Chapter Five #2
Everyone startles at my voice. Probably from the anger in it.
“Excuse me? Who do you think you are?” she asks, standing up straight with her hand on her hip.
“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself,” I say with a fake sweet smile.
I stand up slowly and put my body closer to Silas.
He wraps an arm around my waist. I try to ignore the panic it gives me because I also feel safe in his touch.
It’s too confusing to wrap my head around right now.
“I’m Serenity. I would appreciate it if you stop making eyes at, and touching, my sin,” I snap.
She looks down at Silas in shock. “Lust doesn’t have a partner. None of them do,” she says, smirking proudly at me.
“It’s obviously new. Soon enough, this room will be full of my sisters,” I say before turning to Lucifer and adding, “And mother.” I then turn again to look at her and state, “you will need to learn to keep your hands and eyes to yourself.”
I look back at the woman, and she’s look at Silas.
“Is this true? Lust?” she asks, looking down at him with a pitiful expression.
“Quit calling him that!” I shout angrily.
“That’s who he is,” she snaps back at me.
“He’s more than just his fucking sin. They all are. If you can’t see that, then maybe you need a job in another section,” I snap.
“Arianna, you are dismissed. I’ll give you your new job position after I’ve eaten,” Lucifer says.
She glances at him, but probably knows not to mess with him and, instead, turns around in silence with an anger in her eyes that, no doubt, are directed at me.
Great. I’ve made my first enemy, and I’ve only been awake for a few minutes.
“Well, that was interesting,” a brother grumbles.
“That was hot as fuck,” Silas whispers, low enough for only me to hear.
I swallow hard at his words and try to overcome the panic they bring me. I know I will have to explain my past to him soon enough so that he understands why I react the way that I do towards his advances.
The question is, will he still want me when he knows?
Silas
Hearing Serenity call me her sin was the best thing I have ever heard. That was her way of claiming me.
I can feel the tension in her body when I told her it was hot. I want to know what that’s about, but I don’t want to ask in front of everyone, in case it’s something she doesn’t want anyone to know.
“Are you all going to tell me your names, or should I call you guys brother one, brother two, and so on?” Serenity asks.
Everyone looks at each other, and we realize we never told her who was who.
They go around the table and introduce themselves with their name only.
“You aren’t going to tell me what sin you guys are?” she asks in shock.
“It will be more fun for you to figure that out on your own,” Gareth says with a big smile.
“I’m sure I can figure it out,” Serenity says with a smile.
“It won’t be as easy as it sounds,” Gareth says with a grin.
Serenity sits back and looks over each of my brothers. I wonder if she could tell what any of them are just by looking at them.
“I think Leopold is pride,” she says, and everyone goes quiet.
“How did you guess that?” Gareth whispers in shock.
She looks over at him and then at everyone else, realizing she got it right.
“He looked at me like there was no way I would ever guess what the sins are. Kind of cocky. Just the vibe he gave off, I suppose,” she says with a shrug.
“Damn, I thought he would be the hardest to guess,” Gareth says.
The rest of the dinner goes off without any problems. I notice that my dad kept looking over at us and smiling.
When it’s time to go back to our end of the palace, I can feel Serenity getting more tense as we get closer. I wish I knew why she’s no longer calm being alone with me when I thought we had gotten there earlier.
She blows out a shaky breath when we are alone.
“What’s going on? Are you scared to be alone with me? I would never hurt you,” I say, trying to reassure her.
“It is and isn’t that. I have this feeling that you would never hurt me and that you will protect me, but there is this part of me that has been through shit that has made me unsure about trusting that feeling,” she tells me.
“If you want to tell me why you feel that way, then I will listen; but I’m not going to push you to tell me something if you aren’t ready,” I tell her.
It may sound hard for someone like me. I have had a lot of sex in the years since I was created. Men, women, demons; it didn’t matter as long as I got off. That is until it became boring not having a challenge to go for.
This is a different feeling to wait for my bride to be ready. I can tell she isn’t ready and something is holding her back.
I know we have all the time in the world. Our lives will become one. I will just have to find ways into her heart; then maybe she will trust me with her secrets.
“I feel like you should know. It’s just not easy to talk about. I have never talked about it with anyone,” she tells me softly.
“Take your time,” I say before moving us the couch. I face her and wait patiently for her to tell me.
“Everything was going good in my life until I was sixteen years old. My brother, sister, and parents were killed in a fire. I had snuck out to a friend’s house for a couple hours, so I wasn’t there when it happened.
The thing was that every exit was blocked off or sabotaged so that no one could get out, including my own room, so I know I was supposed to die that night too.
I took off and have been pretty much on the run since. ”
She pauses for a second and blows out a breath before swallowing hard.
She looks down before she begins her story again.
“Six months ago, whoever it was that killed my family found me. All he said was that he had been looking for me for a long time and asked if I thought I could hide from him forever. He-.” She lets out a little sob, and I want badly to pull her into my arms, but I don’t know if she will want that since she tenses every time I touch her.
“He beat me until I was barely able to move, and then raped me. When I woke up, he was gone; but there was so much blood. I wanted to give up, but this voice in my head told me not to.”
I feel an insane amount of rage for what my bride has gone through.
She has been through so much trauma in her life.
I can understand now why she tenses when I touch her.
I will need to figure out ways I can help her heal from this.
Her trauma and past will never make me leave her side.
I just wish I knew who this guy was so I can spend time torturing him before ending his life.
“Can I hold you?” I ask because I can’t take not having her in my arms as she lets out cries from her pain.
She nods her head. I pull her onto my lap and try to shoulder the pain for her.
“I’m so sorry baby that you had gone through so much shit in your life. I hate that it had happened to you, and I wish I could take the pain away, but I’m not going to leave your side because of your past,” I tell her.
My words seem to make her cry harder. She has been holding everything in for so long and handling everything on her own. I will help her see that she’s not alone anymore. I don’t know how long we sit there as I hold her, but I wouldn’t be anywhere else.
I make a promise in my head that I will find this guy and make him pay for putting my bride through this pain.
There won’t be anywhere he can hide from me.