Page 6 of Divine Violence
How did this get here? The Adair family was the most powerful family in the city right now, and the heir, Kairos Adair, was an enigma to all who lived here.
He rarely ever stepped into the limelight, so much so, that the local newspapers named him a beast, mentioning that he must look like one if he was never to be seen by another person. I’d also heard the rumors that the Adair family got themselves involved in the Underground World a long time ago, but those were just rumors. Right?
My eyes kept flickering over the words written with golden ink. When I turned my head to the side to look into the box, I realized that it wasn’t just some random fabric sitting inside.
I pulled it out, only to see that it was a midnight black dress with long, black tulle, with crimson peeking from beneath. My hand trembled as I ran it over the corset, over the black flowers that decorated it with equally dark leaves. It was both revealing and modest with the way the corset was cut in a deep V through the middle, leaving little to the imagination.
Two thin straps connected the corset with the back, decorated with black vines. As I turned the dress, I could see that the back was completely open.
The light in the room flickered as thunder struck somewhere in the distance. My breathing turned shallow as my eyes zeroed in on the last piece inside the box. A golden mask sat there, decorated with intricate swirls and patterns, glinting underneath the soft glow of the light.
I ran my fingers over the cold surface of the mask, utterly speechless, but at the same time—excited.
It wasn’t until I saw the final note just underneath the mask that my excitement started mixing with dread and fear.
The Maiden and the wolves. Are you ready to play the game, little sparrow?
What in the fuck?
My grandfatheronce told me only people with no sins and no regrets walked with their heads held high, because no one could ever tell them that they didn’t deserve everything they had.
What would he think of me now as I walked down the docks with my head lowered down, covered with the hood of my jacket, while the sins of yesterday and all the secrets I’d held close to my heart fought for dominance somewhere deep inside? Would he be proud of who I’d become? Would any of them be?
The cold metal of a Swiss pocketknife pressed against my thigh, strapped with the old belt I pulled out from my wardrobe. I should’ve torn that invitation up as soon as I’d read it, but something wicked, something dark, whispered, pulled and taunted, and I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
I shouldn’t be here, walking toward the large group of people gathered in front of the massive, black boat that would take us all the way to Quell Island. Rich and entitled people had that air around them that made you know, even without knowing who exactly they were. That you were in the presence of someone that considered themselves to be better than you.
As I closed the distance between us, I could see the wide-eyed stares on those that held their masks in their hands, no doubt wondering, much like me, what the fuck was I doing here.
Females gathered in small groups leered at me, while men openly ogled me. My gut churned, threatening to spill the few miserable pieces of bread I’d managed to eat today. I wanted to make myself invisible, smaller somehow, tucked into the dark corner as an observer of these people. They both fascinated and angered me with their judging eyes and the whispers rolling off their tongues, but I reveled in the knowledge that they had no idea who I was.
I recognized some of them.
Tycoons, royalties in their own way, men and women powerful enough to have a say about things in today’s society, yet most of them kept their mouths shut. They hid behind the iron gates of their perfect homes, uncaring for the ones living on the other side of their picture-perfect lives.
Because on the other side, where the rest of us lived, perfection was only a faraway dream.
I might not have known the struggles of group homes when I was a child, but I knew now. I could see Vera and the other guardians at home, struggling to make ends meet.
Government funding was not enough for the amount of abandoned children who needed a safe place to live in. We needed food, clothes, money, to at least survive, yet these people that could help, that could ease the suffering of millions without even making a dent in their own pockets, simply turned their heads to the other side. It was easier pretending that nothing ever touched you, rather than helping those in need.
I despised them.
Their beauty was only skin deep, stained with their selfishness and cruel acts. I was an outsider here, a lost lamb within a pack of wolves that all knew each other in one way or another. Yet for all my wrongdoings, I could still sleep at night, knowing that I did everything I could to cleanse this earth from people like them.
I was sure that they couldn’t say the same.
I passed next to a stunning blonde whose smiling face graced the billboard above the Downtown Cinema. She looked ethereal on that billboard, as if she came from some other universe, giving us mere mortals a taste of perfection just by looking at her.
Anastasia Dawson, if that was even her real name.
But as her eyes connected with mine and those lips pulled into an ugly sneer, I knew that the only other universe she could’ve walked in from was hell and there was no hiding it.
She didn’t need to know my name or where I came from to know that I didn’t belong in their circles, and frankly, I didn’t even want to try to fit in. If it wasn’t for the sheer curiosity that would’ve eaten me alive had I not come here, I wouldn’t be here.
People from my world didn’t mix with them and I now dreaded the rest of the night, seeing that I was the only one that didn’t belong here. I was wearing the nicest dress, but it was hidden by this ugly jacket I found in my wardrobe. I was wearing the golden mask that came in the package, but I was still me.
Clothes couldn’t hide what lay deep beneath our skin, and these people… They were the vultures I would’ve otherwise avoided for the rest of my life.
