Silence The Girl

"Constantine," someone's voice called from a faraway distance. "Welcome back."

Hearing his name sent a shiver through Miha's body which caused her to burst with violent reactions she couldn't pinpoint.

On the other hand, the voice that welcomed Constantine back seemed to have shared her sentiments about him.

'I've come to hate that name after all,' Miha thought in great contempt.

Her eyes drifted open in panic, mentally releasing a sigh of relief when no one noticed she was already fully conscious.

Several men stood in a straight line on her side, their backs to her. Ahead of them, she noticed a curved staircase, and descending from it was a man dressed as if he'd stepped out of a Middle Ages TV show, his dark cloak all too familiar to the men ahead.

Constantine, the 'man'—

'No.' she thought, quickly correcting herself.

'He was a monster.'

He knelt on the marble floor, his hands and feet heavily chained as the men stood a few steps ahead of him.

"And the woman?" the cloaked man's voice was a rising storm above them.

One of his (she presumed) men stepped forward, bowing in haste. "Dead, my lord," he replied gravely in that familiar voice Miha had heard while trapped in the rubble.

"Ah," Constantine said dully, "there goes my beloved cousin," he said with fake affection.

"It's Lord Vanriche to you," one of Lord Vanriche's men shoved him further down the polished floors. "Pay your respects."

"Did you do it?" Lord Vanriche asked, eyes the same color as the deep ocean that complimented his stark auburn hair, staring at Constantine coldly.

"I believe I don't follow, cousin," Constantine replied with disinterest.

Lord Vanriche halted abruptly, refraining from uttering a word, as Miha noticed the tight grip he had on the staircase. He stared out in the open motionlessly, perhaps composing his following words.

"You could've done anything but that." He strolled down, heading straight at Constantine.

Shock filled the room because within seconds, he threw a punch at Constantine that had him hitting his shoulder blades on the concrete, one side of his face swelling.

Breathing heavily, Lord Vanriche looked down on him. "Is that what you've wanted? To be a monster all your life?"

Constantine remained silent as the dead. He stayed on the floor, his expression unreadable. The look in his eyes, however, betrayed him. Somehow, it was the familiar kind Miha recognized she didn't have to break through to even know what he was feeling.

"We have to clean this mess yet again," Lord Vanriche combed his leather-gloved hand through his hair out of frustration. "Send for Mr. Knavesmire, and make sure the entire area is spotless of this…" he trailed off, eyes pinned on Constantine, "…of this man's disarray in the sacred forest."

Despite Miha's uncertainty about what was happening, she closed her eyes and paid attention to their every word. She didn't mind pretending to be a corpse yet again. This just never seems to end well in any aspect. However, it's the most convenient she could have at this moment.

Perhaps fed up with his cousin's indifference, Lord Vanriche's footsteps stopped on her side, the men's feet shuffling to make way.

"She's dead," the mighty lord repeated with disdain, his tone hardened.

"We confirmed she is," came one of his men's worried reply.

No one said anything for the following minute, the tension growing heavy in the four corners of the room. And while they ruminate in silence, it kills Miha to think that any moment now, she'd have to stand up and move around, startling them that the corpse they've apparently deliberated over was still alive and ready to break into a run.

Miha heard a few clothes shuffling and felt warmth coming from her side. Her heart began to pound in her chest as Lord Vanriche's warm fingers settled on her neck, turning it with force, perhaps thinking he didn't need to be gentle as she was already dead.

She knew he will catch her unprepared—

Miha couldn't prevent the grimace from her mouth. It made everything worst when it was followed by Constantine's boisterous laughter as she immediately hoisted herself up and faced the line of people on her side.

She felt her blood run cold. The bastard knew she was already awake, and he obviously found it amusing that she revealed herself with little to no effort at all to his people! This made Miha infuriated beyond her control. All of her plans had gone down the drain in an instant, her hope disappearing into the dangers of the night.

Should she opt to break into a run instead? Would she make it alive? Or would she die again by this recklessness? She couldn't think of any other choice, and this made her fell apart entirely. Oh, she was going to die... again!

