44

'Curiosity killed the cat,' said the Assistant coldly, as he took Grace's hand and led her away. 'Let's not go there, shall we?'

'Y–yes,' said Grace nervously, looking back once as she strained her ears, and sure enough, there it was again: a faint but desperate cry from beyond the passage she was now being half-dragged away from.

'Are you afraid?' said the Assistant with an amused smile. 'While I savour your expression as you look here and there with the most adorable fright, I must assure you that you are perfectly safe with me.'

'Yes, but...'

'But what?'

'You do take other girls, don't you? That's not very nice...'

'Oh, but they aren't very nice, either,' said the Assistant plainly. 'They were sent here because God was displeased with them. So what does it matter what I do to them? Besides, I have always dealt with them well, if you only knew...'

'If you say so,' said Grace, the cry she had heard still ringing in her ears. Help! Help me please!

'Sssh,' whispered the Assistant, and the world seemed to grow silent. Her inner thoughts were drowned out, until her surroundings grew so still that even her heartbeat seemed loud and hammering.

Grace could hear her breathing clearly, and she could also see that she was once again in a dark and narrow corridor with the Assistant leaning uncomfortably close to her, until he slammed his hand against the wall she was near and smiled – dangerously; charmingly...

'Stop thinking about others all the time,' he whispered in her ear, and his voice sent chills down her spine – not from fear, but from a sense of extreme intimacy that unsettled her in the best way. 'Think about yourself... you're better than everyone else, but you just can't see it... so beautiful, so...'

'Sh–shouldn't we go to the library?' whispered Grace, acutely aware of her heartbeat, that was rising due to him...

'Hmm, but I'm already reading,' said the Assistant softly, looking into her eyes. 'Reading you... and I just can't stop...'

For a moment, it all felt so warm and irresistible to Grace that she almost wanted to let him go on; reading, talking, whatever he called it – until she remembered what she had promised herself. To resist him. No matter what.

No, I won't fall for it...The very thought seemed to bring the noise of the real world back, and unbeknownst to her, her cross glowed ever so slightly – just enough for the Assistant to notice and instantly withdraw.

'You're growing stronger, aren't you?' he said with an amused smile. 'Not bad.'

He continued the walk ahead with Grace following a few steps behind him.

'The library, my dear,' he said at last, opening a grand black door inlaid with gold. 'Welcome to my favourite dark corner of this mansion!'

'Wow,' said Grace, looking around. Like Lucien's library, the shelves were filled from top to bottom with books, but unlike it, the windows were mere slits at the tops of the walls, and the main lighting was all internal: flickering candles that swayed as dangerously as their owner. The books, too, were all dark and ancient, and the overall feel of the place was somewhat close and uncomfortable.

'Pick out a book you like,' said the Assistant, running a hand over the shelves invitingly.

'No thanks,' said Grace. 'I'd rather not have to come here again to return it.'

'Oh, I'm not that cheap. I'll give it to you as a present. Choose.'

'It's fine, really.'

'If you're going to be that hostile, I'm just going to have to detain you until you remember that when I asked for a slice of your life, I meant not just your time, but your complete presence and undivided attention.'

Grace gulped. 'Fine... let me look around, then.'

'As long as you like. I already consider you to belong here, after all...'

Grace ignored him and picked out a red book with an attractive spine.

'What's this one, with the flower on its cover?'

'That, I'm afraid, is an enchanted book called, "The Poisoned Flower". An innocent girl reading it will become one with its pages and can only be retrieved by a skilled magician. Of course, if you opened it, I would save you, but perhaps it's best to avoid it.'

'What an awful book! Why would you keep it?' she said, replacing it immediately.

'Well, it has its uses,' laughed the Assistant. 'There are some extremely touching stories contained in it that I love to dip into from time to time... the girls in them perform them for you, you know...'

Grace shuddered. 'Don't you have any... erm... novels or something? Which aren't cursed?'

'Certainly. I happen to have a lost novel written a thousand years ago by a wayward queen in Babylon who... entrusted this to the Devil himself. He gifted it to me on my last birthday. And I shall gift it to you, my dear Grace.'

'Isn't it too precious?'

'Not more than you.'

'You can be charming sometimes, I'll admit that much,' said Grace with a sigh, as the Assistant climbed up a ladder to retrieve the book from the very top.

'Why, thank you. Praise from you is rare, but delightful when given.'

Grace watched him for a few seconds, before walking towards another shelf to explore the titles there. She couldn't read most of them, so she simply admired the artwork and calligraphy and wondered how long it would take her if she tried learning one of these strange languages. She ran a hand over a line of similar volumes with gilted spines and gazed at them admiringly – when she noticed the tiniest something that made her frown and look again.

Between the third and fourth volumes was a tiny sliver of light that made the gold around them seem to shine even more. She looked up quickly; the Assistant was still busy taking the book out. She then carefully took the fourth volume out halfway through, and saw, to her surprise, that the entire shelf seemed to shift ever so slightly, revealing a hollow space behind it that contained a large ring of strange golden light. A portal?! She hurriedly placed the book back in its previous position, and the shelf slid back silently as though nothing had happened.

'There! I've got it!' said the Assistant, swiftly climbing down, and Grace hurriedly looked back at him as nonchalantly as she could, earnestly hoping he had not noticed anything.

'Thank you,' she said, taking the book from him and looking at it – until she realised that she was being looked at by him.

'Ah, to think a mere mortal from Earth could do this to me...' he said with a sigh, gazing at her with a smile that, at least, looked genuine enough.

'Do what?' asked Grace, looking into his eyes, which had a rare sincerity.

'The simple truth is that you of all people have managed to stir something in me, and I'm surprised,' said the Assistant, reaching out with his long fingers and touching her cheek gently as he spoke. 'Just when I thought I lacked emotion and had no love in me whatsoever, along you came with your innocent face and your pure soul. Almost like an angel, but better, because you are filled with pain and desire that makes you so beautifully human. And the way you have resisted me so far? It makes me admire you even more... to the point that I've begun to wonder if I've gone to playing with you to... actually loving you. I want you, Grace. And maybe, just maybe, I love you.'

Grace looked at him in surprise. 'L–love? You? No...'

'But it's true... am I not allowed to at least feel for you a little?'

'Erm... thanks, but... erm...'

'You don't have to respond to it. I just needed you to know. In private – in our own little space. Should you ever feel you would like to get to know me more, you could join me here anytime.'

'Thanks...'

'And one more thing before you leave,' said the Assistant with a sudden change in tone. 'That shelf you lingered near while I fetched your book? Don’t ever touch it again. There is a portal behind it that is only for me to use. If I catch you snooping around it again, I shall be forced to imprison you on account of trespassing.'

'I... I wasn't—'

'Don't bother. Like I said, I know you, Grace – you're so bad at hiding things from me. Those snowbells from earlier were to help with some portal, weren't they?'

'N–no, I...'

'Look, I understand. You wish to get out of here, and why shouldn't you... but not by fooling me. Maybe if you accept my friendship, I can show you a way out some time... But I'm warning you to only accept what I allow you, and not even a thought more than that. Goodbye, my dear. I'll see you again soon.'