Daria

The slave girls were already gossiping as Daria entered the kitchen, and they turned to stare at her in contempt.

"There she comes," a girl said.

"Slut," another called.

"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?"

"Look at you! Why do you even bother to wear that dress at all?" another girl said as she scowled at Daria's low cut dress. But Daria calmly ignored them as she prepared an evening snack for Alina.

"If you want to show off your breasts that much you may as well take it off," another girl added and they all laughed.

Daria finished preparing Alina's snack and left the kitchen without a word. She knew very well that these were mere words of jealousy. Of course, she had been here for only a few days, and in no time she had become Alina's favorite. Alina had chosen Daria as a personal servant, which meant she didn't get to do all the tiresome household chores, and she got to be treated more generously. On top of being allowed to dress as she pleased and keep her long hair, she also got to sleep in a special servants' chamber located in the Nordstroms' quarters.

It was almost midnight as Daria lay awake in a large comfortable bed, with only two other maids sleeping next to her. She thought bitterly about the slave girls' mean insults earlier today. Perhaps she should kill them all. She sighed at her stupid thoughts. She would be lucky if she could just kill him and get out of here alive. She trembled. She had never killed a living thing before. It was not as easy as it sounded. And the more she thought about it, the less confident she became. But that was serving her no good. Eventually she would have to do it. That was why she was sent here. Tonight I will do it, she told herself. 

She looked at the two girls next to her, making sure they were fast asleep, before she rose quietly. With a heavy heart, she pulled out a knife she had hidden beneath her pillow, and she secured it in the thick corset she wore around her waist, before she crept out of bed.

She sneaked out of the room and walked through the long corridors, concealed in the shadows of the midnight darkness. Her heart raced, yet she kept going. His room was at the opposite end, but she felt that it was miles ahead, and the more she approached it, the more she trembled.

Her heart raced faster as she finally stopped outside his door. I can do it, I can do it, she kept assuring herself. She did not want to back away at the last moment. Seducing him was not going to be difficult, she reminded herself. She prayed he wouldn't mind that she was a human. Yet even if he did, it would be her job to make him change his mind. She knew she could do it. Seducing men was her field of expertise. And that was the only way she could kill him. When he was lying lost and spent. She would plunge that knife into his heart.

Her own heart pounded and her hands trembled as she knocked and slowly opened the door. The room was dimly lit by a single lantern filled with pale Angel Light. He was still awake as she expected. She could easily spot him sitting at the table in the middle of the room, dressed in a black silk night robe, his long silver hair shining subtly and marking his position. She entered with hesitant steps, but he only looked up at her with a blank expression. She expected to see a surprised look on his face, or even one of intrigue, but not that cold expressionless stare.

"I believe you have come to the wrong room," Mikal said.

"No my Lord. I have come for you," she responded in a low seductive voice. 

His eyes narrowed suddenly. Her heart raced. Why did he seem upset now? She quickly drew the string at the top of her dress and her breasts shamelessly spilled free. But his cold expression did not change. He did not even look at her breasts!

"What is it my lord? Does my sight not please you?" she pouted while she raised her hands to her fully exposed breasts, touching them teasingly. His eyes turned slightly downwards and his lips turned into a faint smile. She smiled back. Good. She had caught his interest. 

He stood up and walked towards her with long graceful steps. He stopped before her and grabbed her jaw. He leaned in close, before he took her lips in a hungry kiss. Her heart hammered. His hands grabbed both her breasts, rubbing and kneading them expertly. She moaned, and she started undoing the lace of her corset. 

It would be the best opportunity to carefully drop her corset to the floor along with the hidden knife, when he was busy playing with her breasts. The knife would remain concealed there until she came back to retrieve it, after he was spent. He was indeed deeply consumed, kissing her lips and caressing her breasts, as she removed her corset.

And it all happened in a fraction of a moment. She gave out a short scream as he suddenly tugged at her hair with one hand, while he held a knife right before her face in his other hand. It was the knife she had safely hidden in her corset! She stared at him in horror. His earlier smile had completely disappeared.

