Oh wow, hello guys! Long time no write! Here's what's been up:
1. Fell to the trap of depression and no motivation to do anything at all because I felt like a POS
2. Tried to get traditionally published again with my novel and I NEARLY got picked up by the same literary agent who represents Dumplin' :O! Anyway, that didn't work out...
3. Because of number 2, I've decided I'm self-publishing. How many of you would actually like... buy my book and/or gift it to other people?
4. Work has doubled in sales, meaning my stress is at max levels...
5. HORIZON ZERO DAWN IS A GREAT ESCAPE FROM REALITY.
As always, sorry I'm a POS... Here is the next chapter!
Enjoy!
Chapter 38: His Room
"My word is law. I do not play games," he said to the woman heaving angrily on the ground. "Will you cooperate for the sake of your little brother's life?"
"...Yes," Sango replied, finally. "However, you must bring him to me alive before I do anything of the sort."
He growled, recollecting the slayer's challenge, primarily because he had no intention of actually bringing Kohaku back to life. Why he was against such a thing, however, crept up on him with as much stealth as the words from his mouth on this very night. If he were honest with himself, the two instances were correlated to such a degree that it made him sick.
Sesshoumaru needed Rin to agree. To swear herself to him so when the time came to revive Kohaku, her heart was his, if only to have control over it all.
Despite everything within fighting these temptations, Sesshoumaru was not one to ever forgo his desires. He realized now, that until Naraku was dead and Rin willingly relented to him, he would not be satisfied.
Because how powerful could a daiyoukai hope to be, if even a human could find it in her primal self to deny him?
Rin rested delicately upon the cushions, robed in white silks of his choosing, so vulnerable and whimsical in her very essence. Her eyes widened and he caught the familiar scent of lavender, honey—and even still, fear.
Something had happened in this room, during the moments that he could not sense her presence. Whatever it was, her scent betrayed her.
"Sesshoumaru-sama. Please… I can't accept that." lowly, she replied.
Although anger fought to the whites of his eyes, Sesshoumaru responded with a force of tenderness.
"Since bringing you here, I decided to allow the part of me that wants you to remain. No longer will you need to worry for your safety while by my side. I will be your overseer, protector, and..."
He leaned to her ear, feeling the goosebumps alight her skin, sending her rigid. "... your lover."
Sesshoumaru maneuvered his hand around her waist to spanse her back, pulling downward so that she slid beneath him—in between his legs.
"S-Sesshoumaru-sama!" She white-knuckled his robes so frailly, it nearly alighted the predator within him.
He held her, raveled her softly in his strength, pushed against her body with an ease so unlike him. When she gasped for air, Sesshoumaru parted his lips.
"You will tell me the truth about what transpired in this room before I arrived."
The momentary halt in her muscles screamed the truth against her forthcoming lies. He had caught her off guard.
"Nothing, I just—"
"Do not lie in the midst of your lord."
Rin shifted her legs beneath his weight. "Th-there was a girl."
"In this room?" he asked. "A demon?"
"I… don't know. I don't think so." Rin's eyes averted as she tensed beneath him.
Hairs rose along the dog lord's spine. Rin's body language was sincere; she wasn't lying. But how could he not have sensed this girl?
"What did she say?" He narrowed his eyes.
After a moment of tense contemplation on her part, Rin took him in her sights. Brown locked on gold, she muttered. "She said that she could help take me away from this place."
Surprise filled his veins, though he knew better than to show it.
"Away from you," she finished.
Sesshoumaru smirked, his first thought leveling on Naraku, but then he wondered still if Rin had in fact, been dreaming. "How interesting…," he indulged. "Is that what you want?"
He watched on as she shuddered, as her lips opened slowly. "Does it matter?"
His smirk fell. "You would be surprised."
"Then yes."
Sesshoumaru gritted his teeth at her recklessness, but made no outward gesture of annoyance. "Perhaps, it would do you well to leave this room every once in a while."
She tried to withhold her recently acquired sass. "Perhaps. But I can't just peruse a demon palace like I belong there."
"As you shouldn't." Sesshoumaru let slip a coy raise of the lip as he stood, making his way toward the door. "I will clear all counsel tomorrow, and take you wherever you want, if that would suffice."
Rin's chest clenched. Before she could think, she spouted, "Wherever?"
"Within reason," he clarified.
Rin's eyes fell to the edge of the bed. Not like she had any real place of substance to go back to. She wondered though, maybe that Kanna girl was actually a spiriter to the afterlife. If so, such a destination would be better than anything Sesshoumaru, or this world, could give to her. Maybe… maybe after he left, she would call on Kanna and accept her offer.
"Come," Sesshoumaru's voice pierced the darkness, afflicting Rin's ears with melodic torture.
"What?" she squeaked.
He turned his head just enough to catch her contorted facial expression in his peripherals.
"After everything you told me, do you actually think I would leave you alone to make poor decisions?"
Her eyes widened the slightest bit before she forced them closed. Did he know what she was thinking just then…?
