The Pain that Made Her Beautiful

PMHB ch23 (Pic of Hermun)

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Nayeli was awoken from her agonizing nightmare by the sound of men’s voices only a few paces away from where she lay. One was deep, rich, and slathered in a Germanic accent, clearly distinguished as Warick’s; however, the other was more of a baritone in quality, though just as rich as Warick’s, it had a clearly defined Latin quality to it, allowing Nayeli to deduce that the stranger was Roman.

“What is going on here, Warick? What, or who, has your attention so undividedly that you would interrupt me and run off like a rabid bear to the smell of flesh?” the Roman voice said.

“I pray that you do not take any offense to my actions, and if that is the case, then I beg your forgiveness. This is who I have come to tend to,” Warick said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Oh, my, she is… I have never seen a creature so beautiful in my entire life. If my experience serves me correct, she is Egyptian, is she not?” the Roman said in awe.

“I don’t know, my friend, she is,” Warick’s tone took on a tender edge,” beautiful, is she not?”

“Warick, she is as beautiful as, if not more, and may the gods not strike me down for saying this, than Aphrodite herself. However,” the Roman’s tone changed, hardening, “why exactly does she have your attention so much?”

“Apollo, what I am about to tell you I tell you in the strictest confidence. This girl is called Nayeli, and, I presume, you have noticed her incredible beauty. She is a slave, and a badly wounded one, at that. My brother, Hermun, was sent with me, on the unfortunate instruction of my father, who is chief, along with a number of other young men who are a vile lot. They ravage women without reason or validation. They may be unmatched with skill in handling weaponry, but they punished this girl so brutally that she has a long gash on her back, currently healing, that was hacked into her skin using an unknown implement.”

“And what did the girl do to instigate such a reaction?” Apollo asked.

I’ll tell you what I did, Nayeli thought furious, NOTHING! A big fat nothing. Hermun just needs to get his stinking panties out of a twist!

“I believe that Hermun was just looking for anything that he could use to allow him access. The fact that he ‘punished’ her is not the problem here.”

Well,” Apollo said in an almost impatient tone, “what is?”

“It is where. Hermun is a vile creature; I have to admit, whether or not he is my brother. He decided to take his ravaging to my, my, tent. I still cannot forget the image of him on top of her out of my mind, and her screams, they were terrible. I can only imagine the anguish that Nayeli could have been in.”

Nayeli cracked open one of her eyes to spy on the men more clearly. She was not, however, expecting to see Warick’s eyes on her face accompanied by a look on her face that would be seen on a the face of some one who was her love, as much as she was his.

“From the way that you are looking at her, I can deduce that you were not only scarred by the fact that your brother was doing such things in your private space, but also because it was her that he was defiling, am I correct?”

“I—I—yes, you,” Warick paused in reluctance, “are correct, Apollo.”

Apollo glanced at Warick and Nayeli saw that he was almost sad in his expression. Apollo’s eyes were wide, his face was drawn, and as he looked at Warick, Apollo seemed to be looking more through him and into the distance and in a memory from long ago.