[Ocher / Second Autumn 2029]
[Devilry city; Black Thorn manor]
Somewhere between arriving at the party and now, I'd managed to get myself lost in the view of the rain-soaked garden that lay beyond the window. I'd been actively avoiding the party since my arrival with my family, finding any rhyme or reason to make myself scarce and unnoticed.
Of course, being invisible could only save me but for so long.
Blindsided by my cousin, I jumped as she pulled at my loose hair from behind. "Ow! Damn it, Aniyah!"
Aniyah scoffed as she came around for me to see her, sneering as she gave me a good once-over, while still holding tight to my hair. She had me at her mercy, twisting the strands around her finger one more time to reinforce her hold.
"What?" I hissed, seeing the judgement in her expression that I already knew so well. "What are you looking at?"
"You," she sneered, though she kept her voice low. Her tone as smooth as sweetened cyanide. "Styling your hair like that tonight, you look more like a boy than ever."
"So?"
"So? Could you be any more of a disappointment? It's bad enough you're the bastard of a whore, but then you go around dressed like this!"
Reaching to unwind my hair from around Aniyah's finger, I felt my stomach sink and my jaw tighten as I turned my focus back to the window.
Irritated that she couldn't bait me further, Aniyah folded her arms across her chest. "Androgyny isn't a lifestyle, you know. You can't keep going back and forth. It's confusing. And it doesn't look good for our family." Aniyah's lips curled into a sinister smirk as she raised a hand into my line of sight and moved her fingers like cutting scissors. "Snip-snip. Our grandparents are, oh, so willing to fund the correction of your mistake. Supportive son, or doting daughter. Which, do you think, feels more you? 'Course, no matter what you choose, you won't be able to continu their legacy like they want."
Wincing at my cousin's words, I pulled back from the window, determined not to keep Aniyah in my line of sight. "I don't care. I don't want kids. And I don't care about getting married, either. I don't want any of that."
I watched as Aniyah rolled her eyes and leaned against the wall between the windows. "Why do you insist on being a disappointment?" She scoffed, her smirk returning. "Anyway, daddy says it's all been settled. That they've already picked a surgeon for you. And I hear he's really reputable!"
"Stop it, Aniyah..."
"Why? After all, it's the truth. Daddy says it's only a matter of time... Snip-snip, doating daughter. Or, snip-snip, supportive son."
"Shut up, Aniyah!"
Her laugh was quiet but cutting as she twisted a lock of her own, dark hair around her finger now. "Fifteen years... Your time's almost up. Only three years left. Though, I agree with daddy, I think our grandparents should make you choose now. It's embarrassing seeing you in dresses one day, and in suits another. I think it's childish and selfish of you to keep acting like this."
Pushing my fingers into my ears, I struggled to block Aniyah out. But even then, I could still see her; the smirk across her lips and the twinkle in her eyes.
Then came the boom. Hard enough to shake the air between us. It made me jump, and was enough to put an immediate stop to Aniyah's taunting.
It shocked me to find Aniyah's brother Kaius standing between us, his knuckles thrust hard against the wall only inches over Aniyah's head.
YOU ARE READING
Deviant Ardor
Fantasy"Every Deviant has their declaration, and this is mine. In my family, it's a strict rule that things are better left unspoken or unexplored. And, there was nothing left more unexplored than that of my parentage, more specifically, my father's side...
