Up in the Stars

Life and Death

A quick trigger warning: this chapter has depictions of both sexual assault and violence.

Well.

This chapter was impossible, but here it is.

❂          ❂          ❂

She'd always thought of life and death as opponents.

Foes that had been at war since the beginning of time.

Fighting over souls for centuries.

She believed they were separate.

Polar opposites that could not exist together.

That there was either life or there was death.

She thinks that is why she was so angry with the immortals for killing the boy.

They had robbed him of life.

Enid is thinking of this as she paces the floorboards, moonlight liquid beneath her bare feet.

Life.

Death.

The clanking of her chain annunciating each step she takes.

Her thoughts are nearly too loud for her to hear the squeak of the door swinging open.

For a short moment, she thinks it is them.

It had only been four days since her conversation with Almalfi, but maybe he had been able to put things into motion quicker than he thought.

Something unknots in her chest, relief soothing through her veins like cool water.

The smile burns to ash on her face as she takes in Flynt's form.

Hope sinks, curdling in her stomach.

"I could hear your jingling from down the hall." His smirk is vicious.

Enid steps back as he enters the room, feeling the mattress press against her legs.

His icy eyes study her casually.

"Are you upset?" There is raw curiosity in his gaze.

She isn't sure whether to laugh or scream or cry.

All she can do is stare at him, a look of disbelief alight on her face.

Flynt rolls his eyes as the silence stretches on, an annoyed sigh leaving him.

"Are you displeased with your accommodations? I have given you a nice room, food, a shower, fresh clothes. Really, one might expect some gratitude." Flynt drawls.

A dare in his eyes.

Her hackles raise at the challenge.

Fiery anger prickling underneath her skin.

"You kidnapped me, threatened my friends, and are trying to kill the men I love. So, yes, I think I'm rather displeased with my accommodations!" Her voice rising as she yells at him.

Flynt smiles with twisted amusement as she glares at him.

Taking another step forward, he fiddles with the cufflinks of his shirt.

Enid moves back further on the small bed, crawling backward until her back met the wall.

"Strange how you refer to them as the men you love. Present tense. Last I checked you were running away from them when I found you." He muses, leaning against the post of the bed.

She hadn't noticed the truth of what she said until the syllables had already been formed.

Love.