The Demon’s Bride

Elise whose cheeks were red tried to find the right word to speak, but after what Ian had told her with his seductive smile, she felt as if something had stuck on her throat, and somewhere Elise was sure that it was her heart that jammed on her throat. "What is this?" she asked, trying to force the heat on her cheeks and ears away by deviating his attention to her question.

"What do you think? It's a dress that I had someone to tailor for you," Ian entered her room seamlessly as if it was the most natural thing for him to do, and with a click, he closed the door behind him.

A dress? Elise watched how Ian made his way to the corner of her bed. His hand took the dress that Edward gave her to take it to his hand, and with a light snap, a flame caught the hem of the dress and Ian threw the dress to the fireplace to watch the fabric turning to ash. 

"Ah!" A gasp escaped from her lips when seeing the dress turn to nothingness. 

Hearing the concerned gasp from Elise's delicate lips, Ian, who had taken a seat on the side of her bed took his time to shift his eyes to her. "What's wrong Elise? Are you sad that I burnt the dress? That you didn't get the chance to wear them?"

Elise knitted a light frown on her forehead, "That wasn't what I was reacting for."

"Really?" was his nonchalant answer as he watched her with one of his brows raised. He sounded unaffected, but seeing his gaze, Elise knew it was more than simply affected. Ian seemed angry, and at first, she didn't know why, but after seeing the dress turning to ash inside the fireplace, she knew it was because of the dress that had gotten him to turn jealous. "But that was how it sounded to me, Elise. You were surprised and sad that the dress now helps the fireplace to give you more warmth."

Elise saw the distance between them that turned the air tense, and bravely she cut the distance between them, making way to stand near him, "I was not happy when I first receive the dress from Mr. Harland."

"Hm," Ian didn't stop her from her explanation, waiting patiently to hear what she has to say. "What did you felt then?" He questioned her with a smile. Since he had entered her room, his smile hadn't left him, but that was what makes him more taunting. Ian wasn't scary, but he did make her feel nervous. 

"I was shock and rather uncomfortable. I don't know how he knew that I will be attending the Winter Ball, I didn't tell him," she said, and Ian who was watching her had cast his gaze briefly away from her to look at the card that was placed near the box Edward gave her. 

"You didn't? I thought you two had become a penpal," Ian said, acting oblivious to what he had done.

Elise shook her head. She tried to find the right word to tell Ian that she had felt nothing from the dress that was gifted to her. She didn't want him to misunderstand her, "I was thinking to wear the dress because it is the only dress that I have. But-" Elise hadn't finished her words when without warning Ian pulled her hand to bring her to his chest. Swiping his hand, he folded both of her legs on his lap. 

"Continue," Ian told her, wanting to hear the rest of her words. 

Elise gulped down what felt like her giddiness. When Ian became jealous, she didn't only see taunt from him, but a possessiveness he had for her, that only make her heart skip faster. It felt to her as if his entire focus had been to her, and she was special-- a feeling that Elise didn't know before until now. "But I felt different when I receive your dress. I feel very happy," Ian watched how her hands which were holding the gift box hugged the box tightly as if it was her treasure, and watching her, his smile broadened. "But I don't think you should burn the dress."

"What will you do if I didn't burn the dress then?" Wearing it was out of choice, and Ian knew this plenty well. But upon seeing the dress in her room while the one he made was on his hands made something on the back of his head to snap lightly. He didn't like it. To see Elise wearing the dress that another man created for her while having Elise in his mind was not something he could tolerate or brush off lightly.

"I will send the dress back to him," she said, and he hummed with an expression uncaring as he had disposed of what was created with her in another man's imagination to ash as the fireplace was the dress belong to, "Your hands are cold, where did you go earlier?" she asked when seeing how his hands had sneaked from her shoulder to her waist. 

"I went to visit graves," Ian stated while she held both of his hands to share her warmth. 

"Whose grave was it?" Elise wondered if it was the grave of someone who was important to him. Like his mother, perhaps?

"Someone whose name I don't remember," and Ian saw how Elise's brows raised higher on his reply. "Not everyone should visit the grave of people who they remember, do they?"

"But if you don't know the person's name, why did you go there?" Because most people who visited graves would be visiting to share the memory they once had with the person who had left, but this was different.

"Because I needed to shift their grave. Whose grave did you think I will be visiting earlier?" Ian asked, his hand softly brushed her hair, "My mother?" he asked her.

"Yes," she responded what she thought. "Have you visited your mother's grave?"

Slowly, Elise saw Ian shook his head softly, his smile grew stale as his eyes settled on her red hair, "My mother's grave isn't anywhere in this world anymore. She's gone down to her ashes, burnt. Even when a day comes for me to meet her, that would never happen even if I die. Unfortunately, my mother had lived her life clean, without killing anyone which why I wasn't able to see her in Hell. If only she had killed someone, perhaps I would be able to meet her. And likewise, if I hadn't killed anyone I would have been able to see her in Heaven, but it wasn't a choice for me to make."

"Why not? Is it because you chose to become a Demon?" questioned Elise, and she catch a sight of how his smile curled.

"Yes, because I chose to be a Demon, come here."