Valentine.

Renewing our Vows.

For full experience, readers are encouraged to read with music.

I awake to four painfully customary dark walls surrounding me. Squinting around, I use my hand to shield my eyes from the somber, grey light filtering into the room. Once I've allowed my eyes to fully adjust, I peer over to the side of the bed, my eyes quickly finding the familiar gas lamp fastened to the obsidian wall above.

Scanning around me, not much has changed. The four majestic pillars that reach high into the lofty ceiling have been polished to scrutiny while the plush, velvet ottoman lay flush up against the foot of the bed, just like I had left it. Even my old dresser remains in place and intact. My eyes continue their sweep around the room, slowly relocating all of my old items and furniture. The numerous intricate compositions of thorny roses I had painted, also adorn the dark walls, contributing to the room's ever-evident ardor.

Groaning, I slowly peel the heavy duvet from my body. The occurrences of the night before come rushing back to me and I realize I am no longer in my dress from yesterday. Hot tears begin to cloud my vision as I steer my attention to the source of the depressing grey light penetrating the room; The large, steel-framed windows that face me from across the chamber.

A hazy storm brews outside, the gentle streams of its rainfall softly padding against the windows, closely mimicking the tears cascading down my face.

Henry...

I am engulfed with sorrow and regret as I think about how, yet another life had been taken from me yesterday. I hadn't even had the chance to mourn him. The way he made me feel. The way he allowed me to forget. The image of his soft smile graces my mind again as I cry out. His beautiful, beautiful snapshot would now forever be just that. An image burned into my memory. The only vigil I could give him.

After spending a long hour in agony exhausting all the water available in both of my ducts, I finally rise. Though the mahogany-wooden floors emanate a comforting warmth, they fail to bring me any form of solace. Sulking, I cross my way over to the tall casements to take in the all-too-familiar scene on the other side of the glass panes.

Heartbreakingly beautiful Olympus. Elegant trees stand tall outside, contributing to the magnificence of the city. Surrounded by acres of fresh greenery, Valentine's castle spanned almost a quarter of the lands. Massive columns tower up into the sky, the sun's outline around the clouds casting their silver glow against the fortress' structures.

I trace the cool, metal outlines of the panes as I lose myself to the clutches of deep thought. There was no more fighting. He had me again. And this time, there was no escape.

Then, as if on cue, rain and lavender overwhelm my senses once more. Slowly turning, I face his situated form, perched atop my bed.

Wrapping the porcelain robe I had been changed into tighter around my body, I try to ease the shivers dancing along my spine. While he studies me, I try not to writhe away from his intense gaze. He was always so good at instilling fear and hiding his emotions. No longer able to stand his scrutiny, I break the silence.

"How did you know where to find me?" I ask, turning back to the window. To soothe my nerves, I resume tracing the cool metal surface, caressing each and every reinforced latch. "I'll always know where to find you. You can never hide from me, Lillith." he answers serenely before continuing. "I was generous enough to grant you a year away. I promised you, that I would come back for you Papillon. You know I always keep my promises", he responds.

I scoff as my eyes take in the black band that had somehow found its way around my ring finger. Disrupting my hand from its path along the window, I redirect it to the cool metal ring. The 'promise'. He could go see Hades with it.

Angrily, I slip it off and chuck it across the floor. A series of loud clanks resonate throughout the room as it strikes one of the pillars and continues to ricochet its way to the ground.

Within seconds, the band has reappeared on my finger as if it had never left. I turn back to glare at him. "Why, Valentine? What is it you see in me, that you refuse to let me go?" I ask exasperated. "Do not ask me questions you already know the answers to" he warns back.

I'm so sick of his games. His sick obsession, at my expense. Feeling the need to provoke him, I hiss taunting him. "Too bad you weren't early enough to see how Henry had me pinned against--" Within seconds, my back is pressed up against the cool glass. Wild streaks of lighting begin to go off outside as though someone were trying to bring about an apocalypse. He probably was.

Valentine is fully aware that I am only bluffing, but that doesn't stop the deadly, rising temperature of his body as his frame presses flush against my front while he towers over me. Backing my head into the window, I turn away as he brings his face to mine.

Using both hands, he slowly caresses the length of my arms beginning at my shoulders and trailing his way down. Once he finally reaches my wrists, he squeezes and wraps his strong fingers tightly around them before roughly bringing them up and slamming them to the sides of my head. Something inside my core churns in satisfaction at his apparent vexation. I couldn't hurt him, but I could always toy with his temper.

His breathing comes heavy and as his sneer bores into the side of my head, I allow myself to revel in his anger and jealousy.

After a long pause of silence, I feel a sudden shift in his energy. Turning to look at him, our noses touch and as I continue to peer up at him, I can sense the gears turning in his head as his anguished features slowly settle into a contemptuous smirk.

His eyes light up with something I can't yet comprehend as he redirects his gaze to the area just below my neckline. Why isn't he angry? It is only when I feel the growing, burning sensation across the right part of my collar bone, that I realize how grave of a mistake I have just made.

Horror seizes me as I peel my eyes away from his and slowly look down at my chest. The growing red glow radiating off my skin draws pain and blood in its wake as it continues to trace its way along my collarbone.

I try to wriggle and struggle out of his grasp, but he is much too strong. His smile grows wider as that crazed look that had chased me away, returns to his chilling face. His eyes, challenging that of the speed of lightning, are now flashing between all the light and dark hues of violet on the spectrum.

I let out a loud, useless cry as he carries on with his 'project', the searing pain growing worse, as I feel myself losing focus. Tears have long stained my cheeks, but they were of no use. No amount of kicking, thrashing, or screaming could stop him.

It isn't until after another long, agonizing moment, that his eyes finally return to their normal shade. He grins down at the flesh on my collarbone in twisted satisfaction. Though most of the pain has dulled, I can still feel the faint humming of the fresh wound searing across my skin.

Fearing what I may be met with upon looking down, I resolve to instead, study the face of the monster before me. To think I used to be in love with him. He was my world, until he took just that away from me. Once his true colors had seeped through his mask, it was already too late. I fell in love with a monster, and now I was left to reap what I had sown.

Leveling my gaze once more, he speaks.

"It seemed you had forgotten who you belong to Papillon. Accept this as my gift to you. A gentle reminder. One you won't be so quick to forget", he breathes out as he closes his eyes and rests his forehead against mine.

In this very moment, I wish I could go back. I wish I could rewind time and travel back to 5 years ago when I ventured into a cave back on Earth and befriended a stranger. One who, little did I know then, was a powerful god who had escaped the confines of his kingdom to seek comfort in the mortal world. A god in distress. I knew I should have turned back, but my stubbornness had drawn me to him.

That very night, into that sullen cavern I stumbled. Here I was now, bound to the consequences I must pay for refusing to turn and leave.

A lesson I learned much too late, for now I was branded.