“Turn him off, Cail,” Edmund said. I stiffened at his voice, knowing what would come after, my breath catching in my throat for one solid minute before I was able to pick it back up. “Let my daughter see what all of your work has done for us.”
“Thank you, Master,” Cail breathed, his voice awed and humbled. He bowed slightly before moving forward, his hands wrapping around the bars of the cage.
Everyone waited for the hold Cail had on Ryland’s mind to dissipate, the silence dragging on and on. I couldn’t look away from Ryland, from the calm way he sat until the first whimper escaped his lips, his hands already moving to claw through the air around his head.
“Joclyn,” he moaned, the grip of his fingers increasing as he began to rock back and forth, his mumbling increasing.
“This is your weapon?” Ovailia asked. “A weeping child?”
“No, Ovailia, it’s what the weeping child does that is the weapon.” Edmund smiled and clapped Cail on the shoulder, his action making him look like a proud father. “Go on, Cail.”
“Ryland,” Cail taunted, “Ovailia’s here. She saw Joclyn.”
Ryland looked up, his whimpers turning to a howl as he stood and rammed at the cage, his voice opening up into a wail that only increased as Cail went on. I pulled against my chains, wishing there was a way to move away. My body screamed as I tried, and eventually I had to give up. I shouldn’t still be scared of him, but I didn’t know what Cail had planned for his little show and tell, and that worried me.
“Joclyn?” Her name was a groan on Ryland’s lips, his hands gripping the bars in front of him so tightly that his knuckles had turned bright white.
“Yes, Ryland,” Cail continued, “they had a nice dinner together, and do you know who else was there?” he asked, turning to Ovailia who smiled broadly and stepped up to the bars.
“Ilyan was there,” she said simply. Ryland’s grip tightened as he yelled, slamming his head into the bars over and over again.
“Yes, Ilyan was there, Ryland,” Cail continued, raising his voice enough to be heard above Ryland’s yells. “He was holding her hand and touching her face.”
Cail stopped as Ryland’s howls opened up, his body pulling against his chains repeatedly as he tried to get through the bars to them.
Cail smiled as Ovailia squealed with joy, her hand hitting the bars loudly in an effort to excite Ryland, his howls getting louder.
“He kissed her hand, Ryland,” Ovailia said, her icy voice eager to jump in on what she obviously viewed to be a wonderful game. “He traced her lips with his finger, he touched her neck…”
“I’m gonna kill him!” Ryland howled, his voice rising with every beat of Ovailia’s hand against the bars.
Edmund stepped forward to view his son better, his eyes full of pride as he watched his own flesh and blood writhe with torment and agony.
“Perfect,” he sighed. “I never thought I would say this about him, but he is perfect. If he cannot fight beside me, then I will use him as a weapon. With the power he has, and his lust for Joclyn, he is the perfect weapon.”
Edmund reached through the cage as Ryland continued to fight to get at them. His hand ran along his son’s face, a wicked gleam shining in his bright blue eyes, a gleam I hadn’t seen in over a hundred years.
“Are you going to go kill your brother, son?” he asked. I froze, my eyes flashing to Sain who looked just as shocked as I felt.
“I’m gonna kill him!” he howled, his head knocking against the bars. “Kill…kill…kill…”
“And what of Joclyn?” Edmund asked, his hand leaving his son’s face to curl around the chain that attached to his wrist. “Are you going to make her pay? Pay for hurting you?”
“Hurt her!” Ryland howled, his fingers clenching and unclenching in a halo around his head. “She’s hurt me… hurt…she’s gonna hurt…”
Ryland hit his head repeatedly in his agony, and the group in front of him laughed.
I couldn’t watch anymore, I couldn’t. I couldn’t watch the beautiful boy who had been destroyed by his own family and turned into a weapon against the only person he ever loved, the only person who had ever loved him back.
I tried to drown out the sounds of his suffering, the sounds of his torment, but they kept coming. Ovailia’s squeals of joy, Edmund’s chuckles of pride, and Cail’s constant taunts broke through the general cacophony.
I wished I could cry. I wished I had enough water in me to do so. Ryland needed someone to mourn over what he had lost, what he could never get back. I wished I could do that for him; there weren’t many left who would.
“Let’s finish this,” Edmund suddenly announced. I heard two iron-barred doors open simultaneously, the grind of the metal closely followed by the clatter of chains.
“Are you ready to go kill your mate, son?” Edmund asked, the chains rattling as Ryland was led writhing and screaming, out of the prison.
“Kill!” Ryland screamed. “She…she has to pay!”
“Come on, Sain,” Ovailia spat, her voice so full of hate I could taste it on my own tongue. “I want to show you what I should have done to you in the first place.”