Black Rose (Rose Kisses #1)

22

Isaline Winter

It was as if a heavily weighted blanket had been rested upon my chest. The days leading up to Aida's arrival in Braveheart had been filled with anxiety attacks and rage full outbursts against those who deserved it the least. I'd completely cut myself off from Braven, refusing to allow them to fall victim to Aida's wrath, and I'd completely cut myself off from Lucien as well. He'd tried to talk to me numerous times but it always ended in screaming and crying on both ends.

He didn't understand what he'd done wrong and I didn't have the heart to tell him that I was the one who was doing wrong.

"Isa?" Amina's soft voice called out. The day I'd dreaded the most had finally come knocking on my door and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't keep being myself to face it.

"Give me a second," I said. I heard her sigh from behind the door and walk away momentarily only to return a few seconds again.

"Isa, you need to come out," she said. "She's waiting for you in the front hall along with everyone else."

My blood went cold in my veins, constricting my movement and numbing me to the core. Just breathe, I chanted to myself. You've been doing this for nearly a decade.

I glanced up at my disheveled appearance in the mirror. There were bags the size of Berkin's beneath my eyes and my skin had been bled of its color. I looked a breath away from Death's door at this point and if I didn't get my shit together, Aida would smell it on me from a mile away.

"Isa—"

"I said give me a second!" I snapped harshly. "She can wait a few fucking seconds."

The anger felt good. It was hot and blinding and powerful enough to put out the flames of anxiety. I let it consume me until my body was practically vibrating with it. And then I washed my face, wiping away the tiredness and the weakness. When I looked at myself again, I almost couldn't recognize the girl staring back at me because her eyes were cold and blank, her face emotionless.

"Killer," I whispered softly to myself, raking a hand through my hair as I smirk at the girl in the reflection. When I stepped out of the confinement of this bathroom, Isaline would retreat back into her cage. I was nameless, a nobody. My only purpose was to serve and to kill.

"Killer," I whispered again before stepping out.

*****

The de Luca family had gathered in the front hall along with Amina and the others. Aida stood in the center of it all, as gorgeous as she was deadly, and the aura that she gave off was one that repelled rather than attracted. I could see Lucille, Lucien's sister, shifting uneasily where she stood and for a split second, I felt pity until Aida met my gaze with eyes that burned like Hell fire.

"Isaline, my darling!" she squealed happily. Her dress fluttered around her ankles as she rushed towards me, swooping me into her cold embrace. I returned her hug out of courtesy of the others, catching Lucien's eyes for a second before I looked away first.

"Hello," I said monotonously. Her grip tightened and I felt her fingernails digging into my back through my shirt, piercing the skin like I was made of butter. I gritted my teeth against the pain and kept my face blank.

"I've missed you so very much," she said. Her voice was melodic and light, a complete opposition to the fire I could practically burning through her retinas and I could almost swear that I had the third degree burns to prove it.

Her grip around me tightened even more, cracking my rib cage beneath the pressure. If she squeezed any harder, she could easily snap my spine in two within the blink of an eye. She'd be unaffected by the ordeal but she'd lose the only worthy pet she'd ever had and she had put too much work into this pet to give her up so soon.

"Shall we head to breakfast then now that we've all been acquainted?" Amina asked after a few minutes of awkward silence filled with my labored breathing. Aida might have thought that she was being inconspicuous but that crack had probably been heard throughout the entire castle.

"That sounds like a lovely idea," Luca said enthusiastically. "I heard we're having bacon today."

"I love bacon," Lucien added.

There was a chorus of agreement and I silently thanked everyone for saving my ass but even still, Aida had not let me out of her embrace. Lucien was the last person to walk by our still intact embrace and I could see the fight dancing in his eyes as he met my gaze, but he was a smart boy. He'd stared for no more than a second and then he kept walking. They had all kept walking.

"Do you see now, kitten?" Aida crooned softly. "Do you see why he could never love somebody like you? Why he would never love somebody like you?"

Surprisingly enough, her words had a struck a chord deep within my heart and my eyes grew heavy with the weight of unreleased tears. She was right, I knew that for a fact, but what had moved me to tears was how useless my efforts were to protect him.

She knew everything. Aida always knew everything and she would always know everything. My childish fantasies of freedom would never come to fruition because in this fairy tale, dreams don't come true. They burn on a pyre before your eyes as you watch the world move on without you.

"You're mine," Aida said as she pulled away. "You'll always be mine, kitten. It'd best that you get that through your pretty little head on your own before I have to force it down you throat myself."

Her eyes were warm and inviting, like freshly cut grass in the summertime. Even her words could've been tantalizing despite the biting edge they held. She was right; I'd always be hers. Her mark would be stained across the surface of my soul for the rest of my life and even well into the afterlife. If need be, she'd chased me to the ends of the Earth just to keep me by her side.

"I know my place," I replied coldly.

She smiled, the whites of her teeth glistening like knives beneath the light. "That's a good girl, kitten."

She reached out to caress the side of my face and before I could even blink, I snatched her out of my face midway. The move shocked her almost as much as me but there was no way that I could let the moment die before I had the chance.

"I may be yours, Aida, but you'd do best to remember that I only serve you because your foot is still on my throat," the words flowed out like water. I couldn't put a cap on them even if I tried but I didn't want to stop either.

"You—"

"When that foot is lifted even the tiniest of millimeters," I continued sharply. "I will attack. And if there's one thing that you know as well as I do, it's that I never miss."

I spoke the words like a promise rather than a threat. I would always be hers, yes, but even the mightiest of empires can fall. If I had to burn her down to the ground with my own two hands and my last breath, I would do so with ease because God forbid I ever go down without dragging her to Hell with me.

**********

I hope you and your families are all safe and well during these stressful times❤️

Game of Survival by Ruelle

With love,
Laleh