Chapter four

Edric

Silence. Thick, suffocating, unrelenting silence, just how I liked it.

I could tell she was uncomfortable. She dared not breathe heavily, and she stuck to only one corner of the room. It was almost as if one step from her would have me or Muzan pouncing

I didn’t move either. I didn’t utter a single word. I simply kept my eyes on the parchment on my desk, and let my quill trace lines of whatever came to my head.

“She thinks she is about to die,” thick, guttural groans only I could hear cackled. It was Bane, my wolf.

“You blame her?” I hummed internally, holding back a chuckle.

I could smell it on her. The dread stuck to the back of her throat like the bitter aftertaste of rum, and her pulse ran miles faster than Bane in the forest, chasing after a boar.

“She fears us.”

I didn’t respond. Of course, she feared us. They all did. In fact, at this point, it felt necessary. The more they feared him, the more likely they were to stay away from him, and as long as they did, he was welcome to the idea of the terror his presence had on others.

She hesitated, shifting her weight from foot to foot, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides.

Then, her gaze flickered away from me, darting around the room, taking in the trinkets, the amulets, the relics of past lives long since discarded. And then, she saw them.

The skulls.

Her breath hitched. The scent of panic spiked, sharp, and bitter, and Bane let out a satisfied growl.

"Does it bother you?" he asked me.

“No. It serves its purpose. They leave us alone.”

“Good. Let them think what they want. Let them believe in the monster.”

I let my quill still for a moment, allowing her fear to settle in, allowing the weight of my presence to crush down on her fragile form. I expected silence from her. Maybe quiet sobbing. Maybe even pleas. Mortals always did those when they were around him, begging for their meaningless lives.

Instead, she did something that made Bane perk up with interest.

She spoke.

"L-Look," she stammered, her voice too high, too desperate. "If you’re planning to eat me, you should know... I wouldn’t be a sweet delicacy. Not at all."

The quill paused mid-stroke.

Interesting, Bane mused.

I lifted my gaze to her then, barely for a second, but it was enough. Enough to see the fire beneath the terror, the sheer audacity of a girl who stood on the precipice of death and decided to talk her way out of it.

She kept going. Words spilled from her lips like a rushing river, uncontrolled, frantic. "I’ve been stubborn all my life! Just ask anyone. I argue I complain, I refuse to obey orders... it’s in my blood! If you eat me, my meat will probably taste sour. And stringy. And tough. Honestly, you should probably just... just throw me back outside. There are probably deer or rabbits or...other people…my father…he…he is fatter than I am…"

I stared at her.

She stared back.

I wanted to say something. To tell her to look back down, and that she was a stupid child for making such utterances, but Bane tsked against it.

Bane rumbled with amusement. “She’s different.”

“Irrelevant,” I told him.

I lifted my hand, signaling for Muzan. "Lead her to her room," I ordered. "And bring her back when she doesn’t look like something that’s been dragged through a forest."

I heard her inhale sharply, preparing to argue. "In my defense, I was dragged through a forest…"

I didn’t react.

Muzan, however, was entertained which was rare.

The moment the door clicked shut, the spiral began. It was downwards, dragging me towards an endless pit of nothingness, almost as usual. My hands curled into fists, and I clenched them as hard as I could to avoid roaring and startling our new guest.

Bane went silent.

He knew it was best to leave me alone when I was like this.

But why? Why was I like this?

I jumped up from my seat in an effort to bring myself back to reality. My breath began to shorten, and my vision began to dim.

This feeling. It had been a while. Darkness, dear friend.

“Years.

Centuries.

This is what we are.” Bane whispered. His voice was my tether, keeping me from crossing the line of insanity that would have since taken me.

I should have killed the girl.

I should have made an example of her. Reminded the world why they whispered my name like a curse in the night.

I should have…

“She’s coming.”

Bane’s voice cut through my spiraling thoughts like a blade.

I took a deep, sharp breath, locking away the chaos.

When the door creaked open once more, I was sitting, composed, my gaze back on my work, as if nothing had happened at all.

She hesitated in the doorway, looking...clean.

Presentable, lustful, even…and I thought, maybe I could just…

“Bane, stop!” I yelled internally. It was his lust.

“You do not see what I see right now,” he drooled at the sight of the beautiful woman.

I shook my head. Of course, he thinks that.

I pointed without looking up.

She followed my gesture, her gaze landing on the table, piled with dishes and remnants of meals long forgotten.

"Clean it up," I said. "Then tidy the rest of the room."

Silence.

I didn’t have to look at her to know she was struggling to process the command. The scent of confusion was thick in the air.

"Clean?" she echoed, dumbfounded.

I barely spared her a glance. "Did I stutter?"

Muzan, ever silent, remained impassive at her side.

Her mouth opened. Then closed. Then opened again.

I didn’t know whether I should be entertained by her disbelief.

Or irritated.

She had expected horror.

She had expected bloodshed.

Instead, she got dishes.

And somehow, that unsettled her more than anything else.