Unable to Disobey

"Vanessa!", Dante hugged her the moment she sat up in the bed.

Suddenly realizing he was in charge, he regained composure and stood up straight. "I see you're awake", he adjusted his collar.

"Lord Dante?!", she smiled genuinely although her body felt weak. "You were the one calling me?"

Somewhat embarrassed, he turned around.

"Your face...", her voice trailed off. This was the first time she was seeing it. She could feel her heart pounding fast for some reason, why would such an attractive man wear a mask around? Was it to hide the scar across his nose?

It was quite sexy... And it made him look more fierce.

He hadn't expected her to wake up in the daytime like this. "Woman...", his voice was as cold as ever.

Her body quivered. 'This isn't the human world, everyone here is some kind of demon'.

"I...I want to go home...", tears flowed out of her eyelids. "Please I want to go home..."

To Dante, he thought she'd been frightened at the sight of his face. It was a scar Hades had given him during his childhood. It was also a sign of the hatred he had in his heart.

Why did he even stay by her side all the time she'd been unconscious?

His fists tightened in annoyance.

And she was still scared of him?

"You will remain within these walls until you die!", he vanished with rage after those words.

Vanessa gulped in fear although she couldn't fully tell the reason for his annoyance. She wanted to truly thank him for saving her life and watching over her.

Her trembling fingers slowly moved to her tender lips.

Why did it feel so warm?

In about five minutes, the butler opened the door. "Your food is ready, madame", he bowed.

"Could... could I please eat in here?"

He nodded before leaving.

In a few days when she'd gotten her strength back, she prepared to visit Lady Ishtar. Chadwick who'd told her to call him Calen had informed her about Ro's recovery.

Lady Ishtar had treated him.

"Where are you going?", Calen question from the stairway when she was a few feet away from the door.

"To see master Ro of course".

Calen's eyes narrowed at her.

Dante had warned him not to let her leave nor permit anyone to visit until his return. He'd stormed into one of the doors at the left wing in rage.

Luckily, he didn't hurt Vanessa before leaving.

Although Calen wasn't even sure if his cold master could hurt her at this point.

If she was to leave, he would be the only one getting hurt by the master!

"The Master has demanded you don't leave the house till his return. And I advise you don't call Prince Pyro your master".

A few days ago when she'd asked about Dante's whereabouts, Calen had reminded her of his usual disappearance.

And only heaven knew how long he'd take to return!

"I'll be back, this really can't wait!", she took another step forward and the door flung open like it always did.

"Arghh!!", she screamed before falling to the floor. Her left shoulder seemed to be burning like they'd poured hot larva on it.

She literally screamed her lungs out and all Calen could do was cover his eyes with a palm. The seal given to a servant by their master made them unable to disobey an order.

"Sorry madame, but it seems you learned the hard way", slowly making his way down the stairs, he moved to carry her unconscious body back to her room.

The pain from the seal would be quite excruciating to a demon, but a human would lose consciousness at some point.

He just hoped she'd be able to forgive his master for this.

As for him, he just had one order given by his master long ago.

"Do not betray me".

His eyes moved to the seal on the woman in his arms. There was no sign of injury on her shoulder, although the mark was glowing bloody red as the pain was experienced by one's soul.

There was also no way he would betray Lord Dante unless their goals seemed to stray apart from one another.

Which seemed quite unlikely.

Unless the woman in his arms decided to do something out of line that would make Dante unfocused during their stay in Wrymorg - there was no order not to end her life.

It was more than two weeks before Dante returned.

Throughout the period he was gone, no one had been allowed to enter his castle. Calen had managed to stop Pyro several times from attempting to see Vanessa.

Vanessa on the other hand had fallen into depression asking herself never-ending questions as so many things were on her mind.

All she kept doing was stacking up letters one after the other. Both her mother and Natalie had been expecting the letters.

And there was nothing she could do about it.

The castle hardly ever got dirty so she served often no purpose.

She was finishing up a letter when Dante opened the door. In an attempt to hide her anger, she didn't look his way. "Welcome back.". The words sounded forced.

She wasn't easily going to forget the pain she'd experienced at the front door that day.

It felt like hell!

He caught a glimpse of her frown. Calen had summarized everything that had occurred during his absence.

And he had no remorse whatsoever. "You should learn to listen to orders". His voice was cold as his fingers moved to unbutton his shirt.

"Orders?!", her tone was surprisingly louder than she'd expected as both fists slammed on the table. "I...", her voice trailed off once more and there was silence about the room.

"May I go visit master Ro?".

His eyebrow twitched behind her, "Master who?".

Remembering what Calen had warned her about. "I mean... Prince Ro".

"You may not".

"Why?!", she suddenly spun around to find a strangely shaped tattoo on his broad back. Her head quickly turned to face forward as her cheeks heated up. Why would a grown man take off his clothes when a woman was right behind him?

She gulped while watching him take off his trousers through the mirror.

Although master Dante didn't seem to care about such meager things.

"If you want to see him so badly, he can visit you. But you can't leave the castle".

"Why?"

"Why what?", he wrapped a short towel across his waist.

"Why are you so cruel to me?".

A deep frown formed on his lips as he walked up to stand behind her. "Silly girl, I own you". His fingers traced through her hair. "I don't care about your feelings!". He took a moment to sniff her hair.

"Then why did you stay beside me while I was unconscious?".

He froze at those words, cursing Calen in his head for blabbing.

"I only woke up because you kept calling out my name, so thank you". Her smile was faint - but genuine.

Although her master acted so cold at times, he still had a soft spot.

"I didn't want my servant to die, that is all". He frowned before leaving to take a bath in the accompanying silence.

Sighing in disappointment, she finally stood up to take her leave. It would be awkward to see him come out of the bathroom.

"Diane!", Ro's voice from downstairs startled her.

"Ahh, I see she's already out". Calen bowed at the stairway before vanishing.

"Master- I mean, Prince Ro!", with newfound happiness, she raised her gown before running down the stairway. For some reason, she jumped toward him and he caught her before spinning them both around like she weighed less than a feather.

"I'm glad you're okay", he paused to drop her. "I feel so ashamed for letting Loki take you", he hugged her. "I heard Dante saved you so I'll have to thank him". He let go to stare into her eyes. "I'll try to get you back soon".

Her smile dropped at those words. If Ro couldn't beat Loki, what made him think he would be able to defeat her master?