𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭 𝐋𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐌𝐞

57|| Constellations

Celeste // March 20
•••

We're walking through the garden and we near the edge of where a forest starts while Dante holds my hand, his thumb stroking my skin.

He'd given me his black suit jacket which practically swallows me up. I'm not small by any means, but he's build much broader than I am.

There's a path alight with little lanterns that leads through the forest away from the mansion and the flat grass and pretty flowers. It's dark out here and quiet too.

I look up to see the north star – the brightest of them all. I didn't think I could've ever missed a dot of light in the sky so much, but truth is that I had.

Every night I used to stare at the stars, finding deep comfort in the fact that something so beautiful and simple would always be there for me to see. But I'd been wrong. Because for seven years now, the midnight sky had been changed to bland ceilings, pitch black nothingness or faces of people I don't want to remember.

Dante leads me through the forest as I keep gaping up, trying to find more stars and constellations.

It's only when I hear a door close behind me that I snap out of my daze.

We're in a room entirely made out of glass. The few lights inside are so weak that I barely catch the abandoned state of the room. There's a beautiful king sized bed without a mattress, a small bar in the corner covered in nothing but dust and there're white sheets thrown over all the remaining furniture.

Nonetheless, I can tell that this place used to be something that was cherished.

I'm just about to ask Dante why he has a room like this away from all the rest of his property, but then my eyes settle on the roof.

Thousands and thousands of stars align in my vision and the sight makes me let out a quiet gasp. It reminds me of the way my skin feels whenever he touches me.

There's the moon, and the north star, and I can even see a constellation.

"Do you like it?"

I turn to Dante only to find him looking at me instead of the stunning view above us.

I nod. "It's beautiful."

He smiles and even in the weak light it radiates off his face. He throws a sheet off a small black leather couch and gestures for me to come to him.

I sit down in his lap and he puts his arms around me, safely guarding me from the cool night air.

"You don't come here often," I observe, my eyes still on the stars as my head rests against his shoulder.

"It was a wedding gift from my father to his new wife," he says, keeping my body flushed against his front. "But if you like it, it's yours."

My eyes widen at his words and I look over my shoulder at him. "You can't just give me properties."

He smirks at my reaction. "I can and I will."

I shake my head before resting it against him again. "It belongs to your parents, I'm sure they would want you to have it."

His body tenses and I turn my body so I'm straddling him, squeezing his hand in comfort. "You are sad that they're gone?"

He looks at me for a moment before he shakes his head, a simple smile pulling his lips up. "No," he says. "No, far from it even."

I frown in confusion.

"They weren't good people," he clarifies. "Especially Vittoria."

My body is hit with something ice and ice cold. "What did she do?"