~CELIE'S POV~
All it takes is a simple, sharp inhale to take control of your disruptive thoughts, or so my mother used to teach me. It isn’t working anymore. The thought that I could possibly be walking towards my death makes it hard to even maintain a bogus smile.
Also, my furrowed brows don’t help much in keeping these troubled thoughts confined to myself, extracting a worrisome look from Alpha Cillian. Bitterly failing at suppressing the fear that only escalates with every step forward, I flinched awkwardly when my groom extends his hand towards me.
“Is everything alright?” asks Alpha Cillian, gentle as usual.
Nodding, I keep my head low, lacking the strength to look him in the eye. Upon sensing the uneasiness in my sunken eyes, he takes hold of my hand while the priest reads the sermon.
Just when the priest finishes reciting the Homily, he asks both of us for our consent, which we gladly provide. And then, it was time to seal our marriage with a kiss.
As soon as Cillian grabs me by my arms, the disturbing images from my last night’s vision flash before me. I shut my eyes by reminding myself that it was nothing more than a figment of my imagination.
To conclude the ceremony, Cillian pulls me closer to himself and then crashes his lips on mine, arousing a cheer from the crowd. The tingling sensation left by the briefest kiss that we ever shared aids me in shutting out the reminders of the distraught vision.
By wrapping his arm around my waist, he gets me acquainted with everyone in the pack. This is the first time I get introduced to people, as my caretakers had always refrained me from doing so, fearing that I might tell others about their evil ordeals.
Shortly, we are invited to dance, something I hadn’t had the privilege of learning growing up. Because of this, I unintentionally strike Alpha’s feet multiple times.
Each time I apologise, he tells me to follow his lead. Struggling with me for what seems like fifteen minutes, the man finally gives up. He then asks me to go ahead without him, as he plans on bidding goodbye to the relatives who were leaving.
Doing what’s asked of me, I take charge of my huge dress and walk alone in the huge hallway. Just when I am about to enter Alpha Cillian’s bedroom, I observe Lady Orion’s prying eyes fixated on me.
“It turns out I was wrong in half of my prediction,” declares the elderly lady, piquing my curiosity.
To figure out the reason for her sudden mention of her prophecy, I approach the woman. On beholding the concerning frown on her face, I ask her, “What were you wrong about?”
“Cillian’s not the one who’s going to die, is he?” inquires Lady Orion, as if she has prior knowledge about my vision.
“What do you mean?” I act ignorant, unsure about revealing what I had seen the previous night.
Looking at me with sombre eyes, she assures me, “No matter how scared you get, you will not die tonight.”
I feel my breath stuck in my throat as I force myself because of the information shared by the lady. Nonetheless, I force the words to discover the source of her knowledge, “Do you perhaps know about my vision? Who told you about it?”
“I know everything,” states the elderly lady and then walks away, leaving me even more befuddled with my current situation than before.
Failing to clearly grasp the reason that brought Lady Orion to me, I stand in the hallway like a dunce until I hear footsteps approaching. Afraid of being perceived as disobedient on my very first night as the Luna, I scamper into the bedroom.
The moment I lay on the bed, I take a breather. Expecting Cillian’s arrival, I take one of the flowers from the vase beside me and begin plucking its petals one by one.
Just when the door opens, I throw the stem away. Cillian enters the room with his hands behind him and I walk up to him to greet him with my devotion. As he rests his hand on my shoulder, I get reminded of the striking similarity my current circumstances share with my vision.
“Why won’t you bring your hands to the front?” I ask Cillian, holding back my tears from speculating that he must be carrying a dagger, similar to the one that I saw in my vision.
“I plan to surprise you with something I had been planning for a longer time,” responds Cillian, unintentionally assuring me that he is indeed going to kill me.
Just as it had happened in my vision, I discard the expensive clothing and stand before him, begging to be loved. Unfortunately, he doesn’t get rid of the dagger that he’s holding in his left hand and pushes me to bed roughly with his right hand.
“I just wanted you to know that I love you so much,” I say with my lips shivering from realising what I am going to suffer.
Cillian places his index finger over my lips to silence me, and then demands me to shut my eyes, “I am certain you’re bound to give me ecstatic moans if you let your senses take over you by keeping your eyes shut.”
Those words guarantee me that I will not be left alive to see the next morning. Facing death so early in life, I can no longer hold back the tears that I have been holding inside.
Appearing distressed by my sobs, Cillian offers me comforting words, “I will not hurt you, love.”
As his wife, it is my obligation to follow whatever he asks of me. Feeling my heart laden with one last desire that has been denied to me since my childhood, I ask my husband, “Before I shut my eyes, I want you to kiss me and tell me you love me.”
Staring at my face dumbfounded, he wipes the tears from my face and says something that sounds almost like truth, “I have never loved any woman, and I thought I never could. But, you—”
“Me?” I give him the necessary push to get him to share what he really thought about me.
Rather than voicing what he so deliberately suppressed, he grabs my jaw and gives me a rather passionate kiss, perhaps to silence me. His tongue in my mouth for the first time tastes bitter and prickly.
