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Hagan stared at Mercy’s abused body with obvious satisfaction, if not regret that it was already over.
“No. I still owe him his punishment,” he said, pointing at me with his chin.
Lorik rolled his eyes in exasperation. “Make it quick.”
I didn’t care about a whipping. As a warrior, I’d been trained to endure extreme pain. But it was the Guldan preparing to inject Mercy with a strange syringe that had me worried.
“What are you doing to her?” I demanded.
Lorik paused and looked at me. “You mean this?” he asked, showing me the syringe.
“Oh, I’ll tell him,” Hagan said with a sadistic smile, absentmindedly spinning the handle of the whip. “Remember when I said you never learn? The Guldan says your female is three weeks pregnant. Since we can’t wait for that abomination to be born to bash its head in at the second half of the party tomorrow, the contents of this syringe will flush it out.”
“Sorry, but I can’t have another man sire my future wife’s heir,” Lorik said before plunging the needle in her neck. “It’s better like this. The pain from the abortion will mix with the one from the punishment. So, technically, she won’t feel it.”
My blood ran hot, and then immediately cold. Something broke inside of me.
I did this. I did this to her. To them.
When the first blow fell on my back, it didn’t register. Or the second, or the third… I was numb, dead to the world. Mercy remained unconscious through my punishment and through the Guldan gently cleaning her wounds. When the pain from my lashings finally started seeping in, I welcomed it, embraced it—I deserved it.
My instincts had warned me to let her go. Keran had told me not to impregnate her. The Council had cautioned me about potential backlash. But I had wanted to bind her to me, to see her stomach swell with my child, to hold our offspring to my chest, and lift my baby high up for the world to see that never again would Ravik Xeldar fail the fruit of his loin. That I, too, had the courage of Krygor Aldriss to stand and defend my hybrid child.
I used her for my guilty conscience’s need to make amends for Lissy and Goliath.
I gave myself over to Hagan’s lashings. Although he didn’t hold back, tearing my skin to shreds, I wished he’d strike even harder to cleanse me of my crimes, of my failure towards both of my hybrid offspring, and their foreign mothers I had loved.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Lorik hissed, staring disbelieving at Mercy’s unconscious form.
Intrigued, Hagan turned towards the Guldan. “What is it?”
Lorik took on a neutral expression. “You’ve done way more damage than you were entitled to. You’ve permanently scarred my woman.”
He’s deflecting.
That wasn’t the reason he’d cussed. My eyes flicked to his hand pressing on Ravena’s forearm before locking with his. He narrowed them at me.
Her Veredian markings! Her prosthetics must have been damaged by the lashing.
“Leave, now,” Lorik said to Hagan in a tone that brooked no argument.
“But…”
“I fucking said LEAVE NOW!” Lorik yelled, pointing his blaster at Hagan again. “You’ve overstayed your welcome. I only tolerate your presence because a Guldan always honors his word. You’ve already got him half-dead. Either finish him or leave.”
Hagan’s broad nose twitched, a telltale sign that he felt offended or humiliated. Resentment burned in his eyes as he tossed the whip at my head. I turned just in time for it to strike my cheek before falling to the floor.
“See you at ten in the morning,Magnar,” Hagan said with malice. “Rest your eyes well, for tomorrow, we’re going to give you quite the show.”
Pretending to be holding on to a pair of hips, he thrust his hips forward a few times. I knew all too well what it implied. With a final glare towards Lorik, he headed for the door.
“His guards are crawling all over the top floor,” Lorik said. “See that you take the secret exit. Enter the same way in the morning. I will not delay the hour of my departure, so be on time.”
Dismissing him, Lorik returned his focus to Mercy’s wounds. With a hiss, Hagan turned around and left. As soon as he was gone, the Guldan went to the counter and rummaged through one of the cupboards above it from whence he retrieved a small bottle. It resembled the solvent Mercy used to loosen and remove her prosthetics. Our captor used it on her arms, nape, and legs, the disguise all but falling off on its own.
Dull at first, thanks to the mental numbness I’d been in, the lancing pain from my lacerated back gradually came to the forefront as I watched Lorik tend my woman.
“Full of secrets aren’t you,” Lorik whispered to a still unconscious Mercy. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have given you that shot. As the first ever Guldan-Braxian-Veredian hybrid, that baby would have been worth a fortune.”
