Chapter 88

Celia

The house is much colder than I anticipated. I do not know what I was thinking, though, seeing how my father's home has been out of use for decades. Bianca wears many layers of clothes while I am forced to wear a simple nightgown with no socks or gloves to help me combat the cold.

The chains that Bianca has me attached to or heavy, my wrists now red and sore from the constant friction of metal against my skin. I have become used to the heavyweight that is attached to them, growing accustomed to the way that the chains move with my body. During my time with Bianca, I have learned to live with the chains and the confinements that she has kept on me.

I sit on the floor at Bianca's feet. I am forced to sit at her side and hold a chalice up to her lips, to feed her as my own stomach growls and grumbles from hunger and starvation that begin to overtake my body. Whenever I miss her mouth or my hands begin to tremble, Bianca slaps me until I get it right, my body becoming rigid as I feed her pieces of her meals.

“Oh, Celia,” Bianca coos from her throne, “don't you see that this is how things should've been like? Can't you see that you have always been forever will be below me?”

Bianca's cackle echoes throughout the empty house, followed by the low chuckles of her rogue werewolf militia. It sounds chills down my spine. Bianca reaches out and grabs the chain that is attached to my neck, giving a nice and gentle tongue, pulling me closer to her throne.

She looks down at me with a pathetic smile on her face, reaching out and brushing the hair out of my eyes, her touch surprisingly gentle. She tilts her head to the side and let out a quiet sigh.

“Celia, you're so pathetic if you think that Soren is going to come and save you,” she begins in a mocking tone, “he is not going to choose you. He will see the light and realize that it is me that he loves and not you.”

I say nothing in return, knowing that my silence is the best response when it comes to Bianca and her temper. She lets go over the chain and I fall back to the floor, earning more laughter from her. I glance to the side, hoping that at any moment Soren will burst through the doors and be there to save me.

I just do not know when that time will come.

Hours pass and I feel my body growing tired as the second stick by. Just as sleep is about to take over my body, the front doors of the house slam open, rattling the walls and floor as loud footsteps enter inside of the home. I sit up, my body now, fully awake, and see Soren standing in the middle of the foyer.

I stare at him through the wooden rods of the homes inside balcony. Soren looks up, our eyes meeting, and my body begins to relax, my vision blowing as tears begin to run down my face. The scent of honeysuckle and storm wind fills my nose, overwhelming, my senses and body.

Soren is here! He is here to save me! I am not going to die in a place like this!

“Bianca, I am here just like you wanted,” storm begins, his voice as strong as ever, “you wanted to talk so here I am. Let's talk.”

Bianca stands from her makeshift throne, pushing me to the side with her foot as she leans over the railing of the balcony, looking down at him. A twisted smile curves on her face as she notices the box that sits in Soren's hands.

“Well, well, well, it really is you. You look good,” Bianca gestures to the sunken eye bags on his face, “I'm glad to see that my message reached you. Is that the box?”

“Yes, it is,” Soren nods. “I hope you know what that means.”

The hair on my arms in the back of my neck stand up. I looked down at Soren, who stares at Bianca and Bianca, alone, our eyes no longer meeting in a longing gaze. My eyes move between Soren and Bianca, unsure what she could've meant of the importance of the box.

Soren begins to make his way towards the stairs but he is quickly stopped by a pair of soldiers. He passes off the box to one of them as the other begins to pat down his body, checking for weapons or any type of plan that he may have. Bianca moves to the top of the stairs, looking down at him.

My vision is obscured as I remain far away from the stairs, forced to simply listen as my fated mate speaks with my kidnapper, the one person who wishes to see me dead in this world.

“I am ready to give to you, Bianca, if you will still have me,” Soren speaks, driving a knife through my heart.

“Are you?” Bianca muses. I can hear the smile on her face, the way that she is winning this war.

Of course, things end like this for me. Of course, Soren realizes that Bianca has the upper hand, that she is the one who holds all of the power in this game that we found ourselves in. It is just my luck that my mates ends up choosing the one person in this world that I hate over me.

Should I really be surprised, though? Soren has done this many times in the past, offering me insane sums of money, just so I can remain quiet about our relationship and to leave him so he can have a life with Bianca without me in it. If he was willing to get rid of me before, what's to say that he doesn't feel the same now?

Sobs leave my body. I tremble in my spot as the realization that I am truly alone in this world settles into my bones. My eyes meet Bianca's, and she waves at one of the soldiers, gesturing to me. Suddenly, I feel him pick me up by the chain that is attached to my neck, dealing a hard blow to my face. My cheek stings as my socks begin to quiet, the tears unable to stop as they leave my body at a rapid pace.

“you made the right choice, Soren,” Bianca continues, “give me the box, show me just how loyal you are to me and me alone.”

“yes, of course,” Soren says

He reaches the top of the stairs and I'm finally able to look at him once again. He stands just two steps below, but I'm still able to see his face. I internally scream at him to look at me, to watch as the woman he wants claim to love is slowly breaking in front of him.

Does he not know that he is the cause of my sorrows? Soren has to know that him doing this is destroying me, that it is destroying the sliver of hope that I once felt to be saved. I cry and sob and wail, unable to control my emotions as our fated mate sent overtakes my body, making me feel even more desperate for his safety than ever before.

This is it. This is the end, isn't it? This is where I meet my demise. I just never knew that my death would come at the hands of the man I love.