The Ninth Door

Chapter 12 - Dinner Party

Emmerich

In the morning, Sienna and I woke up to the realization that we spent the night with books scattered between us. The bed was large enough for us to still feel comfortable, but my neck hurt. I had my head on one of the books, the one with no name on it, putting it in an odd angle throughout the night. However, there were no haunting visitations. So, perhaps the books were good for something.

Sienna stretched her arms, and I had to gaze at her with wonder. She was wearing a matching pair of plain black cotton shirt and pants. The blanket had only covered half of her body during sleep, but the temperature in her room was warm enough. Not toasty. Just right. But perhaps if we had opened the windows a crack and let some of the chill in, it wouldn’t have been the same. The room might currently have been considered cool, but I was nearly sweating.

“You look happy,” I commented.

She did. There was a smile playing on her lips, yes, but her eyes were more alive and that was what made the difference. I remembered how her eyes used to be equal parts brilliant and dull. The green was arresting and vivid, but there was a total absence of emotions. If she thought she looked depressed, she was wrong. She simply looked – not quite there.

“I am,” she shook her head in disbelief, brows pinching together even as her smile grew wider. “I can’t believe it, Emmerich. Lilith’s story gave me hope.”

We finished the whole story. It brought Sienna closer to her past, something that was starting to fade from all the repression. With the trauma happening in her childhood, she had distanced herself too quickly from who she was meant to be.

“So, what time are they coming?” I asked, trying not to show her just how anxious I was about the dinner. What would they think I was? Were these Kelleys so out of touch from who they really were? One thing was for sure. None of them would want Sienna digging into her past. They were too busy protecting her from it.

“They should be here around five or six. They’ll clean up a bit, and then we’ll have dinner at seven.”

“What would you like to do while waiting?”

“Let’s get cleaned up first. Then, we’ll eat breakfast. Walk around. Read a book.” The excitement in her voice was not just imagined. I felt it deeply.

“Walk around,” I murmured.

“Within the halls of this place. I want to see the bride’s room in the tower, see what it looks like after I’ve read Lilith’s book.”

“The ghosts are gone. Isn’t that what your family told you?”

“Are they gone? Truly gone?” she asked, her eyes boring into me. She was right. We’d seen two specters wandering about, and one of them was Eric Wester. I couldn’t answer her because an honest reply would confirm her fears. Then again, silence would, too.

“Well face whatever we have to face,” I said evenly.

“Is that what a knight is like? You face everything with no fear at all?’ There was no hint of sarcasm in her voice. She was really curious.

“No, Sienna. We must face everything with courage. Courage doesn’t mean there isn’t fear. Not having any fear is being foolish.”

“Then, I am happy to report that I’m not foolish at all, Emmerich,” she said softly.

**

12th century, 3rd year of knighthood, after capture by King Luther

They placed my body in a large cage, but it was still too small for my build. My brother wasn’t content with simply throwing me into the dungeons to feed on scraps as he played with my shifts. No, he wanted something more humiliating.

One of his knights had Fara’s youngest grandchild sitting right next to him. Only a monster like Luther would use a boy of only three summers as hostage. It was why Fara had no choice but to remain where they wanted her. She was to command my shifts according to his whim.

In the cage, I was naked and grimy. Once a respected prince, I wasn’t used to the stench and the humiliation. I bent myself to at least cover my c**k from curious, leering eyes. Men would look at me with scorn, while some women gaped with unabashed curiosity.

“They said it was as long as a -,” one noblewoman was saying to her friend.

“Stop it,” the friend protested, and I was grateful. My senses were aflame, and I could hear their conversations so clearly. It was supposed to be the benefits of becoming a predator, but I wasn’t the hunting leopard here and neither was I the prey. I was a caged animal, defeated and bent.

My brother’s men dragged the cage so that it was close enough to my brother’s long table. He sat in the middle, surrounded by noblemen of the highest ranks. Lady Mary sat next to him, her face in mourning and her eyes rimmed in red. I could almost taste her salty tears, which seemed to have retreated. She knew that whatever suffering she was in would only worsen if she showed her grief.

I knew why I was placed so close. My nose flared from the smell of sweating roasted pig and pigeons. Chicken and geese were surrounded by wild plums and berries. Cakes smelled even more decadent at the state that I was in, but it was the meat with a little blood on the sides that had me panting.

My mouth watered. To my horror, drool dripped down to my chest. It was then that I had caught my brother’s attention.

“Look upon the murderer, my brother Emmerich. Brother, look at this feast. Would you like some pig? What about some pigeon? All your favorites are here.”

I growled, now on all fours. My back hunched like a frightened cat’s but I was no longer scared. I was just starving. Dying for a piece. But I realized what I really wanted to do was to leap at my brother and tear his throat to taste his blood and eat his flesh. A bloody, violent communion.

