Otherworldly Redemption [Book 7]

9

"Testy..." Asha laughed.

"I'm certain I've raised you better than that." Jelani's mother sighed.

"I'm certain you didn't raise me at all." Jelani's voice was quiet, almost like a child talking back to their parents but completely afraid of their reply. It was clear that both parents heard what he said but just as they were to respond Tuli fell to her side, breaking the pose she was told to maintain all dinner.

Jelani's father stood and sighed as if he was greatly disappointed in her. Her eyes went wide as she scurried away from him with each step that he moved closer. Her hands were up in front of her as she babbled out apologies.

"Stay still and accept your punishment or risk angering me and making it worse." He growled at the young woman.She stilled but the fear in her eyes was heart wrenching. He reached down, his massive fingers threading through her hair, pulling her up to her feet. She screeched in pain as her arms flailed about, trying, in vain, to get away now. He dragged her to the table and pulled her up into a standing position.

He ordered her to bend over the side of the table and I couldn't believe my eyes. This wasn't about to happen in front of us right? Not in the dining hall right on the table we were eating at. Looking over to Jelani I wasn't too shocked to see that his gaze was not on the woman as he glared down the table at his father. 

My eyes moved over to Marin and my chest became tight as I looked at him. His eyes were wide and unblinking, tears shed, and mouth stuck open as he stared at the scene in front of him. Jelani's father slipped his hand under Tuli's already tattered skirt and flipped it up, exposing her to all of us. She was crying and pleading for him to stop but he wasn't listening.

"This is how you make sure your servants stay subjected to you." He growled as he raised his hand and brought it down swiftly on her ass. Her crying stopped for a second before she began to wail with every hit to her bare ass. Jelani's mother barely paused eating to glance their direction before going back to her meal. Asha didn't look up but rolled her eyes at her father's display.

When her breaths were barely coming out as ragged pants the sound of him trying to unbuckle his belt had Marin gasping. This man couldn't possibly be thinking what I thought he was. Jelani's fist was clenched on the table as I shot up from my seat and caught his attention.

"You need to stop this." I whispered harshly.

"If I stop it now it'll only be worse for her in the end. If I allow the punishment to continue at least she will remain alive." He spoke as if this wasn't the first time this had happened.

"Has...Has this happened before?" I questioned in disbelief.

"The last few times they visited something like this happened. The first time I stopped it and I felt good about myself but then I later found out that he had taken the slave home, strung him up by his limbs, whipped him and then slowly tortured him until he eventually bled out. All while he was hung in front of the others to make sure that there was no one else to follow his footsteps although he did nothing." Jelani explained.

His voice caught a few times while telling the story, clearly this had been an ongoing problem and it had affected him more than he was letting on. However, I couldn't let Marin watch this. It was destroying him from the inside out and while Jelani was strong enough to handle it Marin wasn't.

"You have to do something Jelani, Marin can't watch this. He's not equipped to handle this." I hurried out as the girl continued to struggle giving Jelani's father a run for his money.  Marin's eyes grew even wider as he screeched in fear. His eyes were glued to the scene in front of him and the fear in his eyes spoke of past experiences."Do it for Marin."