The Caged Raven

Raven opened her eyes and stared into the darkness. Macnayer possessed her when she dreamed, his body moving over her own without hesitation. She was becoming addicted to the idea and the feeling quickly, and though she had only lain with him once she craved his touch. She licked her lips and her mind reflected back on the strange room he had introduced her to that afternoon. She sat up in the bed and stared out in the bedroom, the shadows illuminating the contraptions and bindings that had been burned into her skull. Such devices brought forth images of torture to her mind, but nagged at pleasure, making her exhale slowly.

Pain in pleasure, there was a word for it but she was unsure of what it was or how to say it. Not that it mattered, perhaps this feeling was better unnamed she thought. Words and titles only seemed to make things more confusing anyway. And words that had once been polar opposites for Raven, now seemed so intertwined. Enemy and lover; for her there was no significant difference any longer, for it seemed, one did not exist without the other. She licked her lips and rested her head back on the overly plush pillows, closing her eyes once more. She saw Macnayer again but sleep enveloped her before she could reach him and the blackness of unconsciousness surrounded her. But it did not last.

Raven’s breath caught in her throat as words echoed through her. Words of harshness and disdain from those who she had tried to avenge but, whom she had failed and let fall away in place of her lust. The weight of sleep shifted slightly and awareness came about. But she was not awake, not yet. The blackness subsided slightly; she opened her eyes and stared out as flecks of gold cascaded over her body and the red silk she was wrapped in.
She stared out at the world around her, the dark bedroom a distant memory. The place she was in was a throne room, of that she was certain. The history books that she had studied before had countless illuminations, including ones of this place. This had been the castle of Celes, Macnayer’s late father. The room was cut from marble that had been bleached white with long red tapestries hanging off of the walls and cascading down the stone stairway that separated Raven from the throne. She knew then where she was laying. Fear spidered up her spine paralyzing her beneath the red silk she was now anxious to toss away.

She had been here before but it had not looked like this. Celes had died a grisly death but no one had known how or who it had been that had wielded the sword that had done him in. Rumors were that one of his own had struck him down but without a body there were also rumors he was still alive, estranged from his kin, a soul wandering the plains in search of a new and better body. The castle had burned to the ground, its cold skeletal remains standing as a reminder of the powerful demon king that had brought about the revolution. Raven had stood in the great hall once, had dueled against a demon there once, the marble floor dusty with ash and dirt, the tapestries singed beyond repari. It had not looked like this.

Someone was walking down the steps slowly, approaching her, the glint in their eyes malicious and sadistic. She had never seen him in real life only in the history books but that was enough, the Newblood king Celes was unique in appearance and she would have known him anywhere. His gaze had fallen to lock with her own and Raven could feel the erratic beat of her heart her mind falling back to the things that had been written in the books.

She had taken the place of the one that had wounded her kind in their battle, the traitor amongst the traitors; Liara. Raven was lying in the bed that had been Liara’s coronation, where Celes had made her his queen. But she was there now, and it was not Macnayer coming to make her his queen, but his father, a man who made the bloodshed his son had caused seem slight. Raven slid back in the red silk only to have it cascaded down her body onto the bed below, she was nude before him a man she found both terrifying and alluring.

Was this how Liara had felt? Was this how all of those like them had felt, the prey that strays too close to the predator, too frozen with curiosity and fear to flee? He stopped on the last step and stared at her, his eyes alight with bloodlust but his body relaxed. She knew better than to think she could beat him or even prospectively outrun him. Macnayer was half the king his father was and if she was so easily undone by him she knew that resisting anything Celes had in store for her was futile. Her thoughts turned to the pain she had felt during the first time she had laid with Macnayer, and she pondered if he could grant her a similar feeling, allow her ecstasy once more. She remained still; her gaze locked firmly on his and waited, her tongue moving over her teeth in anticipation. There was nothing to say he wouldn’t simply kill her but that was a risk Raven found herself willing to take.

He closed the distance between them slowly. “I can see now”, he said, his voice barely more than a whisper, “why he didn’t kill you.”

Raven didn’t speak; her body remained paralyzed as his left hand trailed up from her shoulder across her neck and throat to rest beneath her chin. His fingers stroked her skin making Raven’s breathing speed up rapidly. “Are you a dream?” she shuddered.

Celes smiled, his teeth gleaming, “I am hardly a dream dear girl.”

“But they say you’re dead, have been for ages.”

Celes snickered and moved so that Raven was beneath him. “My body may have been expired but I exist. Yes, so long as my kin roams this planet I will exist.” His lips met her own. Raven closed her eyes and sunk into his kiss, the harshness of his teeth gnashing against her bottom lip stirring the heat in her loins. His hands roved down her shoulders to her breast, the harsh fabric of his tunic bringing her nipples to attention moments before his fingers twisted and pulled at them. Raven broke the kiss and moaned arching her body against Celes.

“Everytime,” he whispered, his breath hot on her ear, “that he makes you feel like this, it will me. My son could never make you feel the way I can my dear, he hasn’t the malice for it.” His bit into her shoulder and Raven jerked, “But I do.”

“The first time,” Raven gasped moving with each stroke of Celes’ fingers or tongue, “that was you? The pain was remarkable.”

Celes pulled back momentarily staring at the woman lying beneath him. Raven stared up inquisitively. He flourished his hands across his body and his clothing disappeared. Raven studied him. His body was leaner than Macnayer’s, paler as well, but still muscular still possessing the same golden hair. He lowered himself back down on top of her. “That was nothing my dear.” Raven closed her eyes, indulging in the mixed feelings of teeth and tongue across her body. She parted her legs in anticipation but something changed. The touch faded. Raven opened her eyes and cried out. Celes was gone, the red silk was gone and she was once again in the dark bedroom.

She could feel the throb in her loins once again but this time harsher, stronger. Tears of frustration ran down her cheeks and her breaths came as ragged gasps. She pounded her fists into the quilt, “Why did you leave me?”

Laughter echoed in her skull, “I want to hear you beg my dear, I want you on your knees.”

Raven felt her lips quiver, “Please, then please come back to me, please!” but there was no response. The room was no longer black, the first signs of dawn peeking into the room, allowing shadows to dance across the ceiling. Raven tried to beckon the dream back but it would not return. She gripped the quilt and watched the sun slowly rise above the mountains in the distance and for reasons she did not understand she thought of the room with the strange contraptions once again and found herself hell bent on getting in there that day.

A/N:Sorry this took so long. I have rewritten this chapter three times in the past few months and even now I'm not entirely satisfied with it. Raven is becoming quite the popular girl in this house isn't she?

R&R please!!