CRIMSON RUIN

"Miss, are you okay?"

The maid's second inquiry came out as a whisper that barely cut through the thick silence once enveloping the woman,

"Miss?" She called out with a voice carrying a thread of concern as she hesitated in the doorway.

Crystal did not turn.

She could not.

The spilled perfume soaked into the hem of her gown, its once-delicate scent now overwhelmimg and suffocating.

And her trembling fingers hovered above the vanity's surface, the cool glass smeared with a handprint she did not remember making.

"No, I'm not okay! I'm scared silly, do I look okay to you?" She wanted to scream but the words were lodged in her throat as though she'd swallowed a thorned plant.

The ache in her chest forced her spine straight, and she met the maid's wide brown eyes in the mirror.

"I'm fine," she rasped in a parched voice, knowing that the maid would not believe it, and neither did she.

The girl hesitated before stepping inside, glancing at the untouched trays of blood left by the other servants.

"You haven't eaten, is everything not to your liking? Do you prefer a specific kind of blood?" She asked cautiously as she glanced between Crystal and the doorway as though she could let out a growl at any moment and gobble her up like a dragon.

Crystal's stomach twisted at her question as hunger clawed and gnawed at her insides with a feral desperation that she refused to acknowledge.

"I'm not hungry."

The maid's expression darkened with worry as she immediately started to fidget with her apron

"Miss, you need to..."

"Where is Saint?" The question left her lips as a breathless demand in a voice as brittle as cracked glass.

The maid flinched in fear. "His Majesty is attending to an urgent matter. He cannot be disturbed."

Crystal's heart clenched.

He left me here?

"What kind of matter?" she pressed on, ignoring the way her pulse quickened as the thought of him abandoning her slowly drove her insane.

"A delegation from the western border has arrived. There are whispers of betrayal" she explained before pausing to think, as if contemplating is she should tell the lady this information or not.

"Lord Desmond suspects an internal coup." The chambermaid added as she realized that even if she wasn't supposed to tell her, she'd already done that by mistake.

However, the words she bolted out barely registered in Crystal's head.

None of it mattered.

Only one thought burned in her mind.

"I need to see him." She demanded as she stepped forward.

"I'm afraid that isn't possible, miss." The maid whispered apologetically as she moved to block her path.

Crystal was not going to listen to that.

So she shoved past before the girl could even think of reacting, her bare feet striking against cold stone as she rushed into the dimly lit corridors.

The flickering candlelight cast long, wavering shadows that would have scared her on a normal day but she refused to let that slow her down .

The closer she got to the end of the hall, the hotter her blood boiled, she could feel him, he was near.

"I have to see him" she whispered to herself as she turned a corner and slammed into an unmovable force.

Two guards.

They didn't speak and they didn't need to.

Their stance and the cruel glares on their faces was a wall she could not break.

"Let me through," she ordered in a voice tight with restrained fury.

"You are not permitted to leave your chambers." The one on the left informed her as he took one step towards her.

"You can't keep me locked away" She yelled as her hands curled into anxious fists.

The guard said nothing and only met her gaze with unwavering detachment.

Crystal tried to push past them, but a firm grip closed around her wrist and yanked her back.

"Let me go!" she cried with desperation as she thrashed wildly in their arms, but they were stronger and unyielding.

She kicked, twisted and fought as they bound her with a rope that burned against her wrists as it's fibers dug into her skin.

"Take her back," the first guard ordered.

"No, you can't do this, I have to see him!" She yelled, tasting the saltiness of her tears that were now freely streaming down her cheeks.

A sharp tug sent her stumbling, and gasping for breath as the man dragged her back to her chambers before tossing her in.

And the door slammed shut.

The lock clicked.

While the finality of it sent a crack through her chest.

This was it. She was going to be locked up in here for centuries,

All because of him.

The very thought of that made her a scared little lamb as she threw herself against the wood countless times, fury burning through her veins as she screamed,

"You can't do this!"

There was no answer, because they had already did just that.

She collapsed to the floor and let her forehead rest against the door.

The silence stretched thin into minutes as her gentle sobs filled the room with a sorrowful tune.

Hours later, and only the sniffles of a tired woman could be heared.

Then... Footsteps.

The latch turned and the door was eased open.

She didn't need to turn to know he was there.

Saint's presence filled the room like a silent and unavoidable creeping fog.

His silver gaze swept over her bound wrists, her tear-streaked face, the tremor in her limbs.

