A SIN I WAS FORCED TO COMMIT
1241 Words
I didn't sleep. Not for a second.
I kept thinking about the 7 days. One day was already gone. Only 6 left.
If I don't love him, he will kill everyone. My mom. My friends. Every innocent person in the world.
I only have two choices.
I live like this, a prisoner, but knowing they are alive.
Or, I say no, and everyone dies. Then I am the only one left.
I stood by the window. I felt sick.
I heard knocks on the door. I saw an old lady and a girl. She looked the same age as me.
“Come in.”
I said it low. I felt half dead, but I’m still human. I won’t make an elderly woman wait.
“My lady... I brought you some food,” she said. She kept her head down.
“My name is Ariel. You can call me by my name.”
The old woman looked like she had been slapped.
"NO! My lady, that would be a sin against the Lord!"
I blinked. My head was spinning. Everything felt like a nightmare.
“What is your name?”
“I’m Semat. And she is Elly, my daughter.”
I looked at her. I felt a sob in my throat. I was so alone.
“Don’t you think of me as your daughter?”
“I— I don't—” Her voice was trembling.
I grabbed her hand. I was desperate. I was shaking.
“I want to escape this place. Help me, Miss Semat.”
Semat’s face went white. She looked at the door. Then at the walls.
“Don’t! Don— don— don’t say that, my lady! The Lord will... he will—”
“Will what?” I asked. I gripped her hand. “WILL WHAT?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about,” she whispered.
Elly looked at me. Her eyes were sharp and full of fire. She leaned in with an angry whisper. It wasn’t loud, but it was powerful.
“DON'T PULL US IN YOUR TRAP!”
Semat gasped. She gave Elly a look that told her to shut up. She turned back to me, her face pale.
“Forgive her, my lady! She is innocent. She doesn't know what she’s saying!”
I shook my head. I felt a lump in my throat.
“Just think... I don’t belong here. I can’t stay here forever! I have a life out there. My family... my friends... my pet... my—”
I couldn't finish the sentence. The pain was too much. I lost my strength and sank onto the bed. I sat there, feeling small and broken.
“I’m scared... will I be able to see them again? Ever?”
The tears finally broke. They ran down my face like ice.
“I’m scared to die.”
Suddenly, the room felt heavy. A cold shadow moved across the floor. A pale, freezing hand reached out.
"You aren't going to die, love."
He reached out. His fingers were cold, but his touch was light. He caught a tear on his thumb before it could fall.
Semat and Elly were gone. They had vanished like smoke the second he stepped into the room. It was like they never existed, leaving me alone in the freezing air with a monster.
"Death is easy. It’s for people I don't care about."
He tilted his head, his dark eyes tracing my face like he was reading a book. He looked dangerous, but in a way that made it hard to breathe.
“The world out there is loud and cruel, Ariel. It doesn't care about you.”
He leaned down, his voice dropping to a soft, dark whisper.
“Don't cry. You are finally safe now... because I will kill anyone who tries to take you from me.”
He felt like a sin I was forced to commit. His soft side was scarier than his hard side.
“Plea— please let me go,” I sobbed.
He stood up fast. He looked like he was full of a quiet, dark rage.
“You belong here, Ariel! HERE! With me and no one else!”
He said my name loud. It echoed against the stone walls. He leaned down, his eyes burning into mine.
“Six days, Ariel. The clock is ticking. You better learn to love me... or I will show you exactly what the people you love look like with no breath left in them.”
He reached out and gripped my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“They are only alive because I allow it. Remember that.”
“Will you call that love when it was forced?” I stood up. My legs were shaking, but I wouldn't stay down.
I saw that little smirk on his face. It was dark and cold.
“You will love me, Ariel. It won't be because you are forced. It will be because you choose it.”
I raised my voice, my heart hammering against my ribs.
“THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!”
He didn't yell back. He just moved. He grabbed my shoulders and pulled me in.
His hands slid down to the small of my waist. He yanked me closer until I hit his chest. I could smell him now—winter, woodsmoke, and the sharp scent of gunpowder.
He was so close. I felt my warm breath hitting his cold skin. He reached up, slowly moving a strand of hair away from my forehead.
“I will never share this beautiful face. Or this body.”
He let his eyes wander over me. Being this close to him made me shiver. It felt like being hunted by something beautiful but deadly.
He leaned into my ear. His cold breath felt like ice against my skin.
“NEVER.”
Then, he pushed me away. Just a little. Just enough to let me breathe again.
“Is Hazier disturbing you?”
He kept his eyes locked on mine. I couldn't look back. I stared down at my hands, nervously playing with the fabric of my clothes. My heart was beating so fast it hurt.
“Open yourself to me, Ariel. You will never know how close I can get to you,” he murmured. His voice was like a velvet trap.
“NO— no, he is not,” I gasped. I didn't want Hazier’s blood on my hands, too.
He tilted his head, a dark light flickering in his eyes.
“Well... that sentence just added a few more days to his lifeline.”
I froze. I was in total shock. He was talking about his own brother like he was nothing—just a bug he could squash. No wonder everyone called him Lord.
No one would believe a brother could be this heartless.
He took one slow step closer, his shadow falling over me.
“If he does bother you, you can come to me. My room is just at the corner of the hallway.”
I looked at him, my mind spinning. How can one monster save me from another?
“Rest now, Ariel,” he said, his voice dropping to a low, protective growl. “In this castle, I am the only nightmare you need to worry about.”
He turned on his heel and left. The silence he left behind felt heavier than his words.
- Writer
