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
It was not like anyone other than the owner of the brothel knew about my identity. I wore a veil all the time. That made the men even more excited. When you could not see something even though it was right in front of you, you were automatically intrigued. That was the case with the men.And I adored the attention. I craved it.When Demian touched me, I could finally the feel the real excitement. It was even better than dancing.After spending some time with Theodore, I took my leave. He walked me to his door. I could perfectly see his limp. It was bad.“We can do it sometimes,” he said. “If you want to, of course. I enjoyed our talk. Whenever you feel lonely, you can come here and we can talk again.”I nodded. “I will do that. Thanks for the tea, Theodore.”“You are welcome. I should be the one thanking you. I rarely have company here. You are more than welcome to come here.”If my judgment was not wrong, Theodore was a good man. He had a good heart. Or perhaps, it was just an act. Y
I felt someone touching my cheek. I opened my eyes and sat up so quickly that I got a headache.“Demian!”“Shit! You screamed like I was another man, not your own husband,” he said and smirked. “Did I scare you?”“Don’t do that,” I said.“I’m thirsty, Sully darling,” he said. He had splatters of blood on his face. I used the sleeve of my nightgown to wipe the blood off his face.“You can drink my blood,” I whispered.“Are you seducing me?” he groaned and took hold of me by the waist. He pulled me towards him and pressed his lips on mine.Was I trying to seduce him? Probably. I wanted him to hold me. I wanted his fangs to pierce my flesh. The feeling was addictive. And I got addicted pretty quickly.He moved his lips against mine slowly, yet with an urgency that he was trying to suppress.“Tell me truthfully, darling,” he said in a rough voice as his lips left mine. “Have you truly never done this with someone before?”I shook my head. “Why would I lie?”“Why? Because you hate me and m
Sully did not seem like a bold one to me. Not at first, at least. But then, I saw the way she talked, the way she sometimes stared at everything and everyone- when she dropped the act, she was a different woman. A woman who was brave. A woman who could make a hard choice in the blink of an eye. A woman who pretended to be weak.Even Sully most probably did not know she was putting up an act. It must come naturally to her. Because when she looked meek and innocent, I was tempted to believe her.When Sully walked, I noticed she walked with a certain sway. Noble women did not walk like that. But Sully walked like she owned the place, like she knew she had the power to make men go crazy for her.It was a small suspicion. However, I still looked into the matter.I was shocked when I found out what my wife used to do. She never lay with any of those men, but she danced for them. She was a feast for their lustful eyes.I was amused. Honestly, for such a noble woman of House Star, Sully was s
Rose wore a white dress with a pearl necklace. Her hair was combed smoothly. They were long and straight, unlike my curly hair. When I was a child, I wanted straight hair like my father’s and Selina’s, my younger sister. Sierra and I looked like our mother. Curly hair and brown skin. Selina was more like our father. Kyle and Jace were a mixture of Mother and Father.Rose sipped her tea and looked at me. She had a cold aura about herself like all her family members, except for Rosalia and Theodore.“I do like your name. Sully. What does it mean?” Rose asked. It was not something I expected her to start the conversation with.“It means making something dirty,” I said, blushing. “When I was very little, I used to throw my small toys or whatever I could get my hands on. That’s why my father named me Sully.”In House Star, children were named after six months of being born. It was because to see their personality and then name them. I found it rather silly. I got a stupid name because of t
“I heard you had a brother. A twin brother,” Sully said, sitting on the windowsill where I usually sat to smoke. Her long dark hair was spread free on her back.I did not have to ask her who told her this. It was obviously Rose.“Do you want to know what happened to him, Sully?” I asked.She nodded. “Rose said he lost. She said you two were give some tasks and one of you survived.”“Tasks? We were told to go against each other and fight till one of us is standing,” I said. Sully’s eyes widened. “It’s obvious now, isn’t it, Sully darling? I killed him. That’s how I survived. That’s how I won and got this name.”Sully clapped a hand over her mouth. “I didn’t think…”“That I killed him? Well, that’s the truth.”I had not thought of my brother in a long while. Actually, it had been years since he came to my mind.We were not allowed to call each other by anything. We did not have names. But we secretly had names for each other. He was Sun and I was Shine. Together, we were ‘sunshine’. It
