Page 51 of The Black Lotus
I will find you, Aster.
TWENTY-SEVEN
ASTER
This is fucking bullshit. Rage simmers beneath my skin, my flesh feeling tighter than my bindings.How could I let anyone take me? How could I let my guard down?I was so worried about keeping Serena safe, about being on alert for her, that I never thought anyone would dare to come for me.Who is stupid enough to incur my mother’s wrath and face my blade?Not that I have my blade to use, but I’ll improvise. I’m nothing if not creative with my kills.
My legs are numb from sitting in this chair for so long, rope bites against my skin with every little movement I make. I stretch my neck side to side, forcing my muscles to relax, for my body to remain calm. Focused. Ready. The room is so dark it’s hard to make out anything, and the person who has taken me has yet to reveal themselves.If they’re not showing their cards, I’m not playing mine.
Even with no one in the room, the hairs on the back of my neck raise, alerting me someone is watching. Waiting. Calculating my moves, planning for the right moment to strike. Calming my breathing, I focus on everything I can see and hear around me, but the room remains silent, my shallow breathingthe only sound.Now I know how my victims felt.It's unnerving, but this killer picked the wrong one to catch.
They took me to get to Serena. To try and lure her out to save me. My jaw ticks. I know how Serena is; she will most definitely find where I am and try to save the day.I have to get out of here before she finds me. I can’t let anything happen to her.
My eyes spring open when I hear footsteps approaching, the steps sounding as if they are coming from a woman, given how quiet they are. My back straightens at the opportunity to kill a woman again. A woman who deserves it.
I look up and see light after light turn on as the figure strides closer and closer. Squinting, I’m unable to make out who the person is until the tip of a katana touches my chest. I tip my head towards the blade as my caged beast rattles the bars begging to be set free. “If you don’t move your weapon from my chest.” My eyes collide with shrouded ones filled with hatred. “You’ll find it embedded in yours.” She doesn’t respond to my threat, just assesses me instead.
Breaking her stare, I study my captor, looking for any hint of who was ballsy enough to kidnap me. She has long, straight, black hair, dark brown eyes, and a tiny build, but if she got me here without any help, she has some muscle hiding beneath her kimono. Seeing her weapon and the way she dresses, I know exactly who this woman is. I grit my teeth, irritation bubbling to the surface, begging to be snuffed out by the rage wanting to consume me.
“Hello, Aster.”
“Dishonored Bushi.”
A wicked smile curves her lips. “Ah, you’ve heard of me. That’s good.” She lifts her sword, forcing me to lift my chin. “But I prefer my victims to call me by my true name since it is the last one they’ll ever learn.”
I scoff. “If you think you will get me to kill myself, you’re wrong.”
She tsks and shakes her head slowly. “Oh. No,youare the one who is wrong. You won’t die in the way my other victims have. I have special plans for you.”
I hiss as her blade slices my chest, blood seeping into the dark fabric. My arms strain against my bindings, my heart racing as pain courses through me. Based on all the information I’ve gathered, which isn’t much, all her victims are only marked once with a deep and jagged cut by the blade she has them end their lives with. She has never once cut them like she’s cutting me now. Tugging against my restraints, a new sense of urgency to get out courses through me, but I can’t show her any semblance of fear. She can’t see me shaken, which is what I assume she wants.Relax Aster.
“Watching you bleed is the satisfaction I’ve been craving for a long time,” she muses.
Has she been waiting all this time for a victim she could bleed? One she could hurt? Am I just a guinea pig for what she has planned for Serena?
A deranged laugh escapes me. “If you think hurting me will help you get Serena, it won’t. Taking me will only end in your death, but I’ll let you choose from my hands or hers.”
Now she’s the one laughing as she sheaths her sword. “You think I took you to get to her?” Her finger taps her lower lip as she mumbles, “Though, I can see why you would think that.” She braces both her hands on the side of my chair, whispering words that send chills up my arms. “I don’t care about your mother’s bounty on your little girlfriend. You were the one I’ve always wanted.”
My eyebrows shoot into my hairline, but I quickly school my features when she stands back up.Finally something I can work with.If this little kidnapping is like the premise from Mercy,then I can just flirt my way to freedom. If she wants to be a little lamb, then let the games begin.
In society’s eyes, she is beautiful with her striking eyes, thin face and body, a sharp jawline and high cheekbones. I press my skin harder against my chair, trying to create more distance between us.She will never have me in the way she’s been waiting for, but I can play the part.
My gaze travels across her body looking for any kind of weakness. It was easier with Kelsey since she was in love with me and I knew how to get her to let her guard down, but I don’t know anything about this woman. I don’t know what would make her fall to her knees or how to get her swooning, but the more we talk, the quicker I can figure her out.
“What is your nam-” I stop when I see her nose scrunch in disgust, her lips curled and baring her teeth.Guess she isn’t in love with me. Relief floods me like a dam breaking as my shoulders relax.New plan, release the beast and find a way out of here.
Despite looking absolutely repulsed, she answers my unfinished question. “Kara.” She steps away, swinging the sword so fast it isn’t until I feel the warm blood fall down my face that I realize she sliced my eye. I pinch it closed, grateful I can open and close it as the sting from the cut begins to register.I can still see.
“Don’t look at me like that again. I don’t want you in the way you’re thinking. The only thing I want is your life.” Stopping in the door she came from, she looks over her shoulder. “I want you to hurt before I end your life. For now you can bleed.”
The door shuts before I can reply, leaving me in darkness strapped to a chair with pain setting my nerves on fire.At this rate, if I don’t find a way out I’ll either die from blood loss or her wrath.
TWENTY-EIGHT
SERENA
It’s been three days since Aster was taken. Zephira has been trying her best to find him, but no matter what she does, she comes up empty. Everytime I ask her for updates and she shakes her head with a sympathetic smile I deflate a little more.The person who took him definitely knows how to cover their tracks. When I went back to the studio, I found fucking nothing. Even the scuff marks seemed to have disappeared like there was no crime committed.
