AllFreeNovel
Share Us
What the fuck was he supposed to do when he didn’t know what King Taven planned overall?
He heard Aspen scream from a room not far down the hall. “ORIEL!”
Oriel couldn’t hold back his flinch as terror spiked in him. Not Aspen. Not Aspen.
“A hot poker hurts a lot,” said the lord. “If he knows, I’m sure it’ll just take a few burns on his tender spots to make him talk.”
“He doesn’t know where it is,” Oriel said, unable to stop his shaking. Aspen let out another shriek. “My Father never would have dared to tell a whore the location of something like that, especially when he didn’t even tell his own sons.”
“True, but you never know, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. A man’s mouth might grow loose with his pet when they’re laying in bed and sated.”
“He never-
Aspen’s next scream was longer, and Oriel imagined some faceless guard pressing a hot poker to his bare flesh without a care. The image was like a dagger to his gut. He wanted to kill whoever was torturing him, gather Aspen in his arms like he used to, and somehow make the hurt go away.
"He has nothing to do with this! Let him go!"
The lord smirked. “You look so bothered. I thought he was just a whore? One that you don’t even touch.”
“He’s just a slave, but he doesn’t need to be tortured,” Oriel said as he tried to smooth his expression and make his voice firm. “He’s employed here, and none of this has anything to do with him or any of the servants either. They know nothing, and hurting the employees solves nothing.”
The lord tilted his head and narrowed his orange eyes as he brushed back several strands of his blonde hair. “Tell me where the seal is, or I’ll have them bring Aspen in here. You can watch while we find new, creative ways to torture him. Do you know what we could do for hours while keeping him alive? Especially with a healer to make sure he doesn’t croak.”
The thought of what they’d do to him made Oriel’s insides go cold.
“Then we’ll get started on your family,” the lord added. “We can drag this out all night.”
“If you hurt my family, you can’t ransom them back. Queen Asara will pay-even for the emplo-”
The lord laughed. “Is that what you’re hoping for? Your cousin is in the Windswept Isles, and she won’t know of this for ages. King Taven doesn’t care to ransom you back, and if she’s foolish enough to go against him, he’ll slaughter her and the rest. The most you can hope for is life imprisonment, and the harder you fight, the less comfortable it’ll be.” He looked at one of the men. “Bring Aspen in here, and send someone to find lengths of chain. I have an interesting idea before we get started on the brothers.”
Those words broke Oriel. “The seal’s hidden in the statue at the end of the hall. The naked lady-if you push on her throat, her mouth opens a little. It’s there. I swear.”
The lord raised an eyebrow as Aspen screamed again. “See? That wasn't so hard.”
He sent a man to check, but before they returned, Oriel heard Aspen shriek in agony again. “I told you where it was! Let him go!”
“Once I have it in my hand, I’ll decide what to do,” the lord said in a slow, cold voice. “You have no power. Shut up."
The guard returned with the gold ring inlaid with the four feathers around a K. The lord examined it while he leaned on the desk. Aspen screamed again as Oriel sweated.
“Your brothers are dead,” the lord said suddenly. “They never made it out of the Hall, and neither did your Father. I saw your Mother dead downstairs. They raped her and hung her from the chandelier in the sitting room in the back. You’re the only one left, and you broke for a pleasure slave. You poor thing. King Taven didn’t feel like dealing with imprisoning them, but you'll get lucky.”
The world seemed to tilt for a moment as Oriel struggled to comprehend that. They couldn't all be dead.
The lord tossed the seal up and caught it. “I think you’ll make a pretty slave. Since you lied to me, you can watch Aspen suffer too.”
Chapter Three
Aspen lost count of how many times the men burned his lower stomach and inner thighs with the searing hot poker while they taunted him. Out of sheer desperation, he had screamed Oriel’s name once, and the one holding down his shoulders had laughed and spat on his face.
The one holding the poker summoned fire in his hand and held it to the tip after a few more burns. “If you happen to know where the seal is, we’ll stop.”
Aspen sweated as the newest mark on his inner thigh burned. King Leneer had never told him such a thing, and he couldn’t even begin to guess where the royal seal was. “I d-I don’t know. I swear. P-please-I c-can’t. I can't take it."
“They always say they can’t take it, but they do because they have no choice. Either you or Oriel will tell first. He knows his family is already dead, but you're good enough leverage.” The fairy pulled the tip of the poker from the fire in his hand and studied the glowing end as he came closer. “Where is it?”
Aspen clenched his eyes shut as he felt the heat near his lower right hip. “I don’t know. Please-I’m begging you!”
