by C. R. Jane
I shivered at the thought and quickly pushed it away. I wasn’t going back to that life. It wasn’t happening.
A tiny squeak brought my attention back to the present, and I examined the note once again. It didn’t give any specific directions for how I was to attend this dinner party. I looked at the ugly prison outfit I was wearing and sighed. Definitely not like the other dinner parties, where I had been dressed in whatever designer dress Julian wanted to see me in that day or that I scrounged from my mother’s luxe closet.
At the bottom of the invitation, Alaric had drawn two boxes. In a surprisingly elegant script, he had written ‘yes’ and ‘no’ under the boxes. I giggled at the thought of big bad Alaric putting something so elementary in a dinner invitation, and it made me want to attend even more. I didn’t have a pen, so I took a rock from the ground and made a sharp slice in the ‘yes’ box. I then rolled the document into a scroll and gave it to the little mouse who squeaked…almost excitedly. Maybe my little friend had an interest in my love life.
I snorted at the thought. Prior to this place, I’d never imagined that my best friend would be a mouse. Maybe I was going crazy after all.
The mouse scurried away, and I laid back on my lumpy cot, staring again at the drips falling from my ceiling.
I must have dozed off, because the clang of my cell opening startled me. I sat up blearily, looking to see who it was. While I did have some freedom here, there was a usual schedule to the day. The last surprise visit I’d had on the day of my mother’s visit had not been a good one, and I wasn’t looking forward to a repeat.
A guard I’d never seen before strode in with a familiar silver box. He sat it down at the foot of my cot without looking at me and quickly left without a glance back. The sound of the door closing settled my nerves.
Puzzled, I looked at the box, wondering why there would be a high-end department store box on my bed…or even in the prison at all.
Alaric. It must be from him. Hadn’t that been the reason I went to see him about the sketch kit I wanted for Seth, because he was known to be able to get anything he wanted around the prison? Feeling a flicker of excitement I hadn’t experienced in a while, I ripped open the box and stared a little dazed at the silver slip of fabric I held in my hands. It didn’t look big enough to cover my left butt cheek let alone my entire body.
The way that the dress was somehow sparkling in the dim lighting in the cell convinced me to try it on…just to see.
I stood in the corner, where someone was least likely to see me, and slipped off my uniform. With almost reverence, because the beautiful dress didn’t seem to belong in such a filthy place as my cell, I slipped the dress over my head. After the rough fabric of my prison suit, it felt a little bit like I was slipping on a piece of heaven. I smoothed the fabric down over my thighs.
I was right. The dress didn’t cover a lot. But it did cover enough. It was relatively modest looking at it from the front I was sure. Besides the fact that it was obscenely short, the top of the dress was high, showing no hint of cleavage. It was the back that would really get you. Feeling around with my hands, I could tell that the dress was open all the way down to right above my ass. It definitely wasn’t a dress I could wear a bra with, so I slipped off the bra I had been wearing.
I didn’t know how I felt about walking through the halls of this place in this dress. I’m sure that would make the threats from the other prisoners even worse.
At that thought, my cell door suddenly clanged open again. Another guard I hadn’t seen before stepped in carrying a tan shoe box embossed with the Christian Louboutin insignia.
My heart skipped a few beats. My mother had never let me borrow her pairs of Louboutins, and Julian had been more partial to whatever shoes looked most like stripper shoes.
The guard once again set down the box and left without looking at me once. I wondered again at the power Alaric had in this place…and why he wasn’t using it to get out of here. The guard didn’t even give one glance at my dress, despite the fact that it was sparkly enough to outshine a disco ball.
I walked over to the shoe box and tentatively opened the lid, gasping when I saw a pair of metallic silver sandals with the familiar red bottoms. I squealed a little loudly in excitement and was quickly sobered when someone a few cells down yelled for me to “shut the hell up.”
Frowning, I slipped on the shoes, and this time, withheld my squeal at the fact that they fit perfectly. I wasn’t sure how Alaric knew my shoe and dress size… Actually, maybe on second thought, I didn’t want to know. I wouldn’t put it past him to have someone measure me in my sleep. Regardless, both items fit perfectly. I absentmindedly pushed my fingers through my hair that was in need of a deep conditioning…or even a wash. The women’s showers in this section of the prison were group showers, separated only by flimsy plastic curtains. I’d been walked in on multiple occasions so my showers tended to be as brief as humanly possible. Judging by the horror stories I heard about other sectors in the prison, I was lucky I got to shower at all.
But a girl could still dream about using nice shampoo.
As if Alaric could listen to my brain, another guard appeared at my cell door and opened it up, leaving again quickly after he set a nondescript brown box on the cot. Like the other two, he acted like I didn’t exist.
Walking over to the box excitedly, I saw that it was full of various makeup products and a brush and mirror. This time, I didn’t bother to hold in my squeal and couldn’t have cared less about the curses that flew my direction.
I hadn’t gotten a good look at my reflection since coming here. The showers had no mirrors, so my only view of myself had come from random reflections on pieces of metal and distorted images in the pools of filthy water that were all over the floors in this place. As I held up the mirror, I was surprised to see that besides looking pale from not seeing the sunlight…I looked good.
