The dungeon felt as cold and disgusting as before. The smell seemed to be worse than before. I tried to suppress my gag reflexes.Alexander led the way as I and Damien walked behind him. Rose came as well. She was walking beside Alexander, telling him about whatever word she had been doing.“I can make him mine. He will give up all the information in no time,” Rose was saying. “He cannot suppress his desire for a woman. That will be his downfall.”“How about Rezef? Have you tried it with him?” Alexander asked.“I will. Please give me some time, Father. After I am done with Killian, I will focus on Rezef Thorn.”What did they plan to do with Rezef? One of the things Silverclaw woman learned was seduction. I knew about it from Mother. Silverclaw women knew how to seduce a man effectively, so they would even get on their knees to beg for their attention.In House Star, it was considered a sin to even think about such things. We, women, were not to even be friends with a man other than ou
Sully was sobbing as she hugged her brother. Father watched with a smile. He was clearly enjoying this. He was enjoying tormenting Sully a lot.When I had come back today, I went to give Father my report first.“Is your wife disobedient?” Father had asked me.I shook my head. “On the contrary, she listens to everything I say.” That was not the truth, of course. Sully argued with me and said her mind when she wanted to. It was one thing I enjoyed when I was with her. However, if Father knew that, it would be a huge problem.“Rosalia used to be disobedient sometimes. Then, she gave birth to the children and never raised her voice again,” he told me. “Get your wife pregnant as soon as possible. Then, she will be meek and obedient.”“I understand,” I told him.Now as I watched Sully cry, I wondered how much did Father plan to break her. Would he keep doing this until she became lifeless like Rosalia? Did he want me to do the same? Torture her until there was nothing left of her?I felt an
I sat, hiccupping, wrapped in a huge blanket. Demian was massaging my feet, who knew why.I had calmed down a little bit.“If you want to hit me, just do it,” I said. My voice sounded croaky and all the words came out broken. “You told your father you will punish me.”“You don’t talk like that to him,” Demian said. “Do you know how dangerous it is?”“I don’t care what he does to me. If he wants to torture me and then kill me, he is welcome to do so. I cannot just stay quiet when my brother is in that state.”“Sully,” he said, bringing his face closer, “you don’t want to find out what he can do.”I turned away from him. “How will you punish me?” I asked.“Strip and wait for me on the bed,” he said.He got up. “When I come back, you should be naked. Completely naked.”***I waited for him, closing my eyes, tears silently rolling down my cheeks. He was just like his father and mother. He would whip me or hit me to punish me because of my behavior. Why did this kind of fate await me? Was
As a child, I was trouble. But the kind of trouble no one knew about until it was too late.Jace was three years younger than me and Kyle was two years younger than me. When Jace was little, he was a sweet boy who never cried. He was always smiling. He would follow me around everywhere and ask me about everything.When he grew up a bit, he and I were separated for many reasons. He had to focus on combat and other lessons, while I left for the academy. Still, whenever I came back, we used to spend time together.On my wedding day, Jace and I sat the garden. I remembered the day as if it was just yesterday.“You look beautiful, Sully,” Jace told me. “Thank you,” I said.“You are not happy, are you?” Jace was always very observant. “I am,” I lied.“Sully, I won’t tell Father about our conversation. I never do,” he said.“I have to do it, even if I don’t like it,” I told him.“I know. But… if you truly don’t want to, I can find a way to help you.”“Help me do what,
Thinking about Jace was hard. Whenever I closed my eyes, I saw him in that dungeon, his wrists in manacles above his head and a chain around his neck.Demian lay beside me, holding me tightly, as if he feared I would fly away like a bird. His presence was a comfort, yet an obstruction as well.I wanted to hate him, but he was way too nice to me. He did not hurt me. In fact, it seemed he protected me from his father and his family. He stopped his father from punishing me. He painted my body instead of beating me. Why was he doing this? Was he truly different from his father?Could I trust him? Just a little bit?Demian’s breath was warm on my neck. His breath was even. I counted them for a while. At first, it was 18 times per minute. Then, it decreased and became 12 times per minute.I wondered how different my life would be if I listened to Jace that day. If I said yes, would I even be here, fearing for my life every moment? Father might have found me, or, perhaps there was a chance I
Ruben looked just like Rose. Just a male version of her.I did not want to meet him, but as usual, I forced myself to do it. I did not want to annoy any of the Silverclaws. Ruben wanted to seem me, so here I was, in his bed chamber.For some reason, I imagined Ruben had a missing limb. It was a childish thought, but that was the first thing that came to my mind when I heard Ruben could not leave his room.Ruben stared at me for a while, then gave me a smile. He had a warm smile. He looked like an angel.“I heard a lot about you from Rose. My mother was a Star too, so I was curious to see if you two looked alike,” Ruben said. Even his voice was soothing to the ear.“I look like my mother,” I said. “My sister Selina looks like my father and your mother.”“You are still very pretty. You have beautiful eyes,” he said. “I have never seen red eyes before.”“It is very rare, after all. All my siblings have blue eyes except for me. My mother and I have the same eyes,” I said.“Your mother als
