EdricI took her in for a second, not sure she was actually serious, but she had a determined look in her eye, one that said she wasn’t going to take no for an answer.I hunched my shoulders and rolled my eyes.“Come outside. If I shift here, Bane would waste no time in tearing down my library,” I motioned to her with my hands.‘You bet I will. I freaking hate this place,’ Bane growled inside me.When we reached the meadows, I watched her for some more time, trying to gauge how she felt about me. There was no emotion in her eyes.For now, she seemed to have forgotten her sorrows and the reason she was here, trapped – me.Instead in her large, almond-shaped and colored eyes, was curiosity etched so deep, it threatened to burst out of her and bite me if I didn’t do what she wanted.“You sure about this?” I asked again.She nodded enthusiastically.“Alright. Now, move a little back. Gotta give 'em time to adjust to you,” I said, buying myself time to prep for the transformation, and just
DianaThe moment Edric shifted back into his human form, he closed up.He didn’t want to talk to me…or just didn’t want to talk at all, and I let him. If I was being honest, the time I had spent with his wolf was enlightening.His wolf was the opposite of him.Or, just a different side of the same coin. You could tell he possessed a lot of energy, but he had this calm to him, almost like he didn’t really know his power.He came up to me so easily, that I wondered if I posed that little of a threat, and his way of being vulnerable around me was really endearing.Even in werewolf-dominated environments, it was rare to have people interacting with their wolves, and so, I doubted I would see Bane again in such calm settings.I knew not to ask. I watched him go into the house before letting out the breath that I had been holding. You know…now that I think about it, save for the feeling of being trapped, this is a much better quality of life than the one I was getting from my father back at
DianaMy morning routine was pretty simple. Take a bath, cook for Edric and Muzan (because Muzan was nice), and do the dishes after.The dishes were the hardest part.Once that was over, usually by mid-morning, I had the rest of the day to myself till dinner, when I had to cook again.I spent it in the library, doing my research about how to kill an immortal wolf.The thing is…there was no book like that.You could tell that he did spend a lot of time researching how to die since there were a lot of things here that could easily point me in the direction of death, but nothing specifically matched his case scenario.Well, I made him a promise I intended to keep, mostly because it felt like he would kill me if I didn’t.But also, because it was my biggest shot at freedom.I needed to kill him if I was going to be free, the promise of the gold and mansion notwithstanding.At least, that’s what I told myself, even though I was starting to find that this place was not so bad, after all. Bu
EdricDiana was a sport, and not in the exhausting kind of way.She was more like the wind that rushes through you when you’re mid-sprint, and it was honestly very refreshing. I spent all afternoon with her, correcting her mistakes and teaching her new words.Honestly, for the most part, she was fine.It would have been difficult for anyone to distinguish between her and a well-governed maiden.She was also sharp as a tack.I didn’t have to continually repeat myself unless she wanted to annoy me.Once we were done learning, she had gained more knowledge than any student I had ever taught."Wow," I smiled as she stood up proudly, adjusting her shirt and smiling from ear to ear before giving a long stretch. "I should begin to teach you some advanced math concepts." I joked."We could work that out," she shrugged.I didn't expect her to be so open to something as complex as math.It was even mind-boggling that she didn't flinch, especially since I explained to her, some of the things I d
DianaSomething about the way Edric started treating me unnerved me a little.If something is too good to be true, then it most likely is. I didn’t know how to explain it, but it felt uncanny.Nothing beats the feeling of knowing what someone was capable of, and seeing them manifest it.Even if it was negative, it was predictable. That was a huge plus.Edric could turn me into his unfailing slave if he really wanted to and without very much effort on his part. I was already behaviorally docile, mended from birth, and beaten to perfection. All he needed was a little coercion. And yet, he didn’t.Yet, today, he chose to smile when he saw me from afar, and he chose to raise his hands and wave.Edric the monster waved at me.It felt unreal. Of course, I waved back, but I couldn’t shake off the weird flapping in my stomach that came again. As I swept the main area of the house, where everyone would see, his smile plagued my mind.It was definitely wrong.I couldn’t bear to see him smile a
DianaI didn’t know what to make of the dream or what it meant.Was it supposed to mean anything? I have dreamt of my father harming me multiple times. I mean, he did it in real life. How much more difficult of a dream did it have to be?It was simple.Right?I held my wrist, till feeling the pain of the burn. But I remember what Edric said about the phantom pain. That shouldn’t have translated to real life, no?I rubbed on the wrist, and the pain seared my brain. I had to look at it, and lo and behold, there was a wolf head…staring at me, with a slight glow in its outline.What the hell was going on?I peered hard and long at my wrist, hoping that like all dreams, this would melt and I would see my normal wrist again.It didn’t.This was as real as my bed…as real as the very air I now breathed. As real as my captivity.Then, it came to me.‘Child of prophecy.’I didn’t feel watched. This wasn’t like the voice I heard before. It was within me. I rubbed at my wrist, thinking it would g
