Page 64 of Glass Wings
“No,” Hadley interjected, pushing him off her, and she wobbled to stand up on her two feet, just then realizing exactly how much blood she had lost.
“No?” Sheng seemed entertained, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You are not my master. We are equals, as I am your wife.” Hadley all but stomped her feet.
Sheng seemed positively giddy from her challenging gaze.
“You may go,” he barked to the room as the cloaked figures obeyed, getting up from their kneeling positions and following each other out in a single file line before closing the door. The priest remained, moving towards a corner of the room and turning his back towards them.
“You may proceed,” he waved his hand up, and Sheng slammed his body into Hadley’s, toppling them both to the floor.
“Traditions.” Sheng cocked his head towards the old man, his arms holding his weight above Hadley’s body. His eyes had returned to the familiar warm brown color that Hadley was used to, and then the words that the priest had used in the ceremony hit her.
Demon.
“What are you?” She looked up at his face, cupping it with her hand. He was warm, and she felt the pull, the desperation to grab his back and pull him down on top of her. She also wished that she had a knife so that she could stab into his back in tandem.
Sheng darkened his gaze and looked down her entire body before putting his lips on hers. There was no more blood, no more pointed teeth, just an entirely delicious man kissing her like he was hers and she was his. No lips had ever felt so right against hers as Sheng’s did, his tongue gently moving in and out, caressing her own.
Hadley wasn’t breathing. There was no need for air. There was only the need for his mouth against hers. When Sheng pulled away, she gasped as if reaching the water's surface after a deep dive. There was a gleam, a satisfaction in his eyes as Sheng, too, took a plunge, his hardness suddenly inside of her.
She let out a loud moan, her wetness clenching him inside of her. Sheng kissed her hip bones, his lips moving up to her belly button and then onto her breasts before releasing himself.
“I will say that the marriage has been consummated now, my lord.” The priest’s voice came out of the corner of the room, his back still turned and hunched towards the wall. Hadley laughed at the shock of forgetting he was there. She had completely lost herself in Sheng’s body, and now they lay on the floor together as he held her in his arms, panting.
“Thank you, Father,” Sheng said.
Hadley watched the old man shuffle out of the room, still avoiding looking at either of them. He was muttering fiercely under his breath, praying and crossing himself.
Hadley’s brain was screaming and kicking from the inside of her skull, wondering why she willingly lay there in a monster’s arms. A monster who had likely drugged her to get her into this room. Her body did not flinch but felt bliss when Sheng moved his hand on the side of her head, massaging the space behind her ear. It was so tender, so loving.
“Are you the devil?” she blurted out, her brain still fighting the bliss and glow that they laid in.
“Hadley.” Sheng sounded amused. His hand moved down her body to find her hand, interlacing his fingers with hers. “There’s no such thing as the devil. I suspect if there was, I’d be much worse.”
An hour later, Hadley found herself in the master bathroom.
“Why the ceremony? Why the need for a marriage?” she asked Sheng as he turned to leave, trying to hide the desperation in her tone.
He looked back at her, his smile faltering. “I’m sorry about that,” he said. “My clan is nothing if not traditional. They need to continue seeing me as a leader in this, in what we need to accomplish. The ceremony helps set a precedent. Plus there’s the hope that you won’t be as tempted to run away, of course.”
“What do we need to accomplish?”
Sheng shuffled his feet, his facial expression giving away very little. “You should get some rest,” was all he said as he walked out and closed the door behind him.
She was alone for the first time since she had arrived, though she suspected that Amis or a cloaked person was within shouting range. She was still on the second floor and remembered turning left down the hallway as it snaked around, turning in a sudden direction that she had never explored during the masquerade.
Sheng had led her here; they had walked hand in hand out of the ceremony room without a single person in view, which Hadley, still nude, was thankful for. Wetness clung to her inner thighs, making her feel used for the first time in her life as a sex worker. However, she didn’t know what she was being used for.
Hadley looked around the bathroom. Sheng handed her two fluffy white towels and kissed the top of her forehead before walking out and closing the door behind him.
“Take care of yourself for me,” he requested while she stood in a daze, staring at him but not reacting. Once he had gone, she took in the gleaming white marble tile stretching the entire length of the bathroom, which was likely just as big as her apartment. There was a separate door that closed off the toilet from the rest of the room, and just a foot from where she stood was a large soaking tub.
Hadley sat on the tub's edge, turning on the faucet as the sound of water dispensing filled the otherwise eerily quiet bathroom. It was so calm, so private, and Hadley could let the day go, just a little. She tested the water temperature, playing with the dials until she got the water to an acceptable level of scalding hot before slipping into it, letting the heat soak into her skin.
A deep sense of relief filled her chest and left her as she breathed in and out deeply, closing her eyes and letting the bath run until the water covered most of her body. Hadley tipped her head back, submerging herself, and held her breath as long as she could before her burning lungs forced her to emerge and gasp for air.
Hadley sat up and pulled her legs into her touch, inching the water dial to get more heat in the tub before pulling her fingers down her wet hair and moving past her rib cage. She winced when her hand went over the bite. The area was tender, yet the multiple spots where teeth pierced flesh had already begun to scab. It had only been a little over an hour if that, and she wondered if whatever monster she was married to also had some sort of healing capabilities.