Better than ever actually.
My skin looked healthy and glowing, and the bags that had always been under my eyes were nowhere to be found, despite the fact that I hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep since coming here. It must be something to do with my siren lineage.
I wasn’t going to complain.
I took my time applying makeup, feeling a little bit like myself again after having this time to primp. The guards here took an extreme amount of pleasure in making you feel almost like livestock. It was nice to get dressed up, even for one night. If I was allowed to keep the cosmetics and they weren’t taken away in the random searches we were all periodically forced to endure, I still would rarely if ever use them again. It was best to fly under the radar as much as possible here, and my siren lineage made that difficult enough as it was. Despite the fact that the warden had taken my power, other siren attributes hadn’t disappeared.
From what I’d seen, the guards were disgusting to the other prisoners, but their lecherousness seemed to hold new meaning when it came to me.
I shifted uncomfortably on my cot again, thinking of having to walk through the halls past prisoners and with a guard, dressed like this…
Maybe I should have said no.
Like an answer to a prayer, another mysterious guard appeared holding a garment bag. He set it down. This time, instead of disappearing, he stepped to the side as if he was waiting for me to exit the cell.
I unzipped the garment bag and saw a long black trench coat that while stylish, would hide my body from view from the top of my neck down to my ankles.
It was exactly what I needed.
I slipped it on and wasn’t surprised that it fit like it had been made for me. I stood there awkwardly, not sure what I was supposed to do, since the guard hadn’t said anything to me yet.
After a while, when it became obvious I wasn’t going to leave the cell without some kind of cue from him, he cleared his throat loudly.
I took that to be a signal I was supposed to leave my cell. He began walking immediately, not looking back to see if I was following him.
After hesitating for half a second, I stumbled behind him. It had been a while since I’d worn shoes like this, and walking on an uneven floor on such high heels was a feat in and of itself.
Like usual, I didn’t look into any of the cells we passed. It was enough to feel their interested stares. I’d made the mistake of looking in and meeting eyes with one of my cellmates my second week being here and had regretted it ever since then, as he had started to yell my prison number every time he came while he jacked off. Which was often.
I guess at least he wasn’t calling out my name. The guards never bothered to call me that when they came to pick me up.
I was cursing my shoes five minutes into the journey. The guard kept up a brisk pace, not pausing at all, even when I tripped and almost fell. He led me through passages I’d never been through before, and I gasped when we slipped around the corner just as an enormous tail with giant spikes protruding out of it disappeared around a corner a few meters ahead. I shivered, thinking about the secrets this place held. Evidently, dragons were one of them.
At one point, I screamed as a huge spider the size of my head, the stuff of nightmares, came scuttling out of a hole in the wall, right in front of where we were about to walk. The guard even let out a brief grunt of surprise before he pulled a long broadsword out of his belt and sliced the thing’s body in half. The legs continued to wriggle for a moment, and my whole body shook at the sight.
I was ready to go back to my cell. An assumedly nice dinner was not worth this. I was also eyeing the guard with increased trepidation, not knowing where exactly he had been hiding a sword that large. When he touched it to his belt, the sword seemed to just disappear.
Just another mystery I would have to ask Keon about. We really needed to spend more time talking and less time fucking. My list of things to ask about was a mile long at this point.
The spider had finally stopped moving, and the guard continued on as if nothing had happened. I gingerly stepped by the bug, keeping my body glued to the wall so I didn’t have to step directly over him…just in case he deigned to come back to life and attack me. Although the wall probably wasn’t safer, since the spider had come from the wall in the first place.
My nerves were shot at this point, and I began to curse Alaric’s name with every nerve-racking step I took behind the guard. I kept a watchful gaze at the walls and up ahead, preparing myself for any more monsters to appear out of nowhere.
After I’d worked up a light sheen of sweat and was about ready to call the whole thing off, the guard stopped in front of me so suddenly that I almost ran into him. After the spider incident, I’d been trying to stay close, since he was the one with the weapons. I’m sure at this point, he was used to the dangers of this place and was prepared accordingly.
The guard finally locked eyes with me as he gave me an impatient look at my clumsiness. Before I could apologize, the wall in front of us disappeared, and whatever words I was about to say were gone in the face of the beauty in front of us.
It wasn’t just Alaric dressed in a suit that had me awestruck—the whole room was magnificent. The walls were a deep emerald green color and were covered with silver sparkles, almost as if the walls were made completely of jewels.
And maybe they were. I’d never seen anything like it. My gaze traveled to the ceiling and my shock only grew. The ceiling had to be enchanted, like some sort of Harry Potter shit, because it literally looked like there was in fact no ceiling, and instead, we were outside under the night sky. And not just a normal sky, the kind that you could only see when you were out in the middle of nowhere, where there were so many stars visible that it was like the sky was covered in diamonds.
It could have been the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
But then Alaric stepped into my view again, and I really gave him a good look. Maybe he was actually the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
Elegant, yet sculpted in sharp lines, Alaric filled the seam of his tuxedo with a radiating sexuality. Full lips, a perfect smile…a jaw etched from stone, he was like every dream a woman had of what a man could look like.