“Oh, can’t speak? Ah. You’re truly a monster now like Eric Wester. You are in league with demons, brother. The sooner you confess and burn in the pyre, the sooner you’ll save your soul.”

My soul? What about his wretched one, burning beneath those thick silk and fur? I could almost hear the erratic heartbeat in Mary’s chest. Fear. Disgust. He had been violating her. I was sure of it. God help me but I would kill him for hurting her. I would save her if it would kill me in the end.

“Please come and help us.”

At first, the voice was too soft. I couldn’t be sure it was real. It was a child’s voice. My eyes scanned the room, returning to the little boy who sat next to a giant of a knight. No, it couldn’t be Fara’s grandson. He was deaf and mute.

“Please come and help us.”

The voice was urgent and louder. It was a little girl! I shook my head, shaking the madness away. Perhaps Fara was doing something else to me.

No! No! Don’t turn me right now! I need a clear head.

When my eyes closed, I saw a vision of Lady Mary being thrown on her bed. It interspersed with another woman screaming. I shook my head.

No. No. No.

**

Present Day

“We haven’t heard about you, Emmerich. Don’t get me wrong. I am pleasantly surprised that my niece had finally met someone. She -.”

“Uncle, please,” Sienna protested. Her cheeks were a bright pink, and I couldn’t help but chuckle but not for the reasons her uncle might suspect. She might not be seeing it, but she was starting to ease into a semblance of normalcy even for this one little dinner.

Sienna’s uncle sat at the head of the table, while her male cousin sit to his right and Sienna to his left. I sat next to Sienna.

Her cousin Joy, a young woman who looked about a year or two older, stared at me, looking like the opposite of her name. It might just be overprotectiveness. She was probably wondering who I was. I supposed young women talked among themselves, shared secrets. Who was I then if she hadn’t heard of me until tonight?

Silas, on the other hand, was jovial. He didn’t comment on my clothes, which Sienna said was meant for him but had never been worn. Even if he had worn them, he seemed like a man who had too many clothes to care.

Wealth. Security. For a time, I enjoyed the same things like them, until I decided to be a knight.

“The throne is mine, Emmerich. It can never be your own,” my brother Luther had once warned. “Mine. If you ever try anything to take it from me, you’ll be sorry.”

At that time, I was a frail-looking fourteen year old boy. Luther never believed I would ever be bigger than him, and when he realized just how much bigger and just how more dangerous, he caged me.

“I’d like to say we met at the library,” I said. “But we were actually neighbors. I had just moved in the same street a few months ago.”

It was best to be consistent with our stories. Sienna told Dr. Rhodes that I was her neighbor, and we had to stick with that even though there was something more romantic about meeting in a dimly-lit, dusty library with burnished furniture and jeweled lamps. I had never asked what the library she worked for looked like, but I had my own image of it. It was so vivid that it must be true.

“Where exactly?” Joy asked, narrowing her eyes at me. She didn’t trust me at all. Even if I didn’t sniff her, I could smell her mistrust but underneath that was concern. So, I had no right to be angry.

“The house next to Mrs. Spencer’s,” Sienna bit out. She sensed it, too. She flicked her eyes at me. I only had a split-second glimpse of her forest-green eyes but I saw the panic there.

“There’s no shame in meeting in the same neighborhood,” Mr. Kelley said. “It means that you’re someone she knew for a time, felt safe enough with. While I didn’t expect my niece to fall for someone she didn’t know for years on end, I’m glad it’s you, Emmerich. I have a good feeling about you.”

“Until you don’t,” Silas joked, wiggling his eyebrows at me to let me know that he was only half-serious. Half serious because there was still that air of protectiveness emanating from each family member. I couldn’t blame them. However, it was suffocating. I could almost feel the reemerging Sienna shrinking back a little.

I laughed, making sure it sounded lighthearted. It seemed like I was gaining a few skills here – ones that I had never thought I needed. Perhaps I would need it when I return to my world.

**

I blinked.

Where the hell was I?

It was cold and damp, even smelly. The smell started mild at first. Then, it became almost overpowering. I growled, instead of groaned. Then my eyes adjusted to the darkness.

Heavy chains held me down. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were spelled. Groans of pain came from a mere few feet away as I felt soft wriggling things crawling on my toes.

Maggots.

I almost retched, but I held on. I needed to -

**

“Are you alright, Emmerich?” Joy asked. I must not look well at all if the cold young woman sitting across from me could look at me with so much concern.

“I, uh, am fine.”

A hand squeezed mine. It was then that I realized that Sienna was looking at me, with wide, tearful eyes.

“I’m okay, Sienna,” I reassured her. I pulled her toward me and kissed her lips, damn the consequences. Joy seemed to be appeased after that display of affection, while Sienna’s fingernails dug into my hand. I would just have to apologize to her later.