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“Old enough for me.”
“I bet he’s a virgin too.”
“He needs a real man to show him how it’s done.” Dagger drew close enough to slip the tip of his weapon under the strap of Aurelius’s eyepatch. A quick flick sliced the leather, and he thought he’d puke.
“If you kept me as a prisoner and said nothing to your superiors, you could ransom me back without saying anything and keep all of the money for yourselves to split.”
To Aurelius’s shame, his voice shook as the rest stepped forward, and one reached to loosen his belt. Dear Elira, they were serious. For a second, his mind went completely blank with terror as he tried to find other words that would halt them.
“Father will kill you-”
One pulled out a collar that surely had lirek which would nullify his magic. “Save your threats.”
The soldier’s armor protected them from the worst of Aurelius’s lightning, and one got the collar around his neck. Another snarled and punched him in the gut for attacking in the first place. He still struggled, kicked, and tried to hit as they ripped off his clothes. Mother’s velvet box skittered across the floor. They pinned him on the bed, and one got into position.
When Aurelius screamed, they shoved his shredded shirt into his mouth to shut him up. The ceiling above turned into a blur. Green moved. Men grunted. Weight crushed him while the scent of copper and the agony almost made him throw up
After an eternity, he was released, but he could feel their hands on his wrists, his ankles, everywhere. He was still able to feel them inside where it was all burning agony.
As he lay paralyzed on the bed, he realized what the coppery scent was. Blood. The door opened as someone presumably left. Clothes and buckles clanked as the men fixed themselves. Another rumbled something when he entered the room, and Aurelius heard something about his name and title.
“For fuck’s sake, I said you could have him, not kill him.”
“We didn’t kill him, and you can heal the damage. Who the fuck cares? His ass will be as good as new.”
Elira please, just kill him now. Aurelius couldn’t take it anymore. Nobody was touching him, but hands were everywhere, and the agony was unrelenting. He ignored whatever else the men were saying and thought he’d throw up. He managed to turn on his side toward the window and rip the cloth from his mouth. He didn’t want to see the men, but they were everywhere. Nowhere was safe, and his eye caught a black blur on the floor with something shiny by it as he struggled to keep from crying.
Something, maybe another belt, clinked, and pain shot through him as the bed shifted. “You poor thing. I’ll make you feel better.”
Aurelius tried to choke back a sob and failed when the speaker gripped his hip to hold him still. His other hand was rough, but the pain started to fade between his legs.
“You don’t want to go through that again, do you?” asked the voice. “I can heal, and that also means we can do whatever we want to you over and over. You need to behave and do as I say. It’d be a shame to hurt a pretty boy like you too much.”
The stranger patted his back, and Aurelius stared at the floor as he shook, and his chest ached from his thudding heart. He couldn’t go through that over and over. He’d rather die than ever feel anyone on him again.
“King David said I could have you if we went to war and managed to capture you. I must say, today is my lucky day sinceyou’ve practically fallen into my lap.” Something clanked again. “What were you doing here all by yourself? Hmm?”
He slipped his arms around Aurelius and rolled them so he was pinned face down.
“Wait-please.” Aurelius tried to brace a shaking hand on the bed to push, but the man’s weight was too much.
“Shh.” He clamped a hand over Aurelius’s mouth. “Didn’t I say you need to behave?”
Aurelius realized the shiny thing was Mother’s necklace, alone and forgotten by the box. He tried to feel her hands on his face and her lips on his forehead. Where was she now? This man was going to hurt him too, and he needed her.
When he screamed through the hand over his mouth, he couldn’t hold the image of her face in her head.
***
Corvo was his name. He had a whole contingent of men under him.
They took Aurelius across the river, and he was sure someone would come to save him soon. They’d rescue him from this madman.
Corvo didn’t want money or to have a Prince as a hostage for later negotiations. In fact, the Zorians probably weren’t planning to invade now because Nova wasn’t the real goal. Corvo said he knew King David, and they were special friends. Because of that, he knew that King David and King Eurig had once had athingseveral years ago, and they’d shared a secret.
King David wanted what had been passed down, and it was Corvo’s job to make Aurelius gild whatever he was told to.
“You just have to give me what I want,” Corvo whispered in his ear one night from behind. “I won’t make it hurt so much, and you can have whatever you like. Clothes, more food, orwhatever. I know you can do it, so don't lie to me, and if you gild me, the men will make you regret it.”
