Charlton laughed while Rafferty trembled in the cool, dank air of the cave. “Look at all the fine scars we’ve given you.”
Reassuring himself that it wouldn’t matter to the druids who’d heal him at the hospital, Rafferty did as instructed. Although he’d had the chance to heal somewhat since Sullivan visited him, there were indeed white lines over his thighs and stomach where his brother had whipped him.
“Here, shovel up your shit and put it in the bucket. I’m not going to have my fun ruined because you’ve decided to live like a pig,” Sullivan said.
Rafferty managed to grab the handle and do what he was told. His chains didn’t have much slack, so it wasn’t an easy task, especially with the two assholes kicking him and hurling insults at him. Not bothering to figure out what was excrement and what was dirt, Rafferty just filled the two buckets as best he could.
“We’re going to have to carry the boy’s shit out of here,” Charlton complained.
“Don’t worry, he’s going to pay for making us take on that little task,” Sullivan assured his father. After stomping over to Rafferty, he yanked the shovel from him and used the flat of it to nail him across the back. It shot a fiery pain down Rafferty’s legs, but he’d long ago learned to stifle his cries of distress. The last thing he wanted to do was add to the pleasure Sullivan and Charlton took at his pain.
“What did you have in mind?” Charlton asked.
Sullivan handed Charlton the shovel and pulled a lighter from his pocket. “We haven’t played with burns yet.”
“Hand me a lighter.”
“I only brought the one.”
“Idiot,” Charlton grumbled; then his grip shifted on the shovel and he used the handle to nail Rafferty in the midsection, knocking him to the ground. “I suppose this will do.”
Clenching his jaw, Rafferty’s eyes might have leaked tears, but he never let out even a whimper as his brother used the lighter to burn the flesh of his hips. There were lesions there that had never healed, and Rafferty tried to close his senses off to not only the sizzling sound of his scabs and blood but to the smell of his torched skin. His boxer shorts were remnants hanging over his privates and ass only because of the portions embedded into his large lacerations, which gave Sullivan plenty of room to do his evil. The agony was nearly unbearable, but Rafferty had an escape. It was the memory of how Aleksander made him feel when they were together that allowed him to endure.
“Would you look at that? It’s cauterizing those wounds,” Charlton exclaimed, walking to where Sullivan was crouched next to Rafferty and slapping his shoulder. “Well done. Keep it up, and we can give him a fair beating.”
“I was simply hoping to have some new way to hurt him, but you’re right,” Sullivan said in an excited tone while he continued to use the lighter to ignite scorching new pain through Rafferty. Every cell in his body screamed to move and get away, but he’d learned the hard way that it only made things worse to fight. The hatred for these two men he’d thought loved him grew whenever they came into the cave, and this day was no exception. His fixation on that and Aleksander helped him escape his horrific reality.
The two sadistic men chatted about mundane things as Rafferty’s muscles vibrated with the need to be free of Sullivan’s flame, but finally his brother grew bored of his new game. Rafferty was dizzy and nauseous with the torture he suffered through, and his lashes fell closed while he focused on taking deep breaths. That was why he never saw the blow from his father, but the sound of his leg bone snapping was loud enough that it was impossible to miss. Unconsciously curling to the side as his shin went numb, the metal slammed into his other ankle, and Rafferty was too lost in himself to know if it was broken too.
“Now I’ve given you a reason to sit in your own shit,” Charlton taunted. Rafferty never heard them leave, and when he finally was able to open his eyes again, he wondered just how much time he had left. It might not seem possible, but he had to fight. Somehow, he had to find the will to stay determined enough to survive, even if his dragon had lacked the same strength.
Chapter 20
Two months later
Worth climbed onto the barstool next to Aleksander, and his brother rubbed his back. While it might be devasting to lose your mate so suddenly, the one thing Aleksander had always been able to count on was his family. The three baby dragons belonging to the D’Vaire wizards were swarming the countertop in front of Aleksander, and he dutifully fed them cookies while Kendrick and Noirin debated about what they wanted to prepare for dinner that night.