"Come," he repeated, leaving the room.
Rin found her senses—crammed behind her shock, got up, and lightly trotted to catch up with him. Barefoot, her movement echoed against the cold, stone floors and wooden beams. She drew her arms into her chest—tightening the gap of her kimono—and hunched her shoulders, painfully aware of how vulnerable she looked in such a hall of grandeur.
Guards lined every door that they passed. Each had an idle face and stature, yet Rin could sense their unease beyond their physical discipline.
Rin returned her focus to Sesshoumaru's hakama and their ruffling pleats as he strode with a posture reserved for royalty. Beneath the dark cherrywood arches of the high palace ceiling, Rin fell into the shadows of two, enormous dog-demon sculptures appearing to stand guard outside the largest set of doors she had ever seen.
The two guards residing just beyond the sculptures bowed and slid open either side of the heavy obstructions with steel grips. Rin could swear she felt the ground move like an earthquake when they did.
Sesshoumaru turned slightly and all of a sudden his hand was on Rin's back, pushing her in front of him.
"Go on," he muttered, almost coldly. Goosebumps rose on her skin as she walked ahead of him.
As soon as they passed through, the doors closed, and flames lit the stone torches along the perimeter of the room, as if by magic.
Rin inhaled sharply at the sight. The bronze and golden craft of the architecture ensnared her vision, blazing through her mind in circuits of elegant arches and embossed paneling. She knew then, mouth agape in awe, that this must be the dog lord's bedroom. Whom else, but the high ruler of the Western lands could be granted such excess? Whom else could deserve it, or rather, get away with it, even?
The room was a sight to behold, much like its master.
"How long do you intend to stand there?"
His voice drew her eyes back from the window; back from the decadent view of the moon-kissed mountains, and to the intricate lines of his face—cool and warm; soft, yet hard.
Rin's eyes trailed from him, to what he stood over: scarlet sheets and a bed frame.
"You… you mean for me to spend the night here?" Rin half-laughed at hearing it leave her lips.
"Yes," Sesshoumaru said, resting on the bedside.
"But! But that's only for w-wives. Wives and…" Rin trailed.
"And concubines," Sesshoumaru finished for her, glancing her way.
Something lit in Rin's veins. A sudden shockwave of embarrassment melded with archaic desire, rippling down to her core. As quick as it arrived, it slipped away.
Sesshoumaru inhaled through his nose and smirked. "So, mere insinuations can excite you? How interesting… seeing as you would rather sell your soul than remain at my side."
Rin's face flushed. She'd known the dog demon long enough to know that which he was referring. None of her bodily happenings were secret while around him. Not even her fear. Especially not her fear.
"You say that, and yet…," her knees quivered beneath her bravery, "...how interesting that you're ignoring the other, more prevalent, scent."
Sesshoumaru's eyes found hers, yet his lips remained exceptionally taut.
"The scent that… the scent that proves how terrified I am to get into that bed with you…," Rin's voice trailed to a meek whisper, tears filling her eyes as she willingly shined light on her weakness.
His eyes narrowed, but he tolerated her underlying insult at the confession of her vulnerability. "I have no other intentions except to keep you in my sight. Sleep on the floor, or sleep on the bed… your preference is of no concern to me, but you will not leave this room."
Rin shifted her weight and bit her lip uneasily as she tried to regain composure. Sesshoumaru turned to lay down completely, resting his head on his palm, staring at her in wait.
Rin whispered, "Can I…"
She shook her head.
"Can you what?" he asked.
"No, it's—"
"Ask," he demanded.
Rin averted her leveled gaze. "Can I… trust you?"
What a stupid question. Would any predator tell their prey "no"?
Sighing, Sesshoumaru closed his eyes. He replied with the necessary—albeit pointless—rite of passage, "Yes. And from here on out, you should trust me."
The sincerity in his voiced coated her with a comfort she hadn't felt in a long time. As if she were submerging herself beneath wool blankets left long by the fire, in the dead of winter.
She nodded. "Okay."
Her footsteps light, and her heartbeat savage, Rin trailed to the side of the bed; to the garnet fabric glimmering an incandescent violet—courtesy of the moonlight.
She slid first her hand, and then her legs, making sure to keep every part of her skin covered up so that no gaps in her clothing would ignite something within the hinged demon next to her; the one that had already forcefully ravished her twice before.
Rin remained on her back, eyes fixed on the ceiling, her breathing near erratic. His very presence left her balancing on the edge of some intangible object, refusing her rest. Decisively, she turned away from him, facing the window—and the crescent moon beyond. As her breathing fell to slow heaves, and her vision blurred to coursing rivers of darkness, Rin fell victim to her favorite escape:
Sleep.
Thanks for being here for me guys. Sorry I suck and don't update a lot. :I
But you all are the best and I appreciate you!
(P.S. If I self-published would you guys ACTUALLY buy my book? DON'T TELL ME LIES. :) )
