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“When they saw me, their smirks told me something was wrong. That’s when I saw my Lissy, naked and shackled on an altar. Near her, my son wailed in a cage like an animal. My father made me watch as the juveniles took turns – fifteen in total, one for each month I’d kept my son’s life a secret. He chose them because their age made them the perfect size to fuck a human without killing her in minutes.”
I couldn’t begin to imagine the horror he must have felt. And his son… He had been old enough to understand they were hurting his mother while his father didn’t help her.
“By the fifth one, Lissy stopped calling out for me. When the last was done, my father held the cage up for me. Then she understood. She begged and pleaded. I broke our son’s neck and placed his dead body on her chest. And so they remained until the next morning. She took her own life the following day. From the doctor’s account, she would have died anyway from internal injuries.”
As horrible as that was, Ravik showed mercy to Lissy and their son. The altar usually had a wall behind it. The sire was expected to bash the child’s head on it so the blood and gore rained down on the mother’s face. Then he would place the corpse on her chest.
“I could have saved her. I could have saved them both by simply renouncing my clan. Instead, I spent the next thirty years with their deaths on my conscience. Six of those juveniles now sit on my council. Every day, I eat and drink with them, work with them, socialize with them. And all I see, are those bastards rutting over my woman while she begs me to save her. There’s a special kind of hell for men like me.”
I would have killed them.
“You were just a boy, Magnar.”
“I was old enough to put a child in a woman’s womb,” he said, curling his lips. “I should have protected them. At that age, despite all the odds stacked against half-breeds, you not only lived but also became your clan’s main provider. What does that say?”
“That we had different priorities. Your father groomed you to rule Braxia after him, according to his beliefs. I strived to make myself invaluable to my clan for the right to live.”
Ravik smiled and crossed his leg. “Your Grace loves you.”
My heart thumped. “I believe she has affection for me.”
“Foolish boy. She loves you. I know that look.” His face took on a faraway expression. After a moment, his eyes refocused on me and took on a determined look. “I want you to renounce your clan.”
My breath hitched. “Excuse me?”
“Renounce your clan, mate your woman, and have children.”
He had no right to make such a demand. One could renounce of their free will or be banished for a grievous offense, but not coerced into renouncing.
“Is that an order, Magnar?”
Ravik snorted. “To save you, your father showed the courage I lacked. Krygor Aldriss faced a lot of challenges and criticism for sparing you. Do you think he did all this so that you can spend a lifetime of Braxia bullying you?”
There was something more to this. “Why do you care?”
“Had my son lived, he could have been you. I’ll never know. What I do know is that Braxia is a cesspool of ignorance, bigotry, and stupidity. Our people must change and adapt to the times or face oblivion. Do you really think my father’s death happened by accident?”
Why the fuck was he revealing all this to me? Several rumors whispered of foul play but why confess to me of all people?
“Magnar Sigmer wasn’t always popular,” I said, cautiously. “We all expected someone to challenge him sooner rather than later.”
“He was a fanatic and should have been put down long ago,” Ravik bit back. “Bottom line, Braxia must change. I can only lay the groundwork and raise my sons to continue after me.”
I nodded. “You have set a number of progressive ideas in motion that will help Braxia.”
“But it’s not enough. Half of my time is devoted to pacifying foreign governments because yet another clan took excessive revenge over a slight. That can’t go on.”
I’d always wondered about that. Darla and Steffie had been nobodies, with no powerful protectors or family to seek justice on their behalf.
“The purge of half-breeds needs to stop. I’ve been watching your progress for a long time. Since you reversed the fate of your clan – sixteen years ago was it..?”
“Yes.”
“An increasing number of lesser clans are sparing their half-breeds,” he continued. “Most of them still don’t make it to puberty, but it’s a start. You’ve set the bar for what half-breeds can be… and above all, what half-breeds will or won’t accept.”
My breath rushed out as a light finally went off in my head.
“You set me up,” I whispered. “This whole consultation deal, you knew that sooner or later, Gerwin would provoke me.”
