Chapter 10
Sick Obsession
THE REQUIEM | Present
Open your legs, Dolcezza.”
There is a strange kind of warmth between my legs. I’m stretched full, and the delicious burn sends jolts of electricity up my spine, circling my throat and leaving through my mouth as a lewd moan.
His warm, rough hands circle my waist, pinching the roundness of my belly, and cupping my breasts as he pounds.
“You like my cock, Dolcezza?” I can’t form a word. One of his hands is wrapped around my throat. My eyes widen as he pushes into me more and some more till I feel the girth of his cock stretching my walls. “You claim to hate me while this cunt weeps for me.”
“You killed… him…” Words barely leave my lips before his cock is hammering inside me. My body jerks, the pleasure blurring the line between agony and ecstasy.
Every time he hits my depth, it’s like a brand being pressed into my soul, reminding me that no matter how far I run, my body is a traitor to my mind. And I am a prisoner to his ruthless hands. Hands of the man I loved and hated with the same breath.
“I did not kill him,” Zagreus growls, his voice vibrating against the shell of my ear. It’s so dark and unrelenting I cannot recognize it. “Cry for him if you must, Selene, but you’ll do it while you’re coming on my cock.”
His grip on my throat tightens, focusing every nerve ending on the place where we are joined.
The friction is a slow burn. Rhythmically, the destruction of the woman I thought I was.
I want to fight him. I want to scream that I hate him, that he is a monster, but my hips are arching of their own accord, begging for the very thing that is ruining me.
“Say it,” he commands, his pace turning frantic. The bedframe groans against the wall. “Tell me whose mark is on your soul.”
“Yours,” I sob, the word escaping me like a confession under torture. He swells inside me, the heat rising until it’s a physical weight. “Always yours.”
The moment I say it, he snaps. His release is a violent, jagged thing, flooding me with a warmth that feels like molten lead. He buries his face in the crook of my neck, his breath ragged, his fingers still digging into my hips as if he’s afraid I’ll evaporate if he lets go for even a second.
I wake with sheets tangled around my legs.
My thighs are trembling, and the dampness between them is reminding me of the dream.
I touch my throat, half-expecting to feel the phantom heat of his palm, but there is only skin.
A sharp, blinding pain lances through my skull.
Was that a dream? It felt like one, though. As if it has happened, but I have no memory of it.
Zagreus has taken me several times; his ruthlessness knows no bounds. But this… it feels like a memory of mine, but from another chapter of my life, one I have no knowledge about.
Am I insane?
My fingers tremble against my throat, pressing harder as if I can summon the ghost of his grip. But there’s nothing. No bruises. No marks.
Just skin.
Just lies.
More fucking lies.
Or worse… just forgotten truths.
Another sharp pulse slices through my head, forcing a broken gasp from my lips. I clutch my temples, squeezing my eyes shut as something flickers behind them…a fragment.
A whisper of touch. Of heat. Of him. My stomach churns.
“No…” The word falls apart as it leaves me.
Because if that wasn’t a dream… then what does that make me?
What does that make him?
Even his name feels all wrong on my tongue.
Zagreus. Zagreus. Zagreus.
My body betrays me again as a shiver crawls down my spine, settling low, and I hate it. I hate how something inside me recognizes him. Not as fear, but as something far more dangerous. More like ownership.
“No,” I repeat, dragging myself out of bed. My legs almost give out beneath me.
The lavender scent suffocates me. I hate it. It feels wrong. All wrong. Everything in this room screams of her control. Her version of peace. Her version of reality.
What if she’s lying? What if she isn’t? What if the gaps in my memory… aren’t accidents?
Always yours.
My breath hitches. I never said that.
Did I?
Cold dread pools in my veins when the door creaks open before I can spiral further. Instantly, I freeze.
“There you are.” Her voice is soft and gentle. Liar. Liar. Liar.
I turn slowly, my heart pounding as my Mother steps inside, dressed in white. Her gaze moves over me, then settles into that warmth. I hate it. Don’t look at me with those eyes; all I see are those vials. Memory suppression. Protocol. Hatred is all I feel. But there is something else, too.
It’s fear. Fear of knowing how well she hides herself. How well she makes me believe her lies.
“You shouldn’t strain yourself, Stina,” she murmurs, stepping closer. “You’re fragile.”
Fragile.
My lips part. “I had a…” My voice falters. “I had a nightmare… I saw him.”
Something moves in her eyes, gone in the same instant. But I see it. I feel it.
She cups my face; her touch is cool. It burns my skin. “Him?” she asks softly. “You mean that man who destroyed your life?”
My pulse roars in my ears. Destroyed.
Or claimed?
“I…” My throat tightens. “I saw something.”