Only a keen-eyed person would have been able to catch on to how his left eye twitched when he saw her like so.

And he refrained from asking because he already had an idea of who did it,

One thing was certain, they would pay for bruising what was rightfully his.

So he schooled his anger and let his expression remain unreadable when he focused on her.

Sleeping beauty finally wakes," he mused in a voice that was mocking and laced with something dangerous and unspoken.

Her head whirled around to face him as her chest rose and fell with the shallow breaths that she took.

"Get out." She screamed at him with her cry-torn voice.

Saint tilted his head as his gray eyes caught the golden hue of the lamp.

"I don't recall giving you permission to order me around, Eve."

That name.

That cursed name.

"I am not yours to name." She whispered through gritted teeth.

He stepped forward,

He was so close that she could feel the ghost of his warmth and the scent of dark spice and sin that wrapped around her like a whisper of possession.

"You are what I made you," he murmured, crouching down as his fingers reached out to tuck a stray curl behind her ear.

"I never asked for this!" Crystal yelled as she recoiled from his oppressive comfort in a voice raw with anger and grief.

Saint's expression did not change at the distance she put between them.

"No," Saint agreed with her as he tilted his head. "But you didn't stop me, either." He deadpanned with a grin.

Something inside her splintered.

The truth of it; his words, her hunger and the evidence of a pull she could not deny, cut deeper than any warrior's blade.

But, how dare he?

"You had me locked away like a prisoner!" Crystal yelled as she surged to her feet with newfound strength, despite the restraints that encouraged the fury and desperation clashing within her.

"And you should have stayed in your chambers." Saint answered as he closed the door behind him with an infuriating click, his face impassive when he did so.

"And let you shut me out? You left me alone, After everything" She complained after a sharp, bitter laugh escaped her.

"I needed you." She whispered in a voice that faltered as it broke against the weight of the words it carried.

She swallowed hard and avoided his eyes as his gaze flicked to the rope still binding her wrists.

"And you never listen to me?" He stated as he took a few slow and deliberate steps forward.

She flinched when he reached for her.

Her reaction was not borne out of fear, but from something far worse that she couldn't name.

But he didn't grab her.

Instead, he crouched slightly, and let his gloved fingers graze the knot.

A single pull of the right end was all it took, and the restraints loosened and fell away.

The sudden freedom sent a strange ache through her.

She should have been relieved. Instead, she felt untethered.

"You don't get to decide what I do," she whispered as she rubbed down on her sore wrists.

Saint tilted his head. "Don't I?"

That simple question was so calm and assured that it set her blood aflame.

"You are not my master," she snapped. "You are not my god. You cannot lock me away just because you feel like it!"

His lips curved into something sharp and sinister. "You forget where you are, Crystal. You forget who I am."

Her nails dug into her palms. "I am the one who forgot?" A hollow, bitter laugh escaped her. "You abandoned me, You took me, destroyed everything I was, and then left me to rot in this room!"

Something flickered in his gaze as he watched her cry, though it was too quick to ascertain what emotion coursed through him at that moment.

"I did what was necessary."

She let out a sharp breath as she whispered through tightened jaw muscles. "You always do."

His presence became suffocating and pressed into her bones like an unshakable weight.

She had begged for him just hours ago.

Now, she wanted nothing more than to tear him apart.

"Just leave me" she whispered before she would start something they would both regret.

"You really want me to leave, Eve?" He whispered, staring straight into her eyes, as if searching for some sort of lie.

"Yes"

"No, I'm not leaving you" He stated stubbornly,

"Leave"

"No"

"Just-" she whispered in an exasperated tone.

"No" he cut her off, "you need me right now" he added to make her see reason.

"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND, SAINT? I DONT WANT TO EVER SEE YOUR GODS-FORSAKEN FACE AGAIN" She screamed in a loúd voice that shocked both him and herself.

His intelligent eyes narrowed down on her panting form as she glared at him like a cornered bull,

And for a long moment, a depressing beat of silence stretched between them, seamlessly heavy and unforgiving.

Then, to her shock, Saint stepped back gracefully, his healthy hair brushing his mid-back as he did so.

"Very well, if you insist" He said in a cold whisper that send thrills of ice along her spine as his undecipherable gaze lingered on her bruised forehead a second longer.

Then he turned and walked away.

And the woman let out a sigh she didn't know she had been holding as the door closed behind him with quiet finality.

Crystal had won.

So why did it feel like she had lost?