The Varied Path (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfiction)

Chapter 45: Enemy's Den

When Calista came to, she was lying on a thin mattress, springs digging into her back. Her arms were pinned above her head, and she couldn't see. Her sight was obscured by some kind of burlap.

Her mouth was chalky, as if she had just ate a mouthful of dust. She thrashed her head, violently trying to rid herself of that awful taste. Pulling at her arms in a vain attempt to scrape it off her tongue, the sound of metal clanking reverberated in the air.

"Aw kitten, what's the matter? It doesn't like my present? How selfish."

Her blood ran cold at the sound of his haunting voice, it was unpleasantly grating against her ears. Even with her vision gone, she could tell that he was on the right side of her. Judging by the pitch in his voice, he wasn't that far away. 

She had been ready for it, for him, but the preparation wasn't enough for the real thing. It still brought her back. Choosing to focus on his odd choice of words instead of the panic rising in her chest, she found herself zeroing in on one thing.

Present, what does he mean 'present'? The restraints or this powdered chalk in my mouth? It tastes like dust...

She spat out as much as she could, but if it was a paralyzing agent, she was sure she would've felt its effects by now.

Her measured thoughts enabled her to clear the anxiety induced haze. For now.

Calista whimpered, curling her body in a ball on the bed that she was currently on. Flashbacks that she had no context or memory of were plaguing her mind. When she tried to instinctively move her hands, they were stopped once again. They were restrained above her head, the irons around her wrists cuffed to the headboard.

She started to hyperventilate as she realized she was immobilized with nowhere to go, in a room where she was completely at his mercy. Her panic wasn't fake, but she was both suppressing it and channeling it in steady bursts for her own benefit, all the while appearing as though she was a victim; caught in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Calista knew she was playing with fire, but it was the only way to convince him. Fear couldn't be replicated, it had to be authentic to some degree. With any luck, the man wouldn't know the difference. 

Kum-ji grinned sadistically at the sight of her trembling before him. The power that came with forcing a woman to submit was like no other, and he was pleased to see her broken. "I see you remember our last encounter. Good, good, maybe I'll make you mine then after all seeing as how Lord Soo-won dumped you once he became king."

That's not how it happened!! Calista wanted to scream at him before she remembered she had nothing to prove to him.

She was there for one reason and one reason only: to be a distraction so Yoon and Yona had enough time to set off the firework.

Counting in her mind to calm herself down as she felt herself lose a bit of control, she blocked out his voice focusing on her breathing. It steadied in a couple moments, but her short-lived peace was broken by a harsh command. 

"Get up."

Something whacked her flank and she flinched, trying to move away from it. He hit her again, and she cried out, the bruises still fresh from the other day.

His dark chuckle made her knees knock together. Rough fingers snatched the blindfold away. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was finally able to make out his figure. She squeezed her eyes shut.

Besides him, there was nothing else in the room and the cot she was on. The place looked startling similar to the dungeon he had her in before, but there was no way she could be back down there.