“You saw a nightmare,” she says smoothly. “Nothing more. He’s poisoned your mind, even in his absence.”
But he didn’t feel absent. He felt… so real, Mama. You felt so real in my dreams too. Those shadows felt real, too. Everything felt real, except myself.
My nails dig deeper into my skin as I bite my tongue. I can’t let her know that I know her plans. She wants to use me. She wants to make me into a weapon she can use against Zagreus.
“Selene,” she whispers, leaning closer, her voice turning almost hypnotic. “You belong here. With me. Safe.”
“My name is Celestine, not Selene. Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Because you are confused, child,” she murmurs, her thumb scraping along my jawline. “Celestine. Selene. It’s all the same.”
Liar.
It’s not the same. I am not Selene.
But I remain quiet, nodding. “Mama… have I—have I known him before this?”
She smiles. “Yes, but your mind is not ready to take this conversation right now. You need rest.”
My pulse stutters. “No, tell me…”
Her fingers tighten ever so slightly on my jaw. “When you were a child, we were on good terms with the Vitales until they killed your Father.”
My stomach twists. “No… he, he didn’t…” My voice falters. “Papa is in the hospital.”
Her expression doesn’t change as she sighs. “That’s what you believe, Selene.”
“But I saw the medical bills. He’s in the hospital—”
The world tilts. “Like I said, you don’t know what’s right or wrong.”
“What…?” My voice comes out hollow.
Her thumb brushes under my eye, catching a tear I hadn’t felt fall.
“He’s dead,” she says softly. “Zagreus killed him. You ran away, found Adrian, loved him, and he killed him too.”
The words don’t register. They can’t be true. My version of the story is different.
“No.” I shake my head immediately, stepping back. “No, that’s not true.”
“You remember what I told you,” she corrects, her tone still impossibly calm. “Not what happened.”
My breathing turns erratic.
“No—no, you’re wrong—how can I forget a part of my life?”
“You had an accident when you ran away. Adrian saved you.”
My heart slams against my ribs. “Stop it.”
“He killed your Father,” she continues, her voice lowering, threading into something darker. “Just like he killed your fiancé.”
My knees nearly give out.
My fiancé.
A face tries to form in my mind, but it’s blurred. Fiancé. Why don’t I remember him clearly? It’s just a vivid memory of him. I think I am going insane.
“I—I would remember that,” I whisper, but it sounds weak.
Fragile. Even to me. Wouldn’t I?
Her smile turns almost pitying.
“That’s the tragedy, my love,” she murmurs. “You don’t.”
The pain explodes through my skull again. I cry out, clutching my head as images flicker. Blood. A hand slipping from mine. A voice calling my name, but whose?
“Make it stop—” I gasp.
“I know, I know,” she coos instantly, pulling me into her arms. Her embrace is warm, suffocating, inescapable. “Your mind is trying to protect you.”
Or break me.
I can’t tell anymore.
Her hand moves to the bedside drawer, retrieving a small white pill.
“You’re overexerting yourself again,” she murmurs, pressing it into my palm. “Take it. It will help.”
Help.
I stare at the pill.
Her eyes are on me. I lift it to my lips and swallow. Or at least, I make it look like I do.
She smiles, satisfied, brushing my hair back like I’m still her obedient little girl.
“Good,” she whispers. “That’s my Selene.” My throat burns with the lie I just fed her.
The pill rests hidden beneath my tongue until she turns away.
Only then do I slip it into my sleeve. My heart is racing, not from fear alone but from something sharper. Awareness.
She’s lying.
Or worse, she believes what she’s saying.
“Come,” she says, already moving toward the wardrobe. “We have a big day ahead.”
My head still throbs, but something inside me is waking up.
“A big day?” I repeat cautiously.
She opens the wardrobe, pulls out a dress.
Ivory silk. Delicate embroidery cascading like frost over the fabric.
“Wear this,” she says, her tone light, almost cheerful now. “You’ll look beautiful.”
My stomach sinks.
“Where are we going?”
She glances at me over her shoulder, that same serene smile in place.
“We’re not going anywhere,” she says. “They’re already here.”
A cold chill goes through me.
“They?”
Her smile widens.
“Yes, Selene.” She steps closer, cupping my face again, her thumb brushing over my lips. “It’s time you meet your family and everyone.”
Family.
My voice comes out barely above a whisper.
“Everyone?”
Her eyes gleam. “Yes. Everyone who matters.”
I stare at her before nodding.
“Very well.” I swallow. “Do I meet them now?”
“At dinner. I’ll introduce them to you. And believe me, they all are looking forward to meeting you.” Her hand caresses my cheek. “Till then, have some rest. I’ll send someone with breakfast.”