couldn't see this one lasting very long. She may be resourceful and bright, but she was scared out of her mind. "I would prefer to go back to sleep."

"But you'll stay?" Amina was quick with the request.

Moras sighed and sat back in the chair. "Alright. What do you want to talk about?"

Amina's mind raced. She didn't really know what she wanted to talk about. She just didn't want to stay alone in her room any longer.

Moras cleared his throat impatiently. Amina panicked. "Um, this isn't what I expected when I came here," she said uncertainly.

He smiled wickedly at her. Amina's eyes widened as she saw his fangs. "What did you expect?"

"I guess, uh, I thought…"

"You thought that I would rape you, then suck your body dry and leave you to die."

Amina swallowed. "That's not what I meant."

"Isn't it?"

"What happened to the others then?" Amina couldn't help but ask.

Moras's dark blue eyes seemed to look into her. "Do you really think you're ready for that?"

"I can't think of anything else right now," she whispered.

Moras's eyes turned solid black and his voice dropped to a deadly soft tone. "I waited until they were lonely enough to come to me. Then I seduced them. I used them as long as they were willing. When they couldn't live with the idea of me any longer, regardless of how lonely they were, I offered them death. The ones who accepted what I am, lived longer. The ones who feared me died sooner."

"The ones who lived longer, why did they decide to die in the end," Amina asked softly.

"It's easy enough for you to pretend that you're happy and in love until the druids give me an assignment. Each of the ones who lived with me at length asked to die within days after I returned from an assassination. Most live until the first night I chose to feed." The emphasis he put on feed sounded like a threat.

"You mean you only have to to uh feed," she could barely say it, "when you choose to?"

He smiled at her again and his fangs seemed to be emphasized by the firelight. "Not quite as simple as that. I feed when I need to or when I choose to. Are you offering?"

Amina shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "I don't know. That's what I was sent here for. Does it hurt?"

Moras's smile fell. "The druids have failed me in this respect. They were supposed to send me companions. But their teachings seem, in recent years, to result in girls coming to me afraid of the hunger and unknowing of the rest of their duties."

Amina was overcome with pity for him. "You're angry because you're alone," she said softly.

"You are the clever one," he said sarcastically. "Did it never occur to your teachers that it seems I go through girls much more quickly of late."

Amina shifted uneasily again.

Moras could hear the increase in her heart rate. "What?"

Amina jumped in her seat at his quick question. "What?"

He shook his head as if he didn't believe her response. "Yes, what. What exactly about my comment caused you to become nervous?"

Amina's eyes dropped. "Oh." She sat a moment in thought. She didn't want to insult him anymore than she already had. She felt so sorry for him at this point that she had almost forgotten she was frightened of him. Almost forgotten.

Moras grew tired of waiting for her response. He stood up. "I'm tired. If you've had enough conversation for one night I'll take my leave."

"No!" Amina stood up. "Don't go yet."

"Then answer my question."

Amina looked away from him again and walked over to the fire. Haltingly she said, "I guess they think that the, uh, deaths have increased because you're growing more…"

Amina heard his footsteps behind her. "Bloodthirsty," he asked as he finished her sentence. Then she felt his breath on her neck. "Cruel? Vicious?"

Amina turned around to find herself face to face with him. "Yes," she said suddenly feeling brave. "Are you trying to frighten me?"