3. Dagger to his throat

 

[Zeve's POV]

In a hurry, I had picked up a sheer white gown.

An entire wall being used as a mirror. I looked at my reflection in the mirror in the washroom.

The only material covering my body was the white silk around my breasts and tight white fabric from my hips to my thighs. Rest was all net and laces flowing over my body, covering absolutely nothing.

“What kind of dress is this? Why is everything going wrong today? Who in their right mind would make a gown like this?” I sighed at my reflection.

If I go out looking like this, I don’t know what he might... No. No. I need some other gown. This barely covers my body. I thought.

My wedding gown was filthy and bloodstained. I didn’t want to wear it again — ever again.

I placed my hand on my cleavage and looked around. There was a man’s bathrobe.

“Maybe Amor used it. Tsk! I can’t use it.” I shook my head. It was believed that only married couples shared the same bathrobes.

No, but he changed into some other room. Maybe this room was not used by him. I thought and reached out for it when he knocked at the door.

“What’s taking you so long? Get out or I am coming in!” The doorknob clicked. I grabbed the robe with no further thoughts and draped it over myself. I turned around with a jolt as he opened the door. The robe was only knee height long.

I clenched the robe over my chest and my abdomen. My gaze fell to my feet. I could feel his tense eyes travel from my legs to my face. 

“What are you wearing?”

I clenched my lips and said nothing.

He trudged closer to me and I shifted back until my back was against the mirror wall. I held my breath when he placed his hand next to my waist on the mirror wall. He grabbed the bathrobe and decreased the proximity between our faces. I pressed my body against the wall, squeezing my body to myself.

He leaned closer. His lips were inches apart from my ear. He whispered, “why are you wearing my bathrobe?” 

I almost gasped and darted my gaze into his eyes.

So, it was his bathrobe, after all. Damn it! I gulped.

He smirked through his eyes.

“Don’t you know an unmarried lady mustn’t wear a man’s robe? Do you know what this means?” His voice had a depth like that of an eerie ditch, the heaviness of darkness and stillness of the silence before the storm. His black fringes dangled between us as he leaned closer to my lips.

“I-I thought… this was unused.” I said, averting my eyes.

His face had no ounce of emotions. I didn’t lift my eyes to look at his scary composure.

“I used it…” he whispered against my lips. “Now you are wearing it, Zeve.”

 I hated it when he called my name.

I glared at him. “I didn’t know!”

“Then why don’t you take it off?”

“The gown is…”

“It’s sheer.” He nodded. “I can see your body. You are thinner than you looked in that suffocating wedding gown.” He caged me in his arms. I ducked and came out of his cage. I dashed to the room when the lace of the robe stuck in the doorknob and before I knew the robe was off me. I covered my chest with my hands and turned around when...

His eyes swiftly travelled from my chest to my thighs. Then he glanced away from me, wearing an angry expression on his face.

I dashed into the room and stood in front of the dressing table. He followed me to the room. I had seen a dagger there before. I grabbed it and hid it behind my back as I turned to face him.

His stoic composure didn’t change by a bit. He had the bathrobe in his hand and he trudged towards me, “stop! Don’t come any closer.”

“That gown. It’s inappropriate to wear it…” he kept decreasing the distance between us. 

“I said stop! Don’t come near me!” I yelled at him. My hands were shaking as I held the dagger. My fingers were icy cold and my heart hammered against my chest.

Before I knew it, the cosmetics on the dressing table scattered. Some fell down while he pinned me against the mirror of the dressing table. I was sitting with my legs apart. His knee was on the edge of the table between my legs. His one hand twisted and fixed my free hand on my back. His other hand seized my free hand that held the dagger to his throat.

Our gaze met like two lightning cracking over one another in a stormy sky.

He took control of my hand with the dagger and ran the blade gently over his throat. His skin severed and blood dripped down his throat, stained his tunic with blood.

I widened my eyes while he squinted his eyes with a smirk.

“Do you know who kept this dagger here?” He left my other hand and forcefully snatched the dagger from my hand.

 I looked at the dagger wound on his neck. It healed immediately.

