Chapter 3 #2
Then, a loud noise echoed around me, and a black bird flew in my direction, brushing my left shoulder.
I tried to follow the bird with my eyes, wondering where it was going, but all I saw was an endless tunnel behind me.
The door I entered before had disappeared.
When I turned back around, I jolted, realizing I was no longer alone.
This time, my mind was not tricking me.
A tall man stood in front of me, dressed in a long black coat with a high collar and long sleeves trimmed with black lace ruffles at the cuffs.
His deep green eyes were intense, seeming to inspect every single movement of mine.
The man’s hair was long and pitch-black, bound neatly with red hair ribbons.
He resembled a raven-haired deity, which came from another kind of universe and whose purpose was to watch over people, or to cause them death.
His intense look and eerie stillness began to cause a disquiet in my chest, and my discomfort grew the longer he stayed quiet. No longer being able to endure the silence, I asked him, “Who are you?”
“Little puppy, you tell me, because you just landed in my trap.”
His smile was almost delicious, dripping with confidence. Who in God’s name does this man think he is?
I wanted to snap, but I had absolutely no interest in angering someone if he might be the only way out of this dark place.
Distracted by his intimidating presence, I did not realize that the black bird had perched itself on the man’s shoulder. A raven with a red feather. The same bird that had been at the garden party, and had convinced me that I somehow achieved the ability to talk with animals.
“The raven with the red feather, is it yours?” I asked.
The man in front of me nodded, still staring at me with a lingering stillness that made me uncomfortable. So, his bird was the reason why I crashed into the hedge of roses and my whole life had turned upside down.
“Why did your demon bird bring me here?”
“My demon bird saved you, little puppy.” He took another step closer to me, his eyes solely looking at mine, as if he tried to possess them through his gaze.
“Weren’t you about to decline that little man’s request to marry you?
Or was all that a lie, and you have already planned the wedding and the bearing of his offspring?
You wanted to escape. Your beautiful mind begged for me. ”
This man really seemed to have some sort of God complex, because there was no way I would have ever begged for him.
But I wondered how he knew about the engagement, since I knew he wasn’t at the party himself.
I would have acknowledged his presence—anyone would have noticed him.
A man dressed in this type of clothing wasn’t a typical sight.
“You must be the most delusional man I have ever come across.” Although he was not wrong, I never liked the idea of being a wife to Alexander.
I wanted to be free, be able to make my own choices, and travel the world before I had to bind myself to a man.
I was angry with my mother that she planned out the wedding with a man I did not love, while she got to experience a deep, emotional love with my father.
“But you love my fierceness, don’t you?” The man’s voice took me out of my carousel of thoughts.
His confidence really got on my nerves. I rolled my eyes and wanted to tell him to shut up, but he spoke first. “If you ever roll your eyes at me again, I will bend you over my lap and spank that sweet ass of yours so you remember exactly who you belong to.” My eyes widened in shock.
Where I came from, men normally talked and behaved differently, but maybe this man lived in this tunnel and rarely spoke to other human beings.
“Tell me, if you were the one that brought me here, then how can I leave?”
“So, you changed your mind?” he asked, sounding surprised. Did he really expect me to stay here with him?
“Excuse me?”
“About the wedding.”
“I’m not sure that’s any of your business.”
“Everything involving you is my business, Gwendolyn,” he declared angrily, speaking my name like he owned me. But then I kept thinking he threatened to spank me because of my attitude, so I guess he really was that delusional.
“How do you know my name? Did your little bird tell you?” I asked, sounding more mocking than I intended. Instead of answering, he just shook his head and smirked, like he found the entire situation very funny.
“You are acting like a spoiled little brat. You’d better stop, before I really throw you over my shoulder and spank that attitude out of you.”
I should be sorry for declaring Alexander arrogant, when this man right in front of me was the personification of arrogance.
“Tell me, would you have said yes to him?” he asked.
Why did he even care about my decision? Not even my own mother ever asked me during the wedding preparations if it was something I wanted.
One of the reasons why I never prepared a concrete answer to this question was because women’s opinions on marriage never mattered, at least not where I was from.
So, it was better to stay silent, furthermore it was not his concern whether I would have married Alexander or not.
“That’s what I thought,” he mused. The silence around me grew even louder. The man turned around and began to walk away. Soon, he became only a shadow in the dark.
“Follow me and don’t forget my demon bird,” he suddenly called back. I peeked over my shoulder, noticing the raven had settled itself there on one of the lanterns.
The tunnel I was following seemed to have no end, the further we went, the brighter the torches began to flicker.
All of a sudden, I perceived the voice again, the same one I’ve been hearing since I was a child. But where was he? And why did he always speak in my mind, but never showed himself?
Or maybe the voice in my head had never been real and it was just the beginning of a descent into madness.
My whole body started to shake and I recognized the green eyes that were full of acid and danger.
I must have been in some state of trance, because it took a while to feel fully alive again.
“Humans really are of no use,” the dark-haired man commented.
“You don’t pay a lot of attention to your surroundings, like you should.
” His breath was hot against my skin, causing a weird shiver running down my spine.
Why was this man affecting me so weirdly?
Was this madness?
“Eyes up here, my little demon,” he said, gripping my chin softly, forcing me to gaze up at him. His face was even more beautiful when close-up. “You can admire my beauty later… you need to rest.” With these words, the man took my hand, leading me further down the tunnel.
I began to feel very dizzy and sleepy, and before I could ask where we were going, everything went dark.
What if it really was a trap, and the man with the black hair was the puppet-master of this game?