Bow Down And Beg For Mercy

Chapter 16

Sylvia's POV

I didn't show how surprised I was by my own words as he gazed down at me with his jaw slackened, clearly taken off guard by them as well. His lips parted and closed repeatedly like he couldn't figure out what to say and settled on a measly, "Oh." Cringing at his voice he cleared his throat awkwardly, looking through me instead of at me.

That won't do.

"Look at me. You don't get to go into a panic attack- while we're supposed to be working at that- then pretend you're fine and that your fingers aren't twitching to sink themselves into something. You have nothing to prove to me, so stop acting like you're not struggling."

I'm trying not to be annoyed with him, especially since he's so vulnerable right now but it's like he doesn't even care about his wellbeing. The scratches are bleeding as well as welting and the entire area is bright red, a little darker when nearing the cuts. He doesn't seem to notice his breathing is irregular or the slight tick of his jaw whenever his mouth closes.

Reaching out to touch him, I pause looking at him for permission. He thinks too long for my liking to take it as a 'yes' even if he said it, so I retract my hand and he visibly relaxes even though he looks disappointed that I did. Like his mind wants to but muscle memory disagrees.

Whoever made him this way will suffer an excruciating and slow end if it's the last thing I do.

"Talk to me, tell me anything." I settled on this approach instead since physical contact was out of the question. His brows furrowed with a shake of his head. "This isn't necessary, I'm-" I point a demanding finger as I dare, "Say you're fine again. Go on, say it." His mouth snapped shut before sighing in defeat leaning against the bar door.

"I broke an expensive antique vase once when I was younger and I was terrified and convinced that my parents would have killed me. Selena was so young and selfless, she took the blame in an instant saying she wanted to take a closer look but was startled by a spider and bumped into it when she jumped. It was believable since she was a clumsy kid and anything in her hands would eventually end up on the floor."

His demeanour shifted as the fond memories came to light in his eyes, the tick in his jaw loosening as a minuscule smile grew on his face. The adoration for his sister was never questionable but seeing him pick that special moment to reminisce on told me just how much that meant to him. Normally, it's the older siblings who are first to take the blame, her doing that shows how much of kind soul she is, no matter her age.

Better than me, I would have tossed mine under the bus for entertainment and an ice cream with sprinkles with chocolate covering it. Our parents never had a set way to punish us but they believed it should fit the crime so it was always interesting to see what they would come up with. So if you took something that wasn't yours, enjoy having your hand bandaged. God forbid you swore! Mama would have you hold salt water in your mouth for ten minutes, increasing the amount of salt depending on the word.

I blame them for my sick creativity, this is their fault.

"How sweet. Before Lucian and Flame started developing their own personalities, they had an obsession with playing each other seamlessly. It wasn't impossible to tell them apart but it was great difficulty, so they would both get punished for the same crimes," I paused to see if he was listening and continued, "So when I finally figured out a tell difference between them, I waited for them to do something wrong."

I couldn't help but laugh the next part because it was so ridiculous that they tried it and worse when they got caught.

"One of them was caught on camera peeking into a maids room when she finished work. He was trying to see some more when he fell through the open door and she screamed which is when he took off running." I couldn't help but clutch my stomach as laughter echoed out of me and throughout the dungeon corridors. "The twins swapped clothes when they were called from their room for the maid to point them out. I stopped her when she pointed at the wrong twin. Guess who it was."