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XII. Punished
I blindly followed Yuan as we entered through the balcony into the great hall. Chris and Ella were following behind us. It was too silent. Even the music in the hall had stopped. I could feel every eyes on me as we traversed the center of it. Up ahead, in a throne placed in a middle of a platform three steps higher from the ground was Roarke. He looked gorgeous and terrifyingly in a foul mood.
There were people gathered around him, offering things -gifts maybe but his attention was not on them for his gaze was trained on me. I held in my breath as we approached the throne. The murmurs stopped completely and I fidgeted on my spot, wishing for the second time that night if the earth could open up and devour me.
Roarke rose smoothly from his throne. His electric blue eyes were cold and swirling on its depth was his anger on a tight leash.
Yuan bowed but I was too stunned to move and follow him.
"Oh my! That foolish woman does not respect the master." I heard a female voice's said. I looked at my right side and found a girl with fiery red hair looking at me with scorn. I instinctively glared back. What the hell was her problem?
"You should bow before him, woman." One of the old men gathering around Roarke said coldly. "Like this." He said and demonstrated it slowly, mockingly.
I gritted my teeth and instead of following his lead, raised my chin high and stared defiantly ahead. Shocked and outrage gasps resounded in the room.
"Do you not think you should punish this female, Roarke?" the old man said condescendingly.
My heart beat started to rise. Roarke's eyes narrowed, the swirling anger in his eyes stilled in focus.
"And what punishment do you think befits her?" he asked coldly.
The old man's eyes lit with malice.
"You should sent her to the dungeons. Chain her with silver." He said. Murmurs filled the room.
"Silver. The very touch burns!"
"I would rather die quickly than be chained by it."
I shivered in fear and took a couple of steps back. The guards were quick to stop me and pushed me forward. I almost stumbled at the foot of the platform had I not caught myself.
"Tell me Malcolm, do you know this female standing before us?" Roarke asked.
The old man, Malcolm shook his head and smirked. "I do not. She must be of the lowest ranking family. You should not have invited such filth in this celebration."
Roarke hummed. He stood up slowly.
"Shall I tell you who she is?"
Roarke who was still wearing his nonchalant façade started to descend the steps. He stopped in front of me, our toes touching. He looked down at me intently and I almost drowned in his blue eyes and primal scent. Yet there was something in him that told me I was safe, how incredulous that may sound.
Malcolm glared at me. "I do not wish to know her name."
"This woman is Honey LeChat. She is my first turned." Roarke announced, ignoring Malcolm's words. He then looked back at him, blue eyes swirling to gold. I could see his shoulders were tense with fury but I am now sure it was not directed at me.
"Do you wish me to punish this filth Malcolm?" he asked in a low voice. I flinched at the reference he used. The hall was silent. No one dared make a sound.
I watched in fascination as Malcolm's face wrinkled in incredulity and then fear. He opened his mouth yet no words came out.
"Take him to the dungeons. I'll deal with him later." Roarke's voice thundered. The two guards holding me rushed forward and ceased the old man, dragging him away from the hall.
I couldn't breathe. What the hell just happened?
Roarke glared at me. He didn't said anything at all but his heated gaze was enough to tell me that I would regret everything later. I jumped back when I felt his hand on mine. Yet, he merely stepped closer and took the sandals from my hand that I had forgotten to slip back on.
"She's barefooted! Goodness!" a voice from the crowd said and I instantly felt my cheeks burn.
Don't mind those baboons! Wait-What is he doing?
Roarke started to kneel down on one knee. He looked at me imploringly as if he was asking for permission when in truth his cold eyes were telling me to slip my feet on the sandals quietly or I will regret it immensely.
I gulped and with shaky hands, parted my skirt and offered my bare foot forward. It may have looked romantic for the crowd but not for me. As his cold hands touched my feet, a shiver of fear run down my spine.
He ever did slowly slip my foot back on, clasping the straps back tightly. He did the same to the other and when it was all over, I exhaled the breath I didn't know I was holding. He stood up, towering over me.
