A/N- I rewrote this chapter three times I'll have you know. :P Every time inspiration came, a new, and hopefully better, idea would take its place. It was annoying. all well.

Thank you for the reviews. They mean alot and motivate me to keep writing. They also help me pump out chapters faster ;) just saying..

Chapter 6

Weeks had passed thus far. Celine walked aimlessly throughout the castle halls, searching for the library. She had a mission in mind, but knew she had all day to complete it. She had yet to enter the library, where she guessed Zuriel to be (given his love of knowledge), so she searched for it on her own. Snow had fallen early this year, though winter was still an entire month away. Many of the servants were outside supervising their children, who were wreaking havoc on each other, and so Celine was free today to wander without one of the kind attendants catching her and offering to lead her somewhere.

In the few weeks Celine had been acquainted with Zuriel, she had learned that he was stubborn, hot-tempered, prideful yet humble, sweet, and astoundingly generous, even if only to her and his servants. He explained to her over dinner a fortnight ago that everything in this castle, save for his and the servant's quarters, was designed for her. Celine guessed that the hall she had found on her first day at the chateau, with the knight's armors, was his hall, which led to his chambers. Thus, out of odd respect for her host and kidnapper, she never ventured there again, though it was one of the closest halls to her own bedchambers. She wondered if this had been on purpose.

And yet, with all this knowledge, she still did not fully know her purpose being held here.

Fiona, who had thus far proven herself to be the castle gossip (though Celine felt rude in thinking so) told Celine anything she asked when she asked it. She told her how, when she came to work for Zuriel three years ago, he had been having his servants put the finishing touches on this castle. The whimsical sitting rooms and vast gardens were all for her. Luxury materials had been used to build everything, from the silver wood used for some of the chairs, to the gold-laced marble that covered the majority of the flooring throughout the fortress. All for her..

However, there were some questions that Fiona did not yet know the answer to. Celine needed Zuriel for this reason.

Finally, she came across a colossal hall, its cream colored, vaulted ceilings reflecting the sunlight that spilled through the windows. Seeing as there were windows up either side of the hall, this entire expansion must be its own wing, Celine guessed. There were no paintings or statues, as were typical decoration in the rest of the castle. Instead, only the ceiling high windows and black marble floors served as ornamentation, but it was enough.

Two looming doors towered above Celine as she drew nearer to the end of the hall. Double doors were common in this place, and her bedroom, the kitchens, and a few other fairly informal rooms were the only exceptions. She stared at them, daunted, wondering how she was going to open them. She felt sure the library must reside behind these doors. Zuriel spoke often, over their nightly suppers together, of his passion for intelligence. He studied everything, from what she understood, and only a very vast library could possibly accommodate all he wished to learn. An entire wing dedicated to a library sounded perfectly plausible.

She knocked softly, finding that the wood of the doors were so hard it hurt her knuckles. When so response came, she pulled downwards at the curled, silver handle and pushed. Nothing happened at first, and within moments she was breathless. Then the door budged, and began to slowly creak open. She grunted, and made one last heaving attempt to push the thing. Just as she did so, the door flew open, causing her to topple over herself onto the ground. This was not a feeling she was used to, as, to the best of her knowledge, she was not clumsy, and rarely ever fell.

"Celine!" exclaimed Zuriel. This was the first time she had heard the man exclaim anything. He was very calm, even when passionate, at all times. She must have truly surprised him, then.

"I am sorry, my lord!" she said quickly, cheeks burning. Her palms felt bruised from her impact on the floor. Mid-sentence, Zuriel swept her off her feet and set her on a nearby sofa, and began to examine her palms. Celine inhaled the masculine scent of him, and felt strangely safe in his arms

Ever since that night that he had lost his temper with her, Zuriel had been exceedingly careful with her entire being, both mentally, emotionally, and physically, at least the best he knew how. If he really loved her, in Celine's opinion, he would release her to return home, but given the position they were both in, he was perfect.

"Are you hurt?" asked Zuriel, his voice quite calm again. His face was stone as usual, though the memory of his expression moments before caused Celine to giggle.

"I must apologize again, milord" she explained. "It is just that I have never seen you so… stunned before".

Zuriel raised a pale, high-arched eyebrow at her statement. He cleared his throat in dismissal, though he did look a little amused by his hostage.