"A girl should not carry around such dangerous toys," he said in a chilling calm voice that sent shivers down her spine. Involuntary tears rose to her eyes. Was that it? She hadn't even done anything and he had discovered her attempt. Her breathing turned into short gasps, and her body shook tremendously.

"What is it? You are trembling," he frowned with mock compassion. "Don't be afraid. I'll be gentle." He moved the knife to her neck, and tears spilled down her face. 

She shut her eyes tight and she could feel the knife's cold blade searing her skin as it slid slowly over her breasts and down to her ribs. And next, a sharp tearing sound made her scream as Mikal cut through her dress. He chuckled and moved the knife lower, before he ripped another section. And soon, the sound of tearing fabric echoed within the room as he tore off her entire dress into countless shreds, until she stood completely naked in the middle of the room, sobbing and trembling in horror. 

Without warning, Daria found herself grabbed by her long hair. Her eyes flew open and she screamed out as she found Mikal dragging her through the room. She continued to cry, and she flinched at a sudden clanking sound where Mikal fiercely slammed the knife onto a table which he passed on his way. He terrified her, looking so calm yet acting so menacingly.

He continued to drag her along, and she kept tripping as she couldn't keep up with his long strides. She was still wondering where he was taking her, when she heard the unlocking of doors, followed by a cold gust of wind blowing against her naked body. She tried to get up to her feet, when she suddenly found her whole body being raised off the ground. And the next moment, she found herself hanging in midair, a steep endless blackness stretching beneath her. She screamed as Mikal held her upside down by her hips over the terrace edge, her back stuck against the cold stone wall behind her while her legs hung up in the air.

She continued to scream, and she tried to look up but her heavy weight held her down. She heard the sound of beating wings, and next, a sudden tug caused her body to swing. Her back bumped against the hard stone, and more screams escaped her. She only managed to lift her head up for the briefest moment, and she found Mikal crouching atop the parapet as he still held her hips, staring down at her with pale unsettling eyes while his wings spread menacingly behind him.

"You're heavy," he said in a chilling voice as he looked at her from above. "I wonder what would happen to you if you slip from my hands. Too bad you don't have wings."

"My Lord! Please!" she screamed through incoherent sobs as she lay dangling in midair against the wall and the nothingness beneath.

"You should stop screaming. You will wake the whole castle," he said, but she only continued to scream and writhe. "You're moving too much also. It will only make you slip faster." And the next moment, he loosened his grip. 

Her body sank suddenly and her heart sank along. A loud shriek escaped her. But he had caught her ankles just in time. Her swinging body hit the hard wall behind her and her head thudded against the solid stone. She cried out.

"That was quite close!" he taunted and she continued to scream. "If you don't stop screaming now I will let go and shut you up forever," his voice grew hoarse, and she froze. 

But her trembling would not stop. She moaned and whimpered as she hung dangling by her feet, swinging against the cold stone wall. All the blood had rushed from her body down to her head, and she felt that it was going to explode from the pressure. She stayed in that position for what seemed like ages, her heart pounding in horror. Mikal had grown completely silent, but he still had his fingers wrapped around her ankles. What was he planning now? She wanted to look up at him. But she dared not move. 

The long silent wait was maddening. The pressure in her head was unbearable, and she could feel a warm liquid trickling through her scalp. Her long whimpers of terror did not stop. Please have mercy. Please. Please! 

A sudden scream escaped her as she felt her body being swept up, and the next moment she found herself seated atop the terrace wall, facing Mikal. Her head reeled. And she quickly dropped herself inside the terrace and knelt to the ground, clutching at the stone floor beneath her. She gasped for breath between her hoarse sobs. But the next moment she found herself being raised once more and seated again atop the parapet.

"No!" Her shriek of horror echoed through the night.

"Who sent you?" Mikal asked. She didn't answer. "All it takes is one push. But I will not catch you this time." He held her by the neck, ready to push her at any moment. "I will ask you one last time. Who sent you?"

