Vow of Hell by Clara Elroy

Ariadne

“He dumped me.”

“What?” My sister’s stare was comical as I dropped the news on her while we were both out riding. Ina was frozen, a strong gust of wind, and she would fall over.

I couldn’t have told her earlier, not when the whole family was together. Sundays were spent in Grandma Chloe’s ranch, south of Astropolis, and I didn’t want to give mom the satisfaction of being right, and making grandma’s hopes resurface. I’d skipped the last few trips there, but when dad called me that morning, I couldn’t refuse.

Spending a day watching horses gallop on a field sounded so peaceful after the night I’d had. I already felt ten times lighter as I rode Storm; a beautiful thoroughbred mare with a black coat. Irena rode Fury, Storm’s younger brother, and we both made our way down the smoky mountain armed with matching puff jackets over our riding outfits.

“Harry broke up with me,” I repeated, not quite believing it myself still. Fury’s strides became uneven as Irena’s posture relaxed, and I warned her to sit up straight.

She snapped up, taking a hold of the reins more firmly, keeping her steely blue gaze clipped on mine. “What do you mean he broke up with you? I thought everything was going fine. You two looked so cute together.”

“I refused to sleep with him.”

It was as simple as that, really.

After the shitshow with Saint yesterday, my mood was shot, and everyone could tell. I ruined Harry’s night and made Saint’s brighter. I couldn’t fucking act as if nothing happened. Leo, Eliana, and Sonia had all witnessed my embarrassing moment of weakness, where not only my body turned to mush, but my brain as well.

Harry deserved someone better. He deserved a girl’s whole heart, not scraps of it. Despite my dislike for certain aspects of his character, he was a catch. Just not the right catch for me. When he gave me the ultimatum that I either stayed at his place last night, or went home and never saw him again, I didn’t have to think twice about my choice. I was cranky and annoyed. Harry had a point, but I also had the right to relax after a twelve-hour flight.

Nevertheless, I never kept my end of the deal. So when he bid me goodbye with a backhanded “Have a nice life,” comment, I didn’t even blame him. I expected some tears, yet I was only slightly bummed as I ordered an Uber to drive me home.

“I mean good for you for keeping your boundaries…” Ina bit her lip before she hit me with the dreaded question. “But are you ever planning on losing your V-card? I mean Harry is a very nice guy. It seems kinda dumb to break up over something so trivial.”

“You met him one time, Ina,” I grumbled. “And I’m just waiting for the right person. I don’t understand why it’s the societal norm to lose your virginity at seventeen, and if you don’t you’ve somehow failed in life.”

“I don’t think you’ve failed in life. I’m just wondering how you managed to go through college… untouched.” She chose her words carefully. “I mean don’t you have urges? I know I do. We have a new exchange student from England, and he is scrump-dilly-icious, like a young Robert Pattinson.”

Did I not have urges?

Of course, I did. I brought out the big guns last night in the form of a purple vibrator with a suctioning option because I couldn’t sleep. It made me see stars. Golden eyes lingered amongst the night sky as well, enjoying the show like a perverted unwanted guest.

My hormones were at an all-time high. And I would admit, one more reason why I didn’t want to have sex with Harry was because he wasn’t the reason for the slip and slide between my legs. The thought of losing my virginity to one man while thinking of another would haunt me for the rest of my life.

“College was such a blur for me. I was so focused on perfecting my craft and building my career that I didn’t have time to think about anyone in a romantic way.” I confessed. I had flings, but none of them stood the test of time. “And you know, I once read in a tabloid that Robert Pattinson loved licking Kristen Stewart’s armpits when they were intimate.”

Irena blanched. “Did you have to ruin my dreams like that?”

“I’m sorry, kid, but no Robert Pattinson lookalikes for you until you’re at least forty,” I joked, and we both knew it. She could do whatever she liked as long as it was safe and consensual. Our parents had drilled the talk in our heads since we were old enough to walk.

She rolled her eyes at me, and I wondered if she ever got headaches because she seemed to do that a lot. “So, how are you feeling? Mad, sad, angry?”

My teeth chattered when the wind picked up, and Storm started galloping faster down the trail. I had no right to feel mad after he who shall not be named broke through my walls with such little effort.

