got two updates in, here is the first one
“What do you think you’re doing here?”Jane backed up quickly until she felt the smooth wood of the bookcases against her back and the musty scent of old books in her nose. Flattening against them, she could feel the outline of something sharp at her back. Moving ever so slowly in what she hoped was a frightened, unsure manner, she curled her hand around one of the intricately-designed daggers that was displayed on the shelf.
Before her stood the man with the diamond eyes, and he squinted when he saw her move. His lips were pulled back in a snarl, and the white eyes glowed, casting a shadow on the rest of his face.
How is that possible? one part of her mind wondered, but the other was focused on repositioning her death-grip on the textured hilt of the dagger. This was her only hope of escaping with her life, she was sure.
The man growled again and stepped forward soundlessly. “You know, I had warned you before that I would leave you alone as long as you told me where Paul was. But no, you had to play the hero and come here, trying to find answers that were not up to you to be sought. Looks like I’ll have to do the dirty work again,” he muttered, advancing rapidly, his eyes glowing brighter at the last words. She glanced away from his direct stare, finding another point to focus on. With a desperate cry, she lunged forward, bringing the knife in front of her, but he moved at the speed of light and was not there when she barreled through where he had just been a moment before. In a heartbeat, she felt a strong hand clasp her wrist, tightening until she dropped the weapon. Wrenching her around, the man caught her with her back to his hard chest, holding her immobile.
“Stay still,” he growled into her ear, his breath surprisingly icy on her neck. Shivering, she stopped, afraid of what he would do. Shutting her eyes tightly, she was tried to figure out a way to get away from him when a pair of heavy boots ran into the room.
“Jag…again?” came a heavy sigh from the doorway. Opening her eyes slightly, Jane glanced at the speaker, and then her eyes popped open completely when she recognized the man as the one with the golden eyes who had come the second day. He leaned on the doorjamb and crossed his arms over his chest, an amused expression on his face.
At that moment, there was a soft
whoosh as another man appeared in the dark shadow in the corner of the room and stepped into the light, drawing his black cloak closer to himself. Jane gaped at him as she saw that he was the one from the image, the one who seemed to control his own shadow. And true to the print, his shadow was nowhere to be seen even though there was a light in the room. He walked up to her and the man holding her and raced his hand slightly. Immediately, the man with diamond eyes let her go and took a step back.
Jane herself took an involuntary away from both men, although she made sure to stand even further away from the shadowed man; he seemed more dangerous of all of the men in the room. Catching that, he smiled in a way that made her shudder, and his black eyes sparkled with satisfaction.
“Good; you have a level head on your shoulders. You should be afraid of me more than the rest of them.”
The diamond-eyed man snorted behind her. “And here I thought that I was the only one who could read minds; well, and Black.”
The shadow-man gave him an exasperated glare. “If you rely only on reading minds, Jag, you won’t last long out there; she stepped further away from me than she did from you.”
As the man named Jag opened his mouth to protest, another man appeared in the room from seemingly thin air. Giving a thin, horrified cry, Jane backed further into the corner, her eyes flicking from man to man.
This one was taller than any of them, and it did not take long for her to identify him as the one who had been leaning on the shoulder of the one with the cold, dead eyes. As he turned his silver stare at her, she realized that his pensive expression was strangely comforting, the only thing in this room that did not look like it was going to kill her. In a way, he reminded her of a guardian or a king, even, with the way all of the men bowed their heads when he appeared and murmured something in a foreign language.
“Well, well, what do we have here?” he asked, his voice surprisingly soft for his baritone with the fascinating lilt. “If I’m not mistaken, you would be the lady Black was talking about. Pleasure to finally meet the only subject of his conversation for the last few weeks,” he finished with a wink, his voice hypnotizing as he bowed to her in a courtly manner.
Jane blinked in surprise.
Who was this man, who looked like he belonged in a royal court? And who was this “Black” that they were all talking about?Suddenly, there was a blast of cold air from the doorway as another figure walked into the room. As soon as Jane turned to look at him, her heart beat faster as it sank into her heels.
It was Paul.
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