“Y-you kept it here? Why?”

He leaned closer and closer until our breaths fuelled the flames in our eyes.

“Uh!” I gasped. His head rested on the mirror next to mine with the dagger pressed to my throat.

“I thought you would cut my throat like I cut your mate’s throat.” I had frozen with his fangs next to my neck and the dagger to my throat. Anger shot into my body.

Gritting my teeth, I glared into his wide, glowing eyes that were already glaring at me, filled with bloodlust.

“What do you want from me?” I snarled at him.

 “You’ll know soon…”

I couldn’t stop glaring at him from the corner of my eyes. Our breaths collide once, twice, thrice.

“I will rather die than sleep with you!”

“Oh God. I have no interest in your body. Yeah, but… this fire in your eyes…” This time his voice had the stillness of sea and weight of gravity. “... keep it ablaze, I like it.”

His face was still as frigid as snow. Emotionless. Stoic. Impassive.

“With pleasure. I wish you burn in it like you burned my pack, kill you like you killed my mate. Just wait, Amor Blaze… I will give you the worst death. I swear upon my existence, I will kill you!” I said, gritting my teeth. The blade of the dagger moved on my throat as I spoke.

He withdrew the dagger and himself away from me. He threw the bathrobe on me which covered my body. He fetched two gowns from the collection.

“Take off that vulgar gown and wear any of these. Blue will suit you.” 

I clenched my fist, draped the bathrobe on my body, and trotted to the gowns. There was a pitch black one next to the blue one. I grabbed it.

“How bold of you to think that I will wear what you choose for me, huh! But I will surely wear black to celebrate your death ceremony in advance.”

I took long strides and headed to the washroom again.

Just when I was near the door he said, “that one in your hand was… also chosen by me.” I saw his reflection on the mirror wall with his lips curled into an almost invisible smirk.

I clenched my jaws, turned back with a jolt, landing a sharp gaze on him. I went in and shut the door with a bang on his face. 

It was a high neck, full sleeves and light corset styled black gown. It covered every inch of my body and was light and comfortable. There weren’t laces, but chains. That made it so much easier to wear that gown.

I came out of the washroom. Amor wasn’t wearing anything on his upper body. He was looking in the mirror and wiping blood on his throat.

I averted my eyes. It must have been because of the blood stain earlier from the dagger.

“Ready?” He glanced at me from top to bottom. “You look like an assassin.”

Yes, for you I am exactly that, I thought to myself. He picked up his military tunic, vest, and shirt from the bed. “Maids will get you ready for a ball tonight.”

“I am not going anywhere with you.” I said, sternly.

“Oh yes, you are.”

“Why should I listen to you? All I have for you is hatred. You abducted me and forced me to come here…”

He didn’t even listen to what I was saying and exited the room as if I was talking to a wall. I gaped at him in disbelief and sighed aggressively, “I can’t believe this man!” I scowled.

After a few minutes, maids came in with shoes, accessories and perfumes.

“I am not getting ready. Tell him. I am not going anywhere with him. Take these things back. I don’t need them.” I was fuming with rage. He treated me as if I was invisible to him.

Damn him! 

“My lady, we are in no position to relay your messages to the alpha. We apologise for this, but if we cannot get you ready, we will be the one suffering for it. Please cooperate, my lady, all our lives are in your hands.” A maid said, while she bowed slightly. All of them were standing with their heads low.

I understood what they meant. After all, he was the strongest and ruthless alpha in the world. I had already seen a lot of blood and deaths because of him. I couldn’t see any more. At least, not because of me.

I reluctantly sat on the chair in front of the dressing table. The maids cleaned the room, arranged the cosmetics on the dressing table. Drops of his blood were on the table and the white handkerchief stained red in which he wiped his throat. One maid picked it up and threw it away.

Two maids brushed and styled my hair, the other one tried several necklaces that would go well with the high neck black gown, the other made me try heels and the other made my nails. The other mixed various scents that suffused in the entire room.

So many maids for one person. The royal life was extravagant and extremely uncomfortable. I had never had so many maids serve me. Chaz allowed only two maids to take care of me. I zoned out until they called me back to reality.