He looked her up and down, meaning to scan her for evidence of injury, and instead finding himself mesmerized by her beauty. Her hair was piled atop her head in an elegant fashion, and black fur lined her sapphire velvet dress, which was designed to keep her warm as possible on this cold day. Even so, a goodly part of her décolletage was exposed in a sensual manner that she could not possibly be aware of. Her eyes were lined with black pigment as to emphasize them, though the rest of her face was prettily bare.

Celine's flush deepened, as she guessed his scrutiny of her was negative. "I truly am sorry.." she said softly. Zuriel snapped back to attention, and smiled at her easily.

"Hush, darling. You have done nothing wrong. Now tell me, why are you here. And please address me by my actual name". He kissed her hand politely, yet the action caused Celine to shiver in delight. Deranged man or not, Zuriel was more handsome than the man of any girl's dreams. She prayed he did not notice it.

Of course… he would not have ever expected to see her so early in the day. They mostly saw each other only by nightfall, when they would dine together and then wander about the gardens or through the many galleries of the castle. Celine had yet to grow accustomed to the sheer amount of artwork this castle fell home to. Some was dark, some was mysterious, but all of it was mystical and awe-inspiring. There were very few portraits of Zuriel himself, and the few that were present were very, very old looking, as if he had been a boy a very long time ago. This was strange to Celine, as Zuriel looked not a day over twenty-five.

"I… I have a question". Her voice was hesitant, afraid to upset him. Even after all his diligence with her emotions, Celine still had not placed complete trust in this man.

"Mhmm" he said, rising from his place beside her and walking, hands behind his back, towards the desk in the middle of the room. He seemed at ease enough.

Celine took a deep breath. "Why am I here?" she asked. She had not addressed this enigma with him since her first night here. Zuriel did not stop walking, nor did he show that he had heard the question in the first place.

"Please" she pleaded. "I want to know, that I may fulfill your desires and leave". She tried to be submissive as possible, though she knew there were very few rebellious bones in her body to begin with.

Zuriel had known this was coming. He had heard her, more than once, trying to draw this information from castle servants. He was never far from her throughout the day, and knew of everything she did and said. Rhys, his closest companion before Celine, had seemed especially frustrated when Celine had asked him. It was frustration with himself, and not with her, for he knew better than anyone, save Zuriel, why she had to stay here.

Somehow Celine's last sentence prompted Zuriel to answer her this time. Perhaps it was because she was in the frame of mind that led her to believe knowing what she needed to know would cause him to give her leave of this place. No… it was quite the opposite.

"Where to begin" he said, his voice echoing slightly throughout the vast library. Celine took it in for the first time, awe-struck at its grandeur. There were at least three stories of bookcases, each of which had its own little railed pathway that wound around the entirety of them. This defeated the need for ladders, as each shelf was within reach. There had to be dozens of little halls that this created, as some of the bookshelves were against angled walls, thus a bridge was needed to reach them from one side to the other.

"First of all, I believe you need a clear perception of yourself, before I explain everything".

Celine found this odd, as she assumed her perception of herself was perfectly accurate. She hoped he did not, then, find her conceited or unworthy of the many gowns and jewels he had thus far bestowed upon her. Though she should care little for Zuriel's opinion of her, she found that the thought of him thinking less of her than she did of him hurt her heart.

"When I first laid my eyes upon you, you were but an angelic young girl. Your innocence then is outstood only by your innocence now. You see, for a girl your age, and for all you have seen and learned by your mother, you are very far from the common world. You understand very little of it and yet much of it at the same time- a trait usually only children possess.

You were bread for the life of a courtesan from the very beginning. You were eight years old when I first saw you. Your sisters, though both older than you by a few years, lacked the class and sweet demeanor that you had. This intrigued me. Not only did every man in the market place- for that is where we were that fateful day- turn his head and think thoughts of you that no man should think of a girl so young, but even your father was stupefied by your loveliness. It is, in my opinion, amongst many others, unnatural for a girl to be so perfect. I understand now that you have a bit of a temper when truly provoked, but other than that, you are graceful, intelligent, wise, sophisticated, elegant, and physically unmatched. I wanted you, Celine, but I refrained from thinking the vile thoughts other men and boys entertained themselves with. One does not have to be a mind-reader to know what they were thinking… "

Celine imagined that if she could see Zuriel's face, it would be filled with disgust. She was silent as he spoke, and though his confession of having seen her so long ago shocked her, she did not utter a word. Zuriel turned to her now, though he was too far across the library for her to read his face clearly.