A menacing smirk quirked the side of his red lips. To others, it may have looked like he was just smiling down at me. "Do not provoke me. You will get the punishment you were asking for by disrespecting me." He promised darkly, I shivered in fear.
The music started to play again and almost too soon, the center of the hall was once again filled with dancing couples. Roarke turned his back to me and swiftly moved back to his throne, started to discuss things with the old men. They were all dismissing my presence just like that. My hands balled into tight fists.
"Honey, come. The night is too good to waste. Let's leave the men to their boring talks." Ella suddenly appeared on my side and pulled me to the buffet table.
The food looked delicious but my appetite was clearly gone.
"Oh come on. Cheer up. Don't let that guy to get to you. Do you want me to give you a tip? After all we are alike." She said and passed me a plate. I frowned at her.
"What do you mean we are alike?"
"I am a mortal once. Chris turned me and the rest was history."
"You're human too?" I asked in disbelief. It didn't occur to me that there is someone like me.
Ella nodded. "Oh yes and I never wanted this life too. At first. And then I fell in love with that wolf and everything changed." She shrugged her shoulders and started piling food in her plate.
Well, I will never ever fall in love with a sadistic, not to mention egocentric monster.
"W-was he not cruel to you?" I asked instead, swallowing the bitterness in my tone.
Ella smirked. "He is and still is an ass. Though Roarke's evilness is in a whole different level."
My shoulders slumped in defeat. I was holding on to the idea that maybe Roarke will become nicer. Now all that hope seemed to vaporize in thin air.
"Don't look like that. You have your advantage. You are his first. You have a connection to him that transcends his connection to others or any other persons he wish to turn next."
I bit my lip. What kind of advantage is that? I'd rather die than have a connection with him.
Ella made it her job to fill my plate with food as we went along the buffet table.
"What tip can you give me? I don't want to get punished." I confessed. Just the thought of it makes my knees tremble in fear of what he might do.
"Touch him." She said.
I gawked at her. What kind of tip was that? How could I touch a person who wants nothing more than to hurt me?
As if she could read my thoughts, Ella shook her head.
"You don't have a lot of choices. The connection between a turned mortal and her maker is strengthened by intimacy, by touching Roarke, you'll divert his attention to less cruel things."
"But divert his attention to what?" I asked slightly nervous by just looking at the mischievous glint in her eyes.
"You'll know once you get there." Ella winked and pulled me to one of the couches. I looked down at my plate full of food and then to Roarke who was discussing things with Chris and the old men.
Intimacy?
How could I ever be intimate with a guy who kills?
As if he could feel my stare, he looked straight at me. The color of his eyes had turned back to its electric blue hue.
"W-what will happen to Malcolm, Ella?" I asked, my gaze darting away from his hypnotizing ones.
"Well I guess he just have to learn his place after disrespecting you like that."
"But I disrespected Roarke first. I-I don't understand."
"You are his first turned. Even if he wanted to, his animal instinct wouldn't permit it. You are a part of him as much as he is yours. "
I nibbled at my lower lip and sighed. "He will punish me later. "
Ella pat my hand. "Punishments with your maker. That's not so bad. You'll need to endure it for a year."
I frowned over at her. I heard Jonah saying the same.
"What about this one year limit?" I asked in earnest.
"The connection will pull you to each other strongly for a year and then it weakens and finally wears off. It will depend on both of you if you want to develop a more lasting connection. We call that phase the bonding phase. "
Bonding phase. I repeated it in my mind and bit my tongue. It sounded surreal.
"After that phase comes the adjustment stage. We'll talk about it later. In the bonding phase your instinct will make you crave him."
I looked at her aghast. That explains why I am attracted to him.
"Well you are doing a pretty good job of defying him but you can't do that for long."
My eyebrows furrowed at her choice of words.
"You will soon shift Honey and when that happens, you won't be able to stay away from him."
I felt the defiance rising in my mind. No! No! I will not give in to that man! I would rather die.
"I will not yield to him. Never." I vowed.
"Then be ready to feel tremendous pain. It won't kill you but you'll wish you're dead." Ella warned and my blood run cold.
Can I really take it?