All Things Wild and Beautiful

27. Smothered Sorrow

    Fenrys had fallen asleep feeling much happier than he had in a long time. Visiting Seraphina always put him in a good mood. The fact that he hadn't been caught yet made it even better. All the same, he knew it was only a matter of time before Maeve discovered them. He needed to leave before that happened, but how could he break Sera's heart when she had so freely given it to him? It was a question he would answer later. They still had a little time.

Fenrys shifted, half opening his eyes. There was an empty hollow at his side where Seraphina had been. He knew she often tossed in her sleep. She had likely just rolled over. Fenrys reached for her. His fingers brushed through a warm, thick liquid.

His eyes flew open as he scented the metallic tang of blood. Fenrys bolted upright, staring in horror at the scene before him. Seraphina was still on the bed, a dark pool spreading beneath her. Fenrys didn't know when he began screaming. He didn't know when his tears began to fall as he begged her to wake up. As he drew her into his arms, desperately trying to heal the numerous wounds that marred her skin.

Her sapphire eyes were unseeing, nails sticking out of them. Her head was a mass of ravaged flesh. Her coppery locks lay close by, severed from her scalp. There was her tongue beside them. Her fingers had been shattered. Shards of bone poked through the skin of her arms and legs. There were blood covered bruises on every inch of her body. Skin had been peeled away from her stomach.

Slowly, Fenrys became aware of the three males in the room with him. His brother. His commander. Maeve's torturer. Cairn's hands were stained red. All of their hands were. Fenrys didn't know what he screamed at them. He couldn't understand how they'd accomplished this without waking him.

Sera had been tortured. Mutilated. Murdered! And he had been soundly sleeping beside her all the while. How many times had she called for him? How many times had she tried to wake him? Why hadn't he heard her?

Fenrys was still raving as Connall grabbed him by the arms and dragged him off the bed. He was still fighting when they teleported. When he was deposited before Maeve. Rowan and Vaughan grabbed him, forcing him upright on his knees. Gavriel approached, a whip dangling from his grasp. Bits of iron were attached to the tongues. He also carried a canister of salt.

"One lash for every secret conversation you had with her," Maeve said. "Two lashes for every kiss. Five for every night you spent in her arms."

Fenrys didn't bother trying to calculate how many blows that would equal. He just braced himself. Rowan and Vaughan were expressionless beside him. The first blow came. The second. The third. They began to blur together. Blood ran down his back. Pooled around his knees. Mixed with Seraphina's blood that still stained his skin.

Fenrys didn't faint. Didn't cry out. Didn't sob. He stared at Maeve, plotting all the ways he would make her pay for what she had done. Plotting how he would repay Cairn for the brutality shown to Sera.

The whip fell to the floor. Gavriel opened the canister of salt. Fenrys couldn't stifle his hiss of pain as Gavriel dumped the salt into his open wounds. It stung. It burned. White spots danced in his vision. "Send a healer to him in an hour or two," Maeve was saying to Lorcan. Fenrys didn't know when he'd arrived. "Tell them to leave the scars, but make them faint." And Fenrys knew no more.

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A faint sound drew Nascha from her dreams. She rubbed her eyes wearily, listening. The sheets rustled as Fenrys moved. Nascha rolled over. His back was facing her, but shudders wracked his body. He was having another nightmare. She remained still. She knew he'd be in a bad mood if he woke up and discovered that she knew he'd been having a bad dream.