Sentenced to Life

15

Silas did not let up, his lips intertwining with hers as he cupped her face, gently roving over her expression.

"Why won't you let me keep you?" He asked softly.

She hummed. "I can't trust you. You're a person why deals with things with violence."

"Sometimes it's needed," he murmured, "Sometimes it's necessary beloved."

"Maybe you're right. I don't necessarily disagree. The thing about that is, who's to say that violence," she cupped his hand pressing it against her cheek. "Won't extend to me one day?"

He frowned deeply, yanking his hand away, pulling away from her. "Don't talk like that."

He scoffed, pacing. "Then why? Why did you come back? Why give yourself to me?"

Emory glanced away, pulling the sheets over her breasts.

"You were...nice to me. It's been so long since I've had that attention. But I've never been disillusioned. I see you, Silas."

He glanced back at her, his brows furrowed, face contorted in pain.

"I see you," she whispers.

"Yes?" He demanded urgently. "Yes? What do you see?"

"I see someone with a large darkness inside them. I have heard the story you've spun me, and...for the most part I think you're telling me the truth."

Silas swallowed roughly. "Then—"

"But I also know you've probably hidden things from me. I think you probably deserved every year of that sentence, Silas. And I could be wrong, but I can't be your savior."

She stood, pulling her dress on quietly. "This is as far we'll go. Thank you, for sharing your story with me."

She raised her brows as a sound cracked along the walls of the room, erupting into laughter.

Silas covered his face with his hand, bending over, laughing with something akin to jubilation. Emory shivered, taking her heels into her hands, opening the door.

"Didn't I warn you?" He whispered, as she opened the door.

She paused. "What?"

"Didn't I warn you...about being kind to me?" He murmured, his voice slithering down her spine.

"Do you intend to harm me, and prove me right, Silas?" She whispered.

He smiled sitting down and shaking his head. "It is true. I have not told you all I know. So I will tell you one more thing...in the time I have spent a prisoner and some time before I...dabbled in magic. It's what brought me to this...unsightly position."

Emory looked around. "I don't think this penthouse is unsightly —"

He shook his hands, shackles appearing around him. "This position love."

Emory frowned. "I thought...I broke those chains."

"The physical perhaps. But not the magic that ties me to my sentence. The issue though, with magic is that...there is always a price." He explained, he got up, as she shuffled toward the door, in fear.

He glanced at her with a scoff, pouring himself a drink.

"When you freed me from my cell you interfered with magic. I am not supposed to be walking about free. I was meant to serve my sentence to completion in that room and you removing me from it?"

He shrugged. "Well? That's magic dear. And you tampered with it."

Emory frowned, unsure of whether to believe his grandiose tales. Magic? What was this a fairytale? B then again...he'd told the truth. About things she wouldn't have thought possible and magic...well it was as close to answer as she could see.

"So?" She asked. "What does that mean?"

He shrugged. "You tamper with magic? You pay the price. " she opened her mouth, but he held his hand up. "And before you ask, I don't know it. For me, my price was the madness that killed my family and the sentence that followed. Who knows what it will be for you."

He smiled. "But you can never say I didn't warn you beloved."

He shook his hands, the chains disappearing as he poured himself a drink. "Well now you can flee, beloved. I'll count this is my third kindness."

Emory swallowed, looking down at her hands. And then she smiled. "I was right about you."

Silas raised his brows, and shrugged. "You didn't come to any conclusions that I didn't tell you outright. But I do care for you beloved. No matter your intentions you treated me with kindness. And I shall never forget it."

Emory smiled, shutting the door behind her.

"You'll see me again," he said without much effort, as the door shut. "We're bound now. Fate, magic, chemistry, whatever you want to call it. You won't escape me."

He stared down noting the chains, cold and heavy against his skin. He huffed, and took another sip of his drink.