“Settle down, Greggory,” Worth chided Delaney’s dragon, who’d just knocked over Roger and Chance with one well-placed swipe of his wing. “There are enough cookies for everyone to be satisfied.”
Aleksander chuckled at the disgruntled harrumph from Greggory but made him wait his turn for the next treat after his brother picked up the little indigo and red familiars and handed them treats. They gobbled them and didn’t appear to hold anything against their pal, who relented and offered them licks of apology.
“This is the elegant lifestyle of the High King that the media so wants to see,” Noirin teased, refilling the bowl in front of Aleksander so he could continue to feed the bottomless pits in front of him.
“Yeah, my life is so enviable,” Aleksander remarked. “Not even my mate wanted to stick around and enjoy it.”
“I’m kind of glad you brought him up,” Kendrick said, which had Aleksander lifting his gaze to Rafferty’s youngest brother.
“Why?”
“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to tell you something since last night.”
“Whatever it is Kendrick, just tell me. What did you learn about Rafferty now?” Aleksander asked. Ceasing to use the nickname that he had once referred to his other half, he saw little point in holding on to those small intimacies that had made them feel like they were almost a couple.
Kendrick glanced at Noirin and she leaned on the island on her elbows, so she was at eye level with Aleksander. There was a wealth of compassion in her violet gaze. “Honey, he’s got a girlfriend. He met her online. Sullivan didn’t even know he’d made an account. Their father and Sullivan have both used several of them to find women and apparently, Rafferty was inspired to do the same.”
“I just asked where he was last night, and Sullivan told me he was on a date. It was very offhand, and that’s when I started asking questions. I had to be careful though, since Sullivan doesn’t know you two are mates,” Kendrick added.
For Aleksander, it was the final piece of the puzzle. One thing he knew Rafferty had struggled with was his sexuality, and it seemed he simply couldn’t handle his attraction to a man—or at least revealing it to his family, so he’d gone in a direction that wouldn’t expose his matebond. “I guess I should’ve seen that coming.”
“I think we should move,” Worth said.
Aleksander turned from the little dragons to his brother. “Move? Are you nuts?”
“No. Mates keep showing up here. I’ve decided I don’t want mine.”
“Shut right up. Just because things didn’t work out with Rafferty doesn’t mean it’ll be the same thing for you. All the other matebonds in our household became extraordinarily happy ones.”
“Maybe I should go to Court Kestle. I could visit with Sullivan and maybe get a chance to talk to Rafferty,” Kendrick suggested.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Aleksander told him. “You don’t like your father and the reality is, Rafferty’s free to do what he wants. We’re not going to corner him or bully him into doing anything. Okay?”
“I can be right pissed,” Worth stated.
“I’m pissed myself.”
“What’re you going to do?” Noirin asked.
“What can I do?” Aleksander responded. “It’s going to take time to let him go. We had a great friendship, and I still care very deeply for him, as much as it pains me to say it. I’m also very angry and hurt. But I can’t help this little part of me that
still has some flicker of hope. Perhaps when I convince myself it’s truly over, I can quietly go about having separation papers drawn up. I mean, that’s a big step.” Although knowing Rafferty was with a woman was tearing Aleksander apart, he didn’t want anyone to know how broken he felt. They worried enough about him. Stopping his texts to Sullivan right after his visit, Aleksander hadn’t wanted to learn that kind of news but was glad his family hadn’t kept him in the dark when they were told. The last thing he wanted was distance built into the relationships under his roof.
“Will you have your matebond demonically broken?” Worth asked.
Sensing his distress perhaps, the three familiars stopped looking for cookies and offered Aleksander’s hand little dragon kisses. “I don’t know. I can’t answer that yet,” Aleksander replied. Smiling, he petted Greggory, Roger, and Chance. Cold and lonely inside, he wasn’t sure he could handle the idea of severing his matebond.
