Into the Azure: A Fantasy Bad Boy Romance by Kylie Silverstone Page A

hallway as the other girls followed suit in a single file line behind us. The one girl reaches for the towels and takes them from my arms, never making eye contact with me. I could see through the dark that she had a large scar running down her face from her forehead to her chin, she had tried to hang a bit of her hair in her face to hide her mutilation, but it did no good, even in this darkness I could see it.
         We walked down a long, stone hallway, its grey stone was illuminated by candlelight that danced off the hall walls and flickered on to the floor as our hurried footsteps echoed in the corridor. I looked above us and saw that the ceiling hung high above our head. I could see that it was in fact not made of stone, but was in fact painted, like one of the buildings I had seen in one of Izzy’s art books.
         I squinted my eyes against the darkness trying to make out the shapes and symbols on the roof over our heads, but we had been moving too fast and the darkness skewed my vision almost completely.
         One of the girls produced a large, silver ring of key from a pocket on her linen dress. She struggled in the darkness to find the right one. She found it, and with a shaking hand she slipped it into the metal lock of a large, wooden door. She shuffled inside and the other girl led me in by my arm.

Chapter 4  
       The room had looked like the one I had woken up in; Stone walls and floor, a desk with a mess of papers on it. One of the girl pulled up an old wooden chain and sat me in it. It creaked and wobbled beneath me with a broken leg. The room felt warm as the last embers of sunlight danced through the open window. The sunset was brilliant royal purple that illuminated the rolling mountains around us. The periwinkle clouds hung low among the hilltops and in the distance I could see what was a heard of snowy white horses grazing on the emerald grass of the foot hill. I heard them whinny and neigh in the distance, their voices carrying on for miles. Their long creamy hair streamed behind them when they ran, looking proud and wild. I suddenly realized what this new world had looked like; it looked like heaven.
        Three of the girls ran back out of the room, their backs arched and their faces hidden, looking like rats in the subway. The one girl produced a large brass lamp and set it on the table near the door. She produced a short match and lit the wick, placing the protective glass ever so gently around the flame.
        I heard a crash from beside me and saw that the girls have pulled up a large, cooper, bathtub. It looked like one I would have seen in a museum. They began scurrying out of the room, their cloth and sack shoes squeaking on the stone floor. Their eyes darted about looking like wild horses as they almost ran into each other in a panic. It was almost comical to see them all scattering about like the three stooges. The way they ran in a panic reminded me of the way the roaches would run when I turned on the lights in my old apartment. Pathetic creatures.
         The girls began to bring wooden, steaming pails of water. Two by two they emptied them into the bathtub, and the smell of fragrant lavender filled the air. I crossed my legs and watched them, I could feel them wince as my eyes moved over their bodies.
        What had they been so scared of?
         I supposed that they had probably seen me arriving with the guard. Perhaps they thought of me as their superior, they were certainty acting like it. I never would have acted such a coward as they were, I had my pride. I would have died before I would have ever taken commands as they did; jumping around like little church mice, afraid of their own shadows. I always had more respect for myself than that, and even if I was in some new, strange land, that would continue to make no difference. I thought of the Guard, how tender he had been to me; offering me a blanket, carrying me back to the castle, then ordering these mutes