My life was boring. Until a Star came along in our house.Sully was an amusing woman. She was pretty and was always scared. Her lips would tremble when she was afraid, yet crimson eyes would remain firm and unafraid. Sometimes, I wondered if she was just pretending to be scared.I never thought Damien would end up marrying that woman. It was a sudden decision on his part and he never did something of that kind usually. Damien was a calculated person. Marrying someone suddenly, who was also someone he had never seen before, was truly strange for him to do.Damien surely did not regret his decision. Sully was beautiful and she was truly an interesting character. Damien would not be bored with her.I heard Sully went to see Ruben today. Ruben expressed his desire to see her and I told her about it. Sully knew what she had to do to not get killed. She did what she was told even if she did not want to.“She is nice. I am worried though,” Ruben told me. “Will she even survive?”“She had a b
Demian told me I should join the dinner since I did not join breakfast and lunch. When I went to meet Ruben, I pretended to be in pain without even thinking. Acting a part came naturally to me. At some point, I did forget that I was supposed to act beaten up and in pain. But Ruben probably did not notice. Now, I had to be extra cautious since Alexander would see me too. He would surely keep a close eye on me.“I don’t like this choker,” I whispered to Demian as the maids were getting out. For some reason, Demian had watched the whole time I got ready.“And I told you before, you need to wear it,” he said.“Can I ask you something?”“You already did.”“What’s wrong with the maids?” I asked. It was something that I had been wondering about since the moment I saw them. “They whispered along themselves a bit at the beginning. But then, they went quiet entirely. They are like puppets.”“They had their tongues cut,” Demian said.“What?”“They had their tongues cut,” he repeated.“I heard yo
The fact that Sully had been pregnant knew only a few people. There had been a rumor going around. I questioned Jade Star about it and he was forced to admit it. He said Sully had a miscarriage and that she was not pregnant anymore.Now, he was planning to take revenge on the Silverclaws. I joined him because I also had a debt to settle with them. Alexander Silverclaw took my bride from me on our wedding day.They took the woman from me who I wanted all my life since the moment I saw her.I never wanted much things in my life. But Sully- she was the only thing I truly wanted. I set my eyes on her and knew I had to have her.When I met her, I thought she was the prettiest girl every with brown skin and ruby red eyes and long curly hair. She talked little, but watched everything with curious eyes. I remembered asking my father who that little girl was. When he told me, I knew I needed to have her. I wanted her.But then I heard that she ran away from
For some reason, I dreamed of Millie tonight. It was strange. I never even thought about her. At least, not much.I woke up and found Demian beside me. He was staring at me. Okay, it was a little uncomfortable to think that he watched me while I was sleeping.“What’s wrong?” he asked. “A nightmare?”“No… Just a dream,” I said. “About my half-sister.”“Millie Thorn.”“Ah yes, she is a Thorn now. I keep forgetting,” I said. “I wonder if she is happy there. I wonder if Rezef is treating her right.”“You said Rezef is a righteous and kind man. If he doesn’t treat his own wife right, won’t it defeat the purpose of his righteous and kind personality?” Demian did not like Rezef at all. He might be annoyed that I told him that Rezef was like the hero of a story.“Rezef is like that, but he… He can be harsh, you know, without even meaning to. For example, he can’t show care and love even if he wants to. I have noticed this a lot of times. For example, when he used to want to meet me, he would
Rezef’s father died this morning. It had been sudden. The maids woke me up and told me about it. Apparently, he fell from the roof.“How did he fall from the roof?” I asked Rezef.“I don’t know. It happened in the middle of the night,” he said. He was hastily changing his attire.“Why didn’t you wake me up?”“For what? It’s not like you can bring him back.”I did not talk back. It was not good if I talked back. What if Rezef sent me back?Now that Rezef’s father was dead, Rezef was the new Head of House Thorn. The problem was that Rezef did not have an heir and according to the tradition, the new Head must already have an heir.What would happen now?Rezef had an older sister and a younger brother. It did not make sense that someone else other than him could be the new Head. Well, his older sister could not be the Head anyway. So, his younger brother remained. It was not like Byron had any heir either. He was only sixteen.“What will happen now?” I asked.“What do you mean?” Rezef sou
