CHAPTER 3 - SILK AND STEEL
1105 Words
Amara waited a while in her room, staring out through the window.
She watched him drive out of the house, waited an hour to ensure he wasn't coming back.
Within her hour of waiting, she reflected over her whole life. From being a broken wife, the trembling auction girl, the obedient girl all died right when she was sold like a cattle.
She wasn't going to cry nor was she going to beg anymore. Now she was on fire, and fire didn't kneel.
Standing up from the bed, the black silk dress slip slid down her thighs as she rose down from the bed. Every step felt like she was walking in a dream.
As if dreams came with invisible eyes watching your every breath. Lucien said there were seven cameras in the room and “I am going to find them”. She thought
Coming down, she scanned the walls noticing the deliberate shadows, the perfect angles where candlelight didn't touch.
Above the vanity mirror, inside the carved raven statue, behind the etched glass panel in the ceiling. She has counted five.
She smiled leaving a smirk “Two more”. She thought.
Let the devil think he owned her, let him watch. “You'll get bored of the game eventually, Dante. But I won't” She said to herself.
Walking towards the door, it wasn't locked. She didn't expect that.
It swung open with a soft creak, revealing a long hallway of obsidian floors, black and silver wallpaper, and hanging art pieces that looked like they were painted with blood and sorrow.
The place was a castle of nightmares, beautiful, cold and echoing with secrets.
She crept forward barefooted, slipping like a shadow down the corridor. Velvet curtains covered massive windows and the scent of burning sandalwood drifted through the air.
A low piano melody drifted from somewhere in the house, soft, melancholic and sharp.
A single note kept repeating itself like a heartbeat.
“The piano he warned me not to touch, but someone else is playing it” She thought, curiosity clawed at her ribs.
She followed the sound until it stopped abruptly mid-note.
She turned a corner and froze
There it was, the piano room wide open, silver chandelier, walls of book and a grand black Steinway positioned like a throne.
No one was inside, but someone had been here
The keys were still vibrating
Her bare feet padded across the marble floor and her fingers hovering around the keys
She wasn't going to play it, she just wanted to see what was forbidden about it.
Maybe it belonged to someone he lost, maybe Lucien Dante had a heart buried under all that tailored cruelty.
“Maybe……”
“Touch it and I'll chain you to the bench until your fingers bleed.
Amara stopped when she heard the voice, it was him, his voice behind her
Amara turned around, it was him Lucien Dante
Lucien stood at the doorway, shirt unbuttoned at the top now, sleeves rolled up again, hands in his pocket.
He was calm, but his jaw ticked once, just once
“How did you get out of your room” he asked
“You left it unlocked”
“No I left it open, subtle difference” Lucien said “one's permission, the other test”.
Amara didn't move
“And what was the point of this test” She asked
“To see if you'll obey”
“Did you really expect me to” Amara questioned
Lucien took a step into the room
“No, that's why I have already prepared your next room. The ones with chains”.
Amara narrowed her eyes “What's with the piano, Lucien?
He stopped a foot away
“That's three broken rules in one day, you're really eager to meet my patience's grave”.
“What is it about the piano” She asked again
Lucien stared at her for a moment then smiled but it wasn't the amused kind of smile but the dangerous smile.
“You want to know the truth”
She swallowed then she nodded “Yes”
Lucien walked closer, his lips brushing her ear
“Because the last girl who played it, died right where you are standing”
Amara blood ran cold, cold shivers ran through her
But she didn't look away “Did you kill her”
Lucien stepped back gaze unreadable, she couldn't believe she was scared after all she have heard
“Would it matter” he answered
The piano left out a single not, low but haunting
Neither of them touched it
But both of them felt it
“Back to your room, Amara”, Lucien said darkly “You have earned tonight's punishment”.
“What if I say no” She questioned
Lucien tilted his head leaving out a smirk
“Then I'll drag you there”
“And if I scream?”
His eyes flared then he smiled
“I'll make sure it sounds like pleasure”.
Just as Amara stepped away from the piano something fell from the back of it, a folded yellowish envelope.
On it was a delicate handwriting
“To the next girl who think she can survive him”
Amara froze on a spot, staring at the letter
Lucien smile faded
“Don't open that” he commanded
“Why not” Amara whispered
“Because I buried her with that letter”.
Amara fingers hovered just inches from the letter. Her heart thundered in her chest as if it knew that whatever lay inside that aged envelope would split her word into two, before she read it and after.
“So you buried her with the letter” Amara asked
“She wrote the letter the night she died”, he said voice flatly, " I told them to bury it with her, clearly someone disobeyed”.
“But you said you buried her”
Lucien blinked “Slip of tongue”
The calm in his eyes had fractured, just a crack but it was enough to make her press harder.
“What happened to her” Amara whispered “Did she played the piano too”.
His jaw flexed
“Put the letter down”
She didn't, instead she tore it open and pulled out the note inside
Amara froze while staring at the letter.
She couldn't believe her eyes, the letter was filled with stains of blood with a write-up that wasn't clearly visible.
It was a warning letter or more of a threat.
- Writer