“My lady, you are ready. Please tell me if you need any changes.” A maid asked with a smile.

I looked at my reflection in the mirror.

My hair was beautifully styled and decorated with gold beads and chains. They applied red lipstick to my lips. A gold choker with a square ruby made the look simple, yet elegant and royal. Small ruby earrings were partially visible through my black hairs. They had added thin gold waist belts on the laces with floral and elaborate thread work. I was wearing a red pencil heel with a rose design on the tips. A thin golden bracelet with smaller ruby work adored my right wrist. 

“It’s perfect, thank you for your hard work,” what I really wanted to tell them was. You worked hard on someone who doesn’t deserve that.

I had never looked so beautiful, ever in my life. I doubted if I deserved to look that beautiful right after he killed my mate in front of me?

“Is she ready?” Amor walked in. All the maids shifted back from me and bowed. He had changed his dress, too.

“Yes, alpha. Almost. Just the perfume…”

“That’s fine, you may leave.” He said all of them left, maintaining their bows.

My right hand was over my left, near my belly. I peered at him, tightening my jaws. Mere sight of him made me want to rip him apart. Remembering I couldn’t even strangle him earlier, I controlled myself.

He was now dressed in an intricate gold thread embroidered black vest with a red lolita style frock coat. He had black breeches and leather boots that shone like diamond even though they were black. He had proper white gloves on and a golden chain harness adoring his royally daunting look.

Up close, he didn’t look bad at all. Above all, his blue eyes made it difficult for a person to not awe him. But for me, they were the eyes of a devil.

“If you are done glaring at me, apply the perfume and…”

“Dream on! I am not going anywhere with you!”

“So, why did you not throw a tantrum in front of them?”

“If I did, I knew you would punish them.”

“We barely met and you know me so well already.”

“It is said you should know your enemy more than your friend.”

“It’s also said to keep one’s friend close, but enemy — even closer.”

We stared into each other’s eyes for some time when I averted my eyes and turned to the dressing table. I pretended to arrange the things, but all I wanted was him to leave me alone.

I didn’t know if he was still looking at me or not. I didn’t even want to look at his reflection in the mirror. I turned around just to find him standing inches away from me.

We collided, and I was about to fall when he held my wrist and yanked me to his chest. I wrenched my wrist out of his grip and pushed him away, using every ounce of strength I had. He held my other wrist. I glared at him and jerked off his hand.

“Don’t touch me!” I warned him.

He pretended as if he didn’t hear me again and slid his hands under my ears. “I said stop it! No! Don’t!” I tried to set myself free, but he slid his hands over my chest. I clenched my jaws and slapped him.

“Stop it!” Pointing my index finger at him, I said, “I don’t care if you are the strongest alpha out there. If you ever try to touch me again, I will break your hands! You, your touch, everything about you is disgusting!” Tears lined my eyes. “And don’t you dare pretend to play deaf in front of me!”

No. No. Don’t cry. You can’t be weak. Stay strong. Pretend to be strong. No one is coming to save you, Zeve. You need to protect yourself. Chaz is gone. Now I only have myself. Dammit! Stop falling, tears!

He joined his index and middle finger and placed it next to my index finger, pointing them at me. There was a scent strip between his fingers.

I sniffed my wrist, touched behind my ears. He applied perfume on me. I wiped my tears and peered at him, tensing my brows.

“What the hell do you want from me?”

His hand fell beside his hip. “Come with me to this ball.”

“I won’t!”

“It’s an order.”

“Who are you to order me? In my eyes, you are nothing but a killer.”

“This killer can kill a few more easily. It will be a waste to make you look so beautiful when you won’t be attending the ball. I will order to cut off the hands of all the maids who adored you like this.”

I widened my eyes, “you won’t!”

“Are you coming to the ball or not?” He asked in a rough, stoic tone. “This will be the final answer. Yes or no.”

I looked towards the door where the maids were standing in a row. I clenched my fist and averted my eyes, still breathing angrily.

“I swear I have never hated anyone more than you in my life…” landing a fiery gaze on him, I continued, “... ever.”