King Beast - Vicious Flames

CHAPTER 34

Warning- brutal chapter head.

***

Human feet, arranged meticulously on silver platters as if they were delicacies fit for kings, greeted my horrified gaze. A mound of what I initially mistook for crispy chicken fingers but soon realized were human digits lay heaped near my sister.

The severed limbs twitched and writhed as if possessed by some grotesque semblance of life, sending a shiver down my spine that refused to be quelled.

My frantic eyes bounced around as lids of the trays were lifted with a sinister flourish.

Human beings, stripped of their dignity and reduced to nothing more than pieces of meat for the amusement of their monstrous captors were sprawled across the silver platters. Some were still alive, their tortured cries muffled by the gagging presence of an apple wedged between their teeth, two slices of lemon over their eyes. Others lay motionless, eye-less, their vacant stares and mutilated bodies serving as a grim reminder of how twisted this evil land was.

Grilled to a crisp, flambéed, roasted until their flesh crackled and charred— the methods of preparation varied, but the result was always the same: human flesh, served up on silver platters like some macabre feast for the damned.

I had no time to scream, nor to fully register the sickening realization before the contents of my stomach surged forth, the taste of bile and regret staining my lips as I retched violently, unable to contain my revulsion any longer.

"You... eat... humans?" I choked, my hand clamping over my mouth as another wave of nausea hit me. A servant rushed to mop up my vomit.

Zerberus acted as if he hadn't heard a word I said, casually continuing to gnaw on his ribs.

Has he fed me with human meat before?

Is he eating humans in that moment?

He glanced up, after reading my mind, a rib hanging from his mouth like some kind of carnivorous cigarette. "Relax, princess. It's not like we make a habit of it. Humans fed us better, sure, but we switched to cow ages ago. Much easier to breed, and they don't scream as much."

Another wave of revulsion washed over me. "We? You....fed on humans before?"

I stood there, staring at legs twisted at bizzarre angles, skin glistening with a sickly sheen of grease and blood.

"Look what you did. Now I have to feed you again," Zerberus sighed and tried to set me back. I punched his hands away.

He snapped his fingers. A servant placed another plate piled high with ribs and beetroot.

The Captain, nonchalantly pulling flesh off a chicken leg, chimed in, "Dragons rarely dine on your kind. Those of us mated with humans like to keep things civilized."

"Then why are there trays of humas here..." I muttered into my hand, trying to stifle a sob.

"It's all part of the tradition," he replied with a shrug, as if that explained everything.

My stomach churned at the thought. "Tradition? More like barbarism."

I heard a voice pipe up from the crowd, "Yeah, these humans are just for show. The lizarkus will eat them later. They're outside waiting."

The mention of the lizarkus—the creature that had attacked me during the Run and cost my sister her arm—sent a shiver down my spine.

"Speak for yourself!" Another growled, "I will have a nib!"

"Yeah! I'd be damn if I have to feed on lizard eggs one more night!"

Breathy, hoarse laughter erupted from the crowd, mingling with the clinking of glasses and the crackling of flames.