CW: Explicit language, sexual content, blood, physical/emotional abuse.

“You are angry,” Kahin hums, smiling faintly at the pacing Rose.

The Madame is lounging on her plush green couch with her silken sleep robes drifting from the rounds of her shoulders. With her mussed hair and sleepy eyes, the indolent visage of the Madame stirs a deep emotion in Bucky that is near impossible to ignore.

“Yes,” the Rose says stiffly, her stormy eyes flashing as they flit over the Westerner’s languid form. Bucky flushes and continues stalking from wall to wall like a caged and restless beast. “Why do you continue to work with him? He took away Senna today. She’s hardly been here for half a year and now she’s gone. All that work? That effort? Wasted.”

Kahin sweeps a hand through her lush tresses, pulling them over her shoulder. She leans her cheek against the palm of her other hand, lashes falling low over her apathetic gaze. “I need him,” she drawls, stifling a yawn. Tears gather in the corners of her eyes. “He’s a great asset to the palace. Who do you think is providing all those elixirs and tonics?”

“But we can get those from any alchemist in the city,” Bucky sighs, impatiently tugging the mask from her face. Her soft features are moreso striking without the silver adornment obscuring her beauty. 

“My dear. Come and sit with me. You are making me dizzy with your pacing.” Kahin extends a hand to the Rose, an invitation to join her on the couch.

Bucky pauses mid-step, visibly hesitating. She sees those stunning emerald eyes staring at her intently and her heart skips a beat. Pushing out another sigh, the Rose takes her Madame’s hand and drops down beside. She spreads her legs and leans her elbows atop, gazing into the crackling hearth with a troubled frown.

Kahin squeezes her Rose’s hand and absently strokes her knuckles, a soothing gesture that’s followed them through the years. “Blossom and I have had a close partnership for decades. Far longer than you have been alive. Without him, there would be no Rose Palace. There would be no Roses. I need him. Do you understand?”

The blonde can’t help but ease her tension a tad, those gentle feathery strokes a primal comfort to this Rose. “...yes. I didn’t...realise he meant so much to you.”

The Madame smiles and gives Bucky’s hand an affectionate pat. “You should be focusing on being a good attendant. Our new Rose has only just bloomed and he will be needing a lot of guidance. Isn’t he why you returned to the palace?” There is a brittle edge to her words, one that raises the fine hairs on the younger woman’s nape.

Bucky tilts her head and glances at Kahin. The latter’s expression, though outwardly pleasant, also holds an impenetrable coldness. “I returned because I missed you,” she says, lowly. And after a hesitation, “Did you miss me?”

“Oh my dear, of course I did,” Kahin hums, releasing the younger woman’s hand to recline into the couch. She presses the back of her hand over her mouth as she yawns. “Out of all the Roses I’ve tended to, you have the most promise. You could be my Perfect Rose.”

“Do you really think that?” the blonde asks, brows tilting in worry. She shifts until she’s directly facing the Madame, their bodies close enough to share heat. “Even after what I’ve done? After I betrayed you? Do you still think that I am your perfect Rose?”

“Do you regret your actions?” Kahin asks, her voice alluringly deep and husky. Emeralds glitter in the trembling firelight.

Bucky’s stormy gaze pours over the Madame like molten rock, heavy with unfathomable emotions. “...I regret betraying you.”

“Will you do it again?”

“...No.”

“Somehow, I do not believe you.” Kahin’s words slice through the Rose like razor blades, cutting her to the quick.

“I am still devoted. My entirety, it’s yours. Only yours.” Bucky takes the Madame’s hands into her own and cradles them with such care. “But you know that I am not like the others. I will be swayed by things I can’t control. And I will have moments of weakness.”

“I do not wish to keep punishing you,” Kahin says, coldly. She slips her hands from the Rose’s grasp, bringing them to her chest. “Your mind will go before your body does. And then I truly will have no use for you.”

“Then why didn’t you train me like everyone else?” Bucky says, eyes narrowing in anger. “What was so different about me?”

“You were devoted the moment we met. I wanted to see if I could raise you without training.”

“So that was it? I was an experiment?”

Kahin rears forward and grabs the irascible Rose by the jaw, her fingers squeezing so tight that the bone creaks. 

Bucky winces in pain, her eyes widening when she’s caught in the snare of those flashing emeralds. 

“My first Rose. She didn’t need to be trained either. Her devotion was as real as yours, if not more.” The Madame brings her face close and fills Bucky’s vision. Her breath, faintly sweet, puffs hot against the Rose’s cheek, inciting a deep rosy blush wherever it strikes. “I really believed that you could have been the Perfect Rose, my dear. But then, you had to go and fuck up.” 

Kahin’s fingers dig ruthlessly into her cheeks, nails slicing through skin. Blood trickles from the tiny wounds, but Bucky doesn’t even feel the pain. Her heart trembles along with her vision as a thin film of tears gather in her eyes. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, hoarsely. “I am. I truly am sorry. I was weak. I wasn’t thinking. I should have been thinking about you. I should have stayed true to you.”

The Madame gives a thin-lipped smile, her pupils shrinking to needlepoints in the expansive viridescent seas. “I feel as though my punishment was not enough. Need I break you again for you to be fully tamed?”

Despite herself, Bucky feels an excited clench below, a dampness spreading between her twitching thighs. She presses her legs together, cheeks burning. “N-no, Madame Kahin. I...I will do better. I will be your Perfect Rose. I am your Perfect Rose. You must believe me. I want nothing more than to be with you. Than to devote my entirety to you.” Her gaze shivers as she pours her sights over Kahin’s cruel, impassive features. “I am devoted to you. And only you.”

Kahin narrows her eyes, the red glow of fire drunkenly swerving over her lines. “You are mine, Bucky. All of you are mine. The only person you should be in love with is me. The only one you should be devoted to is me. I will not let you walk away and be trampled by those thieves.” She spits out the last word, her voice dripping with pure venom.

Bucky’s light lashes flutter as her eyelids droop, drawing dark clouds into her gaze. A wash of tears dampens her cheeks, but she’s unfeeling. Numb. Like Solaris and Luna meeting only in the twilight, Madame Kahin’s obsession will always be an endearing fact of this reality. And nothing Bucky does will ever change that. Not even her unfettered love.

The Madame’s lips press lightly against hers. The kiss is tender, surprisingly warm. The hard grip around her face falls away. When Bucky wipes at her cheeks, her hand comes away smeared red.

“Do not betray me again,” Kahin says, voice hushed as if she were whispering sweet nothings. “There will be no next time, do you understand?”

A chill runs down the Rose’s spine. “...yes, Madame Kahin.”

“For now, I want you to continue attending to our new Rose. Keep a close eye on him and report his progress to me daily.” Kahin sinks back into the couch, idly licking her blood tipped nails. “I want to see how deep his devotion runs.”

Bucky frowns, uneasiness building in her chest. “...I will. But may I ask...why?”

“He has potential. Much like yourself.” 

In other words, she's grooming him to be the next me, Bucky thinks, numbly. She stares blindly into the fire, feeling at once distant from herself. “I will do as you say, Madame Kahin.”

“For you, my dear, it’s Lila.” Fingertips graze Bucky’s temples, brushing blanched locks from her face.

But she can’t bring herself to say that name. If she does, she might well and truly lose herself to her beloved monster.