“Not particularly, I’m… relieved. Harry and I were much better as friends, even though I don’t think we’re ever going back to that.”

Not even a full five seconds after the word relieved was uttered, and we heard additional horse hooves ahead of us. We both strained to see who was coming as Grandma Chloe broke through the mist ahead on top of Savannah, an Arabian purebred.

She was liberty riding, no gear at all, experience bleeding through her flawless posture. Being in her presence made me stand up straighter. Whether it was because I was bracing for something or craved some sort of validation from the world-renown matriarch, I didn’t know.

“Grandma, we were just heading back. What are you doing here?” Irena asked when she neared, pushing between the two of us until she was in the middle. Storm was slightly spooked by the abrupt guest, so I patted her mane, calming her down.

Grandma’s face held a few wrinkles. Regular Botox treatments and refusing to smile or frown helped her out. Despite her insistence with looking younger, she kept her hair natural. A gray, almost whitish color that didn’t look half bad in combination with her crystal blues and her dark brown outfit.

“I came to ride with you girls, but I’m afraid your mother is asking for you, Irena. Something about a call from Mr. Pierce.”

“Isn’t that your math teacher?” I asked an amused frown on my face at the panicked look in her eyes. “What did you do this time?”

“It wasn’t my fault, okay? He got an exercise wrong, and then when I corrected him, he got mad.” She blew out an angry breath. “Ugh, total small dick energy, who knows what lies he’s said this time!” Muttering a string of curses—my sister had a mouth on her—she took off ahead of us, her frame steady, as Fury sprinted the rest of the way.

I couldn’t hold back my laughter when Grandma’s horrified gaze clashed with mine. My ugly snorts only served in making her glare intensify as she shook her head.

“This isn’t funny, Ariadne. She has to learn to reign in her words. You do not swear your way out of situations, but I guess that’s the kind of upbringing you can expect from your mother.”

My amusement dissipated in a sigh. Here we go again. “Don’t start again, please. Irena is a kid. Let her be one.”

“Well, all right. Don’t come to me when her bad habits develop into something worse.”

Trust me, no one is coming to you.

My grandma had a lot to say about everyone else, but she failed to look in the mirror. I needed to exercise more, my dad was too stubborn, my mom too crude, and Irena too immature, according to her. She had an opinion about everything and carried herself as if she was a deity.

“Where are you going?” she asked once I continued forward.

“Home, it’s almost lunchtime,” I clarified.

“You can wait a bit longer,” she said, turning towards the mountains and nudging her head left. She wanted me to ascend the mountain again.

Yeah, no. I was hungry, and the temperature had dropped significantly, mist crawling all around us like slithering snakes. It was worse when you glanced up. Visibility was pure shit.

Grandma caught my denial in the air and tsked at me. “Come on, I have a car waiting for us at the top and two stable boys to take care of the horses. I need some time in the wilderness after spending the entire day in Lydia’s presence. You’re not going to leave an old lady alone, are you?”

Rolling my eyes, I pushed my hips forward in the saddle, and Storm got the message, striding alongside Savannah. “Sometimes, I think you two secretly love each other. There’s no other explanation. You’ve been singing the same tune for twenty-one years now and still haven’t gouged each other’s eyes out.”

Grandma scoffed, and I marveled at how effortlessly she went up the hill with no gear. From what dad told me, she used to ride professionally when she was younger and took part in horse races. “I don’t despise her, I got used to her over the years, but I can’t say I enjoy being in your mother’s presence either. Nor does she like being around me. I guess you could say one thing I appreciate about Lydia is how straightforward she is.”

“See, you do agree on something after all.”

“Not just one thing, as of late… but two.”

“You’re pulling out all the stops today, huh? Go on, surprise me. What else do you two agree on?” I asked, digging my own grave.

“You, marrying Saint Astor.”

The groan that escaped my mind was immediate. I was tired of hearing his name… and thinking about it. “I walked right into that one.”

“I’m going to try to change your mind one last time, Ariadne. And if you still don’t agree, then I will let it go, I promise. All I ask is that you pay attention to what I have to say.”

“The answer is still going to be no, but go on.”

