Pray for the Wicked | ATEEZ

51.

Luxurious textiles and textures grazed the tips of my fingers as I ran my hand across dresses hung from ornate hangers that clung to golden bars running along the walls. An awed breath caught in my throat as I spun around to take in the space around me.

I had been dragged here, pulled from the world of sleep as unconsciousness had cruelly released its hold on my exhausted body, its touch replaced by eager hands guiding me into the darkness once more.

Now, at the very heart of Odeion, my obscured reflection stared curiously back at me from the polished surfaces of marbled walls and floors of the most expensive store I had ever set foot in. Deep crimson, I could have been standing in a pool of broken blood, complete with gilded fissures and specks that caught the light from grand chandeliers overhead.

A shiver ran down the length of my spine as I sensed a presence behind me and turned to see Seonghwa materialize from the shadows of a nearby column. In each hand, he held a tall tapered glass, slim fingers wrapped around the narrow stem.

He could have snapped it, mercilessly ruined the delicate branch if he had wanted to, and the realization made the hairs on my arms stand on end as I recognized the pale tint of the liquid in the bowl to be champagne.

"In Illenium, the sun would barely have reached across the top of the horizon by now," I said, accepting the glass as he gently reached out his hand.

"Are you telling me it's too early to drink?" he challenged, lifting a perfectly sculpted brow that stood dark against the blond locks that danced across his forehead at the movement.

"Are you telling me it's not?" I countered to which he chuckled, the sound disarming as it parted his lips.

"Oh, angel, it's never too early to make a toast."

I frowned in a silent question to which his smile only grew as he leaned closer. "I'm celebrating," he stated as if it had been obvious.

"Oh, are you now?"

"Indeed," he mused, "Aren't you? After all, you're the one who will be paying me back."

It was evident by the way his smile melted into that of a smirk that he was humored by the expression that flickered across my face as his comment settled in the air between us. He lifted the glass to his lips and tilted his head back, pouring the gilded bubbles down his throat which bobbed sinfully before he found my eyes again.

"You're careless when dealing with devils, Dahlia, but when striking a bargain there is always a price to be paid. You took my hand with a smile on your face, knowing that. I showed you Odeion, so now you have to show me something as well. Two things seem quite fair considering how I gave you the city on a silver platter, don't you think?"

He stood tall as he spoke, clad in an embellished black tunic with goldwork thread, polyeons and couters covering his knees and elbows. Aside from the armor, he wore a dark leather belt around his waist, tight enough to reveal a slim figure, from which a sheath hung off the side. In it, the handle of a dagger glimmered.

A single glance revealed it to be an angel blade. It was identical to those I had known in Illenium; long and triple-edged, ideal for close quarter combat, except where the ones I had held had been silver, his glowed pure gold instead.

From his shoulders, a deep purple robe poured down the length of his back. Across the canvas of rich indigo, gold thread revealed a quick glimpse of a lion as he moved, no doubt the emblem of his family and court.

"Are the others in on this?" I asked at last, well aware that he had noted my staring as I glanced around the store to realize that he was the only heir in sight.