Olethros

thirty eight - freyja

"Hold her."

My eyes landed on my father as thudding boots sounded from my right. Strong hands gripped my shoulders, two males on either side of me. I looked between them, fighting their hold with no give.

"Mother forgive me," my own mother cried before running to the small study beyond the sitting area. My pulse raced as I looked around.

"Mama? Rhys?" I could hear the tightening to my voice. Terror flooded me. Would my father kill me? Is that why Rhysand was held down and my mother fled the scene? Would my blood stain these pristine floors?

My eyes snagged on a darkened alcove near the way to the entrance. It rippled and I felt a tension within it. My chest heaved with panicked breaths as I focused on that darkness. There was something there, someone there. My father stepped forward but I couldn't look away from the darkness.

"Don't touch her!" Rhysand shouted, startling me from my trance. The blade was pressing into his skin now, blood trickling from the point. My father stood in front of me, glaring down at me before motioning to the warriors.

"Get off me!" I shrieked when each one of them brought a hand to my skirt. Oh, Gods. Not one person listened to me as they yanked my skirts to my hips. What in the Gods forsaken world was happening? My father reeked of whiskey as he began to crouch. Terror tore through my veins, making me thrash like I had the night before. The males gripped my knees, yanking my legs up and out.

"Stop it! Get away from me!" I screamed. I tried to kick at my father's head, to rip my arms from their grips. My father sneered at me as he dropped to a knee. That darkness rippled again.

"You were gone for months, Freyja. When my warriors went into that cabin, you were not there, yet you had already been gone. Now, tell me where you were before isolating yourself."

What? My head spun as I tried to think of any possible reason this was happening. I shrieked like a wild creature, kicking and thrashing though their holds on me gave no space.

"Stop!" I cried out again, but my father shook his head.

"You were this desperate to hide from marriage. I would not put it past you to follow in your cousin's footsteps. I told your mother it was foolish to let you two be friends."

I couldn't comprehend his meaning. His words rattled against my mind. Panic flooded my system and I screamed when I felt my father's fingers against my undergarments. This was hellish, it was cruel and repulsive.

My wide eyes shot to my brother, who now had some leather strap shoved into his mouth. He, too, thrashed like a wild beast as his eyes watched our father's movements.

"Please! Stop, Father, please," I sobbed, shaking my head. I couldn't believe what was happening. Honestly, I didn't understand what was happening. The darkness rippled more.

My undergarments were pulled aside. My father's eyes didn't leave my face. I screamed and sobbed. The chair creaked and thudded against the floor with my movements. Oh, Gods. Oh, Gods.

My father shoved two fingers into me. I stilled, staring at him with wide eyes. He shook his head and clicked his tongue, withdrawing his hand. Bile flooded my tongue as he wiped the wet fingers against my thigh and stood.

"No resistance. She had given herself to another. Odessa! The healer!"

My stomach roiled. I turned my head, expelling what little I had in my stomach over the side of the chair. The males didn't release my arms or legs, though the one to my left cursed at my vomit on his clothes. A ringing filled my ears.

I didn't realize until my eyes met my brother's teary ones that I was shaking violently. My entire body trembled, my cheeks wet. I tried to speak his name, but only a squeak of sorrow left me. His eyes squeezed shut, forcing tears to stream down his cheeks and onto the leather strap being held tight against his mouth.

My father's voice cut through the blood pounding and ringing in my ears. My eyes turned to him. My mother stood near the large pillar to the left, her head shaking as she continuously chanted something silently. There was a male beside my father, one I had never met. He held a canvas bag in his hand as he stared at me.

"- until there is only enough room for him to penetrate. Tighter the better. If she bleeds during the consummation, our job is finished."

I shook my head, watching as the unfamiliar male dug into his bag. He pulled out a spool of thin thread and a small box. A sound left me as I shook my head again. The males gripping my knees would not let me close them.

"Please," I rasped, looking to my father. He stood with his arms crossed, glaring at me. I saw it then, the redness to his eyes and the unruly touch to his hair. His shirt was not tucked into his pants. He swayed as he stood there. My father was drunk. He was not in his right mind.

The male with the tools stepped forward, dropping between my thighs like my father had. A sob wracked through me as I felt my undergarments being shoved aside again.

"Please, don't. Father, don't let him-," I cut myself off with a cry. A sharp sting ripped through me. Another. Another. My skin tightened, my screams echoing in the large room.

My skin was slick with sweat and my throat raw by the time my undergarments were replaced and the healer stood. His head was bowed and shaking as he turned. My father reached into his pocket. Coins clattered to the floor as he shoved a handful of money into the healer's bag. Nobody moved until he was gone.

I took in the people around me and I think it was my worst moment. My father was glaring at me, my brother sobbing with a blade to his throat and bile dripping from beneath the leather strap and down his chin. My mother was on her knees, head bowed to the floor as she chanted a prayer I'd never heard.

The rippling darkness had vanished. In its place was Azriel on his knees, angry tears streaming down his cheeks. His teeth were bared, a dagger clenched in a tight fist against the floor. Cassian was kneeled beside him, an arm around Azriel's throat and keeping him in place. I saw the strain in Cassian's arms and face as he, too, cried.

Humiliation flooded me at the realization that Azriel had watched.

"Who was it, Freyja? Which male did you let inside of you?"

My eyes met my father's glassy ones. I saw Azriel jerk in Cassian's arms from the corner of my eye. "Fuck you," I spat, though my intention was smothered by my trembling and broken voice. His shoulders moved with a silent laugh as he motioned to the soldiers still holding me.

"To her room. It will be warded so that only I can enter and she cannot leave. Freyja, I will have the servants retrieve you tomorrow to bathe and polish you for your new husband."

My mouth soured even more than the vomit on my tongue. A soreness like I'd never felt ripped through my body as the warriors dropped my legs and pulled me to my feet. I whimpered, my knees threatening to fall. My eyes fell over my mother and Rhysand before landing on Azriel. His face had deepened to a reddish-purple hue with Cassian's grip around his throat. His fingers stretched as if he could reach me.

When I was locked into my room, I prayed I didn't live to see the next day.