“Tell me about you, sweetheart.”I glanced at Dela once more. She was smiling. Her manners were gentle. She called me ‘sweetheart’ and did not act rudely with me. Instead, the moment I came here with my maids, she embraced me in her arms and kissed my cheek. Then we sat down and had tea when she asked about myself.“There is nothing interesting about me, Your Grace,” I answered.“No, no, I am certain there is. Rosalia is so interesting. A charming lady. You are from House Star too. I am certain you are also a very admiring lady with interesting stories,” she said. “Go on. Tell me about your childhood. And do not call me Your Grace. That makes us sound so distant when we are not. Just call me ‘Mother’, won’t you?” She smiled again.I nodded. “Yes, Mother.”There was truly nothing to tell her. She probably knew everything about me by now through an informer.“I am the second oldest daughter and the third child of my parents. I have two brothers, two sisters and a half-sister. My elder si
Dela smiled a lot. I should not be afraid of her. But I was. For some reason, her attitude disturbed me. It felt like there was something more to her that I could not see, but sense. My subconsciousness picked up on something that my eyes could not see.After having tea, Dela offered to take me on a tour around the estate. I agreed. I would not dare disagreeing with her if I could.“You are pretty, Sully. Are your sisters pretty too?” Dela asked as she showed me the garden first. We had been having tea in the greenhouse which was in the garden.“Prettier than me,” I said.My mother called Millie ugly. She said Millie’s hair was disgusting looking with a very odd color.Millie had bright red hair like her mother’s and freckles all over her body. She was very beautiful. Even as a child, I could see that. She looked like her mother. Red hair, fair skin and petite built.My mother called Millie’s hair whore’s hair, probably because of the misconception that all red-haired women worked as
I woke up in Demian’s (our) bed chamber. Demian was smoking a cigar by the window.“How are you feeling?” he asked.“She is not going to kill me, is she?” I was terrified.“If she wanted to kill you, she would have.”“She… She killed a maid. Decapacitated her… I saw it… Just because she stepped on my train…” Tears started to run down my face. I was shaking. “I…”“Have you truly never seen anything like this before?” Demian asked. He was not concerned at all.I shook my head. “Why would I?”“Why would you? That’s a nice question, darling.” He put out the cigar and walked over to the bed. He sat down beside me and cupped my face. “But that’s not how it works here. You make a mistake, you die. That’s how it works here. It’s better if you get used to it quickly.”“I can’t…”“I was notified when I came back a while ago. One of Mother’s guards carried you here and the maids bathed you. Mother thinks it’s unfortunate what happened and would like to continue the tour when you feel better,” D
I sat on the windowsill, smoking the third cigar of the day. Occasionally, I would turn to watch Sully sleep peacefully on the bed. At first, she was pretending to be asleep, probably to see what I would do. But then, she fell asleep after a while.That woman amused me. I had not been so amused in a long while.I was thirsty. My thirst was never this much before. After all, I was not a full-vampire. The original Silverclaws were vampires. Then the Silverclaws married a human and created half-vampires. To protect the bloodline, sometimes there was incest in the family. My father was an original vampire. But he never married his sister. In fact, he was disgusted at the prospect. That was why there were no more original vampire other than Father. I and all my siblings were half-vampires. We did not need blood on a regular basis. Once in seven days was fine.But something about Sully’s blood made me crave more. Or perhaps it was because I was attracted to her. It was not my fault. She was
I would not feel safe no matter what, unless Demian was with me. I must admit that he made me feel at least a little safer than alone. He liked playing with me. He might even want me for my body. But that was fine. It would help me survive this hell house.I threw up once right after waking up. What happened the previous day kept on playing in my mind. I felt sick every time I remembered the separated head. I could feel the maid staring at me with her big brown eyes.At breakfast, everyone had their particular place at the table. My place was beside Demian as his wife. On my other side was a crippled boy around sixteen. He did not look at anyone. He kept his head down and ate.“I heard you were sick yesterday,” Alexander, the Head said. “You couldn’t join us for dinner.”“My apologies,” I murmured. I kept my head down as I apologized. “I felt under the weather.”“It shouldn’t happen again. After all, we cannot let you go hungry the whole night, can we?” He said it with a threatening t
My plan for today was simple. I was to check the surrounding by joining Dela for a tour around the estate. No matter how afraid I was, I had to do it. I needed to know where what was.I sent a letter to Dela by a maid. I got a reply soon enough. Dela said we would meet in the afternoon and she would show me everything.At lunch, once again, I sat beside Theodore. On my left, there was an empty chair between me and Rosalia since Demian was not here. I felt awfully alone without him.I was not asked as many questions as before which was a relief. After lunch, I went back to our bed chamber and lay down on the bed. I was used to being alone. Back at home, I spent most of my time holed up in my chamber with books. However, everything was so foreign that I craved company who was familiar with the rules, regulations and every nook and corner here. I wanted someone to tell me what to do, how to be safe. Demian did that. He might not want to kill me so soon, so I wanted to believe him for t