If it finally got her to leave me alone, then, of course, I would listen. It would be as if I was in the mall, late November, and “All I Want For Christmas Is You” was playing through the speakers. I’d heard the same tune a thousand times once more wouldn’t hurt.

“So, as you know, Fleur is facing major economic problems—”

“Yes, I do. Just like I know you have other sources of income, not as big, but just enough so you won’t be able to tell a difference in the quality of your life.” I tapped the side of my boot to my horse, making it go faster.

We were all starting to sound like broken records.

Her nostrils flared at being interrupted, but she didn’t say anything. I held all the power. “That’s the thing, Ariadne. We do now, but we won’t for long.”

“What do you mean?”

“I…” She started, staring far ahead. “A few years back, I went into business with some bad people. I was promised a very hefty reward if I followed through with my end of the deal.”

“Which was?” The chill in the air seeped into my skin.

“That I signed away all of my properties and businesses if I couldn’t pay up. And I did… I did pay my end of the deal, but the contracts I signed with them… there were loopholes.”

I was dumbfounded for a second.

Completely fucking numb down to my bones.

Storm kept moving even though I sat still as an ice sculpture on top, staring at my grandma like she’d grown a second head. She hadn’t told me this before, not when she first breached the topic.

“You did what? What was that hefty reward that had you do such a thing? Didn’t you have a lawyer look over the contracts first?”

“The lawyer was paid off by them. I realized that way too late.” Her cheeks pinkened, and I was guessing it wasn’t just because of the cold. “The reward doesn’t matter. Trust me, Ariadne, for your own good, you don’t want to know. What you have to know is that we need the Astor's help.”

Was she lying to me? She was capable of stooping quite low if it meant getting what she wanted. This shit didn’t happen in real life. It didn’t happen to me—a twenty-one-year-old virgin, whose life was as exciting as watching paint dry, behind the scenes.

“Well, you’re still going to owe them even if I do marry, Saint. Do you think they’re going to allow you to finesse any more money from the company?”

“No, but the company will be the only source of revenue we will have left because I missed the deadline, Ariadne. I was supposed to pay my debts two weeks ago, and now? Now, they’re coming to collect.”

“And if you refuse? You can take them to court. If you were in the right, you could find a way out.” I tried to find a way out. I didn’t like where this was going.

“If I refuse, they’re going to collect more than just properties. There is no way out with these people.”

“Who the hell did you do business with the fucking Russian mob?”

Her silence spoke plenty.

I didn’t know if it was indeed the mob or not, but I couldn’t be far off. Whoever it was, they yielded immense power and had public figures like the likes of my grandma shivering at the mere thought of them. I was shocked when I shouldn’t have been. Backdoor deals and shady people weren’t a new thing for the elite. You didn’t get to the top by being decent, and the matriarch of the fashion world was certainly anything but.

I’d witnessed plenty of times when Grandma Chloe made people cry with her harsh critique. Some of my own body image issues stemmed from her thoughtless words. She was like a real-life Miranda Priestly, with a side of Rosetta Cutolo, apparently.

“What do you want from me?” I asked dejectedly.

Storm got irritable beneath me. I was acting like dead weight, giving mixed signals with my movements. I straightened up, although falling off a horse didn’t seem like such a bad thing at the moment.

I didn’t want to marry Saint. I was so insignificant to him, he didn’t remember who I was until I made a scene. And at Siren’s Grill yesterday, he ignored me for the rest of the night, cozying up to a Brazilian girl with gravity-defying tits and an ass that reminded me of two volleyballs.

“Be there on Wednesday. I’ve already told you the details of the meeting. Talk to Saint. Try. Don’t do it only for me, but also for your parents and Irena. Their future is hanging on your shoulders, Ariadne.”

No pressure.

At least she had the decency to look guilty. I was going to be paying for her fuck up. We both knew it. There was no way in hell I’d let anything happen to my family.

I made her promise that she wasn’t lying as we neared the parked Range Rover waiting for us. She acted appalled for two point five seconds, but I showed her I wasn’t buying it, so she skipped the dramatics and swore on her late husband’s grave.

I believed her.

The desperation in her voice was real and raw, and I was so screwed.

So fucking screwed.

Saint Astor was going to chew me up and spit me out.