'ᴡᴇ ꜱʜᴀʀᴇ ᴀ ꜱᴇɴᴛɪᴍᴇɴᴛ. ɪ ᴄᴀɴ ʙᴇ ʙᴏᴜɢʜᴛ ᴡɪᴛʜ ʙʟᴏᴏᴅ ᴀɴᴅ ʀᴇᴠᴇʀᴇɴᴄᴇ.'
Only one month has passed in Daliah Viper's life trying to reintegrate at court and follow the uneasy trails her eyes have caught.
One month filled with blood, tribulations, and l...
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Usually, the house awakens in the sounds of the shrieking, hungry animals, ready to be satiated. Tonight, it stays bright in shouts and yells. Too many feet, too many shocked voices.
It's not my fault some people can't handle themselves. It isn't my fault that the lunatic lost it after I broke into his head.
The whole backyard is filled with the dogs jumping against the kennels, the other animals push against their glass walls and bars in screeching anger.
I make sure to double-lock my door before I fall asleep sitting, and I regret that. My neck is sore in the morning.
Even a long shower doesn't free me from my soreness. Their noises have long started to irritate me to a critical point.
The breakfast table is very, very empty. On the hallway, only scurrying servants hush fast past, head low as they should, and the big mutts lie stretched out in a waiting position.
The eyes of the dogs follow me, circling around with their teeth exposed.
"Too scared to face me, are you all?" I mutter toward them, and the smallest, grey one, snaps at me, hair standing up. "Oh don't worry. I just want the best for your family and for me."
The dogs distract me from an ambush behind me. I get pushed in the back, with as much force as possible. The hands are small with angry claws as nails, and it isn't very surprising to see who has come for me. In the dim morning light she looks sour and angry, pale.
"Do you know what you did last night? You shouldn't be here anymore." She hisses the words and shoves me again. The dogs behind me snap at my ankle and I think about the insult in between muttered words. Ankle biter. "Off-limits, Samson, means off limits. Hadrien didn't do anything, he only follows orders."
Nothing is off-limits, but she refuses to understand it. My thumb carves over the scars in her split face, cheek to lip. "As do you."
Her body flies back, winding in an attempt to make space. In an attempt to escape.
"Stop touching me like that or I will puke."
As if I ever listened to that.
My hand reaches out again, with more force this time, leaving the usual bruises on her arms, holding her too tightly as she wiggles and fights. Her black gown is so heavy, it folds over in crinkles and weights her arms down. The fact she is still not dressed is another slight.
"I told you to look presentable."
"I'm not accompanying you, I have meetings and then I will be with Evangeline the whole day."
