Bastian

The last note escaped out into the solarium and Odette breathed a sigh of relief as she lifted her fingers off the keyboard. Though not as practised as she once was, her hands were not as stiff as she thought they would be, but she wasn’t sure it was enough to take up a job as a piano tutor.

  Standing in front of the piano, Odette began to recheck her belongings. Even if she was able to make her escape, it was going to be tough to set herself up in a job, especially if she did something wrong and got caught out. One wrong move could see her future go up in smoke. The money she got from the pawnshop was just not enough, even the wedding dress and ring, which she was saving for last, could not meet the needed sum.

  A paperweight, a hairpin, and a knee blanket. Odette gathered more trinkets together to sell. During her scavenging, she managed to find the gold bracelet Dora had gifted her, inlaid with diamonds and rubies. Like all things owned by Bastian Klauswitz, it was made of top-quality gems.

Her heart was shaken for a while to sell it, but she had already learned how miserable and terrible the price of the sin she had committed against that man was. She didn’t want to add theft to her list of crimes.
  Odette gathered together everything she wanted to sell into the basket that used to be Margrethe’s bed. It was when she was standing up from putting the bracelet in that she felt cramps in her stomach.

She went to the window to get some air, sitting herself on the sun-drenched sill, she closed her eyes and focused on the sensations of her body. As if it weren’t an illusion, soon the unpleasant stabbing pain came again. 

Thank god. I’m so glad. 

Odette sighed, calming her upset stomach. Her anxiety and restlessness grew as the day of her escape drew neare. She knew that if it was anything else, the mere thought of the worst case scenario stopped her breath. When her period a few days late from her monthly flow she couldn’t sleep properly.

   Having calmed her raging emotions, Odette carefully checked the pain in her chest. That was when she saw Bastian, far off along the coastal walkway. He wasn’t supposed to have returned until tomorrow.

   Odette’s eyes went wide and she got up off the window. Bastian was dressed in his sportswear, running along the coastal path connecting the mansion to the beach.

   There were times she could not go out to meet him because he came home earlier than planned, but Lovis would always come to tell her that the master of the house was home. It was strange that she had not heard anything on his return. He had been home long enough to get changed at the least, Lovis would never make such a mistake, so it had to have been under Bastian’s orders.

   Perhaps his desires had an expiration date.

   Odette allowed the faintest glimmer of hope as she watched Bastian disappear beyond the coastal path. Odette leaned back on the window sill and hugged herself, the pain she thought had gone returned in force.

   As she tried to coax the pain away with deep breaths, the sound of a bell came from afar. She looked to see that Bastian had come back around from the coastal path and was standing on the boundary between the coast and the garden.

   It will start tomorrow, if not tonight.

 A voice in her head was telling her and as if Bastian could hear her thoughts, he looked up and Odette was caught in his gaze. Their eyes met across the distance, holding the gaze until the sunset burned a deep red.

*.·:·.✧.·:·.*

Bastian climaxed and Odette felt like he was trying to crush her in his hands. As she gasped for breath, she slumped limply on the bed, exhausted.

   Weary, Bastian collapsed on the bed, the moonlight casting hazy shadows on the wall. Odette did not move and laid as if she was already dead. The nerves that had been on edge all day finally relaxed, now that business was taken care of.

   Bastian changed his mind about leaving the bed and watched Odette with a precise gaze, as if trying to read a map. He thought she looked unusually pale and her smooth body invoked images of a sculpture carved from ice. He could distinctly see red marks and bruising on her buttocks and between her legs, where he had been less than delicate with her during sex. 

 Unconsciously, his eyes narrowed as he noticed teeth marks on her ankles and hamstrings, pausing briefly at a bruise on her thigh. She was a woman who was definitely easily bruised and he was not happy about the damage left on her skin.

   “Odette…” calling her name was an impulsive choice he did not stop in time and as usual, she replied with silence.

“Ackh!”  A sharp scream shattered the silence.

   Bastian turned her over and could see her eyes sparkle in the dark. Lying face to face, Odette met his gaze without flinching, he couldn’t see how bloodshot and tear filled they were in the dark.

His long fingers began to move through her hair, like caressing a pet.“Is everything going well?” He sounded like he was mocking her, his voice carrying through the darkness. Embarrassed, Odette held her breath, was she being followed?

   “Why?” Bastian laughed,  “Did you stop being my stepmother’s dog? I was ready to be terrified.”

Luckily, Bastian’s doubts were directed elsewhere. 

   “You need to earn more, don’t you? After giving all your savings to your sister.” 

   Tears threatened to sting Odette’s eyes with pain and sorrow, but she was strong enough to hold them back. One day, even this will be a distant memory, faded in the past, just like all the other memories of her failures and mistakes. Time flows on and nothing is eternal, that was the only thing keeping  seeing each day.

   “If there’s something you want, just say, who knows, you might just get it, if you play your cards right.”

   Odette remained silent.

   “You will be the mother of my child after all, it won’t do to have you fall into thievery or something.”

   His words were silky smooth, as if paying her a sweet compliment, but were laced with malice and suspicion. Perhaps he didn’t want an answer and was merely trying to bait her, which is why he never reacted to her silence.

   Odette patiently waited for the end of the night. Thankfully, he had no desire to hang around and torment her some more and soon he would leave as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Then she would wash, tidy the bed and finally get some sleep. It had been her routine for weeks.

   “Bastian?”

   There was no response, he had fallen asleep, his soft, rhythmic breathing a giveaway. Odette let out a frustrated sigh and rolled over, turning her back to him. It was an effort, but she freed her hair from under him and pushed away his heavy arm. Bastian stirred and replanted his arm around her waist, pulling her in tight.

   Odette struggled a little more, but she was fully entwined within his arms and legs. She became contemplative for a moment and stopped resisting.

   “You seem to enjoy this little game with me,” Bastian said sleepily.

   “Let me go, its disgusting and I can’t stand it,” Odette growled.

   “Than stop resisting and give me a child.”

   In cold fury, he pulled her in closer, encircling her with his arms, his solid, muscular body threatened to crush her, even when not trying.

   “Its the only way we are going to end this disgusting affair.” She could feel his smirk in his words.

   Bastian’s hand moved from her breast to her stomach. Odette shivered at his touch and squirmed violently. She tried with all her might to get free of him, but in the end, she couldn’t manage to move an inch from him.

   “If you can manage it, I would like a daughter who looks just like you. So if she grows up and asks about you, I can tell her to look in a mirror to see her mother,” Bastian said in a whisper, resting his chin on her forehead. His large hand, caressing her body, felt distinct with calluses, soft yet rough.

   Odette closed her eyes and fought back the urge to rage at him, to let out all her anger and frustration. This man was clearly going mad with each passing day. It was just a relief that Tira’s wedding wasn’t too far away.