Succumbing to the fate that I had inclined towards instead of continuing to serve my salacious uncle and avaricious aunt, I woefully shut my eyes, prepared to get stabbed to my death by my very husband.
Surprisingly, I don’t feel the blade penetrate my heart, which makes me open my eyes to register a perplexed Cillian eyeing a teal-eyed intruder, dressed in all black.
“How did you get here, scumbag?” roared Cillian as he removes himself from me and covers me with the sheets.
The stranger shamelessly snickers at the incensed Cillian, and then asks something very inappropriate purposefully to further tick him off, “Is she your woman? Can I have her?”
Compelled by the necessity to attack the infiltrator, Cillian brings his left hand to the front, revealing the dagger in the process. He points the sharp object in the stranger’s direction. Certain that Cillian would be the one winning, I look away to avoid seeing the other man getting murdered.
To my astonishment, the one that’s knocked to the ground ends up being my husband. Concerned for Cillian, who lies unconscious, I arise from the bed while covering myself with the sheets and scream for the guards.
“What are you hiding? I’ve already seen everything,” states the brusque stranger.
Vexed by his ribald remarks, I raise my hand to slap him, which he catches and uses to pull me towards him. With my back colliding with his chest, I mistakenly let go of the sheets and reveal myself.
Immediately, he removes his shirt and puts it on me. In a quandary, I stare at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. Before I can make sense of anything that’s happening around me, he grabs my throat and declares, “You’re tolerable. I think you will warm my bed tonight.”
As cross as two sticks, I ask the man, “Who do you take me for? I am not going anywhere with you.”
“You’re just a wanton woman who slithered into Cillian’s bed to reap the benefits of being the Luna. And you are coming with me. I would like to see who’s going to stop me,” spits the flagrant man.
Dead set on escaping the brutish stranger, I try to bite his hand to get him to loosen his hold on me, digging my sharpest teeth into his skin deep enough to injure him. Instead of yelping in pain, the strange man gives me an ecstatic smile.
His manic smile makes my blood run cold, so I ask him while batting my eyes in disbelief, “Didn’t you feel any pain?”
“It was definitely there, but it was exceeded by the pleasure I am bound to feel by ravaging Cillian’s woman,” declares the audacious man and then hums as he puts me on his shoulder.
“Let me go,” I let out a blood-curdling wail, alerting the security.
Hoping to be saved, I continue to throw my arms and legs, but to no avail. The man’s face alone leaves everyone paralysed with fear. Without a weapon or sword, he takes me away without meeting the slightest objection from the onlookers.
Guffawing at the cowardice of his enemy’s pack, he puts me on his horse and then gets on it. He deliberately makes me sit facing him and instructs me to hold on to him if I didn’t wish to fall.
“My horse, Big bug, gallops at lightning speed. If you let your pride overshadow your common sense, you are bound to end up dead,” threatens the unruly man.
Pressed by the unfavourable circumstances, I am dragooned into wrapping my arms around the disagreeable stranger to avoid falling. True to his words, he whips his horse so fiercely to make him faster that I feel like I am riding a falling star.
And when we reach our destination, the Leaden Valley’s famous estate owned by Alpha Egon, he once again takes possession of me. From what I’ve heard, the place is governed by a ruthless Alpha, who is widely known as the incarnation of the devil itself but fair when it comes to imparting justice.
No wonder why the guards fretted about fighting this man who seems to be associated with the Dark Wood pack. From what the rumours suggest, they are a bunch of savages, who take pleasure in taking lives just to amuse themselves.
By dragging me into this huge place which can be truly compared to a castle, he presents me before his pack like a prize he won.
“She’s my favourite enemy’s lawfully wedded wife, who is still a virgin,” affirms the boisterous man, evoking an uncomfortable hooting from the crowd.
Endeavouring to slip through his grasp, I bite him on his shoulder and neck, only to be disappointed again. Even though I am being my most vicious self, I cannot succeed in wiping the smirk off his face.
Just when he’s done ridiculing me before his pack, he takes me to his bedroom and then throws me roughly on his bed. I look at him with eyes that withhold nothing but aversion. Realising my disinterest in entertaining him, he tries to engage me in a conversation by mentioning my husband, “Why was your husband carrying a knife while he was on top of you? Don’t you find it strange? Was he planning on killing you, beautiful creature?”
“Shut up, and release me,” I roar. “If you won’t let me go, I will approach Alpha Egon to punish you for bringing me here unlawfully.”
“Who?” asks the insolent jerk, chuckling in the process.
“Alpha Egon. He’s your Alpha, isn’t he?” I rise from the bed, hoping to make a run towards the door.
Reading my every movement, he doesn’t face any problem anticipating what I am about to do. Therefore, he stands before me with arms fanned out as he announces, “I am Alpha Egon.”
Beguiled by my cursed fate, I stand helpless in front of this bearded devil, deliberating about a method to protect myself. The scamp can easily infer from my face about my unwillingness to warm his bed, which further inspires him to keep me away from my husband.