Pray for the Wicked | ATEEZ

05.

The following day I woke up to the smell of food floating through the room; comforting, warm, and familiar, as I glanced around the dimly lit darkness before my eyes locked onto the plate by the foot of the bed; breakfast.

There was no trace of any of neither Hongjoong nor the seven other demons anywhere, and I wondered who had brought the food seeing as it couldn't have been anyone else in the palace.

No one could possibly have known that I was here.

No one could find out.

Still, I ate the food with a sense of silent gratitude

〄

The second morning was the same, and I once again awoke to the soft tones of freshly baked bread and fruits which had been carefully cut and placed on a silver platter by the foot of the bed.

I wondered again, as I sat there in all of my silence and loneliness and dread, who might have been looking out for me, and I found myself surprisingly pleased by the sudden interruption that was San as he, after hours of pointless shuffling around the room, poked his head through the door and offered me a moment of freedom.

"I'm really sorry that you have to be alone in there all day, but the courts-" he began, but I cut him off before he could apologize further as I came to an abrupt halt, glancing out at the eternal night on the other side of the dark windows, before turning back to him, "Will you show me the view?"

He did, leading me up several winding staircases and through grand halls shrouded in darkness before, at last, we emerged onto a balcony atop the palace of Odeion with all of the world spread out before us to see.

And it was beautiful, graceful and marvelous and the very embodiment of night.

And I was astonished by all of it, remembering everything the others had said as I once again noted the lack of light.

And it was the farthest thing from evil and repelling, which was why I once again began to doubt myself and the things I had been taught about the world below.

When, at last, San convinced me to head back to the room which had now become my hideaway, a pleasant prison, as he went back to his duties as the heir to the Court of Wrath, I found a dress laying on the bed with layers of dark silk skirts spread carefully across the covers.

I was afraid at first.

Afraid that someone might have found out that I was here but, as I looked down at it, letting my fingers trail across the soft material and black fabric, I was more intrigued than anything.

Because, like the rest of Odeion, it was beautiful. It was dark and foreign, but it was beautiful, and I found myself unable to take my eyes off it.

〄

On the third morning, I no longer had to wonder or fantasize about who might've been the one secretly caring for me.

On the third morning, I realized, judging by the darkness which I had already become accostumbed to and which was more intense than it had been the previous days, I had woken up much earlier than usual.

There were fewer lights in the room as I took a deep breath and blinked a couple of times, letting my eyes travel across some of the unlit torches lining the walls before, at last, forcing myself to sit up.

And then I was suddenly wide awake, eyes widening with a gasp as I scrambled backwards across the bed at the sight of the silhouette I had spotted by the foot of the bed, dark and pronounced and seemingly as surprised as I was as they let out a shocked sound and stumbled over their feet, falling to the floor.