Page 180 of The Doll and The Domination

Dropping him to his knees, I levitate above him, revealing every evil moment in his life in a show around us. Spinning images of the way he treated Dessin as a child, of the torture he cast on other children. It hits us like a meteor shower. All he can do is brace himself for the bone-shattering impact.

I am the judge, jury, and executioner of his actions.

One moment sticks out to me like a blinding spotlight in his memories. I see a massacre of dark fur surrounded by a symphony of swaying red trees. RottWeilens killed by chemical warfare in the Red Oaks. He even took the head of one and placed it over his fireplace.

It was…Masten.

The slaughter.

Soul survivor.

Masten is the spy that orchestrated the slaughter of the RottWeilen, leaving DaiSzek to be the last of his kind.

I look down at his cane, at the wolf head carved under his palm.

That shade of red blots out parts of my vision.

I point a single finger down at him, and it’s as though my voice booms with a deep, divine echo. “You are condemned to this version of hell, Masten. You will feel the pain of every victim you’ve harmed. You will relive the suffering of the slaughter you caused in the Red Oaks. You will live here for all eternity and never escape these walls I have formed around you.”

And his sentence has begun.

Masten curls in the fetal position, screaming in anguish, and retching until blood pours from his gaping mouth.

I let the void suck me out of that brand of hell, rushing back to the surface as though I’m underwater and have yet to take a breath of air.

Masten’s comatose body falls to the ground in front of Kaspias, a prisoner of his own mind as he will never escape the oblivion I have sentenced him to.

“Masten?” Kaspias barks, kneeling in front of his shivering body.

“And what should I do with you?” I muse, already feeling the blanket of ice drape over me.

I’ll undoubtedly reach hyperthermic levels at any moment. Therefore, I know I have to take advantage of Kaspias being in my direct line of sight while I still have a chance. My mind races with ways I’ll wound him for hurting Ruth, for harming Dessin’s mind in ways that may in fact be irreversible. I want to take him back to the day Sophia was killed, to the rabbit Arthur held onto as he took his last breath.

“Don’t.” A woman’s soft, delicate voice reaches me as I stand over Masten’s limp body. It isn’t a voice I could soon forget, though I’ve only heard it in the void, through memories of Kane when he was only a child.

Sophia stands behind Kaspias with tears rimming her wispy bottom lashes. The glimmering light of the wild torches reflect off her round glasses. She wears a long, dusty rose dress with gossamer sleeves that end at the elbow and a flowy bottom that drags along the dirty floor. And I can see clearly the resemblance to Kane.

When I first met Dessin in the asylum, I remember thinking that he was the kind of handsome that was timeless, a striking look that doesn’t belong anywhere.

That’s Sophia. Small waist, bronze skin, and chocolate hair. A doll from a rare, refined collection. She looks into my eyes with nothing but respect and profound love.

Her glimmering ghost captivated my attention entirely.

“Thank you for loving my son and giving him a reason to keep living. To keep fighting,” she says to me without looking away. “But now I must ask you for a favor that isn’t quite fair, Skylenna. Though he doesn’t deserve your mercy, Kaspias deserves one chance to see the path he could have had if fate were kinder to him as a child.”

I swallow, unable to think of anything other than the fate Ruth has suffered at his hand. A fate he chose for her. She watched the crowd cheer for the axe to land under her kneecaps because of his demented trick.

“I have watched over both of my sons since I departed this world. I have seen the evil that tormented my boys. Kane was only a child, but so was Kaspias. The difference was, Kane had me and Arthur for six years of his life. To show him love and family. He had you to build a friendship with, then later to fall hopelessly in love.” She takes a deep breath as the tears are let loose from her bottom lashes. “Kaspias has known cruelty since he was an infant. Every shred of kindness and the throbbing desire to have a mother and a family was beaten out of him. My boy never stood a chance.”

Tears gather in my own eyes as time, for only a moment, stands still for Sophia. For the gentle mother who was taken too soon. I wish Kane could see her now.

“I can’t just let him walk free,” I whisper thickly.

“And you won’t. You see, a warrior angel doesn’t just have the ability to burn down the world. They may also deliver it from evil.” She pauses, glancing at both of her sons. “Instead of dragging Kaspias to hell. You can also show him heaven.”

48. “What lies in darkness.”

Kaspias

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