Nightsdeath studied everything with amused intrigue, and, through our stares, I believed we formed a temporary agreement of trust, a plan to be decided, as he let the High Celestials take me away.
11Astraea
I hadn’t expected to be in the comforts of my rooms in the castle again. The thick red abrasions that already formed around my wrists itched like hell.
Auster lingered near, a predator in the shadows. My manacles had no chains, so I didn’t need aid or to be released from them to undress for the bath that awaited me. I eyed the milky steaming waters with suspicion.
“Honey milk soap is your favorite, I recall,” he said, stalking closer.
Every measure of swallowed distance between us turned my stomach.
“Times change,” I lied, to starve him of any piece of me.
His body warmth radiated into me from behind while his hand slithered across my nape. A hand that had once been a reach of safety to me, a touch I once considered dear, now roiled repulsion in me. His proximity crawled my skin, making me want to abandon my own flesh to escape him.
“You will bathe, and you will dress in the clothing brought for you,” he said, a rumbling warning close to my ear.
My gaze slipped to the bed, finding layers of stark white material against the deep purple sheets.
“What for?” I dreaded to ask.
Auster always loved me in white. He would say it was the symbol of my grace and devotion as the star-maiden and insisted I always wore it in front of my people.
“We’re going to show the world you can be saved. That your heart isn’t beyond returning to righteousness.”
He wanted to parade me as a lie. Compliant by his side to atone for all he had condemned of me.
“I won’t.”
I hissed with the tight grip he took of my hair.
“It wasn’t a request. You either kneel or bleed.”
“Then bleed me dry, Auster Nova; I will never kneel for you.”
He twisted me around by my hair until our loathing clashed in our battling stare. A cool breath of metal touched my collar, but it was my tunic, not my flesh, that tore, his blade cutting down the material to my navel, and my hands lashed up to keep my breasts covered.
“It’s not like I haven’t seen every inch of you,” he said in a shadowy tone.
I hadn’t considered the possibility of Auster wanting to violate me, but standing here vulnerable wavered my composure.
“You lay a hand on me and I will kill you,” I promised.
“You have already threatened me that way. So laying a hand on you makes no difference.”
The handle of the blade twisted in his palm so as not to cut us when both his hands split the rest of my tunic. I stumbled back from him, knocking into the vanity unit in the washroom, keeping myself covered with my arms and the ruined fabric. My heart thundered, but Auster didn’t advance for me again.
I stared at him wide-eyed; my blood coursed hot and furious. Auster’s unfeeling gaze slipped down my body, and the only relief I had was that he bore no lust or desire. No—if he decided to do something reprehensible and evil against my will it would only be to prove his sick dominance over me.
I swore to every god I would not let him get that far, no matter what I had to do.
In those thick, tense seconds, neither of us moving, I was preparing for the worst.
“Servants will be with you shortly,” he said, so cold and calm. “Resist or refuse the attire and this summons, and you will severely regret it, Maiden.”
I had words of acid and disdain for that parting statement but I kept them burning in my mouth as I watched his navy cloak billow slightly with the force of his march out of my rooms.
Alone, I felt the tension dissolve from me and dropped my arms and my tunic, leaving me bare-chested. I took a moment to collect myself before floating toward the water, dipping my fingers in. It didn’t burn; instead it relaxed me with its soft caress and that irritated me irrationally, simply because Auster had provided the blissful bath.
