The inside was just as beautiful as the outside. Architecture built into the walls, the floors shining and beautiful, a large chandelier hanging high above us. Black and crystal, covered in lights. It felt like I had walked into a twisted kind of fairytale.
“We’ve already hired some staff,” Havoc explained as the door shut behind us. “They will be living on the second floor. Cleaners, a chef, and we’ve contacted your doctor. He has a room here, and is willing to stay two nights a week, but he will stay on call per your agreement. The others have all sworn their lives over to you. They’ll live here, work for you, until they die.”
“Offices?”
“Our offices are on the third floor.”
“Rooms,” Azrael asked.
“Third and first, this landing area does not count as a floor,” he clarified, “and of course, all you need in the basement. I’ll show you the blueprints for the tunnel, they’re in the office.”
Azrael nodded and turned to me. “Explore,” he told me. “The place is a maze for a reason, it’s up to you to find your way.”
My brows furrowed and I straightened.“Where is my room?”
“You don’t have a room, little sinner,wedo. Alaric will find you and lead you to it when the time is right, for now, your job is to explore. There are stairs and an elevator just over there,” he gestured directly in front of us. “Go, you are free to make your own choices, your own decisions. You now have freewill.”
I searched his eyes, flexing my hands at my sides, feeling my eyes harden.
His face hardened ever so slightly. “Do you not like that you have freewill?” he asked, turning to face me completely. “Because I can very easily take it away.”
It wasn’t that. I felt angry for many reasons, none of which were making themselves known.
My life had been written out for me since the second my mother found out she was pregnant. I was told what I should be, how I should act, who I was to marry. I was told when to sit, when to stand, when to breathe, and if I broke the rules, I was left bleeding from a whip the people I was taught to trust held.
Since the very second Azrael brought in those men to marry us, I had realized that nothing was written out anymore.
I was free.
And I hated it.
What was I supposed to do now? Just explore? Wander? I was only just growing comfortable with looking people in the eye, how did he expect me towander?
“You’re lost because no one is telling you what to do,” he hummed, prowling towards me, “but don’t you worry your precious little heart, sinning doll, you’ll have little freedom here too. If I were you,” he went on, using the bottom of his cane to push my chin up, “I’d take what you’re given when I give it to you. You’ll find even in your wandering that you are never truly alone.”
My heart was beating far too fast, my thighs tightening at his low purr of a voice. It was just a reminder of what was to come later.
He tilted his head to one side, watching me carefully. “Alaric, don’t let her wander too far. I know the people you hire as your staff. Some might…lustafter what’s mine, and we can’t have that, can we?”
He didn’t reply, but then again, he didn’t have to. I could feel his powerful presence near me half a second later. He took up as much space as this world could allow, and he wasn’t giving an inch.
Maybe there was a reason I should fear the Blackheart brothers. They may have had the same eyes as Azrael, but they certainly didn’t have the same presence.
He released my chin a moment later. “Let’s go to the office, I have some business to finish.”
With that, he, Havoc, and Bishop turned for the elevator without looking back.
I flexed my hands at my sides, watching after them until the elevator doors shut, cutting off Azrael’s unwavering stare.
Wander?
Wander where?
I looked up to the balcony above us where the stairs on either side of me met. There was nothing but the elevator that I could see from where I stood, so I guess Havoc was right, this was just a landing area.
It didn’t really make sense, but I had never been in a place with more than one story, so maybe this was normal.
I glanced back to Alaric, slowly taking him in from foot to head. He was the tallest of the three brothers, which made me feel like I was nothing more than a kitten. I don’t think my head even reached the middle of his chest. He was just as covered in tattoos as Bishop and Havoc, but his eyes were near black. I couldn’t even distinguish what color they were, they just looked black.
