One lone window sat too high up to be of much help. The rays of sunlight attempting to shine through let me know it was no longer nighttime. There was an arched door at the far end of the rounded room--the only way in or out.
Nothing else was in here except a row of empty shelves that could use a thorough dusting. I wondered where the others had been taken, and if they were okay. The robed people had separated us with terrifying ease.
“Hello?” my voice filled the emptiness with a soft echo that was met with weighted silence. I reached down and began fumbling with the iron restraint again. I didn’t know what this thing was, I’d never seen anything like it before.
“Fuck,” I muttered, discovering an impression clearly meant for a key. This wouldn’t be coming off without that. Taking hold of the chain again, I followed its length.
It was hooked on the wall, a more obvious lock securing it to a rounded base. There was no way to remove this thing without having a key.
A noise from just outside the door had my spine stiffening. There was a melodic jingle followed by the sound of a lock turning. I quickly maneuvered so that my back was to the wall, grasping the excess chain as if it could be used as some sort of weapon.
The door swung inward with a heavy groan, and a masked figure stepped inside. Their facial covering was different from the ones the people wore the night before, like something from the olden days with plague doctors. They wore a suit and donned a set of leather gloves, a metal tray was cradled against their chest.
“I was wondering when you’d wake.”
The familiar voice had a chilled sensation taking root in my chest.
I’d known he had something to do with this. It didn’t take too many brain cells to figure that out, something even Troy could do. This was his family’s church, after all. But it was still one thing to think something, and another entirely to be faced with irrefutable proof.
The excess chain slipped through slackened fingers. “Dra…Draven?” I stuttered, dry lips slightly whistling around his name. I swiped my tongue across them, swallowing around the lump in my throat. I steadied my voice and clenched my hands into fists to stop them from trembling.
“Draven, what the hell is this?”
“This is a light snack to hold you over before we begin.”
He placed the tray on the floor, at a place the chain around my torso would snag if I tried to go any further. A quick scan of the contents showed a cup of fruit, a small bottle of water, and Jell-O.
He took another step towards me, and I flinched backward without meaning to, grimacing as the iron belt hit the wall. I told myself to be brave, but right now I was nothing more than a rat in a cage. My mind frantically searched for a way out of this situation.
He used one hand to lift the mask up to rest on top of his head. A face of death with eyes the color of seafoam peered down at me from beneath a black hood. His lips were distorted into a frown. I blinked rapidly, unable to believe what I was seeing.
“I had planned to do things much differently with us, but alas I had no choice but to resort to mildly extreme measures. You don’t have to fear me, Della. I’ll only hurt you when it comes to correction and we’re hardly at that stage of our union yet.”
“Correction? Union? Are you insane? Why are you doing this?”
“Why did that boy think he could get away with stealing from me? Does he not know who I am? And to drag you and Isa into it…” His face was neutral but anger reflected in the probing hues that locked with mine.
“Eat and rest, tonight will take a lot out of you.”
I didn’t like the implications his words impressed. “What are you going to do to me?”
“What do you think I’m going to do to you?”
I had a guess, but I couldn’t bring myself to make it a reality with words. Draven nodded as if coming to an unspoken decision. “Tonight, your pussy will be full of my tongue and my cock. You will scream in agony, while silently begging for more as my hands travel over every inch of your body. Tonight, you will become irrevocably mine.”
There was a tightening in my chest and an odd tingling sensation slithered down my spine. My mouth flapped open and closed a few times before I was able to find my words. I scrambled to my feet, feeling too small beneath his gaze. “What does that even mean? I will become yours?”
“Exactly as I explained it. After the ceremony, you will be bound to me for all of eternity.”