Page 19 of Velka Manor

“Thank God you’re here. Your brothers have gone mad, Tavi. They fooled me and locked me up to take over the bloodline. We have to save them before anyone finds out. If the Elders get any word of this, it will be all our heads.”

He lunges forward, rattling the chains that bind him to the bed. I keep moving forward, my body on autopilot. He breathes sighs of relief, and he fixates his gaze on me as if all his prayers have been answered. What a fool.

“You’re not the one who called me home,” I mutter to myself, but he believes I’m talking to him.

“No. No. I did, Tavi. I was in the middle of arranging everything to bring you back when they attacked me. I was so distracted without you here that I got sloppy and weak. I missed you so much, daughter. I couldn’t function without you, and your brothers took advantage of that for their own gain.” He rushes his words, shaking his head furiously. “I was wrong tosend you away, I know that now. Your brothers poisoned you, twisted you with their sick, disgusting ways. You were innocent in all this, my sweet Tavi.”

His chains give him enough reach that his hand grabs mine, yanking me closer to the bed. His foul smell emitting has bile creeping up into my mouth, but I swallow it down. My father pleads with his gaze, giving me the most loving look he ever has.

“They did this on purpose,” he whispers. “They knew I would feel like a piece of me was missing with you gone. They knew it would weaken me to send my only daughter away. I acted out of protective anger, but I was wrong, so wrong. We need to get out of here. Set me free so we can go to the Elders. I can’t stand the thought that they might hurt you because of your brothers. I love you so much, Tavi.”

He has actual tears welling in his eyes, full fucking tears. My father is good. He’s really fucking good.

“You love me, Father? Really?” I whisper, making my voice shake, gripping his hand.

He holds mine back tight, nodding his head eagerly, hope shining in his eyes. His lips pull almost into a sinister smile, but he manages to pull it back, softening it. “Of course I love you. You’re my little girl, my sweet baby.”

I stare up at the ceiling, shaking my head, biting my lip. “I’ve always wished for you to say that. I can’t believe you care for me so much. I’m just… I’m so overwhelmed.”

His grip bites at my flesh, tension filling his jaw as I make a show of fake tears, prolonging it for as long as I can.

“I know, and I’m sorry I never showed it before,” he says through his teeth, breathing harshly. “But we really need to go before anyone finds out you’re here. They leave the keys to the chains in a box right under the bed.”

I bet that was Dorian’s idea. My father is in the room with literally the key to his escape, sleeping on top of it not even three feet away from him, but he can’t get to it ever. So fucking twisted.

“You really love me, Father? Truly?”

His shoulders tense, his neck straining as he tries not to sneer, burning alive with fury on the inside. “Yes, Octavia. I already said I lov-”

“You really love me even though I’m so fucking desperate to sink to my knees and open my mouth wide for my big brothers?” I cut him off, yanking him forward with all my strength. He yelps in pain, his arm pulling out from its socket, the chain twisting it at an odd angle.

“Do you really love the twisted, sick whore you birthed? The one literally panting at the idea that her big brothers did this for her? My pussy is fucking soaked knowing they did this to you.” I bend, placing my face in front of his, his vile breath making my skin shiver. “Because they did this for me. Your torture, your death, is all for me, and as soon as I leave, I’m going to get down on my hands and knees and beg them to fuck me,” I whisper.

His face turns so many shades of red and purple, I think he’s about to burst all his blood vessels. His body shakes, making my arm rattle. I give another tug, making him cry in pain before letting him go.

“This is all your own making. What I feel for them is all your own fucking making. You gave us no love, no kindness. You left the three of us together, closing us off from the real world with only each other to hold on to. You used them, tried to turn them into your personal monsters, and gave them nothing but blood. You isolated me, gave me no friends, no other family apart from them. What did you think would happen?”

We were all homeschooled. The only activities my brothers got were assignments for the bloodline, and I had none. The only time I ever saw people were at annual balls, and I was onlyallowed to attend bloodline weddings when I hit eighteen. He gave me no one but them and gave them no peace or love but what they got from me. He moulded us into what we are, and he punished me for it.

“I can’t wait until they skin you alive,” I hiss.

“You filthy fucking whore! I never fucking loved you. I wish I killed you the day you slipped out of your mother’s cunt. You’re not my fucking daughter!” he rages, thrashing violently on the bed. “I will kill you. I will kill you and those boys. You’re nothing to them. You’re not even-”

“Having a pleasant family reunion without us?” Dorian says, entering the room, cutting our father off.

Father opens his mouth, spit dripping down his chin as he snarls, but he doesn’t get a chance to say anything else. Bastian walks in holding some weird type of pliers, a gag with a metal circle, and a knife.

“I always said you talked too much, daddy dearest. I think now is the time to fix that.”

Bastian storms over to our father, and he screams, shaking his head, rambling something I don’t quite catch. Bas drops the stuff on the bed and wraps his hand around his throat, strapping on a gag that forces his jaw wide open.

I feel Dorian’s warmth on my back before he reaches me, his arm coming across my chest, holding my chin still, forcing me to watch what’s about to happen. I don’t fight him. He didn’t need to force me; nothing would stop me from watching this.

Bas uses the pliers to hold father’s tongue as he thrashes, shaking his head to get him off, but nothing is stopping my big brother. Bastian’s eyes are as wide as our father’s, shining in pure excitement, watching terror consume his victim’s gaze. He cuts through the tongue slowly, making every second count. Father wails in agony, the fight leaving his body quickly; he passes out when Bas is only halfway done, slumping in the bed.

Bastian leaves the gag on him, chucking the rest to the floor, including the tongue. Blood is splattered on his face and shirt as he walks towards us, licking it off the side of his mouth, his pupils blown. He crowds my front, Dorian staying at my back, caging me in.

“We were supposed to be playing a game, pretty girl. You broke more than one rule by coming in here,” he husks, running his bloody hand across my plump stomach, staining my white dress.

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