I found myself staring wide-eyed at him, and I couldn’t even bring myself to be embarrassed about it. My breath hitched as his intense gaze held mine for what felt like an eternity before his gaze started to drift down my body, still covered by the trench coat.
I felt woefully inadequate just then. He was perfect. And even in the sparkling clothes he’d given me, I didn’t compare.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly unhooked my belt and opened the coat before letting it slip off my shoulders. His eyes returned to mine, continuing to weave whatever hypnotic spell he’d begun spinning the moment our gazes met.
“You look…” His voice faded off into a whisper, as if he’d lost the words. The emotion in his voice was enough for me, and I could feel a deep blush spreading in my cheeks and across my chest. I’d always been the type to blush with my entire body, and right now wasn’t any different. It was probably worse. He shook his head, as if he was trying to gather his wits, and then strode towards me confidently and eager in a way that only made my blush deepen.
I looked over to see what the guard thought of this spectacle, but he was gone. It was just Alaric and me.
As soon as Alaric made it to me across the wide expanse of the room, he was in my personal space, pressed against me as close as humanly possible. His large hands engulfed my face as he pulled me in for a kiss. We kissed…long strokes that were hard and deep. His tongue played with mine, making me moan as I demanded more. I was still surprised at how fiercely my body reacted to his presence.
He tasted like everything I’d ever wanted or needed, and all I could think was that I wanted more…so much more. My fingers dove into his hair as we kissed, and even though we were as close together as possible, I pulled him forward even more, like I wanted to make him a part of me.
Alaric was finally the one to break our kiss and step away. A gratified look flashed in his gaze at the sound of discontentment that sparked out of me. His chest rose and fell sharply, as if he was barely hanging on to his control.
“I don’t like being away from you too long,” he said breathlessly, before pushing his hair out of his face and taking a deep inhale as he tried to collect himself. “As much as I want more of your mouth on mine… much more in fact, I did invite you for the purpose of a date.” His lips smirked deliciously, and I was prepared to forget dinner and move onto dessert at that moment.
As if he saw I was about to jump him, Alaric turned and clapped his hands three times. A panel in the wall across from us opened, and an actual suit-wearing waiter stepped into the room, holding a black tray with two silver domes.
Alaric turned back towards me, looking much calmer now, and held out his arm for me to take. It was the most gentleman-like thing I’d ever seen from him. The butterflies in my stomach sparked up even more. There was a table for two draped in a rich, black fabric just beyond Alaric. I’d been so caught up with him and the rest of the room that I hadn’t even noticed it. The waiter set up a stand next to the table and set the tray on top of it, deftly removing the silver lids and revealing plates with what looked like a smorgasbord of various appetizers. Alaric led me to one of the chairs and pulled out my seat so that I could sit down. He kissed my cheek as I scooted closer to the table, and I was barely able to withhold the moan that was threatening to come out just from the brush of his lips against my skin. I shook my head as images of his lips traveling down other parts of my skin barreled through my thoughts. I flushed even deeper as Alaric sat down and shot me a knowing smile, as if he could see the racy images in my mind right now.
The waiter set one of the plates in front of me, and this time, a moan did come out at the delicious smell emanating from the platter. The food in the prison was disgusting, despite what my cockatrice friend thought, and there hadn’t been a time where my stomach hadn’t turned from smelling my meals as they were either brought to my cell or taken
in the mess hall.
The smell coming off the food in front of me had the opposite effect. I thought it smelled even better than Alaric did…and that was saying something. I didn’t even think before picking up my fork and digging in. Alaric continued to watch me with a satisfied gleam in his gaze as I feasted on crab cakes, artichoke and spinach dip, bacon wrapped chestnuts, and steak bites that were so good, I wanted to cry in happiness.
I didn’t stop until every morsel was gone, and even then, I was tempted to lick the plate. Despite the fact that Alaric had been staring at me the whole time, he managed to finish off his plate just a little after I did. The waiter was quick to appear from the side of the room to get our empty plates.
“This chef does spectacular work,” Alaric commented as he wiped his lips with the silk napkin from the table.
“I think that was the best thing I’ve ever eaten,” I gushed. “How in the world did you manage to do all of this? How did you get a chef, and my dress…and everything else?”
Alaric smirked, the infuriating smirk this time, which announced to anybody who saw it that he knew things you didn’t. “I have my ways,” he drawled. I picked up my fork and mimicked stabbing him with it.
“You have to give me more than that,” I demanded with a pout.
Alaric grabbed my fork and spun it around on his fingers as he stared at me thoughtfully. It felt like he was measuring me up, deciding how much I could take. I sat up straighter in my chair, only faintly noticing the waiter setting a mouth-watering salad in front of me.
Alaric waited until the waiter had disappeared behind the wall before speaking. “What have you heard about the southern territories, how they are run?” he asked as he continued to stare at me contemplatively.
“The southern territories?” I asked, confused. “They’re the only territories not controlled by Julian and his crew, I at least know that. They have some sort of warlord leader.” I pursed my lips trying to remember the whisperings I’d heard. I’d known that Julian despised the leader in the southern territories, despised and almost feared him at times.