"I have searched for a lover for many years. More than you can imagine. I did not care that you were but a little girl. I could wait for you to grow older. I needed you, and I came to learn that you needed me too. I saw how many times men tried to steal you away from your mother, determined to ravish you, hide you away until you were of a marriageable age, or sell you off as a whore to slave trades. I kept them off well enough, frightening them away through any means necessary when the opportunity presented itself. But I knew I could not always be with you". All this time Zuriel had been walking back towards Celine. Now, he drew up a chair beside her and took his seat, crossing his legs and folding his hands in his lap in an imperial fashion.

"There is a witch not a league from this castle. I struck a deal with her. I gave her a vile of my blood in exchange for her making my servants invisible to all eyes but mine and theirs. Thus, they were able to watch you at all hours of the day. You have no idea, my love, how many times you have come close to having your virginity ripped from you…" his voice took on a bitter edge. Celine was not sure if he was on the brink of another outburst, or if he was simply angered by these supposed memories.

"My entire household pitched in. Some threw rocks at the men's heads that lingered behind you at balls when you retired outside for fresh air. Others, the males here in particular, tripped your suitors or punched them if they drew too near to you when you were picking flowers in the fields near your home. Some even enjoyed whispering in your possible rapist's ears to make them think they were being haunted by the undead. No one ever spoke of it because they feared others would dub them insane. If they had been smart enough to do so, they would have seen that their stories matched up and something was amiss. But even if they had done so, there is nothing any of them could have done about it." He smirked in a way that would have been offensively full of himself if he were not such a charming thing. Then, he seemed to sober.

"But then Roland, the bastard he is, set his sights upon you. All those years of protecting your virtue, and he stole your first kiss… and became the first man to court you. You do not know true pain until you see so much work crumble before your very eyes… For what he did, Celine, I beg your utmost forgiveness" whispered Zuriel. His voice cracked slightly, and his eyes shone. It was almost feminine, how emotional he had become. Yet… the reason for his zeal justified such emotions.

Celine felt self conscious, as if she were now a sullied woman. "It is I who is sorry, Zuriel". Zuriel stopped at the mention of his name, and it was all he could do to keep from kissing her right then and there to hear her finally say his God-given title. "I could have refused him further than I did. I was just so confused.. So many years of thinking I had never been desirable enough to be courted upon, and then here was this young man, ready right then and there to take me as I was… I was a little flattered" she said honestly, ashamed now.

She was taking everything in stride. Zuriel's words, after Celine's initial consternation had subsided, brought her a fair bit of peace. Knowing she had always been looked out for, knowing why she could not see her cohabitants..

Zuriel shook his head once, exculpating her guilt. There was no need for her to bare the burden of his mistake.

Celine breathed deeply and spoke again. "I still do not understand why I am here… I am eternally grateful for what you have done for me, for your utmost protection… but why can you not now court me properly instead of stealing me away from my beloved family?"

"Because your family should not be beloved!" he said, startling her with his alacrity.

Celine was taken aback, and her eyes immediately shone with tears. Had she been wrong to trust his control over his temper so soon? Zuriel, seeing this, calmed himself promptly.

"What do you mean?" she asked, her voice hardly above a whisper. She was offended by his words.

"They use you, Celine. Every one of them. Your mother used you to prepare a financial security for her daughters. Or, at least, she intended to before she fell ill. Your sisters now use you to raise their confidence, to make them feel as though they are a step above the shallow, useless girls that they are. You have no idea the things they say of you, Celine. And your father… he keeps you around only because your face reminds him of his wife's beauty. If it were not for that, he would have sold you away years ago to pay off the debts your mother collected and left for you to pay off".

Celine felt anger rising inside of her.

"How dare you!" she said, rising from her seat and clenching her fists. Her family was all she had.. she would not stand for them being insulted so harshly.

"Ahh.. your one flaw is coming out" he said, but though his words were patronizing, his voice was so tender it calmed her nerves. "Sit, Celine" he murmured authoritatively. "I have not finished my tale".

Celine swallowed and followed his command. "But.. I must admit, you have one other flaw. I daresay the two are intertwined. You are naive, my little beauty. Devastatingly so. You believe that those you love are flawless. They are not".

