Page 44 of Heart of the High King
“But we aren’t going to kill you right away,” Sullivan added.
“No, because thanks to that idiot Kendrick, the last person we went to kill had to die quickly. Him and his damn questions about his mother when she went missing ruined our plans completely.”
Emotional pain flooded Rafferty as he connected the dots. Charlton was talking about Molly, and it devastated him that his father had ended her life. While she’d abandoned him and not allowed him to speak to her again, he’d never forgotten the centuries of kindness Molly had bestowed on him. Rage filled him at the thought of how she met her demise as it did whenever he was reminded of standing at her funeral pyre.
“We’re going to take months to slowly drive you out of your mind; then we’re going to finally kill you. As for High King D’Vaire…well, I’ve got your phone,” Sullivan said, waving the device around. “He’s sent you a number of texts the last few days. He wants to know why you’re ignoring him,Rafe.”
Rafferty didn’t know why he was still surprised by anything or how his brother had gotten past the passcode on his phone, but the last thing he wanted was either of these bastards near Aleksander. “Why can’t you leave him out of this, Your Grace?”
The whip cracked a dozen times; his father mercilessly struck him while screeching that he was never to question his betters.
“I’m going to turn him against you when I’m ready. All I have to tell him is that you never want to speak to him again. The truth is, you won’t because you won’t make it out of here alive. That fucking dragon you liked to lord over us will be denied his mate. We might not even have to execute you because heartbreak might finish you off first,” Sullivan sneered.
“Start talking to Kendrick again. Make sure you keep him fed with a steady stream of lies about the exciting things Paunchy is up to now that he’s moved past D’Vaire.”
Sullivan’s laughter was a horrible, grating sound to Rafferty’s ears. Wanting to scream, yell, beg, plead, or whatever it took to get away, he knew it was useless. They were going to do exactly as they planned. Doomed with no way out, his dragon let out a wailing sound in his head.
“You know, I think we might have to get Paunchy out on the dating scene,” Sullivan teased. “I’m sure D’Vaire will love to hear about his exploits.”
Tears skated down Rafferty’s cheeks, and it only caused more pain as he thought about Aleksander reacting to hearing about his supposed actions.
“Look at that,” Charlton mused. “We made his fat ass cry.”
His brother slashed the chain across his chest before Rafferty could raise his throbbing and bleeding arms to block it. “Knock that off.”
It was impossible to hold in his emotions, so Rafferty endured the bite of the metal into his skin as he was beaten until he grew woozy, and the weeping finally ended when he lacked the energy to continue.
“Well, you wanted to lose weight,” his father taunted, tossing a bowl near Rafferty’s feet. Half of the oatmeal sloshed out and onto the ground. “You’re going to have every opportunity to get skinny. That’s all you get to eat until one of us returns in a few days. I suggest you take your time. Of course, you won’t be awake for much of it anyway.”
Both father and son cackled as they went back to using their instruments of torture to hurt Rafferty. As promised, they slashed and struck him until once again Rafferty could no longer fight the pull of the darkness. A mourning roar full of grief echoed through his skull while agony ripped through his chest as he surrendered. There was no way for him to know if he would ever wake. His last thought was of Aleksander and how foolish he’d been to ever leave D’Vaire.
