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Since he'd figured out that Aspen was important to Oriel to some extent, he'd lied to Aspen. He never mentioned that Aspen’s Father had owed him money, and he'd done that to fuck with him and Oriel.
People closer had gone silent as they watched the pair. Oriel snapped as he punched Taggert with his bare fist. A nick of pain blossomed on his knuckle, but he didn’t give a shit. A piece of tooth went flying, and blood dribbled from the lord’s mouth. The Knights held him up as he sagged for a moment.
“Fuck you,” hissed Oriel. “If you think it’s fine to be chained down and raped to repay a gambling debt, there’s something severely wrong in your head.”
He took the poker in his right hand and made his left glow with the fire.
“Your Father would be ashamed of you.” Taggert had lines of red between his teeth, and a trail ran down his chin. “He’d never do such a thing.”
“I thought he was a traitor, right? I’m just a traitor’s son according to Taven and everyone that's willing to kiss his ass. But no one believes that here, so save your lies. Besides, I remember very well that you had Aspen burned.”
“King Leneer wouldn’t torture someone. If I’m so terrible, why sink to my level? Both he and your Mother would wish they’d suffocated you at birth if they saw you doing this.”
Oriel almost wanted to laugh as he turned the end of the poker in the fire. This lord was utterly insane. He’d been so confident and at ease while on the winning side, but now that Oriel had him, he was trying the stupidest excuses to get out of this.
Or maybe he was trying to be ridiculous because he was hoping that Oriel would snap too hard and kill him right there. Taggert surely knew death loomed in his future, so why not skip the torture?
“You have no idea what my Father would do if he was alive and someone hurt his wife or children,” said Oriel. “He was a good, gentle man who loved his family, and we took after him in many ways. The problem is, when you take a gentle person, and you push and break them, and you snatch away their innocence and those they love, don’t be surprised if they push back and break you too.”
The tip of the poker glowed orange as Oriel’s fire vanished, and he locked eyes with Taggert.
“This is for Aspen.”
Taggert kicked and struggled so much as the poker burned his lower stomach, the Knights could barely keep him still. The familiar stench of burning flesh filled Oriel’s nose, but he felt no regret. Aspen had suffered this repeatedly that night, and this bastard would too.
“Hold him down on the ground.”
Taggert was wrestled down, and another Knight joined in to hold his legs. The crowd watched with pleased expressions and murmurs as the poker came down again. And again. And again. The torn-down lord attempted to thrash, and he screamed each time the flesh on his inner thighs was scorched. Once he ran out of skin there, Oriel moved on to other places. One burn for each family member, each day on the ship, and each time Aspen had been raped.
When Taggert fainted, the Knights slapped him to bring him around. Cold water to the face brought by a servant helped too. His begging and pleading didn’t move Oriel. After all, the bastard hadn’t given a shit about Aspen when Oriel begged.
He finally told the Knights to release Taggert. He gasped and sweated as he lay and didn’t seem to have the energy to run, not that he’d get very far. Oriel went around to give him a mighty kick in the side. Taggert screamed as he rolled down the stairs and fresh pain surely shot through the multiple burns.
He came to a stop at the bottom and found the energy to get his knees as his eyes swept over the crowd. Nobody seemed to hold any pity, and Taggert looked up as his limbs shook. “King Kalen, p-please-he’s mad. You’re not a cruel King-”
“No, I’m not a cruel King,” Kalen interrupted him. “But if anyone ever did that to my husband, they’d wish they’d never been born. You might not have held Aspen down yourself, but I have a particular hate for anyone who sentences others to such a fate.” He waved a hand at Oriel. “Whatever you decide, he deserves it.”
He turned his horse to leave the grounds. Rhys made to follow, although he leaned out of his saddle to spit on Taggert’s astonished face.
“Bastard. It was fine for you to do such atrocious things, but you can’t handle it when it's dished back out to you.” He guided his horse to follow Kalen’s.
“Did you actually think anyone would have mercy on one such as you?” asked Roth.
A scuffle broke out by the gatehouse since the hefty fairy must have decided to let the gate down after making sure no one was under it. He’d busted down the strong door to the gatehouse, and screams came from inside as a few others dealt with the last of the guards.
Oriel slowly came down the stairs as the mechanism for the gate was worked, and it started to creak up on its own. Roth jumped down from his horse and sent out a bit of lightning to make Taggert scream as he tensed and jerked on the ground.
“Shall we kill him?” asked Roth.
“No.” Oriel threw the hot poker at Taggert who shrieked as it hit his back. “Let the citizens have him and do what they want. They loved their lord, so I think they should be allowed to have their own revenge." He raised his voice. "Do whatever you want to him since he had your lord killed."
As Oriel left the grounds with Roth, the nearest citizens had already rushed for Taggert. His screams were quite loud.
The next day, Oriel and the army left the city with over three thousand extra people willing to fight for West Bay. Taggert’s corpse hung from the open gate. He was high enough to where nobody had to duck under his body, but the damage was clear. The citizens had taken over a day to kill him with a healer to keep him away from the brink of death.
Someone had carved the words “Killer of Innocents” on his back, although it was hard to make out considering the rest of the blood and bruises that marred his entire body.
One of those who had hurt Aspen was dead.