"This doesn't appear dead to me, does it?" Lord Vanriche waited for confirmation from his men, who looked to have had their tongues severed.

"Definitely," Constantine affirmed, sounding amused with all that was happening.

Tears surfaced at the end of Miha's eyes, her sight becoming blurry just like her future. Nothing was making sense except the intense trembling of her body that reacted to the lurking danger in the premises. Miha knew she was as helpless as a stray cat in a sea of murderers.

"My lord, I've sworn to the Goddess Ashkah that she has already died," the one closest to Constantine cried out in guilt.

Miha couldn't have agreed more. She knows she's dead, but the question hovered darkly above their heads.

Why was she alive, then?

One of the men on the sides nodded his head in affirmation. "She did, and we've checked several times."

Lord Vanriche leveled them an unconvincing stare that made Miha want to curl away but didn't show it. "She isn't," his words cut ice-cold. "The woman is alive. Breathing. Awake. What part of that don't you understand?"

"Should I kill her again?" Constantine offered, making her shiver in turn.

'To have to go through the same pain—I most definitely don't,' she thought fiercely.

Lord Vanriche was about to say something but decided to close his mouth instead. He stared straight at Constantine, making the monster drop his crimson eyes on her neck. Miha's shaking hands automatically went up to it in defense, covering it away from the malice in his eyes, and the pinch of memory that flashed before her eyes.

The holes were swollen, and fresh, dried blood protruded from either hole. This had caused Constantine's uneven breathing, his eyes sharpening with an intensity Miha couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Miha grimaced at the discovery, the wound throbbing hard from the way Constantine was staring at it.

Her eyes shot straight to Constantine—

His gaze transitioned to its frightening vermilion color as it transfixed on the aching wound on Miha's slim neck to which she knew, would snap any moment anyone of them deemed it.

"Might you, perchance, cousin, accept it if I keep her with me for a while back in my hell hole."

"Not a chance," Lord Vanriche cut him short, his glare clear as he moved past him.

"Too bad," Constantine smiled, "it seemed her and I would get along."

'Not a chance,' Miha thought grimmly.

"Bring him back to this hell hole he speaks of," Lord Vanriche commanded in haste. He murmured a few curses as he continued, "you've done exactly the opposite of what you're told not to do."

"Nothing new about it," Constantine remarked, his gaze pinned to Miha.

As if they were the only ones in existence, Constantine didn't avert took his eyes away from her as he was taken away, the chain tied his feet producing a screeching sound as it was dragged along with him across the marble floors.

Lord Vanriche turned his back and proceeded directly to the oak-wood exterior doors.

"Silence the girl."

The moment the words left his mouth, the feeling of dread worsened inside of her. Miha knew what it meant without him specifying it.

This isn't the first time she'd thought of it for this entire night, but she hates to have to repeat dreading of dying night after night.

"You can't…." she forced herself to say. "Can't…!"

Constantine halted in his tracks.

She counted her breathing.

All eyes are on him in a second, alert and awaiting his movements.

"Move," they heard one of Lord Vanriche's men call as their lord awaited down the stairs.

When Constantine didn't respond, the man pushed him on the shoulder. "You've become deaf, lad?"

Vanriche watched in silence, his shoulders tensing as he held onto the golden rails of the stairs. All of a sudden, Miha felt the air spark with fear. The ocean-deep of Lord Vanriche's eyes turned light for a second, recognition crossing his expression, "Step away from—"

He was a second late.

Constantine came upon the man in haste as he grabbed the poor soldier's neck in a swift motion.

No one was able to move as his fingers closed to the man's windpipe, crushing it with little to no effort as he would've done to an egg's shell.

There was little time for anybody to respond before the shock and panic became apparent on their stricken faces. Constantine delayed lowering his arm as the soldier's head lay limp in the air. With absolute certainty that he was no longer a threat, he callously discarded him on the floor, showing no concern or remorse.

"Now then," as if shrouded in darkness, Constantine's voice descended to an eerie, chillingly compelling tone, sending shivers down every listener's spine. He pulled at the metal chains on his wrist and ripped them apart as easily as he did when he crushed that man's neck. "That was something," he smiled, and it never ceased to terrify Miha yet again.