The Raven and the Rose (Part 1)

Chapter Sixteen ~ The Rose

At first, everything seemed calm. Like before a storm. But then, it became chaos. My head swam with memories that I had hoped to forget, friends that sent me into my best state of humanity, and finally, the betrayals that broke me. I opened my eyes and everything was red. From the curtains all the way to the people standing at the end of the bed. It was all red, as if the whole room was soaked in blood. I blinked, but it seemed that no matter how many times I did, the red wouldn't go away. I sat upright with a groan and rubbed my head, but then, I stopped. I remember everything. Waking up to two strange maids at the side of my bed who ultimately helped me change into too short clothes. Going outside for a walk with Ravino. And then... Almost immediately, I was overwhelmed with the fury that had just built up inside of me and I jumped off the bed and started for the door. "No, miss, wait!" someone cried from behind me and grabbed my arms to try and pull me away from the door. I started thrashing, screaming and kicking at the person who was holding me back. "No!" I cried and elbowed the person in the stomach.

They let go of me and I turned around to see that it was the brunette from earlier. I balled my hands into fists as I looked at both of the maids in my room, the exact same people who changed me into these too short clothes. I clenched my fists so tight my nails made half circles into my palms. "Miss," the brunette said and cautiously took a step forward, putting her hands up as if to tame a wild animal. "We're not here to hurt you." she said. I scoffed and put my fists into the air. "Oh yeah? Are you so sure about that?" I asked, and hissed at her when she tried to reach for me. She shrank away, and the blonde maid took her place in front of me. "Miss," she said and placed a hand on my fist. I pulled it back, and she gulped before retreating her hand. "Mr. Ravino requests that you join him for dinner." she said, and almost immediately after saying that, the door behind me burst open, causing me to jump away and gawk at the two guards in black suits standing in the doorway.

"What? What is this? Why-?" I started asking, but almost immediately, they grabbed me by the arms and started to pull me out of the room. "No, no, no!" I screamed, and tried to stop them from dragging me by pushing against the floor with the heels of my feet. "No!" I cried, and grunted when I tried to pull away from their grasp again. One of them released their hold on me to backhand me across the face, which made a huge cracking sound echo in the hallway that I was currently being dragged into. "No!" I screamed and once we were fully outside of the room, they grabbed me tighter by the arms and pulled them behind my back so that they were holding me against them as I walked in front. I had to keep myself from scoffing. I knew this move all too well. And they dare use it against me! Full of fury, I cocked my head back and bumped the person who was mostly behind me in the nose with the back of my head. They grunted and let out a yelp of pain. But their grip on me didn't loosen, it only tightened, and so did the other guard. "Let me go!" I screamed, and when we rounded the corner, they pushed me into the closed doors, using my body to push them open.

~/~

We walked into a large room with multiple bookcases against the walls, and there was a huge chandelier hanging above a long table in the middle of the room. Ravino sat at one end, while there was an empty chair at the other end. My blood boiled at the sight of him, who was pleasantly smiling at the sight of me struggling against the grips of the two guards. "Gentlemen, you can let her go now." he said calmly, and nodded to the chair at the end of the table. I screamed while they brought me over to the chair and sat me down on it, and just when I was about to jump up, one of them held me down while the other cuffed my wrists to the armrests of the chair. I snarled at both of the guards as they bowed their heads and slowly backed away from me. "Valentina." I jerked my head in the direction of the person who dared say my name with their voice. I gritted my teeth and tried my best to imagine myself lashing out and squeezing his throat. "Ravino." I said, hatred and malice in my voice. He sighed and rested his chin on his intertwined fingers with his elbows resting on the table. He leaned forward and smiled at me. "What?" I snapped. He smirked at me then, and leaned back a little. "Do you hate me, Valentina?" he asked. I bit my tongue and couldn't suppress the wince that crossed over my features for a split second. "Yes." was all I replied. He smiled briefly before asking: "Do you want to know why I did it?" I raised an eyebrow at him. "I don't know. Why don't you enlighten me?" I asked, snarkly. He smirked again and this time leaned forward in his chair. "Perhaps if I tell you a bit about myself you would understand the true reason why I did it." he told me, grinning. I narrowed my eyes at him, but then leaned back in my chair with surprise as he got up from his chair and slowly made his way to me, dragging his finger across the table as he spoke and never breaking eye contact with me.