Chapter 13: Shitty Situation
"You're welcome to stand there all night, but it might get a bit uncomfortable," He said. Eve had been standing there for the past five minutes as if that was going to somehow protect her.
She rolled her eyes and stepped away from her spot near the door.
"Is anyone going to miss us at the party?" she asked.
Erebus huffed and shrugged off my thick jacket. "That party wasn't for us. It was just an excuse to get drunk and party all night. They won't be stopping anytime soon."
"That's reassuring," she mumbled. Her words were strong but she crossed her arms over chest and refused to look at him. She looked at the bed, the couch, the walls. Anywhere but him.
It hadn't dawned on him that Eve would be nervous about sleeping in here. After all the rumors she had heard about Erebus before, certainly she expected something to come from tonight.
Erebus wanted to reassure her, but stopped himself before he opened his mouth. Eve should be afraid. It was good that she had her guard up. None of his other wives had made it this far into the night. That might have been because we all over-indulged in the Werewolves wine each time.
"We'll both have to stay here the whole night," he said, forcing himself to say something. "If you sleep in another room, I won't be able to protect you. This is the best option."
"I understand," she said, walking over and sitting on the edge of his bed.
"Besides," he continued. "I already get enough shit from my father. I don't need to give them any more reasons to doubt me."
She opened her mouth like she was about to say something, but closed it again.
His chest tightened. She really was terrified. It was surprising, he had to admit. This was the same girl that launched herself at a wolf over a tiny dead rabbit, and she was afraid to be in a room with him.
A tiny shiver rumbled down her spine, one that she tried to hide.
"You're cold?" Erebus asked.
She shook her head. Liar.
He walked to his closet and pulled out a shirt and pants. They would be huge on her, but it was better than wearing the gold wedding dress all night.
The dress he was sure Amanda had something to do with.
"Here," Erebus said, tossing them into her lap. She looked relieved when she realized what it was. "Bathroom's that way. Use whatever you need."
She stood and walked toward the bathroom with her head down, but paused and turned around. "You're not going to kill me while I'm in the shower, are you?"
Erebus laughed. "If I wanted to kill you, princess, you'd be dead right now."
She gave a sarcastic smile before mumbling under her breath and walking into the bathroom.
He took a long breath. They had made it this far, which was a good sign. But something was definitely going on with his brothers.
And Eve had actually trusted Rafiq over him. Erebus knew she wasn't going to trust him right away, but trusting one of them was going to be more dangerous for her than anything.
His brothers never had his best interests in mind. Never.
Erebus listened to the bathroom until he heard Eve step under the stream of water. His mind wandered to the thought of her standing there, water trickling over her perfect black hair. She was beautiful, that much was true. She was different from the other humans who had been sent to marry him, somehow owing a debt to his father and thinking this would make up for it.
Eve was defiant. She wasn't planning on listening to anything Erebus said. He still wasn't entirely convinced that she was actually afraid of the Werewolves, but maybe she was at least pretending to be afraid for her own safety. She had survival instincts. When he saw her for the first time in the throne room, Erebus knew she would be hard for anyone to try and kill. Eve had a certain fire to her that annoyed him to no end.
If she would just trust him, keeping her alive would be a lot easier.
But what was he supposed to say? He couldn't tell her that the rumors weren't true. He couldn't tell her that he wasn't the horrific, violent Dark Prince she had heard about. He couldn't tell her those things because they weren't true.
The things he did to survive were less than admirable. But Eve had those same instincts. Maybe she would understand.
Or maybe she would hate him for everything he had done. She probably already did. Erebus couldn't ask her what she had heard about him. Saints, did he even care? People had been spreading rumors about him longer than Eve had been alive. For years, Erebus had heard about the Dark Prince who could kill an entire room of Werewolves with just a look. He had heard about the Saint-cursed Werewolves who was touched by the demons. He had heard about the slave of the king who carried out his assassinations with ease and delight.
The stories had gotten so ridiculous, Dimitrius and him had often sat down and joked about how twisted they became. But that's the thing about rumors. Truth is usually mixed in there somewhere.
"How's it going in there?" Erebus asked.
"I am very capable of taking showers without the need for you to check up on me, thanks," she yelled from the bathroom.
Great.
He tugged his shirt off and threw it into his closet, lying back on the bed. The stars were bright tonight. That was one thing he actually admired about the Caliphate: the stars. They were brighter here than anything else he had ever seen. It was why half the castle was built with transparent ceilings. The view was too beautiful to ignore.
It was a view Erebus would fight for.
Amongst other things.
