Made Me Hard, Astra

ASTRA

The tears had dried up. The tears had stopped coming altogether and I was just sitting in the corner of the room, holding my knees close to my chest and wondering with a dazed hopeless look how things had spiralled this way.

I had tried a few pathetic prayers to the moon but none of it was working. We were doomed if even the moon wasn't listening to us but it wasn't the moon that doomed us, it was that beast that doomed us.

My Aunt. Gone.

The King. Gone.

Two of the most important people in the entire kingdom was killed in just a couple of minutes by that monster and I would have rather he killed me too. I didn't want to be alive right now, living in utter fear of what was going to happen to me next.

I had no idea what I could be subjected to when that doors gets opened. It hadn't been opened since I had been thrown here yesterday and if it wasn't for the heavy thuds I could still hear from outside, I would have been certain that I had been left to die and rot inside this room.

My eyes flickered tiredly to a closure. I hadn't been able to sleep a wink and I doubted if anyone would be able to sleep after watching their king explode into tiny bits and seeing the pieces of my Aunt scattered over a floor and a wall as I was whisked away.

Tears filled my tired eyes again as the image flashed vividly behind my closed eyes. I struggled to keep my eyes shut and not open it up.

"Be my guest, Pretty." His words flashed in my head and I opened my eyes with a loud gasp.

Those words haunted me. The nonchalance of that killing machine haunted me. The way he had seemed totally bored and laid back while killing in the worse ways ever haunted me badly.

As I threw my head back, sniffling back tears that threatened to spill yet again, the door lock moved.

My eyes widened slightly and I rushed up to my feet, pressing my body against the wall, wishing the wall would open up and let me hide in them. It would be fine if the wall kept me there forever and I died in there too.

But that didn't happen.

The door opened and the guy who had whisked me away and locked me up in this room stepped in. He had a priestess dress in his hand.

"Hey" He started hoarsely, walking further into the room. He dropped the dress on the bed.

"There. Change into that."

I said nothing, my breathing turning very irregular with fear but I refused to do as he said.

"You did hear me, right?" He asked, brows arching in annoyance.

I kept mute, still. Not giving a response to him.

"Heavens! I hate having to deal with situations like this..." He groaned.

"I don't need you to speak or reply me. Just change into that dress and step out. The crowning will be in an hour."

"Cr... Crowning?" The word left my lips with shock.

"Oh, she can actually speak" He chuckled in an amused manner.

"And yes, crowning. You will be leading the crowning of his majesty. I checked and you were the next in line anyways so you should be familiar with the rites already. Let's get this done quickly and..."

"Never!" I cried out, eyes widened with panicked pain and shock.

"I will never ever partake in such a rite!" Bitterness and hatred spilled from every word I uttered.

"I do not think you have much of an option here, er... What's the name again? Astra. Right. You do not really have options here, Astra. Just do what you are asked to do."

"I will never listen to you! Or listen to that... To that thing you call your majesty! And I will never with my own hands place the crown on his head!"

His eyes turned dark and he took steps closer to me. I leaned even more into the wall, gulping down hard and then pulling myself together to attempt a spell. I attempted a spell to make him unable to move but it failed as he kept on moving closer to me.

"Don't come closer!" I cried out, recalling how that beast had licked blood off my cheek with his tongue.

"You are going to choose. Get in that dress, wipe your teary face and go out there for the rites or just die since you will be useless with your refusal"

Whatever prompted me to let out a laugh, I had no clue but I did. I laughed, a long, shaky laughter that weirded him out as much as it did, me.

"You think I am afraid of death? Just kill me! How are you going to kill me?! Bone manipulation?! Stab me? Burst me open? Slam my head against the wall! Kill me but I won't crown him ever!"

He stopped, very close to me and I could see him seething as I prepped myself for the death. I didn't want to live in this sudden misery, anyways. Hopefully, the pain would be sharp and my death will be quick.

But he did nothing. Instead, he backed away, his gaze fixated on me.

I tried again, to cast a spell on him but it didn't work still.

I almost broke down. Spells were the only thing I knew and now they weren't working. Prayers to the moon didn't seem to be working so well too.

My heart hurt as he turned away and left the room. My heart constricted with pain and then loosened with relief. I slid down the wall, eyes shut until my butt hit the hard floor.

I buried my face in my hands.

"Take me away, Aunt." I sobbed.

I should have died instead of her and no, not because I am a super selfless, holy art thou priestess but because dying would have been better than being thrusted in this sudden horror that I knew nothing about.

He knew the king. The king knew him and my Aunt most probably knew him too. They all knew him but I knew nothing.

I suddenly shot up on my feet and my eyes desperately started searching for any weapon in the room. There had to be something around.

I searched for about three minutes before going to the bed and checking under it. Underneath, there was nothing but on the bottom bed frame was a knife.

What reason a knife had been held to the bed with a magnet, I had no idea but I considered it a blessing.

I grabbed the knife hurriedly and the door lock twisted again. I rushed back to my previous position, leaning against the wall with my hand behind my back.

The door opened and the monster walked in first. My heart rate picked up and very noticeably, my chest was raising and falling as I raised my gaze up slightly to look at his face. He didn't look super bored today but he looked totally calm like he hadn't caused several deaths.

I felt the hatred in my heart surge, seeing that he was clad in a royal robe already. His hair was on the longer side and he walked in with the undeniable majestiscity of a king, making me shudder in wonder of how in the world killers could be like this.

"I heard you are being stubborn and disobedient, Astra." He mentioned my name and I felt a strange palpitation in my chest.

"Keep... Keep my name out of your mouth!" My voice trembled.

"Hmm" It was deep as he walked in further, approaching me while I leaned against the wall desperately, trying to get into it if possible.

"I do like your name though and I do not intend on getting it out of my mouth very soon too, Astra." He emphasised on the name as he got super close to me.

"G-get away from me" I stuttered out, my gaze on his chest as I avoided looking up.

But he did it anyways, he hooked a finger underneath my chin and lifted my face up to face him.

"Certain that is what you want?"

"Get away from me!" I screamed and stabbed him with the knife in my panic.

My body stilled, the knife buried in his guts. Fear of what would happen next spread into my eyes as I stared into his brown eyes. Brown eyes that seemed so light that they betrayed the darkness of the soul they were windows into.

I was expecting to have my head snapped right away. I had stabbed him, after all and this beast was certainly not the forgiving type.

Do it. Kill me.

But his lips just spread into a smile and before I could recover from the shock of this man smiling with a knife inside of him, he twisted the knife deeper inside him.

I gasped out loud.

He didn't just push the knife deeper. He TWISTED it deeper.

"Fuck, Astra..." He groaned, more like moaned, a hint of smile still on his face.

"You are going to have to take care of what you just caused." He held my gaze with his.

"You just made me hard, Astra"

Hard? H-hard? Hard at heart, right?

Certainly hard at heart, right?