Chapter 13: Hell Is Empty
ADRIEN’S POV
"Serve me." Lady Dimitra sends the servers scurrying off with a simple command.
That is all she says in response to my well-thought-out speech about my feelings for Orion. The speech that I put my entire heart and soul into.
The speech that my hand is still in Orion’s crushing grip because of.
"I didn’t know you thought of me that way, darling." He smiles tenderly— as tender as a butcher smiling at his favorite cut of meat to cleave.
"I’m always thinking about you." I yank my hand out of his and smile back at him. "You’re always on my mind, my dear."
"That’s enough of that," Lady Dimitra cuts in, "there should be no talking at the table."
Seriously...all of that and not even the slightest reaction. How is this even fair? Orion is probably going to find some creative way to torture me for that shit and she didn’t even blink an eye.
"You too, Aunt," his hand finds mine again under the table, "you don’t want to choke on a bone and end your journey at fifty, do you?"
Leon flares up immediately. "Don’t you dare speak to my mother that— "
"Be quiet, Leon! Aunt just said not to talk at the table, remember?"
He always has to have the last word, doesn’t he?
___________
"Orion, Leon...to my study."
After saying the grace and being wished again by all the guests, Lady Dimitra rises from the table, calling out to the two madmen to follow her.
"Yes, Mother." Leon pushes his chair back and rises without any delay, already following at her heel.
"Can I bring my darling along too?"
Lady Dimitra stops in her tracks and turns slowly to face me. She stares at me for a full heart-rending minute and then turns away.
"No."
Damn you, woman! I wasn’t even the one who asked. That was unnecessary.
"But he gets lonely when he’s far away from me," Orion whines as he rounds the table to stand beside Leon, "I don’t want him to be lonely."
Lady Dimitra turns to me again, eyes already narrowed in something that looks scarily like contemplation. She opens her mouth to speak, when I—
"I’m fine staying here!" I couldn’t have physically screamed the words louder. "I’m very fine where I am, don’t worry! You can take him! I mean, he can go with you!"
Why, just why does this man enjoy fucking with people this much? And why the hell does she keep listening to him?
"Well...thank you for your permission then." She huffs, turns on her heel, and walks off with them in tow. Her walking stick clacks ominously against the floor as she goes.
I’m not exactly sure what just happened, and I am not going to think about it, because if I do, I might just end up puking my guts out.
And now, I suddenly feel the need to empty my bladder.
"Excuse me." I nod politely to the other guests, then signal to a server to lead me to the restroom.
The server is a nice, chatty lady who apparently thinks my ’love story’ with Orion is something swoon-worthy. I swallow down every curse that bubbles up in my throat and smile politely as she speaks.
Every ’I hope your love lasts a lifetime’ has me choking silently on frustration.
"Thank you for your help." I wave to her, then slide into the restroom faster than she can respond.
I can’t believe that I’m actually here, neck-deep in the Vassilis family mansion taking a piss. It’s surreal. The fact that I’m here with Orion is even more terrifying.
Orion Vassilis.
That name has different meanings to different people. For some it’s fear, and for others...it’s something else entirely. Something different that I fear shouldn’t be put into words.
"Like hell it shouldn’t be put into words." I put it into words once and I had to flee like a fucking rat.
Finally done with my business, I leave the bathroom, and of course, she’s right at the door waiting for me.
Louise. My half-sibling.
"That took a while," she crosses her arms and leans against the doorframe, "can’t piss well? Or has he already broken that part of you?"
Here she goes again with the insults.
"Please do not say piss with those elegant lips of yours...vulture." Her eyes narrow. "And what makes you think my darling would want to break me?"
Even if I don’t want to, I still have to sell the act, especially to her. She’s the whole reason I’m back in Orion’s clutches.
She has to be jealous for me to be free...I guess?
"Save the darling act for anyone stupid enough to believe it," she scoffs, "and it’s not that I think he wants to break you, I know he does. He looks at you the same way he looks at his pawns before he takes them off the board."
Oh wow, it’s almost as if I can’t see that for myself.
"Well, it’s a pity that he isn’t going to be breaking me at all. We’re engaged, you know?" There’s something weirdly funny about how she refuses to look at my engagement ring.
Almost like she can’t bear to see it.
Then to my surprise, she laughs. A soft, drawn-out chuckle. "You’re right. He isn’t going to break you," she pushes herself off the wall with a snort, "not when he’s using you to get to me..."
"He’s going to use you, then toss you over to me to have my fun." Her laughter rings in my ears. It grates on my nerves. "It’s going to be like the good old days Adrien, but instead of me playing with others, I’ll be playing with you...because he’ll leave you to me."
I know that. I already know that.
I just hoped that maybe if I did what he asked and put in all my effort, he would let me leave without any trouble. That maybe he wouldn’t be such a psycho for once and just let me go...the same way I was dragged into this.
But if even the vulture can see it, then my hopes are misplaced. There was never any point to placing any hope on Orion in the first place.
"But you already know that, don’t you," she whispers, voice more poisonous than venom, "you already know that you’re fucked. You know that Orion is just having fun using you for shit and giggles...but there’s nothing you can do about it."
"You never were one for talking too much, Vulture. Is this engagement getting to you that much? Or can you not just stomach the fact that I’m the one whose finger he put the ring on?"
Even if I know how I might end up, I’m not going to sit here and take it. Never again. I won’t ever have to end up running again.
Never.
"You should be begging me to spare you," she hisses hatefully, "you should be on your knees, begging me to let you live after he finally gets what he wants and throws you— "
A loud clap echoes across the corridor, cutting Louise’s hateful rant short and snapping me out of my thoughts.
"Now, if duckling is going to be on his knees for anyone, it’s going to be me. So, take a step back from my darling...before I make you."