We went to the top floor today. The strange things Shea talked about last night turned out to be something that I knew very well. All those things in glass jars- big and small- I knew them a little too well. It was in a room that was accessible from my bed chamber only.There was a big table there, a cauldron, many pots, spoons- long and short, small and big- knives in various sizes.“You made me a… workplace,” I murmured. “Gosh, Demian, you made me a lab!”I threw myself at Demian and he caught me casually as if I weighted nothing. I wrapped my legs around him and laughed. I could not believe he did this for me.“That’s so… Gosh, I love it, Demian! I love it a lot! I love you!”“I had a feeling you might like it,” he said.“You really did thought of everything, didn’t you?”He put me down and kissed me on the forehead.“I wanted to build you a lab for a while now. But I thought it would be better if it was not at the estate, since… Father might start to blame you for everything, like
Demian came back two hours later. His hair was damp and he was wearing a black robe. Shea bowed to him and me and then left since it appeared Demian made it clear that when he and I were together, Shea or any other maid could not stay.“You did not tell me about her before,” I said. “That she can talk.”“It was a good surprise,” Demian said.“I don’t like surprises.”“I know,” he said. “Actually, I did not think it was that important for you to know earlier.”I decided not to press on the matter farther. I was having a hard time coming in terms with the fact that I had to stay in a tower on the top floor.I still could not believe Demian did such a thing. How could he?“The water is cold here all the time,” Demian said. “I suggest never to take a bath in the water just like it is. Tell the maids to warm it first.”“You used the cold water, didn’t you?” Demian preferred cold water over warm or normal temperature water. In fact, I once found him soaking in an ice-cold water bath. There
We stayed on the first floor that night. Demian wanted to go up, but I refused to.There were only a handful of maids here. Five, if I was right. But there were a lot of guards. Most of them were Demian’s men who could keep an eye on you without you noticing them.Since I refused to move from the first floor, the guards brought a huge wooden tub for me that the maids filled with warm water. I took a bath in one of the other two rooms of the first floor. Demian went up to a proper bathroom since he always needed things to be perfect and orderly.In my opinion, he was a little psychotic about it. He nagged me a whole fifteen minutes to go and take a bath with him in a proper bathroom. When I refused, he refused to talk to me and went away.It was not my fault. I did not want to move with my sore back, hips and legs. I could barely move my legs. My legs trembled as if they were having a seizure. They were trembling like I had given birth to a child (women’s legs trembled sometimes becaus
We arrived in one piece. However, we were not unharmed. Well, you could not see any bruises. But I had a hard time straightening and getting down the carriage because of my back and legs. Demian did not look like he was struggling, but he told me that his legs hurt.It took us eight days to reach our destination. Honestly, I was not shocked. I expected that it would take a while. Demian would not keep me somewhere where anyone could find me easily.But something else shocked me. I could not stop staring at where Demian was going to keep me.“Are you okay?” Demian asked.“What is this?” I asked.“This is where you will be. I will stay with you for a few days and come to see you often.”“Demian, this is… This is not a villa. You said you would take me to a vacation villa.”“I don’t see the issue here. So what if it’s not a villa?”“Demian, it’s a damn tower! You are keeping me in a tower?”“It has got all the facilities. It’s a nice tower.”I rolled my eyes. Demian took my hand and led
One thing I noticed about Sully was that she liked a good conversation. The conversation did not always have to have a meaning. If it was entertaining, she would engage in it eagerly.I always thought that conversations needed to hold a meaning, or it was not needed at all. In fact, I never had that kind of meaningless conversation with anyone in my whole life.But now, with Sully, I engaged in some silly conversations and did not get bored. On the other hand, I quite enjoyed it. It was not like me. I acted like a different person with her. She saw a piece of me that I never showed anyone before. It made me feel vulnerable. I did not hate it though. Perhaps it was alright to feel vulnerable in front of her. Perhaps it was okay to let her see the bare part of me.Just a while ago, we had a conversation about what we liked about each other’s physical appearance the most. Honestly, I liked everything about her. I liked her hair that she hated so much; I liked her round face, her thick th
Demian made sure that the content of the conversation between Rosalia and Theodore reached Alexander’s ears. As I had expected, Rosalia and Theodore talked about Rose and me.Today, Demian and I set out for our vacation. We were going by a carriage with as little people as we could since we did not want to draw attention. Demian did not want to sit with me inside the carriage. He wanted to ride a horse.I forced him to stay with me. He said that it felt stuffy and he hated the way the carriage bumped every time the wheels ran over a stone of if the road was bumpy.“I am not going to be the only one with sore hips and back,” I said.Demian cursed under his breath as the carriage bumped roughly once again.“This is the most ridiculous form of transportation,” Demian said. “You basically arrive at your destination with a sore body and it can even hurt your back so much that you will feel it for the rest of your life.”“At least, it takes you to your destination,” I said. “That’s enough.