A Court Of Death And Daybreak

Prologue

TW: Sexual Abuse, Fire, Burning, Bondage, Nightmares, Torture,
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Eris

Heat, dangerous, lethal heat seared the flesh at Eris' wrists, thighs, and ankles. 'Scream, SCREAM,' he willed himself, but it would not come. His lips would not part, and as he pulled at them, that heat found its way to the inside of his mouth.

The bitter, unyeilding taste of blood soured his tongue and ran down his throat. This was nothing like the fire that gently kissed its way over his skin when he winnowed, it did not fill him with the same comfort that his own power did. This was different, deadly, warning. Dread weaved its way through his body like an old friend as realization struck him.

'No,' he thought desperately and wretched against the binds at his wrists, his eyes surveying the glowing band of flame. He had been in this situation so, so many times since his adolescence. 'No, no, no,' he'd never gotten used to it, he never would get used to it. The violence, the panic, the scent of whatever male his father decided he should service this time, the searing fire that kept him bound.

His skin went cold despite the fire that snaked around him as a dark chuckle rang heavy in his ears.

He swallowed hard at the bile that rose in his throat as the males unwelcome hands roamed his body. He didn't look at him, he couldn't. Not as those calloused hands dipped lower and lower. A whine stuck somewhere between his throat and lips, sounding more like a hum as he bit back tears. He would never get used to that either, but he would not give the male the satisfaction of seeing him weak, seeing him shatter.

As those greedy hands finally found their mark Eris wretched away and that searing, lethal pain found its way into his mouth once more, sliding back his throat. Powerless, he was utterly powerless, as he always had been, as he always would be.

'No.'

This time, it was not a plea, but a demand. Eris wretched away from those cruel hands as they began caressing him, stroking him. Panic burned in his very blood, but Eris would not yield, could not yield. His eyes tore from the binds at his wrists and surveyed the room.

His father did not have the decency to be a shadow on the wall. He made sure Eris saw him clearly, made sure he knew who was responsible for his torment as he sat mighty on his proverbial throne. Always watching, always waiting.

The male atop Eris grunted, and minutes later he felt the males fist connect hard with his face. Eris' eyes narrowed at his father before he wretched them away. A snarl escaped Baron's thin lips and the binds that held Eris tightened, burning hotter, further searing his flesh.

The scream finally made its escape from his quivering lips as he shot up, now in his own bed.

His breathing laboured, and it took him a long while before his eyes adjusted to the darkness his own room was bathed in as the fire in his eyes slowly dimmed. Eris took in the room around as it finally came into view, running his hand through the knotted mess that his hair had become in all his thrashing.

'A nightmare,' he thought, 'It was only a nightmare,' it did nothing to sedate him...