His thoughts were interrupted when Eve stepped out of the bathroom. Wearing his clothes. With dripping wet hair.
Saints save me.
"Nice shower," she chirped.
Erebus nodded, trying not to stare. "Our ancestors wanted us to be connected to nature. I like it. Reminds me of where we come from."
"And where's that?" she asked.
"You have a lot to learn about the history of Werewolves. We didn't always reside here. The Werewolves had to fight for this land. There was a time when Werewolves weren't at all powerful. We were the weakest of the creatures. We fought for decades to claim our power. To claim our lands."
She listened as he talked.
"Many Werewolves used to believe we drew our power from the elements. It's not practiced as much anymore, but it used to be. Werewolves would partner with witches and warlocks to strengthen their gifts."
"Gifts?" she asked.
I nodded. "Some Werewolves have special gifts. Magic, I guess. But not everyone."
Eve walked around the bed and sat on the edge, as far from me as possible. Her eyes flickered to his bare chest.
"I won't bite, you know. You may think whatever you'd like about me, but I'm not going to touch you."
She nodded but didn't move. Clearly she didn't trust him. It made Erebus wonder if another man had ever hurt her before. And that made him want to storm right back to the human lands and rip the head off anyone who did.
Eve interrupted his thoughts with, "Can I ask you a question, Erebus?"
"Depends on the question."
"You don't look like Werewolves. None of you do. On the way here, Dimitrius told me you used…"
"Glamour?" he finished for her. "We all do. It's simple magic to make us appear normal."
"But why? You're in your own castle, why wouldn't you just be yourself?"
The question made him smile. "It's a simple trick so you would feel more relaxed. It's bad enough that we drag a young woman into our castle and force her to marry. Better not scare you with our looks."
She scoffed. "How noble of you."
A feral sense of competition creeped into him. Eve was challenging him. She was challenging his words. Stupid, stubborn human. Erebus rolled off the bed and walked around to her side, inches from where she sat. "Would you like to see what the Werewolves really look like, princess?"
She swallowed once.
"Or are you afraid?"
"I'm not afraid," she answered quickly.
Erebus stepped closer, looking down to where she sat on the bed. "No?" he teased.
Eve lifted her chin and stared at him with those big, endless eyes. "Let me see," she said.
He couldn't tell if it was fake confidence or simple arrogance.
But he didn't care. If Eve was going to survive the night, she was going to have to learn what she was up against.
With a single breath, he dropped the glamour that was concealing his Werewolves characteristics. The glamour that hid his large, uniquely white furs . The glamour that hid his pointed sharp claw.
Eve's eyes widened.
"Well?" he asked. "What do you think?"
Her eyes dragged across his torso and drank up every new detail. She wasn't afraid like he had expected her to be.
No, she was feeling something else. She stood from where she sat on the edge of the bed, her head just meeting the top of his chest despite the fact that she was tall for a human.
Slowly, Eve smiled. Wicked curiosity washed over her face. "They call you the Dark Prince for a reason, I see."
"They call me that because of more than just the color of my fur, princess."
Her eyes snapped to mine. "Don't call me princess."
"Why not? Like it or not, that's what you are now. Princess of the Caliphate."
"Let's just worry about surviving the night first."
"You doubt my abilities to protect you?"
"I doubt my safety in the presence of Werewolves."
The silence that rang though the air said more than he could form with words.
Eve still didn't trust him. Erebus guessed that was fair.
But they had a few hours to go until sunrise, and it was her and him in this room alone until then.
He moved his claws in a motion that blew her hair across her face.
She gasped and scrambled to get it out of her eyes while he laughed.
"You think this is funny?" She snapped "You really have fun toying with worthless humans, don't you?"
"Calm down, princess. We're both in a shitty situation here. You might as well lighten up."
"You can't be serious."
"Serious as ever."
"Please explain to me, prince, how this could possibly be a shitty situation for you? You basically get hand delivered a wife, a party thrown in your favor, and eligibility for your own Kingdom. What part of that is shitty for you?"
Erebus stepped back, finally putting some distance in between them. "It's complicated," was all he had the energy to say.
"Right; because your dumb human of a wife can't understand anything complicated."
"You really should get some sleep," he said, walking to the other side of the room. "I'll wake you if I hear anything."
To his surprise, Eve actually got back into bed. It had to be from pure exhaustion, because Eve was too stubborn to do anything he suggested.
He listened to her breathing as it slowed.
It was only after he was sure she was asleep that he turned around to look at her.
Erebus smiled when he saw her curled up in his bed, clutching the knife he had gifted her as if it were her only hope in this world.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Mark_walter
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