Siren | Caden Archeron

Chapter Ten

what a match, i'm half doomed and you're semi-sweet

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"You had better hope you're returning from completing your mission." Her father said tightly, his arms crossed over his chest, and she winced, looking down at her appearance—her sparkling, elegant gown covered in dirt and spirit-stars.

"I've been trying," she said weakly and was unsurprised when Aeron launched forward, his fingers digging into her wrist tightly as he winnowed them back to the Hewn City. He threw her to the floor, kicking her in the ribs.

"All that time and you've accomplished nothing." He spat. "You're a waste of oxygen! That maid should have just drowned you and been done with it." Stella coughed, curling in on herself as he kicked her again, repeatedly.

"I've been working on it I swear!" She cried out, trying to protect her head and ribs at once. "I-I've been gaining his trust," she told her father, the words feeling like ash in her mouth. "I've been seducing him. Soon enough he'll let down his guard and—" She choked, blood escaping her mouth as a dagger found its home in her gut beside at least three broken ribs.

She wheezed, rolling over as she tried to breathe through the pain. He grabbed hold of the blade—expertly away from any vital organs—and twisted, ignoring her pained sobs. "I tried, I tried," she insisted, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"You've had enough time." He growled, yanking the blade out and pushing it back in on the other side. She wailed, curling in on herself again. "They already think the threat has passed," he lectured her, "soon enough they'll find out they're very wrong, no thanks at all to you." He kicked her, jolting the blade sideways.

"I obviously wasted my time training you." He shook his head. "You're good for a whore and not much else." Stella groaned, trying to tune him out as she fought off the black clamouring at the edges of her vision. "Pathetic." Her father muttered, pulling the knife free. He kicked her onto her stomach and ground his boot into the back of her neck.

She struggled against him, trying to move but he quickly placed the blade at her spine. "And what is this disgusting mark?" He spat and she jolted in fear, only then remembering her tattoos. "Did you make a bargain with those animals?" The knife came down with prejudice, slicing through the upper layer of her skin where the perfect replica of Caden's wing was. She cried out, barely keeping herself from sobbing no, no, no as he pressed her into the floor, his blade coming down twice more to mutilate the mark beyond repair.

He lowered the blade to her back after that and as her mind drifted, falling in and out of consciousness as he slashed brutal lines into the skin of her back. Stella wasn't awake for much of it, her hearing cutting in and out as he hurled obscenities and disfigured her further. When she finally woke fully it must have been hours later. She was on the floor of her bedroom, covered in blood with one of the maids hovering over her.

"Pain-reliever?" She croaked, staring up at the female blearily but the maid only shook her head.

"He said no," Her voice was filled with fear. Stella sobbed, dragging herself up to the bed. "You need to get ready." The maid told her. "He wants to see you." She reached up to her neck where Caden's mark was, feeling raised and mutilated flesh unaffected by her accelerated fae healing. Stella's face crumpled and she began to cry. There was so much blood—her hands were covered with it and so was the dress, barely still hanging on her body.