It had been a long time since we started the tour. I was tired, but also rather thrilled. The estate was beautiful. There were no extra pieces of furniture, only what was necessary.The last place to visit was the library. The library was huge. All the covers of the books were black. They were gorgeous. My hands itched to trace the title of the books.“Do you love books?” Dela asked.I nodded. “Back at home…”Dela held up her hand. “This is your home now. There is no other place in the world that is your home but House Silverclaw.”I gulped and nodded. “My apologies, Your Gra… Mother. It was a slip of tongue. What I meant was back at House Star, I used to spend my time reading in my room. I read at least 120 books a year.”“That is rather impressive. I do not understand what you find so interesting in books though,” Dela said, shrugging. “Come now. You have another very important place to see. It is my most favorite place in the whole estate.”I did not remember having left a place be
I winced as the whip came down on the man’s back. It felt like Dela was hitting me, not him. I closed my eyes and gulped down the choking sound that almost left my throat.The man groaned and kicked, but nothing stopped Dela. She was insane. She was hitting him like a crazy woman, not caring where the whip hit. The sound was agonizing to hear. The man did not scream. It was like he was used to the pain.I could not imagine being hit like this. But this almost became my fate too. If only Demian did not want to marry me, I would have been the slave of Kiara and would have been treated like this if not worse.I had no idea how long we spent there. The smell of grime, sweat and blood became almost familiar to me. However, I could not get used to the smell of decaying flesh. That was too strong and disgusting.I swallowed the bile that filled my mouth.When we left the dungeon, my hands were trembling. It was worse than anything I had imagined. I had guessed there must be a place for tortu
I wanted to tug at the blindfold. I could not see anything. It made me feel uncomfortable and vulnerable.“Don’t,” Demian warned. His voice sounded so close, yet so far. If I concentrated enough, I could guess exactly where he was. But the fact was that it was hard to concentrate.In order to concentrate, I needed to be calm, which I was not. I was intimidated, excited and a little scared. I left myself in the mercy of a man who was still a mystery to me.I heard his footsteps getting nearer. He stopped right behind me. He pulled my head back by my hair. I shrieked, but not too loudly.I felt his breath on my face. His lips hungrily devoured mine. My hands were itching to touch something, but I refrained from doing so.His tongue was inside my mouth, exploring every place, making me hungry for more.His lips left mine. My lips felt sore and… eaten.He grabbed my hands roughly and put them behind me. I winced in pain. The pain was not too much, just enough to show that he could do anyt
Demian took my hand and pressed a kiss on my palm. I took a deep breath. It was as if his simple moves were making it hard for me to calm the desires inside me.“Do you like me?” I asked. “Is that why you are so jealous? Because you think someone will take me away?”“Does liking someone mean feeling it hard to breathe when they are not near? Does it mean wanting to be with that person all the time? Does it mean wanting that person so much that it hurts?” Demian was looking at me, demanding an answer.I shook my head.“That’s not liking someone, Demian.”“Then what is it?”“That’s loving someone,” I whispered.His eyes softened and he lowered his face and brought it close to mine, our noses almost touching.“Do you love me?” he asked.“I don’t know,” I mumbled. “I don’t know. Do you care if I love you or not?”“I don’t know,” he answered, although not as uncertainly as I did. “Most of the time, I think that I don’t. Because either way, you have to be with me. I can always tie you up, l
I had no idea what to say to a boy who just confessed his feelings for me and also said that he would get over them. I could only stare at him. I could not understand what it truly felt like for him to have feelings for his brother’s wife.Theodore smiled at me. He had a nice smile. He barely ever smiled, so it felt special. He always was melancholy. Perhaps, letting your heart out truly felt that great.“We will have tea another time,” he said. “Stay safe, okay? I still wish you were my wife instead of my brother’s, but what can we do about that? I am not brave or strong enough to take you forcefully from him.”“You are not like that, Theodore,” I said. “You are not like… anyone I have ever met. Letting go takes more courage than holding onto something you should not have. You are braver than you know. You will find something or someone truly worth fighting for.”“You think I will find someone better than you?”“You don’t know me. I lie. I lie a lot. I show a part of me that is not e
