Chapter 516

Natalia's POV

"You think you could kill me so easily?"

The King's face was close to mine. Too close. I could feel his hot breath on my neck, could scent the fetid stench of rot and decay. His face was half decomposed, skin sinking and peeling away. Not from insects, but from the hot, sulphuric vapors that ate away at everything they touched.

They were eating me, too. The steam was all around us, blurring my vision, blocking out all attempts to escape. Everywhere I turned, I saw only greenish vapor.

And him.

The Winter King.

He grabbed my left wrist. Yanked it hard, so hard that the skin fell away and the bone cracked. I screamed, stumbling backwards. Surprisingly, I fell easily, even though he was holding me fast.

It took me a long moment to understand why.

He was still holding my wrist, but the rest of me had fallen away. My arm hung limply at my side, leaking a river of rich, red blood into the pool of chemicals beneath me.

The waters of hell, where demons lived. Or so the King thought.

What if he was right?

I could only wonder to myself as I watched my wedding band fall off my dead finger and sink into the River Styx.

I woke with a start to the sound of rain still hammering against the roof. The room was dark and unfamiliar, and for a moment, I forgot where I was. I sat bolt upright, heart pounding, and looked around. Finally, it hit me.

I was in Isaac's cabin. And that dream... It was just a dream. Not all that different from the ones I still occasionally had since the war.

A hot breath escaped me. Shaking my head, I reached out and picked my phone up off the nightstand. It was three in the morning, but I tried dialing Damon anyway. They'd be wondering where I was by now.

Unfortunately, the call didn't go through. Still no service. Sighing, I swung my legs over the side of the bed and stood, padding over to the door.

Both locks were still firmly in place, which was more of a relief than I expected. I unlocked the door silently and made my way down the hall to the kitchen, taking care not to wake Isaac. Peering around the corner to the main area, I spotted him sleeping soundly on the couch with one arm over his head.

In the kitchen, I found a glass and filled it from the tap. The water was cold and tasted faintly of minerals. I drank half of it in one go, soothing my hot throat, then refilled it and made my way back toward my room.

I stopped halfway when I saw something I hadn't noticed before.

Strange; I'd only seen the bathroom and the bedroom earlier, but now I realized there was another door in the hallway. It was slightly ajar, and a faint red light was seeping through the crack.

Curious, I glanced over my shoulder, then moved toward the door. I hesitated. This wasn't my house, and I had no right to go snooping around. I probably should have gone back to bed.

But that light..... It was familiar. Too familiar. I was pushing the door open before I could stop myself.

The room beyond was small and empty except for a single piece of furniture in the center. It was square and covered with a white sheet. To anyone else, it might have just looked like a table or something. But the red glow was coming from underneath it, and without thinking, I grabbed the sheet and pulled it away.

My mouth went dry.

A display case sat beneath the sheet. And the source of the red glow?

A ruby.

It was resting on a plush pillow in the center of the display case, and it was roughly the size of my fist, larger than most I had seen before.

It had the same deep crimson colot as the ones from the mountain. The same pulsing, otherworldly glow. It was faint, but it was there. This was no trick of the light.

My blood turned to ice.

No. No, it couldn't be. Isaac was David's friend, not one of the King's minions. I told myself that he was probably just a collector, that maybe he'd taken it when Helena's belongings were raided. But even as I thought those words, I knew the truth.

I needed to get out.

I began to backpedal, but it was too late. The door slammed shut behind me, and I heard the sound of the lock sliding into place.

Gasping, I spun around. Isaac was standing there, leaning against the door with his arms folded. He wasn't smiling anymore, at least, not in the same way I'd seen before. His lips were curved, but his eyes leered at me in the darkness like two burning Goals aw hatred there and it. made his scars and wounds u

and terrifying. Not at all like the kind, gentle person I knew.

But I supposed I never knew him, did I? We'd only just met.

Goddess, how could I have been so stupid?

"Isaac?" I took a step back, slipping my hand into my pocket for my phone. I reached deep for my wolf, waking her in case we needed to fight. "What is this?"

He didn't answer. Just reached into his pocket and pulled out a key. Then, he strode past me and opened the case.

Shit.

I ran.

Isaac was fast, and my fingers fumbled with the door in the dark. Somehow, though, I managed to unlock the door and burst into the hallway, but at that point, he had already retrieved his ruby.

“Help!” I cried, as if someone could hear me all the way out here. I careened against the opposite wall in the hallway, my shoulder slamming against the paneling. I stubbed my foot on the hardwood floors as I fled, stumbling over the sweatpants that were too long on me.

"You're not going anywhere, Natalia.” Isaac's voice was deep. Deeper than before. There was a thread of malice underneath it, too, and something else.

Glee.

The same kind of giddy glee that I'd heard way too many times in the Winter King's voice.

"HELP!" I screamed even louder.

The only response was a resounding

clap of thunder and a flash of

met

lightning that was so bright it illuminated the dark cabin. I saw shadow moving on the wall Tall

menacing, and faster than me dodged just as Isaac lunged at me. Hé slammed into the coffee table with a crash, rolling across the floor.

I took my chance to race over to the front door.

Then came the red flash. It was brighter than the lightning, so bright it blinded me. I lunged for the door, half-shifting, claws extended.

But just before my fingers caught the doorknob, I collapsed. My head spun, ears ringing like someone had shot me with a wave of sonic energy that made my stomach feel like it was turning inside out.

The last thing I saw before my eyes closed was Isaac standing over me.

And in the dim light, the shadows almost made him look like he was wearing a crown made of glass and rubies.

Then, my body betrayed me. My muscles went limp, my wolf retreated, and my phone slipped from my fingers.