House Silverclaw did not discriminate between men and women unlike House Star and House Thorn. In House Silverclaw, the first-born was the heir, while in House Star and House Thorn, it was the first-born son who was the heir.If House Star was like House Silverclaw, Sierra would be the heir. She would have rejected the position because she was never fond of such things, then I would be the heir. But it never happened.Kyle was the heir because he was a male. And I hated him for it. I resented him. I did not tell Rose the whole truth. I would have gotten the chance to get close to Kyle if I wanted to, but I never did. I secretly resented him. He was not cut out to be a Head.I could not say I was the best person for the position of the Head, but at least, I was better than him. I was not a drunk. I was not a perverted sick bastard.Today was the seventh day I was here. Demian had not been home since the night we talked about his brother. He came back just a while ago.He waited for me
My arms shook, the books almost falling down the stairs. I took a deep breath and steadied myself. It would be a disaster if I dropped the holy books.My head had not been working straight since coming back from home. Father showed me and other family members another package he received from House Silverclaw. It contained a light brown finger- a man’s middle finger. Jace’s finger.Mother had wailed over it while Father cursed House Silverclaw and every member of the family. I had checked the finger. I checked every part of it.“It has a message,” I said, holding the severed finger in my hand.“What?” Father walked over to where I was sitting. He bent over my shoulder to take a look.“Inside the finger. There is something written on the other side of the skin,” I said. “Look, you can see from the bottom here. It’s not a real finger.”Father took it from me. Indeed, there was a message engraved inside.“Third moon, it says,” Father said.“Tonight is a full moon,” I said. We prayed all n
The tea was nice. Not too sweet. Clarissa did not like sweet things, Rose told me. So, I had the maids prepare salty cookies and tea. Clarissa arrived just in time. She nodded at me when she arrived.Rose told me to treat Clarissa like I would treat a normal person, so that was what I tried to do.“I hope you are doing well, Lady Clarissa,” I said as I gave a small bow. It was a sign of respect to bow to elders.She nodded.Even at dinner tables, she only drank blood, wine and tea with a metal straw through a small gap between her lips. She drank tea the same way with me. I tried not to stare too hard. That would seem rude.I told her about my life with Demian. She nodded along, rather kindly. She communicated with me in sign language. Rose had not told me that she knew sign language. As it turned out, I knew sign language as well. I learned it at the academy.“You look like your mother,” she said in sign language.“I do,” I said. I tried to do sign language as well, but Clarissa said
As usual, Theodore and I were at the library. Instead of his chamber, we spent our time at the library, reading books. Sometimes we both would read different books, sometimes he would listen and I read. I liked to read in silence, but Theodore sometimes insisted that I read to him. I did not want to disappoint him since he came to be library with me. I did not want to come to the library alone.In the afternoon most days, I would meet Rose. Rose said everything was going according to plan. She did not reveal the entire plan to me, although she acted like she did.“First, you need to gain the support of the wives,” Rose told me. “Dela and my mother already like you. Spend time with Clarissa. They live in three different part of the residence. In that way, no one will suspect anything if you go to that parts of the house.”She had a point. I had invited Clarissa to have tea with me and she accepted. I would have tea with her the next day. To be honest, I was rather nervous. How would we
Demian had been watching me in an odd way. He usually looked at me a lot. But now, he was blatantly staring at me regardless of the place we were in.“Who do you think it is?” I asked, not for the first time. “Is it Luke? But I don’t understand why he would do that. He might want to… you know, he might be attracted to my body, but I don’t see the point of his sending someone to kill me.”“I don’t know anything, Sully. I’m looking into it,” Demian said. He said the same thing every time I asked. It was getting tiresome. He was acting differently. I could barely recognize my husband.“What’s wrong?” I asked, placing my hand on his arm. His arm was strong and hard. “Did something happen?”He shook his head. “Nothing. I just have a lot of things on my mind.”I could not ask him what they were since he looked like he did not want to share.I lay my head on his lap. His whole body was like it was made with steel. It was not comfortable to lay on his lap, but I was in peace when I did it.“T
