Prisoner of Darkness (Whims of Fae Book 2)(13)

Chapter Five





When Scarlett first awoke, she was disoriented. Darkness spread through the room. Surely it had to be morning. She felt like she’d slept for days, not waking even once in the middle of the night.

She looked around the room and found an alarm clock sitting on the bedside table next to her. Its presence struck her as odd. The Summer Court had had no electronics. But she shouldn’t have been so surprised. The Unseelie Court existed in the mortal realm, and if Scarlett had stumbled upon the castle, she may have thought it a celebrity mansion instead of a fae palace.

The clock read eight o’ clock.

It really was dark there all the time.

Scarlett stretched her arms out, resting her head on the pillow again. With no sunshine, she was tempted to go back to sleep. But Kaelem had said she could start her training today, and she didn’t want to waste any time. The sooner she mastered her powers, the sooner she could go home.

Her suite contained a bed, a sitting area with fuchsia leather couches, a slate fireplace, and a walnut desk, as well as a bathroom that was twice as large as her bedroom back home, with a large walk-in shower, deep jetted tub, and double sink.

The tub was heaven, with jets placed in all the right spots. At the Summer Court, Scarlett had felt like a fairytale princess as she’d soaked in the claw foot tub. Here she felt like a Fortune 500 CEO relaxing after a long day at work.

After she was thoroughly clean and smelled like lavender body wash from head to toe, she searched for an outfit in her closet. There was so much to choose from, but she settled on a pair of black skinny jeans, a hot pink tank top, and the silver sandals she’d worn to the Unseelie Court—as practical an outfit as she could find.

She’d learned to fight with a staff in the Summer Court, but she didn’t think her training here would be as physical. Then again, she wasn’t sure what to expect.

She’s already learned how to glamour herself—sort of, at least—and how to heal injuries. Moving things with her mind was a work in progress. She’d accidentally choked Hair Gel at the party. Before she learned how to use her powers, she needed to master how not to.

Scarlett pulled her cell phone out of the pocket of her pants from the day before. Dead. She would have to ask Kaelem for a charger—and if the cell would even work—when she saw him.

She plopped on the couch to wait for him. She couldn’t help but wonder why he’d sought her out and offered to help her now. But she’d never found out why he gave her the pill in the first place or what exactly the pill had done. Perhaps she could coax the information from him.

She’d learned from her time in Faerie not to trust the fae, although she’d be lying to herself to say she didn’t trust Raith. But all she knew about Kaelem was that he was manipulative. If she’d felt she had another choice, she wouldn’t have come to the Unseelie Court.

By eleven o’clock, Scarlett grew impatient. She’d come here to learn, not to sit there bored out of her mind, so she ventured out of her room.

She walked down the long hallway outside of her suite to the elevator they’d come out of the night before. But instead of taking it downstairs where they’d come from, she hit the button with a four on it, the top floor.

Kaelem said his room was the penthouse, so she’d look for him there.

The elevator door opened to a small sitting room. Two black, leather chairs sat against the wall to her left with a glass table in between them. Ahead, a set of white French doors with frosted glass stood ajar.

“Hello?” Scarlett said.

No answer.

She walked to the doors and tried again. More silence.

Scarlett pushed one open and peeked in. A large projector screen lined the wall across from her, a large white sectional facing it. She continued into the room. Empty. Another set of French doors led her to the bedroom.

This time she barged in without warning and found Kaelem, sprawled naked, face down across a gray-wash wooden four-poster bed. His body rested on the plum comforter beneath him.

“Oh my god,” Scarlett said.

She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t. And not because he had a nice ass, which he so did, but something else had taken hold.

Kaelem didn’t startle at her entrance. He groaned, looked at the clock on his nightstand, and groaned again. “It’s not even noon.”

Scarlett told herself to think. She’d come there for a reason, not to stare at the roundness of his perfect…

Stop. Training. That was it.

“I thought we were training today,” Scarlett managed to get out.

Kaelem rolled around and stood up, half asleep and blinking as his eyes adjusted to the light, the entire front of his body on display. “Today, yes. I said nothing about morning.”

Scarlett could go to him. He was so close. A few steps, and she could reach him. She could take off her shirt on the way. No, he could take it off of her when she got there.

Ugh. No.

Scarlett reached inside her mind. She pulled up at an imaginary wall, blocking out a part of her brain she had no control over. Something pushed against the barrier, but for now, she could think clearly again. She raised her gaze to his face.

“Look at my pupil, learning already.” Kaelem continued testing her.

The push against her mental shield screamed at her, but she kept the shield up. “I came here to learn. Not waste my time.”