DianaWhen I entered the room, I did everything religiously. From clearing out the used dishes to dusting the cabinets, I made sure I didn’t look like I wasn’t doing anything.I turned over his bed and swept a little chafing to one side before I began looking for the book.That way, if he came in and I didn’t have enough time to cover my act, I had an alibi.The dirt.‘I was cleaning.’ Such an easy lie to tell.From there on, I turned the entire place upside down.Where was the goddamn book? Wherever it was, I was determined to find it, but holy moon goddess, he was good at hiding stuff.He told me not to touch his desk, so I avoided that with as much caution as I could.I just used my eyes to scan the entire place enough but saw nothing there of intrinsic value. Just a lot of papers where the writing on them made absolutely no sense to me.“How does v ever equal u plus at?” I chuckled as I continued my search. There was a long line of other things he wrote, similar to the initial ‘v
EdricShe was hiding something. I could tell.But none of it mattered.If she was doing something that was going to kill me, and she didn’t want me to know about it, then I was all for it.What completely threw me off guard was the lengths she went to hide it. Attempting to seduce me wasn’t her character at all.She was awkward at it, and if I wasn’t holding myself from a burst of arousal, I would have laughed. It somehow made me gaze upon her innocence and view her as…even more precious.The fact that she threw herself into that circumstance, not knowing how it’d end, but thinking…maybe from stories that she had been told…that I would just let her go, was endearing.Hence, my little pecks and teases showed her what could have happened. The endless possibilities.The fact that any other depraved man would have taken that opportunity to explore her innocence… both scared and enchanted me.She was too pure for this world…too pure for me.I knew that, and yet, I couldn’t stop.I watched
DianaI left his room after a while of what seemed to be meaningless ponders, the both of us too frustrated to even continue.What were we looking for?What did we hope to find?Perhaps that was what sealed our fate from the beginning.A problem shared is a problem solved, they say. So is knowing the problem. Knowing what needed to be solved.To find something, you must be able to identify it. We didn’t even know what we were looking for.Was it material? Was it abstract? Was it an emotion?Everything cluttered my lungs – the questions and lack of answers thereof. I needed air, and so, I sought that instead, edging over to the windowsill in the main hallway, overlooking the garden below.There was a ledge opposite me, where Edric promptly sat on, perhaps needing the same thing I did.Air.“I can’t even remember the name of the witch who cursed me,” he confessed with a silent tone, one that spelled his embarrassment at the situation. “Pathetic, no? Would’ve been a good start, if you as
DianaI sat curled on the edge of the bed, refusing to move.I was scared that if I did, in some sick, twisted turn of events, something would happen. Something so wrong would hurt him even more.The paradox of the whole thing was that my being ever closer to him meant that he was weaker. It meant that he could die.And yet, here I was, pretending like I didn’t want to hurt him.My fingers lazily grazed Edric’s arm and I felt the warmth and his pulse…just to make sure he was still breathing.Or to be sure it wasn’t.I wasn’t sure I lived in a world that even made sense.The minutes blurred into longer ones, and each ticking of the clock made me painstakingly aware of my role in this.In the death of a man.Eventually, sleep pulled me under its blankets. It wasn’t warm and fuzzy. It was a rough tug. I felt the tiredness gnaw at my bones and by the time I pulled my eyes shut, I couldn’t even spare some time for extra thought.I just got sucked into the world of the unknown.Where my min
DianaI was tending to the crops in the garden when Muzan came to me. His face held concern, deeper than I had ever seen.“Is anything wrong?”He nodded.I stood up.“He’s…ill…odd, I know…”I wanted to sprint past him, to go and see Edric, but he held me back“The curse is not broken, Diana. He stabbed himself with a knife to test it out…nothing.”His words made me relax a little, but still, he was ill. I had to see what was wrong.When I got to his room, he didn’t look like anything was wrong with him. He was hunched over his desk, his eyes buried in concentration behind his meaningless calculations.Meaningless at least, to me.“False alarm,” he waved dismissively when I inquired about his health and the report from Muzan. “Looks like I’ll be living to see another century,” he huffed.“You act like it’s a really bad thing,” I rolled my eyes.“Well, when you’ve seen five…maybe…yes.”I wasn’t ready for his schematics this morning. I wasn’t ready for it today.“I’ll check through what