“Don’t rush into that decision. It’s only been a few months, and Rafferty’s been hiding from his attraction to men for his entire life. Maybe this is simply overwhelming for him, and in time he’ll come to terms with things. Everyone deserves a second chance, and I would think as his mate you’d want to give him that,” Noirin said.
Aleksander shrugged. “I just wish I knew why he decided to go this route. If he’d told me that, I would’ve been happy to give him the space he needed. I mean I certainly wouldn’t have been okay with him dating, but not talking for a while…yeah, I would’ve been amenable to that.” It was tearing him apart to think of Rafferty with anyone but him, and he hated that his other half was possibly willing to share himself physically with a stranger. Aleksander hugged the familiars as he forced his mind elsewhere. Those thoughts were not going to help his broken heart, and he had to find a way not to hurt at every waking moment.
“I just know deep down you’ll have the chance to ask him yourself someday,” Worth remarked.
“I hope to hell you’re right.”
Chapter 21
Some weeks later
Rafferty was so used to pain, he barely felt the tearing of his skin as he tried to force his ankle through his manacle. With no clue how many days or weeks had passed, Rafferty could only wonder what Aleksander must think. It was the only thing left that Rafferty had the energy to focus on. His father and brother had taken to starving him to punish him for not healing fast enough, leaving him nearly incoherent in between their now-infrequent visits. All that was left of him was horribly damaged skin and bones, which was why Rafferty hoped he could finally get out of his restraints, but as damaged as his ankle was from being broken more than once, it was slow going.
A voice in the distance alerted him to company, and he let out a sound of pure regret. His chance to get away was again lost. Licking his cracked lips, he wondered how much longer he could survive. As he lay down to endure his next beating, Rafferty’s lashes slid closed, and he refused to acknowledge the two men who’d just entered his cave. It didn’t matter what Rafferty said or did; the result was the same, so he ignored them.
“He looked better fat,” Charlton said.
“I brought him some food,” Sullivan remarked. Rafferty bit back a scream when a hard object hit one of his mangled hips. The muscles were visible and flayed nearly to the joint while the skin around it festered with infection. It was going to be a gigantic task for the druids at the hospital to fix him, but Rafferty trusted in magic.
“Aren’t you going to say hello to your family?” Charlton demanded. “Open your damn eyes.”
“Rafferty, now is not the time to defy us,” Sullivan drawled when Rafferty made no move to comply. “We’re growing bored of traveling here, and it won’t be long until we kill you. In fact, it could be today if you don’t watch yourself.”
The only thing Rafferty could do was lift his lashes to glare at them. Survival had to last at least one more day—he could already get his arm shackles off and was sure if he tried harder, his ankles would be freed too.
“We brought something new for you today,” Charlton enthused, his fingers dancing over a thick strip of his dragonskin. “You always held yourself so far above us with that black dragon. We’re going to show you that our brown beasts are far superior to the damn dragon you couldn’t even hold on to. First beating and he just disappeared. How you survived that, I still don’t understand.”
Neither did Rafferty, but he’d long ago grown used to not being crushed by an unhappy dragon. Although his beast had abandoned and deserted him, Rafferty would not miss out on his chance to be with his mate. It was the one thing he would always hold on to, and in his beleaguered mind, he equated his survival with his love for Aleksander. High King D’Vairedraconis gave him the strength to accomplish the impossible.
“Stand the fuck up,” Sullivan demanded.
With infinite care, Rafferty did his best to obey, but the mess under him made it difficult to get traction. Revoltingly used to the smell of his feces and piss, he planned to sit in Aleksander’s backyard for perhaps a year straight to relieve his poor sinuses of their burden. Somehow, Rafferty’s chains got crossed, and he slammed to the ground with enough force that it knocked the wind out of him while his father and brother laughed.
Exhausted, and with minimal strength left in his malnourished body, Rafferty lay there wondering how he could accomplish the task of getting to his feet. His ankle was throbbing with pain, and the bones of his lower leg had healed improperly, causing excruciating pain. There was a thick knot below his knee that he suspected was where they’d incorrectly fused.