Celine hung her head in shame, and Zuriel regretted the harshness of his words. He softened his tone to a loving purr and continued.

"Roland is not what he appears to be. Or rather, he is… Have you not noticed how alike the two of you are physically? Granted, you have a beauty that no woman could ever hope to outshine, let alone those of my gender" Celine begged to differ. Zuriel was positively otherworldly, though she did not say so for fear of angering him by interrupting him once more. "but Roland does bare some resemblance to you, would you not agree?"

Celine considered this. She had noticed that they both bared the same green eyes and the same high cheekbones, but she had dubbed it a mere coincidence upon seeing it. She wondered what Zuriel was implying.

"He is your half-brother, Celine".

A breath of air sharply escaped Celine's lips as she took this in. At first she thought of protesting his words, but then she realized that he seemed to know more about her life that she herself knew… arguing his point would be in vain.

"How do you know this?" she asked. She looked up at him intensely, her hands shaking in her lap, despite how warm she felt.

"I learned of it through Rhys, my most trust-worthy attendant. He noticed how often Roland and his father seemed to follow you- far more than the usual man obsessed with your beauty. He began to spy on them, and overheard things that you will need to brace yourself for… Your mother was once Lord Colne's lover. Your father begged her to stop her whoring upon their marriage, but she began again not months after they joined in wedlock. I must admit, I pity your father for that. He accepted your little wretches of sisters as his own, and still your mother was unfaithful…

"Lord Colne paid your mother with expensive baubles and trinkets, and in turn she grew to love him in the only way she knew how: shallowly. Soon, she became pregnant with you, and decided to cease their relationship, lest your father find out. I suppose she loved him, too, in her own way, and did not want to hurt him. Lord Colne, spiteful over the thought of losing his beautiful courtesan, made her promise to give your hand in marriage to his little boy- Roland- lest he out their relationship and ruin her. Your mother's beauty was ahead of her time, and he knew that any daughter of hers- with your putrid sisters being an odd exception- would be lovely. Your mother agreed hastily, the opposite of how most mothers would behave. There are limits to how far into the family one can marry another… step-siblings is understandable… But half?! You and Roland share the same maternal lineage, and still your mother agreed to this… " His eyes flashed angrily.

"This is why Roland proposed to you so suddenly. In his mind, you were always his to begin with. His father bred him to believe you were his betrothed by right, even though you were not. He did not want to waste precious time courting you like a proper woman when he could have you the moment you came of age

"Your father had to have known, Celine. Any fool could see the resemblance".

Celine looked down at her hands, which she was ringing nervously. She did not want to believe Zuriel.. but she had no choice. She somehow knew that the words he spoke were true.

Her breathing shallow and shaken, she ran from the room. It was all Zuriel could do not to stop her. He had so enjoyed being in her presence… breathing in her luscious scent… taking in her rapturous beauty... even if it had been to break her heart. He squeezed his eyes shut and rested his head in the palm of his hand. He knew he could not chase after her. She would need time to think, and he feared she may reject him if he did.

That night, the dining hall was deathly quiet. Celine had changed into a blood red gown with flowing sleeves covering another set of tight lace sleeves, which kept her comfortably warm. She fingered the jewels that adorned her neck, thankful again at how much Zuriel had given her, even at the cost of her freedom.

It had taken hours for Celine to calm herself and soak in all that Zuriel had informed her of once she had made it to her chambers earlier than day. By the time Fiona had come in to dress her for dinner, her face, though tear streaked, was peaceful, opposite of the war that raged in her troubled mind. She somehow assumed that Zuriel, with all of his outward strength, would have been able to collect himself in equally ample time and join her here.

The said man was nowhere to be found. She worried that their talk today had caused him to think ill of her. She had been waiting for half an hour already. And somehow she knew that every one of the servants in the room knew something she did not. It was more than she could bare.

She looked up, frustrated, at the moon, which shone full and glorious against the night sky.

"Where is he?" she asked aloud, hoping someone would answer. No answer came, though she could heart at least a dozen attendants breathing.

"What are you not telling me?" she beseeched them desperately. Still no answer came.

Outside, the same bone-chilling howl that had troubled Celine's sleep two fortnight's ago sounded from the forest. Celine gasped quietly and hung her head, wishing she was not so foolishly cowardly.

Even more than this, she wished that Zuriel was near to comfort her out of her fright.