Edric“Wh…what does that mean?” she croaked frantically, trying to reach her wrist, but I pulled it away from her.I didn’t want her to scratch it anymore, because I wanted to see what would happen. I needed to see what the wolf symbol did.To my surprise, nothing happened.“What happened?” she asked with a weak sigh.Or, at least, I think nothing happened.I looked around me when I felt the whoosh, and knew for a fact, that this was far from ordinary. If a mark was able to appear on her wrist from nowhere, then something was coming.I just needed to be ready for it.“Nothing,” I sighed, feeling frustrated, when this was supposed to be the most upbeat I had been in years.A discovery!Something new! Something new must mean change! And change is good, isn't it?Well, not when the only thing that never changes is you.I stood up and packed everything up.“I should have never let you do the spell,” I said as I walked away. “I’m sorry.”Her hasty footsteps followed my deliberate ones in h
DianaThe next day was filled with more glee than I ever had in a week. When I offered Edric breakfast, he loved it so much, he wanted to know how I made it.“It was from a recipe book my mother used,” I admitted as I watched him wolf down the entire meal. “I watched a chef do it, and voila…”The next moment, I was standing in the kitchen, my hands deep in a bowl of flour.I wiped flour off her cheek with the back of her wrist, my eyes narrowing at Edric, who stood stiffly beside me like the idea of cracking an egg might bring about the apocalypse.“You’re holding it like it’s a bomb,” I teased him, nudging his elbow as he stared down at the egg with a frown that said he was contemplating war tactics, not breakfast.“I only know how to deal with meats,” I said and studied the egg like there was more to it than just cracking it open and pouring out the contents. “Anything more than that…I’m lost. It’s why I could hardly tell when you poisoned me…unless the poison was something strong.
DianaHe was mean. He might not have been the best at interpersonal relationships. He scowled like the devil and downright acted like one.That still didn’t mean I should hate him.In fact, that just prompted me to look deeper.And I was right.There he was – the mortal that we all were. Hidden deep beneath all those layers of “monster” was the alpha wolf no one wanted to see.Well, I wasn’t no one.We sat in the candle room for a while, simply enjoying the silence…or being tormented by it. Each candle forced me to create a picture in my head, one that I might have been exaggerated…or worse.Underexaggerated.I wanted to relate to him so badly. I wanted him to know that someone out there understood. I wanted to be that person.Not because I was trying to be kind to him for any reason…but because…he has suffered.Edric made the twenty-two years I have lived on this earth a child’s play. He made every tear I have ever shed…every night I had ever gone to bed, praying to the moon goddess
EdricA sigh escaped my lips, a silent acknowledgment of the inevitable. The very air in the room seemed to vibrate with the unspoken dread of what was unfolding. A mental breakdown. The fragile equilibrium I had hoped Diana had found felt like it was teetering on the precipice. If my recollections served me correctly – and they usually did, in their own fragmented way – this exact emotional collapse had been the catalyst for her initial illness.I desperately wanted to steer her away from that precipice, to prevent her from plunging back into that desolate state. I hated it. I couldn’t bear the thought of her tears falling because of me. It felt profoundly unnecessary.I was beginning to micromanage her every reaction, a frantic, internal calculus aimed at ensuring her happiness, or at the very least, the absence of sadness. This wasn't a habitual behavior, not a familiar pattern from my countless lives. This was different. This was her…and the intensity of my concern was, fran
DianaI didn’t want to enter the room at first. Knowing I could no longer feel the taps filled me with a sense of dread.So, what if I entered the room and found out he was dead? Then what? How do I tell Muzan, who was certainly more attached to him than I was?What would the burial plans look like?I didn’t think I had been successful, but I sure as hell hoped so.I hoped so because it would have been inhumane to subject him to the pain that I had just put him through.‘Please, Edric.’ I whispered in my head.‘Please, just die.’Finally, I mustered the courage to open the door and enter the room. It was eerily silent, and some of the candles had already burnt out, giving the room a dimmer, more sinister glow. I didn’t know what to expect.I opened the spell book and chanted the release spell.With all luck, there should still be no movement in the water.I waited.Nothing.Absolutely nothing at all.I don’t know why, but an overwhelming amount of sadness hit me. Now that this was al
DianaWell, that didn’t go as well as I planned.I thought I had all the mental resources and preparation to deal with the event that he didn’t die.But as I stepped out of that room, shaking and unable to see through the tears that welled over my eyes for whatever reason…I saw that it was the complete opposite.Something inside me was breaking.I had just killed a person twice…and now, I had to ‘kill’ him again. I had to kill him as long as he stood up.How?I had initially thought the feeling of disappointment was what was going to overwhelm me. I was also readying myself for the fear, in case he got angry or something else.I wasn’t prepared for the guilt.I wasn’t prepared for the way my conscience felt trapped. Like I was committing the murder over and over again. Two murders in less than a month. It didn’t matter if the man was still alive.The fact remained that I had sunk a knife into his chest, and my intentions were the same each time. To end his life.I couldn’t process t