Captive Witch

Chapter Three

It was now the day before my birthday, and yet Mikhail was nowhere in sight and he had not sent word that he would be arriving late either, I fiddle with my jewelry at my dressing table as I think, this was not a normal prison by any means, Nox could be right that it was still a prison though, only time would reveal the answer to that question. I sigh and look down at the necklace I was fiddling with, it was one of Cartier's more expensive pieces, valued at seven point three million dollars, the funny thing was, as expensive as this was, I didn't even get it on one of my birthdays. I had unlimited access to Mikhail's black card that had no limit and now a days, there wasn't much you couldn't buy online from the comfort of your own home. I even had multiple similar pieces from Cartier though this one was by far worth the most.

Mikhail granted me everything in life except for a life outside of this grand estate, I could do whatever I wanted, have whatever I wanted, as long as I stayed within the boundaries of the property. I was tired of not getting answers and now that I had given my word to Nox, I wouldn't be breaking it, I never broke my word, unlike Mikhail seemed to be doing, I would try to leave the property if he didn't show up on my birthday. That didn't mean I would run away, even a foot across the property line would serve my promise, it would show me whether I was truly in a prison or not, if this wasn't a prison then I would be able to step across the boundary line, if it was then I imagine that something would stop me from leaving.

"Darling, are you coming down for breakfast? It's nearly noon!" Dorthy's voice pierces through the fog hovering over my mind and allows me to come back to reality, if only for today. I sigh and get up knowing that if it was nearly noon, then Nox must be starving, but surprisingly he had yet to utter a word of protest. Maybe he had snuck away when I was showering this morning to get some breakfast, or maybe he knew that I couldn't handle his silly complaints right now, not when I was so morose over Mikhail.

"Glad to see you're still alive, lassie. You've got to be all skin and bones now, why won't you eat the food, I've worked hard preparing for yah?" Aengus was by no means more subtle with his worry over me, they may both be trying to hide it, but they knew why I was upset and it worried them, because they knew nothing they could do would make it better, there was only one person who could fix this and Nox was more than sure that he wasn't going to be showing up anytime soon, and I was becoming more and more convinced of this fact as well. Never before had Mikhail not spent my birthday week with me, it was his tradition to present me with my gift one minute after midnight on the day before my birthday, the exact time it started to be my birthday, but he may very well be late for some reason. He always spent three days with me before my birthday and three days after, that he was changing up his routine after twenty years was very telling that he was in fact not coming.

And even though I believed that Nox was right, I couldn't help but still have a little hope left that Mikhail might return and keep his promise. I sullenly ate the pancakes Aengus had cooked to perfection, though they tasted like ash in my mouth, making it hard to stomach more than two, which was a telling sign to Aengus, ever since I was little, I was always determined to at least finish most of the food presented to me, taught not to waste it, but I couldn't seem to summon up the energy today and as if Nox was feeling my own emotions, he too, didn't eat much of his food.

"Is something wrong with the food, lass?" I look up, blinking in shock, not realizing that Aengus had returned and was now staring at me worriedly.

"No, no, they're fine, I'm just not that hungry is all, maybe I'll get my appetite back in a bit, I think I am going to go to my practice room." He nodded looking at a loss for words, never before had his delicious food been left at the table, if I didn't eat most of the food, Nox at least ate his and some of mine, but even his wasn't finished and Nox never left his food unfinished.