After a very short break from chest binds, Garsam was having difficulty getting used to it again. Thankfully, the weather was so cold it could freeze the fur off a wolf, so she could attribute her slight chest bulge to the extra layers.
She puffed out cold air as she walked into the dungeon. It was bright down there, and the sound of screams rang intermittently. Garsam rubbed her ears; looks like someone new was in the torture chamber.
She walked farther down and stopped in front of a large cell. It was the size of a small room and was usually used to hold large numbers of rogues. Now it only had one human occupant and his four reindeers. There were empty food trays in the cell, but by the size, she knew they were used to feed the reindeers. The reindeers were currently asleep.
Their owner was seated crossed-legged and leaning against the stone walls. Garsam stifled a gasp. His dark hair had turned white from the tips, but she could still see traces of black in the roots. They were not white like the Acabi. More like the color of snow and ice merged together. His face was incredibly pale that she feared he might even be dead.
She pulled out the clustered keyring and located the key for his cell. The jingle-jangling of the keys must have woken him up because by the time she pulled the cell door open, icy blue eyes stared back at her. She had been rushing in to check up on him, but his glaring eyes told her he was fine.
She coughed a little. "Hi."
She mentally facepalmed. That couldn't have been more lame.
He didn't reply, instead leveling her with a cold look that raised goosebumps on her skin.
She coughed again. Is it just her or was it getting colder here.
"I'm sorry," she began. What better way to start than with an apology. Even trespassing rogues were not locked up for this long.
He didn't reply, still, she pushed on. "I shouldn't have trapped you here for so long, but I left for something, and a lot of shit happened, but now I'm back so... Sorry."
"I wasn't trapped here."
Garsam raised her head to look at him. "Huh?"
He moved his hand and rubbed the head of the red-nosed reindeer. It grunted softly in its sleep.
"I was waiting for you, I had all the time in the world so I was waiting for you."
Garsam tilted nervously, had he discovered something? "Waiting...for me?"
"Yes, I wanted to know why you had me kept here and how long you planned to keep me, and even though I could easily get out of here and make this place a frozen wasteland, I waited, for you."
Garsam clasped her hands behind her back. She recalled Aria's teasing. Could he really be Santa's son? Did he have the power to turn her pack into ice?
"Who are you? Crashing into me wasn't a coincidence, was it?"
He chuckled, low and rough, "It was indeed a coincidence, you got me at a time when I was dark-haired and warm..." he pinched a lock of his icy hair between two fingers and smiled at her, his canines made him look both sinister and charming. Garsam felt her stomach roil.
"...and now I am more me."
Garsam swallowed; she asked in a small whisper, "And you are?"
He paused and stared at her hard. "Klaus with a K, didn't I tell you?"
His eyes twinkled in amusement.
Garsam turned and exited the cell in a split second, she shut the door and looked through the bars at his laughing form warily. She felt her knees go weak, and she held the bars to steady herself.
"Why are you hiding?" He asked.
Garsam straightened and pulled open the door. "I'm not."
"Behind a false gender," he added.
Garsam felt a thread snap in her head. She rushed back into the cell. She reached him in two strides and placed a palm over his mouth.
"How did you know?"
His mouth was covered, but she felt him smirk and say, "I know everything, your secrets, when you've been good, even when you've been naughty."
She felt something wet and icy touch her palm. She removed her hand like she had been electrocuted. He licked her palm!
She rubbed her hand clean in disgust, but the tingling sensation did not disappear.
"You know everything huh?" She spat.
He tilted his head. "Everything."
"Including..."
"That we're mates? Yes, I know."
Garsam felt a small weight lift off her shoulder. She had been stressing about how to tell him. Obviously, she shouldn't, but he was her mate, she didn't want to miss the only chance she might have to be mated. Besides the attraction the mate bond created is no joke. She wanted to kiss him the moment she came back, but their situation had made such a fantasy a little inappropriate.
No one spoke after this. His bewitching eyes kept looking at her. He was waiting for her to speak, but she didn't know what to say. That she would die soon? That was the only major thing going on in her life right now. But it wasn't exactly the best topic to foster a speedy relationship.
She couldn't exactly say 'Hey, I'll soon die but don't worry you'll forget me, now let's go up to my room and do the good thing.'
"Pfft hahahaha" He suddenly started laughing. Garsam, whose imagination had wandered, was brought back to reality. She looked at him in confusion. When he was done laughing, he grinned at her. "I know everything," he chuckled, "everything you say, everything you do, and everything you think."
Garsam heard 'poof' as her face turned red. She turned like a wound-up toy and walked out of the cell. She pulled the keys from the keyhole without stopping till she stepped into the biting cold.
She hadn't locked the cell, which was the whole point of going down. He could leave if he wanted. If he didn't...