“I can’t get up,” Rafferty stated. His voice, which had always carried a rough edge to it, had grown raspier and even to his ears sounded barely above a whisper.
“We did fuck up your legs pretty good, didn’t we?” Sullivan chortled, and the two erupted into guffaws again.
When he was finished chortling, Charlton slapped a hand on Sullivan’s back. “He’s more than half dead. Take the leg shackles off. I want to see his back covered with marks from my dragonskin.”
“I don’t suppose it could hurt at this point. Not that he was ever going to get away.”
“Of course not; we’ve planned this all too well. Even if his skinny ass could get out of the mine, we’re in the middle of nowhere. He’d be long dead before he found anything close to help.”
Rafferty wanted to laugh as Sullivan undid the manacles. They might not think he was resourceful enough to get the hell away from them, but there was no way he was ever going to give up. There was a life waiting for him and a man who held his heart. Fuck these two and their sadistic shit, Rafferty thought. Once he mended enough from his beating today, he’d be long gone.
Sullivan punched him dead in the groin as their eyes met. Rafferty winced and wondered if his balls had simply crawled up into his midsection to avoid further abuse.
“Now, get the fuck up,” his brother demanded.
Gathering what dignity was left to him, Rafferty used the wall to drag himself up onto his feet. Head swimming, he had the urge to vomit, but he swallowed it down. Placing his hands carefully on the side of the cave, he’d barely squeezed his eyes shut when his back bowed at the sting of the first strike of dragonskin against it. Seconds later, the blows were coming too fast for him to even brace himself. The chains bit into his fingers as he held on, and because his brother and father could not see his face, he allowed the tears to flow. Reaching deep inside himself, he sought out that place of escape he’d created soon after he had arrived in the cave. It was the late-night chats with Aleksander—his beautiful smile, the understanding in his eyes, and the way they seemed to connect on every level. All his life, he’d waited for him, although he’d been too stupid to ever realize that or what he’d been missing.
For every moment of agony he survived, Rafferty cursed himself for the singular decision of ever returning to Court Kestle. If he’d done what the Council taught and had simply remained at D’Vaire, he would not be standing there wi
th his scrawny frame quivering as he struggled to stay upright while the lashes rained over his back and thighs. As blackness seeped in, Rafferty fought unconsciousness. Silently, he begged Aleksander to forgive him for breaking the rules and for the separation he’d caused. The bile in his stomach erupted from his mouth, and the second Rafferty was finished hurling the hot liquid out, he sagged to the dirt and once again lost his fight with the darkness.
∞∞∞
Rafferty winced and carefully leaned forward. It had been several hours since he woke up, and it had taken him much of that to put the little food and water that his father and brother had left him into his mouth. Taking stock of his surroundings, he prepared to collect whatever in the cave would aid in his escape. Just beyond his reach was a fat stick he’d been beaten with more than once, and he hoped it would help steady him on his journey to find help. There weren’t any clothes around, and he doubted he’d want anything on his injuries anyway, so the poor souls that he ran into were going to have to deal with a man who was practically naked. His only covering was the few pieces of his underwear that were affixed to him.
With a sense of relief, Rafferty slipped the first cuff off his skinny wrist and wondered how long it was going to take the druids to handle all the scars on his damaged body. Smiling made his lips crack, but it didn’t matter because he was perhaps only hours away from being reunited with Aleksander. His head swam with what he hoped was excitement, and he huffed out a breath as he pushed off the second manacle. Finally free from the bonds they’d slapped on him however long ago, he would not squander this chance to get away.
Balancing his hands on the ground, he gently got his feet under him so he could stand. Pain screamed through his abused ankle and the shin that hadn’t mended properly, but Rafferty gritted his teeth and found a way up, bracing his palms on the wall as he tried not to let his flayed back hit it. Although it wasn’t easy, and he nearly fell three times, Rafferty took the few steps necessary to grab the stick.
Heart of the High King (D'Vaire, Book 19) Page 15