"I don't know! He was masked!" she cried. "I couldn't see his face! I swear... I don't know... please don't hurt me..." 

"Was he a winged one? Can you recognize his voice? His height?"

"Yes!" she answered frantically, hoping this would give her a chance to be saved. "He was a winged one... he was tall... and big... a little bigger than you. But his voice... he only whispered...and... he had long dark hair..."

"Is that so?" Mikal said with a deep scowl. She trembled. For the first time he was not trying to conceal his anger.

"I swear that's all I know!" she cried.

"Very well." He released her neck, his face instantly turning back to his usual blank expression.

She looked back at him cautiously as she sat facing him atop the parapet. He would push her at any moment now. She trembled and more tears streamed down her face, while her hands tightly clawed at the stone beneath her. Mikal raised his hand towards her and she closed her eyes tight. She stiffened and cowered, but as his cold hand touched her, she realized that he had pulled her inwards, and she instantly fell onto the cold stone floor inside the terrace. 

She gasped for breath as she lay on her front, her heart pounding hard, and her body shaking violently. Mikal was still standing before her, and she was too terrified to look up at him. She buried her face into the stone floor, but she could still see him in her mind, staring at her with cold citrine eyes.

She flinched as she found her naked body suddenly buried beneath a warm heaviness. She looked up quickly where she found Mikal kneeling before her as he gently wrapped a woolen cloak around her. And to her utmost shock, she found his face leaning in close to hers, where he brushed his lips against her left cheek in a gentle kiss.

"You may leave now," he only whispered very calmly, before he let her go.

***

Daria sat crying in the middle of the staircase within the sky tower, the only place she knew no one would find her. She wrapped Mikal's cloak tightly around her naked body, and she hugged herself in an attempt to stop her body from shaking. She was still horrified at what just happened. She foolishly thought she could easily manage to kill a man. And a man as smart and cunning as Mikal. She shuddered as she recalled how he had held her by her feet over the wall and almost killed her. It was a miracle she was left to live. She trembled every time she remembered those dreadful citrine eyes staring at her so menacingly from above. How stupid she was! 

"Are you alright?" a sweet voice asked, and she turned around in surprise. She found Lucian standing behind her at the top of the stairs in a thin white nightshirt, watching her with innocent blue eyes.

"Why are you crying?" he asked in concern, looking around him to make sure that no one could see them, before he quietly hopped down the stairs. He knelt down to sit next to her, and he gasped as she raised her hand to wipe her tears. He quickly caught her trembling hand and stared at it with round eyes.

"You are bleeding!" he said anxiously, and she looked down bitterly at her bloodstained hand.

"I just slipped... and hit my head," she murmured as she moved her shaking hand to the back of her head where it had hit against the terrace wall earlier. Lucian gasped again, and he quickly tore off the ribbon at the front of his nightshirt before he folded it and pressed it gently against her wound. She winced.

"I'm sorry! Does it hurt you?" he asked in concern and she only shook her head as she continued to weep silently.

"I'm really sorry if I'm hurting you." Lucian said and Daria only looked up at him in wonder. This was the first time anyone had apologized for hurting her! Moreover, a winged one. And apart from having just torn his own nightshirt to treat her wound, he was looking at her now with such a sweet and tender smile that melted her heart.

"I... I could not sleep tonight," Lucian said rather hesitantly and she could tell that he was blushing. "The gargoyles' cries were so loud they kept me awake all night. Did you hear them too?" he asked innocently and she only stared back at him in silence. Those must have been her own screams. "Then I heard your running footsteps through the corridor. What were you doing out there so late at night?" he asked unsuspiciously but she only turned her face away. "Were you unable to sleep too?"

"I must go," she said suddenly. "You are very kind, my Lord. I do not want to cause you any trouble." Or cause herself. He would keep talking all night it seemed. And at any moment they might be heard or seen. 

Daria rose to her feet, and as she turned to leave, she noticed a deep warmth and affection in Lucian's large blue eyes. Her heart fluttered. 

No one had ever looked at her that way before...

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