The metal bit the air at Mary's neck as the chain closed. For a second everything blurred—light, sound, the laughter—it all fell into a cold, thin tunnel that led directly from her ribs to the place where fear lived.
Reaper didn't move away. His fingers lingered, warm then unnaturally cool. She tried to swallow. The necklace felt heavy, not like jewelry but like a promise pressed into her skin.
"Keep it on," his cousin said, the smirk never leaving his face. "It suits you."
The room leaned in. Conversation picked back up—a poisonous lullaby of men drinking and clapping and naming things she could not yet understand. she wanted to cry, to scream, to tear it off, but the weight at her throat steadied her. It was like being tethered to something enormous and terrible.
Reaper finally let his fingers fall. He stepped back and watched her as if testing a recipe he had seasoned with poison.
"You will do exactly as you are told tonight," he said, dangerously soft. "You will move when I ask you. You will smile when I want you to smile. You will not speak unless you are given permission."
A slow current of air brushed her face—someone had opened a side door and a cool draft feathered the hem of her dress. she felt small under all that velvet and shadow.
"why...why you want me...please... leave me, I beg you for mercy..." she breathed, before she could stop herself.
His mouth curved—not a smile, not quite. "Aww piccolo, please don't be so scared from your place...now You. Are. My. Pet, don't you even dare to disrespect me or I need to waste my money on my pet's funeral ."
His cousin laughed at that, sharp and bright, and changed the subject with a flicker of his fingers. "Enough of fate talk. We have presents, gambles, and a special performance. Bring her to the hall."
Two of the masked men moved forward politely—obedient shadows with polite hands. They took her elbows and guided her out, gentle in the way people are gentle when carrying something fragile to the edge of a cliff.
The corridor smelled of pipe smoke and lemon polish. Portraits watched us—old family faces, generations of cold eyes. The hair on her arms rose. Mary wanted to inhale the night and sprint, but the necklace pinched and her knees remembered restraint.
In the grand hall the lights were lower, candles swimming like small suns. Guests leaned back like predators savoring showtime. At the far end a raised platform awaited—ornate rugs and instruments arranged like an altar. Musicians tuned in lazy harmony.
"Stay close," the cousin murmured in her ear as they placed her on a chair at the edge of the platform. His breath was a warning. "Do not go near him unless he calls. If you do—" He let the threat hang there, razor-thin.
She sat like a bird in a gilded cage while the Reaper walked to his throne. He took his place, each motion measured and final. He clasped the black crystal between his fingers and the stone drank the light.
Someone clapped. Another. A low cheer swelled and faded. she forced herself not to cry, her hands to her lap and tried to steady a smile—an actor's smile—and felt the mask of it harden on her face.
From the side, a woman leaned in and hissed softly, "You're Mary, yes? They say you're very beautiful." Her eyes fossilized into curiosity and danger.
Beautiful. A word wrapped in hands that would barter her away later.
They began with music and small entertainments—cards, magic tricks—with men laughing and throwing coins into a bowl. The cousin watched her play her part:sitting silently, and smiling when someone talk..but didn't say a word... controlling tears inside her eyes.
The necklace at her throat pulsed once—like a heartbeat that didn't belong to her—and she understood, with a cold clarity, that this night was a test. And in tests like this, even breathing wrong could be used as a weapon.
she sob, tears fall down, a silent cry, but she quickly wipe them away, before someone see.
Across the room, Reaper's eyes found hers. He raised his glass as if conducting a toast just for her. The black crystal flashed.
"To new beginnings," he said. "To the ones who learn to be ours."
then he gave his masked men order in thier ears, then they looked at her, walked to her and polite way grab her arm and take her to a bedroom, one of them open the room and push her inside, her whole body was like dead, cold, turned bluish, she was too worried that she couldn't breathe, she started crying and hit on the door, but no one came, then she felt faint, and then slowly her eyes closed and she fall down on the chilled floor
her mouth formed a single, silent pray: let me out from this hell.
#new morning.
Last night Mary, shout, hit on the door, but no one replied, she cried, and after trying many things, she tired and sleep on the floor, the tears leave the bruises near her eyes.
Morning, the sunlight come from the window, laying on the Mary's face, and then she woke up, she felt someone next to her, she open her eyes and look next to her, Reaper, looking at her, smiling softly, but it looks dangerous, she gasps and felt from the bed, Reaper speaks first.
"Oh dear, you scared? Not a good morning huh?, but every morning will be like this now, because you are part of my world now, you should know it last night when I wore you this beautiful choker... whatever now go and have a bath, eat breakfast, and remember, as well as you will behave I will too."
Mary breathe heavily "what...are you saying, what you want from me?!"
Reaper laugh and step down from bed and leaned over her "dear lamb, I want something from you, now no questions go do what I want from you."
Then he leaves, leaving Mary in the room all alone, she stand and look here and there, and then she sees a camera, she pick it up and see the recording, it was so horrible, she sees women and men beheaded by Reaper or teared by him because they also not accepted the reality, it shows that Reaper showing her not to make mistake they have done, after seeing this, she cry, but wipe her tears because she don't wanna die, then she go for the bath, wear a silk robe reaper leaves on bed for her and now when she try to open the door, a masked man comes and respectfully shows her the way to kitchen for breakfast with Reaper.
Now is this Mary's reality...If she tried to protest so she will die like others?
—to be continue.