Sully was talking animatedly to my mother. She had gotten close to Mother. There was nothing common between her and Rosalia. Sully was everything Rosalia was not. The only thing common between them was the fact that both of them were beautiful. Mother liked her despite the differences.Sully giggled at something Mother said. Her eyes met mine for a second. She gave me a smile and returned her attention to Mother.I heard about the intruder that came into Sully’s room to kill her two nights ago. I did not have to hear about it to know the particulars.Because I sent that man.I wanted to see the real Sully. The one behind the veil. I wanted to see her being herself. For once, I wanted to glimpse at the person behind the face of the weak woman who was afraid of everything. I wanted to see the genius alchemist who made illegal potions, danced at brothels and was planning something dangerous behind everyone’s back.He was not supposed to kill her. He was going to frighten her a bit. If sh
I stared at the window, at the man coming inside my chamber. I lay still, watching him. He was not so tall, but not short either. He was wearing a cloak, perhaps dark green or red. I could not tell in the dark. But I could see the outline of him as he came near the bed towards me.My heart was calm. It was not thundering inside my ribcage like it did when I was anxious.The man bent over my body. I felt his musky breath on my face. I felt his fingers wrap around my throat. It grew tighter with each moment.I raised my hand from my side and stabbed the man in the neck with a dagger. It all happened very fast. He let out a small groan, clutching the side of his neck where I stabbed him. I pulled the dagger out and let him bleed out.It was amusing watching him bleed out on the ground. I sat on the bed, my feet dangling from the side, and watching him. There was blood on my right arm, but I did not care.I watched the life go out of his eyes and thought, not for the first time, who I was
The days were spent with me going to the library with Theodore, having tea with Rose and sometimes with Dela and Rosalia and then seeing my brother Jace in the dungeon every few days. Rose took me down there and showed me a cell that Alexander wanted to give to me.Jace was okay. Rose did not hurt him. But living in the dungeon was taking a toll on him. I could see it in his face. He did not look as lively and alive as before.“I’m fine. Just take care of yourself,” Jace would say every time I cried about his condition.“Demian treats me alright. I don’t have to live in a dungeon like you, Jace. I’m worried you will catch some sickness living in the filth. Rose, can’t you tell your father to move him elsewhere?” I looked up at Rose expectedly.Rose shook her head. “I wish I could, but you know as well as I do that it’s not possible. Father is mad enough that Jace is not dead.”Leo was still here. I had not had the chance to meet him again. I could not dare risk it. We could not let Al
I told Demian about the rumor when he came back at night. He said he knew about it.“I know you are not sleeping with him,” he said. “Besides, Theodore is not brave enough to lay his hand on you.”“I think it’s not bravery but insolence to lay hand on his sister-in-law,” I said.“It is, isn’t it?” he chuckled. “Try saying that to Luke.”“It is Luke, not Theodore I’m worried about. Theodore won’t do anything. But never ever be alone in a room with Luke, or Father for that matter.”“What if they summon me?” I asked.“Father might and you have to go if he does. But as I said, I’m keeping an eye on you. I will try not to let anything happen to you, but I can’t guarantee. Try to be with Rose. I talked to Rose and she said she will protect you for the time being,” he said. “But if Luke summons you, you don’t have to go. He is nothing to you that you have to listen to his whims.”I braided Demian’s hair slowly. His hair was straight and soft. My fingers could get through them easily.“Your h
“Your brother wants to take me to the library,” I told Demian after we came back to our chamber. It was good to see Leo, although I was not satisfied; I wanted to get him alone so we could talk. I said I trusted Demian, but not entirely. It was hard, if not impossible and stupid, to trust a Silverclaw. They were too sly for their own good.“Did you tell him to?” Demian asked. He did not believe Theodore suggested it on his own. “I know how much you like books.”“Your brother wants to take me there because I told him I like books,” I said.“How many times did you tell him? A hundred times over the course of a few days so he would be forced to take you there because he is so soft towards you?”It was like Demian could see through me. It never happened before, so I was not prepared for such a forward attack.“What do you think of me, Demian? Do you think I am a vile and sly woman?”Demian smirked. His silver eyes never seemed so warm before.“Not vile, darling. You are rather pleasant. B