The Beastkeeper's Redemption

Forty

Forty

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

Kaede was here.

Something deep and intrinsic made every frantic edge of her body tingle with that knowledge. There was no outward or obvious sign of him anywhere, but somehow she just... knew... that he was close.

Izzy stood to one side of the crowded drawing room, Otto fidgeting in the deep pocket she had discreetly crafted into the billowing skirt of the deep green gown she wore.

Her nerves were a wreck, had been the moment she had witnessed the huge, sleekly black dragon snatched from the sky by beings that resembled large shadows and deadly vines. Then, she hadn't had time to fully comprehend the power and danger of something able to fell a bloody dragon from the sky, but now that she was alone, now that she and Lou had breached the sprawling estate house, she did.

And Izzy knew that she and her friend were in no small amount of danger.

Men and women congregated in the room around her, laughing, imbibing, playing cards and placing bets. This chamber had seemed the most unassuming part of the house to bide her time in while she awaited Lou's return, who had run an errand to gather information on the location and keeping of fae creatures within the house, because the other rooms...

Even Izzy, who had spent most of her life running with more libertine sets of society, knew she was not entirely comfortable being privy to some of the unfoldings she had witnessed in those rooms.

The massive, opulent ballroom had been the worst.

The tang of sweat and blood had met her nostrils the moment she and Lou had stumbled over the threshold, men hollering as they crowded around a small perimeter in the centre while two creatures fought against each other in a tumult of fists and wings, horns and tails- whatever appendages they had been gifted with.

For the remainder of her existence, she would remain perplexed by the inexplicable choice to decorate the ballroom in pristine white marble, embellished with gold accents on the columns and domes arching overhead.

Making the splatters and pools of crimson blood even more stark against the whiteness of the tiles.

They had not lingered in that room.

The estate house had been designed solely for the indulgence of sin and pleasure, with each room on the lower levels coordinated to facilitate any hedonistic desires the male and female clientele might harbour- drinking, gambling, opiates, lovers of any kind and any number.

All of which she could stomach well enough.

However, there were other ominous tells of what sort of establishment her and Lou had entered.

Collared fae, manacled at the ankles as they shuffled from room to room with serving platters of food and drink. More yet, of different species and variety, displayed on marble pedestals- beautiful females with glistening wings, one in each colour, lining the entirety of one wall as if art pieces, chained to their pedestals where they posed with dispirited forlornness shadowing their luminescent eyes.

Izzy didn't want to think what their purpose served, reminded of the displays she had once seen in a lepidopterist's collection, and her stomach clenched and churned at the similarities.

Pressed against the edges of the room, beside a tall corinthian column and a pretty mauve drape, Izzy hoped that she didn't draw any notice while she waited for Lou's return. Though, surely, considering the levels of inebriation surrounding her, not a soul would glance at her twice.