“That Edmund almost tortured him to death? That Ovailia made a pact with her Father in an attempt to save him? It is all true, but her betrayal began before that.”
“She delivered what little she knew about Sain’s sight about you to her Father. When Edmund heard it he demanded to know who had spoken it. Ovailia only knew that a girl would be born who could defeat an opposing power, nothing more. She didn’t know when, she didn’t even know who the opposing power was. Edmund needed the seeing Drak so he could glean more information, and Ovailia eagerly sacrificed her mate for what she believed to be a greater good. It wasn’t until Edmund began to torture him that she began to second guess her decision.”
“It was too late.” A deep gruff voice spoke up from across the large space.
I looked up as Thom joined us, his long dreads swinging as he sat across the fire from me on a large brown couch. I wouldn’t have even recognized him if it wasn’t for the dreads. He was short and stocky, his brown dreads looking out of place with his clean-shaven boyish face. He swung his mukluk covered feet onto the couch and looked away from me, closing his eyes.
I looked toward the bunk where Ilyan laid, his body still, only his head visible from underneath the large amounts of furs. I went to move, but one grunt from Thom stopped my progression.
“He’s fine. You can go fawn over him after your feet are better.” I turned hastily toward Thom, my forehead furled in a scowl.
“I wasn’t going to fawn over him,” I said a little too acidly, Thom only snorted at me.
“You sure she doesn’t know, Dramin?” Thom asked, his eyes still closed.
“I’m sure.” Dramin smiled and refilled his mug with a wave of his hand. “Now, where were we? Oh yes, Ovailia broke the bond.”
“How could they survive?” I asked the question more to myself, than to him. I still remembered the pain, the way my body attempted to rot from inside out after my bond with Ryland was cracked, and the way it would now protest every time I stayed to long from the T?uha.
“It is the one who breaks the bond that walks away unscathed, while the one who is broken will suffer and die. It was Sain who suffered to the point that he appeared dead. Ovailia was unscathed because she broke the bond, because she no longer loved him.”
I looked down into my glass, hurting for my Father, although I still struggled to think of Sain in that way. He had waited all his life to love, and the person he chose had somehow chosen not to love him back. I exhaled and drank deeply. At least my Mother loved him until the day she had been killed.
“In his anger Edmund massacred all of my posterity, my sons and daughters, thousands of my grandchildren and beyond, all murdered. All while Edmund kept Sain imprisoned, hidden from Ovailia, trying to glean more information about the sight. But Sain never gave it to him no matter how much he was tortured. They never found out more than what Ovailia had told them. Which is why they never identified you until Ryland found your mark. For centuries Edmund used Sain’s abilities for his profit. He kept him under a Vym?zat so strict that while it never completed, it was enough to keep control over him. He wouldn’t let him near the Black Water that the Drak rely on, and so he weakened further.” Dramin spoke quietly and I could tell how much he was affected by what he had said. He closed his eyes and leaned back against the chair, his hands still grasping his mug.
“For centuries he was only given an opportunity to drink the Black Water when Edmund needed the use of his sight. He was as weak as a human, his ability becoming so reliant on the Black Water that he could no longer control the visions or interpret what he would see. Edmund had learned to do all that for him. Sain’s body slowly learned to rely more on human food than his own resources. In many ways, the Drak in him died.” Dramin spoke into his mug heavily, his knuckles white against the pottery in his hands. I couldn’t help but feel sick to my stomach at this new bit of information.
“How did he get out?” I asked quietly, my voice awed like I was being told a bedtime story and not the history of my father.
“I got him out,” Thom said from across the fire, though his body did not deviate from its relaxed position. “I grabbed him, knocked my Father unconscious, broke Timothy’s arm, and made a run for it. It took me quite some time to get any information out of Sain as to where we were supposed to go.”
Thom scowled darkly and moved his hands behind his head, his eyes moving to look at me.