“Sully?”Theodore’s voice brought me back to reality. My face flushed in embarrassment and I wanted to lie down under thick soil. I was yelling at a voice inside my head. Only crazy people did things like that.Theodore limped towards me. His cane was a different one than before. It had a skull on top.“Who were you talking to?” he asked.“No one, just…” I felt so ashamed that I could barely look him in the eye.Theodore was watching me. His eyes were not as intense as Demian’s or Alexander’s. Instead, his eyes had what their eyes did not have. A little warmth and perhaps compassion.“Do you want to have tea in my chamber?”“I would love to, Theodore, but… We cannot do that in your chamber. Demian doesn’t like it,” I said. It was one of the things I was not allowed to do.“Ah, I see.”“We can have tea in the garden,” I quickly added. “I would love to talk to you after so long. Would that be okay?”He gave me a small smile. “Sure.”“Ah!” I stopped on my track.“What?” Theodore asked, p
I woke with a start and found a pair of eyes watching me. It startled me and I tried to get away, but a hand grasped my arm and kept me in place.“Demian… What are you doing?”Demian was still watching me, his eyes unmoving and piercing. My heart was beating wilding. He was making me uncomfortable.“Demian! You are hurting me.”Still, he did not let go. Not for a whole minute. Then, he suddenly let go of my arm.I rubbed the place where his grasp had been. His fingers surely left a bruise.“Demian…,” I mumbled.He blinked and his face turned… normal. The intense look left his face and he was back to normal. At least, as normal as he could be.“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You were…”“I was what?” he asked.“You were watching me,” I said.“I can’t watch my wife?”“No, it’s…”“I can’t?”“Demian, you know that’s not what I mean,” I said, composing myself. I was getting scared for no reason. But I had to admit that the way he had been watching me had been strange. “I was sleeping and you were
I felt a sense of calmness and relief take over me as I entered the familiar chamber once again that I shared with Demian. My eyes wandered over the bed where Demian and I slept and did many thing together, the couch where I would sit with Demian’s head on my lap and ran my fingers through his long straight hair.“It went well, didn’t it?” I said to Demian with a smile.Demian had a strange look on his face. He turned to me and traced the scar on my face with his index finger.“You can pretend very well,” he murmured as if to himself.I gulped. “Demian, I am not pretending with you. Not you. You… are different. I don’t want to be a fake version of me with you,” I said.“Will you truly be yourself? And never lie to me? Never?”“Never,” I said quietly.“Good, because if you lie…”‘If I lie, then what? What will you do? Will you hurt me?’But I did not ask it out loud. Demian was too honest. I did not want to hear the answer. In fact, I felt a hint of fear inside me when I anticipated wh
My arms were aching. My whole body was aching. Still, I stood straight with Demian’s arm around my shoulder possessively in the presence of none other than Alexander Silverclaw.I was not look up into his silver eyes, but I could feel them piercing my skin.“Look at me,” he ordered. And I did.My fingers were trembling. I did not get scared easily, but this man scared me. He made me feel trivial and powerless.Alexander grabbed me by the chin, not too forcefully, yet not gently either.“What happened here?” he asked.“My f-father…,” I mumbled.“Your father? Jade Star did this?”I nodded.Demian had already told Alexander most of the things, but he wanted to hear it from me for some reason.I glanced at Demian who understood what I was trying to do without me having to say a word. He dropped his hand from my shoulder and undid the ribbons on the back. I did not take off the dress, but undid it from the back only. I turned around and showed my bare back to Alexander.“Why did your fathe
During the journey, what Demian and I mostly did was talking. We did not have anything else to do. And when Demian talked, or listened to me, at least, he did not have that look on his face- the look that for some reason, send shivers down my spine.“When did you think that God is not real?” Demian asked. “Your family is very religious, after all. It’s only normal to be brought up to believe in God in that kind of family.”“I suppose it’s when I started to be able to form my own thoughts,” I answered. “Perhaps I was seven or eight, at that time, when I could form thoughts without them being influenced by my environment. I simply did not see the point of praying to a God that did not truly listen. I stopped praying then. Father would force me to go to the temple and I would pretend to pray, but that was just it. I only pretended. It was not real.“What about you? Have you ever wondered whether an entity like God exist?” I asked.Demian shook his head. “I am from a family that is as far
I had never, not in a million years, thought I would get to see my family again. By family, I meant my mother, Selina and Jace. Sierra was in another kingdom. I never thought about seeing her. We were never close, but we were not distant either. I had no intention of ever seeing Father and Kyle again. I did not know what I would do if I saw any of them.I was selfish and I loved myself. I could never bear it when someone hurt me.I sometimes dreamed of shooting an arrow into Father’s chest. I must admit that it felt rather good.Demian and I took a shortcut through the forest. It was dangerous, but Demian was awfully too brave. He said I would be safe if I were with him.“Just physically?” I joked. “Not mentally or psychologically.”He had said nothing, causing me to feel a strange sense of fear when I looked into his silver eyes. Most of the time, Demian was nice. He did not hurt me or said something that would hurt me.But there were times when Demian would look at me in a certain w