The next few weeks kept Ivory on her toes; she constantly moved through the immaculate and modern mansion like a shadow: soft, predictable, and calculated. She was losing the naive orphan girl identity that was once her; she was the wife of a ruthless mafia leader who held many secrets.
Every morning, Ivory would make sure Blue had his black coffee in his dragon mug, and then his scripted ritual was he same; kissed her on the temple, hold her possessively, and whispered to her ears that she was a good wife.
Though, she wondered if he really knew what her plan was ... play the part, then one day when her escape route was ready, she would be free from this control.
Ivory noticed that Blue was watching her; he'd stare at her whenever he was on the phone, whenever he read a book, or when he thought she wasn't looking. She noticed the faint curl of his lips whenever she caught his gaze. She just smiled innocently at him as she hid her true feelings for the monster of a man she was forced to marry.
Two weeks after their marriage, Ivory walked to his office with his usual black coffee; he would have remote meetings with Red in there every Friday morning at 7 AM; Blue wanted updates on everything from the members to the merchandise. Blue wanted budgets, finances, every single detail that showed him The Blue Dragons were unstoppable, and that Red was able to keep up with the pace.
Ivory smiled at him and gently placed his coffee mug on his coaster.
Blue shifted in the armchair as he waited for Red to join the meeting. "You've been extra quicker for the past two weeks," he said amusedly.
Ivory tilted her head and brushed her hair back. "I have just been trying to keep myself entertained: music, movies, videos, cleaning.
Lies, she thought to herself. She wasn't reading — she was observing: sh memorized his sleep schedule, where he was at all times of the day, the rise and fall of his chest, the patterns on his speech, and how he treated his servants.
She was extra nice to them, not just because they deserved her kindness, though because she knew that she'd have their loyalty.
He smirked. "Good. Quiet is appropriate for a wife."
Ivory's stomach twisted. Appropriate. Not free. Not alive. Appropriate.
She swallowed and was very careful with her words. "Yes, Blue."
"Well, you can just," he stopped for a second as his arm wrapped around her waist and pulled her closer; she was pushed against his chest. He looked up at her, "call me babe."
Ivory felt her face get hot. She fumed deep inside and knew this was one of his tricks; he wanted to have the upper hand, wanted control.
Her eyes wandered along the bookshelves where there were notebooks stacked neatly, where folders color-coded, and where a dragon embossed on every cover of each door knob and book.
Her eyes bore into his, "Sure, babe." she smiled gently.
He gently slapped her back. "Red will be on any minute. Let's continue this later, hm?" Blue's hand reached her hip.
Ivory nodded and left his office; this was it for now.
***
Later that day, when Blue was taking a shower, she made sure no one watched her before she snuck into Blue's office. His office was precisely clean, nothing was out of place. As she observed the nicely designed and smooth folders, she noticed a set of keys on his desk. She took them and saw that his desk's compartment matched the tip of the blue dragon shaped key in her hand.
She held onto it tightly, and her heart pounded as she wondered if she should open it or not. She decided that she had nothing to lose and heard the key turn and unlock the compartment; the noise stung the air. She quickly and quietly opened the compartment and found the blue folder that Blue had in the bedroom a few weeks ago.
She stared at it intently and flipped it around over and over again. Eventually, she gathered the courage to open to: she found papers labeled with codes. Inside were numeric strings and symbols, and one small slip of paper that reads:
"To open the past, follow the pulse beneath the floor."
Ivory had no idea what it meant; however, she knew a riddle when she saw one. She stared at the codes and noticed something familiar: CRO-23443.
Her eyes widened, that was one of Blue's tattoos; the one that no one else except her seemed to notice.
12192: CRO-23443.
She memorized every letter, number, and symbol of his tattoo in chronological order. In the folder, 12191 was missing. She didn't know what it had meant.
"To open the past, follow the pulse beneath the floor."
The floor felt colder, denser, more powerful with every moment that she had stood in her spot. She realized that his tattoo had to be a secret code of some sort; and it had to open something here within the mansion.
She closed the folder, placed it back exactly how she found it in the compartment, locked it up, and returned the keys to their original spot on the desk. She had to make sure everything was meticulously set in its original place, because Blue knew when a belonging was touched, and he hated when anyone touched his belongings unless he specifically told them to fetch him something.
***
That night, she dreamt of a basement with a bunch of blue dragons that sported pretty scales, that held vicious smiles and sharp teeth; dragons that hissed and smirked; dragon sigils that glowed blue on the walls, bright blue diamonds engraved into the walls. The dragons shrieked and gleamed with evil intention and a fury that was as old as time.
"Seraphyne,"
"Blue folder,"
"Seraphyne,"
The old beasts chanted again and again.
She felt someone shake her and woke up to a dimly lit bedroom; silky cream colored sheets felt soft against her face. She turned to see Blue rubbing her back. He moved closer to her and kept an arm securely wrapped around her waist.
As she had fallen back asleep, she thought about the dragons that she encountered in her dreams and what they were trying to tell her about the blue folder and a .... Seraphyne. She had no idea what that had meant; though, it felt vey real.
She hoped it wasn't.