Crescent (Old Version)

+ Part 35 +

I saw no sign of Ceth. Servants' steps echoed off the stone walls as they stoked the fires and lit the candles in their shining candelabrums along the walls. The flowers that decorated the main table were being tidied so that each arrangement was a fluffed globe of fresh blooms. The air smelled of mint and cherry wood, something so odd when paired together, but somehow, it ended up smelling just like Ceth when he got close enough. 

It was as I was taking all of it in that I felt him appear behind me, closest to the doors. His scent wafted toward me, and I turned, expecting to find him alone. But, I was wrong.

I didn't recognize the mess of a person that was at his feet at first. They were a puddle of black, their crooked spine keeled over and their hair a sickly shade of fraying gray. I stared at them a moment, looking between Ceth's relentless grin and the slow rise and fall of the person's back. They let out a breath that sounded all too much like a whine, and out of nowhere, it hit me.

The witch.

I glared at him. "What the hell is this?"

"This?" the bottom of his boot pressed into the witch's back and flipped her onto her side so that she was facing me. Her face was nothing more than wrinkled skin pulled gaunt over her skull. She coughed as he stepped over her and strolled toward me. "This is how I'm planning on protecting my investments."

Investments?

I flinched when he raised a hand toward me, and his smile fell as he raised it further and snapped. A servant appeared carrying a tray of food. Some water, a crumbled biscuit, some fruit on the verge of being overripe. The witch trembled at the smell of it and Ceth grinned.

She was starving. Is that why she wasn't fighting back?

"What are you doing, Ceth?"

He replied with the simple shake of his head. He motioned for the servant to step closer, and they did so with their head bowed. He snapped up one of the rose colored berries and dangled it down to where the witch still sat trembling on the floor. "Come on, you decrepit creature. I know what you want."

The witch's voice, the same one I'd heard in my head so many times before, was gravelly, weak. "Not," she huffed. "From you."

I was frozen, watching the scene. This felt too much like it had with Saura. The sound of her neck snapping was all too loud, the memory too close to sending me over the edge all over again. His grin was the same. The golden glint of his hair, the flash of his teeth- all the same. 

He bent down toward her, holding the fruit beside her face. Even I could tell she wanted to spit at him, but she sank further into the ground. Ceth visibly grit his teeth before standing upright and snapping, calling me toward him. 

I knew better than to resist. 

I stared at the witch as I stopped before them, terrified of what kind of game he might be playing.

"Come and play, perdita."

He grabbed my hand and unfitted my fingers, dropping the food into my awaiting palm. "Feed her."

"What are you going to-"

He gripped my wrist, shoving me down to my knees before the witch. "Do not make me repeat myself, Brenna."

The witch let out a breath like a hiss as I settled my hand on her back. The feeling was all wrong. Her ribs jutted out, each a knob I could count if I trailed my finger down her back. My breath was all too heavy as I stroked the matted black fabric covering her. She didn't budge, and I felt Ceth's impatience like the sun, heating the air.