I stumbled backward as he advanced, my spine pressing against the rail. He did not stop. He came closer until his breath slid over my lips, until his body caged mine, his hands pressing to the metal beside my waist, trapping me. His eyes were no longer patient but consuming.
“Every moment I spend with you,” he said, “whether in pain or peace…” his face lowered until the heat of his breath seared me. His gaze pierced through me. “Hell will be without you.”
The world stopped. My lungs forgot their work. I stared at him, at the shadows pooling in the hollows of his face. “And what about me? Do you realise you’ve created a personal hell for me?”
His jaw clenched. “Then endure it,” he murmured. “Endure it because this hell has me. Because I cannot give you freedom, Dolcezza. You are mine. Mine to fight with, mine to suffer with, mine to keep breathing beside me.”
My chest caved, heat rising through my veins. “And if I don’t want to be yours?”
A flicker crossed his eyes, gone too quickly. He leaned closer, lowering his mouth to my ear. “Then I will chain the air itself tomake sure it never leaves your lungs. You will remain even if it destroys you. Even if it destroys me.”
My breath hitched, and my body sagged against the rail and him. His nearness was too much, his words like a cage made of silk and steel. He had not said the word, but I knew he’d never let me go. He would never name it, yet he lived in it.
I wanted to die from the weight of it.
My vision darkened, flecks of light scattering at the edges. The sea’s roar faded into a muffled hum, and my knees gave out. All the skipping meals came crashing down on me. I was hoping to fall, but I did not. I hated that it was his arms that caught me, strong and locking me against him. I hated that I clutched him unconsciously, my fists twisting in his suit, holding on even as my mind screamed to let go.
I fainted in his arms.
And for a one merciful moment, before the dark swallowed me whole, I thought… perhaps hell was softer than I had imagined.
When I opened my eyes, the world was wrong and black, the ceiling above was cloaked in shadows and the candles long extinguished. My skin was sticky with sweat, my body was as cold as stone. The last thing I remembered was the sea and his hands, his suffocating closeness. And now… silence and darkness.
My chest tightened. The party was over. I had been asleep for hours now. And he was not here again. I looked at the tablewhere a glass of juice was placed, as well as frozen berries with some kind of medicine. He cared enough for me not to die, but he didn’t care to soothe my aching heart?
Something inside me snapped. I threw the blanket off, my legs tangling and my breath choking in my throat. So he changed me too? To this flimsy sheer lingerie, but couldn’t stay with me?
Rage and terror bled together as I clawed at the clothes. My hands crashed into the lamps, shattering them across the floor. The books stacked neatly by the nightstand, I sent flying. The mirror crashed as my palm slammed into it, my reflection splintering into dozens of wild-eyed strangers.
Where was he?What have you done to me?
I stumbled backwards. The lingerie he dressed me in was crimson. And I wanted him to bleed the same way. Grabbing the piece of the shattered mirror, I advanced towards the door. He would die with me. I slammed open the door and froze.
The whole mansion was dark, no lights on, and there was no sound. Strange, because I was accustomed to guards roaming during the night. The air pressed against me with a suffocating stillness, and I stood there another minute.
I swallowed hard as the jagged piece slipped from my fingers onto the ground.
Was this my chance? My only chance…
My pulse thrashed in my throat as I hurtled down the staircase barefoot, the rim of the lingerie gathered in my fists. The front doors loomed, and I was somehow expecting them to be closed shut, but as I shoved at them, my breath shattered in my chest. They opened.
There were no guards or shadows. My heart lurched. Where was everyone? But did it matter? It didn’t.
I didn’t think for another second… I ran.
Bare feet struck cold stone, then the jagged dirt path leading towards the cliffs. My breath came ragged, tearing through my throat, but I didn’t stop. I couldn’t stop. The world stretched out before me, the moon high and pale. The sea roared below as if mocking my desperation.
Every step cut into my soles. Pebbles bit into my skin. My lungs burned, and my hair stuck to my face. But I ran, and ran, through the cliffs and into the dark embrace of the forest.
The trees closed around me, and the branches scratched my arms, tore my dress. My chest ached, but I welcomed the pain… it reminded me I was still alive. Still moving and still free.
But was I?
Every rustle made me flinch. Every shadow stretched too long. My heartbeat became a war drum in my ears. He was behind me. He must have been behind me. This couldn’t be this easy. Zagreus would always find me, always bind me to him in some way.
“Please…” The word slipped out as I stumbled over a root, falling to my knees and clawing at the dirt to push myself up again. My nails tore, and blood slicked my skin. Still, I ran.
The forest seemed endless. My breaths were short and uneven. Hours could have passed, or mere seconds, I no longer knew. Only the terror remained, pumping through my veins, consuming me whole.
