Raw

HJ

K

atalina had permanently marked herself with the words I’d said to her the first night we met:

You’ll live because if you don’t, you’ll die.

Around it all were skulls and roses and dying flowers of all sorts, wrapped in jewels and strings of pearls in the most intricate detail I’d seen in a long time.

I’d never gotten that good a look at it all until tonight. It was art that represented her more than I think she would ever know. I saw her in the world of the family, trapped as a prized possession, trapped by the beauty she flaunted for us. She let herself be used over and over again as bait, and even if she didn’t know it, it would kill her. The family would kill her just like they did everyone.

It was a beautiful lifestyle, but one that tangled you up and suffocated you until you were lying there bleeding out.

She’d made that bed. I couldn’t change it for her, and I didn’t need to get wrapped up with her.

Except she’d marked herself with my words.

Like she’d wanted to be mine.

My