Crow of Flame

Chapter 38

Sapphire

When I woke up I was cold and my mind felt... diluted. I was in the scene that I'd seen so many times before. I hadn't thought about it when I dressed, but this outfit I'd put on... This was the outfit that I'd always worn in the dungeons. This was the outfit worn when she cut up my skin and drank my blood. How had I gotten here?

I tugged on my limbs, but they were securely fastened to the wall. I had no way out. It was time. The door opened and Eboni walked in. She smiled at me as she secured the white apron over her black dress. "I'm so glad you're awake, little one. I thought, for a moment, that the frost bane my brother slipped into your tea was too strong."

"Frost bane?"

She nodded and laughed, "Yes, little one. It's the only way to put down someone with fire inside them. It was slipped to Hades too, though in a stronger dose. He won't wake up for a small while at least."

"Why am I here? I thought you wanted to be allies with me. I thought you wanted me with you." I barely got out the words. My throat was burning. And my skin itched.

"I want your powers aligned with me, yes." She said as she walked over and picked up the knife from the little table. "I know you've seen this happen many times, so I'll skip the part where I tell you what I want and how I'm going to get it. I know you have captivation, little one." She dragged the knife down my shirt, tearing it and the belt open to reveal the cursed black lace bra.

I wish I hadn't thought of it today. I wished beyond belief that today had not been the day when I wanted to feel good in my body. I wanted to feel like I owned it again, I wanted to feel sexy and powerful and I wanted to feel good.

I didn't react as she dragged the knife down my left collar bone, drawing blood. I didn't give her the satisfaction of seeing how much it hurt for her to lick the blood from my skin. And I didn't show her when she repeated the motion on my right collarbone and I didn't react when she repeated the motion down my sternum.

"Little one, you're not making this any fun for me." She said bringing her head close to mine. I was raging, there was fury burning in my gut. Who did she think she was. I pulled at the chains and she moved her face to whisper in my ear. I didn't hear what she said, I only saw the opportunity. I screamed as I took her ear between my teeth and clamped down and pulled. She stumbled back screeching in pain. "There's that fire."

I spat the ear I'd torn off at her feet and said the words I'd heard myself say so many times. "Personal space." She laughed and shook her head at me.

"Oh the fun we'll have, little one." I didn't get a chance to respond before she picked up a syringe full of a liquid so blue, it looked like ice. "This is frost bane, little one. And I'm sorry to say that this is going to hurt." I didn't respond and she raised the needle to the crook of my elbow and shot the poison into my veins.

The pain wasn't just bad. It was agony. I couldn't breathe or think or do anything. I was enveloped in ice and it tried to douce the fire within me. It was a battle, an internal struggle. And much to. My dismay... The frost bane won.

I woke up again, my head pounding, a chill in my bones. I was scared. I wasn't chained to the wall anymore either. The room was dark and musty. There were no defining features to the ceiling, save that it was the same blue-grey stone speckled with black. I was strapped to a table. My arms held together above my head and my legs strapped down. I couldn't move. I could hardly see, I could hardly think.

A door creaked open somewhere. I tried to move my head to look around, but every time I shifted stars flew into my vision. "You're awake." A familiar voice said. Light spread throughout the room and I squinted to see Orion standing there, looking at me. "You've been out for a couple hours."

"Orion, what the fuck?" My words were slurred and hard to get out.

"Shhh, you don't need to speak. I had to do this, Sapphire. You wouldn't have chosen me." He ran a hand down my cheek and I became quickly aware that I was only in my black lace underthings. I had really chosen the wrong fucking day to reclaim my femininity and my body.

"Orion, I didn't choose you still, you fucking kidnapped me." I bit out.

"You will choose me though. I know you will. In the mean time though..." he moved a lever and the table shifted so I was vertical. My head pounded at the motion. Chains pulled my arms taught. "You'll see why I'm doing what I have to do."

"I'll never understand why you did this." I spat.

He pulled a long blue dagger from a sheath on his waist and twisted it in front of me. "Do you know what this is?"

"A butter knife?" I grinned slyly.

"Close." He played running the smooth face of the blade over my left collar bone. "It's a frost blade, it's the only knife that can scar you." I grunted with pain as he pressed the point into my skin and began to move it in a pattern. "This, is going to show you belong to me." He grunted as he finished it. He held up the mirror and I saw, carved into my skin, a three peaked wave. The middle peak was the tallest. "The rest of the art I shall decorate you with is only to make you weak enough to be decently susceptible to Enthrallment and Captivation. I won't enjoy it, but it will be good for us."

"I hate you." I spat and he took my jaw in his hand and kissed my lips hungrily. "I HATE YOU! YOU TRAITOR! I HATE YOU!" I screamed.