Whip. Cough. Splash.
"Get away from me!" Kai lashed out reflexively, throwing a hand in Marius' direction. His intention was to push Marius away. Belatedly, he realized the grave error he'd committed.
Just before his hand made contact with Marius' loins, the King swiftly grabbed it by the wrist, like a chopstick snatching a dumpling in the air. Kai would have been impressed if he weren't too busy inwardly panicking.
Embarrassment washed over him, coloring his face a crimson red.
Holy shit, what the hell is THAT?! That can't be real!
Marius, on the other hand, was seemingly undisturbed. He looked his bored, unconcerned self, staring down at Kai with that familiar disdain. Neither his state of nakedness nor the fact that Kai almost made... contact were affecting him.
Oh, to be a stoic boulder like him.
"You snore."
Kai blinked. "What?"
What, you freak?!
Marius released his hand and stood up to his full height of a six foot something giant. From this angle, it was like staring at the sun.
Oh God!
Kai averted his eyes just like he did when the sun hit his eyes.
That thing couldn't possibly be real. It was bigger than what his perverted mind had conjured in his dreams!
The King turned and walked away, and Kai kept his eyes firmly averted.
He most certainly did not see it... swinging.
Marius was clearly unbothered by his state of nudity. Not that he had anything to be bothered about. The merman looked better in human form than any human being he'd ever seen.
Marius climbed back into his bed like a panther settling into his tree, but kept the covers off him, choosing to lie on top of them instead.
Kai made it his life mission to keep his eyes averted.
"What... were you doing?" he asked, his voice almost whisper-like.
"I wanted to see if the Spirit surfaced while you slept."
"Oh." He forced himself to lie back down. His heart was still hammering in his breast, and the blush with the heat of a thousand suns didn't seem like it was going to subside anytime soon. "Well, did he? The Spirit I mean. Did he surface?"
"No. Go to sleep."
"Well, I was asleep before you-" Kai bit his tongue, purposely stopping himself from uttering the words.
Oh, God. Can this night end already?
Kai threw the cover of his face and closed his eyes. No matter what he sensed or heard near him, he'd keep them firmly shut this time.
****
Ryodan tried to convince himself that the serrated whip that struck his face didn't hurt, when in fact it did. A lot. His torn flesh oozed buckets of blood onto the dungeon's floor. His lip was busted open, making even groaning a pain. One of his eyes was so badly swollen, he wondered if he'd lost the use of it and would need to have it magically restored. He wasn't entirely sure, but he suspected he had one rib left that wasn't broken.
Soon, they were going to start removing his limbs. He supposed they hadn't already to keep on the magic-blocking shackles restraining him against a wall, otherwise they'd just slip out. "Speak, where is he?"
The whip struck his breastbone and shattered it. He coughed blood onto the dirty floor. He was surprised that there was blood even left in his body; most of it covered the dungeon's floor.
"Speak, traitor!"
Whip!
Cough.
Splash.
And so continued his torture session at the hands of one of his promising soldiers.
Eopmin stared at him with blazing hatred in his eyes. Ryodan could hardly blame him. If their position were reversed, he would be doing the same thing to his mentor and general who had dared to kidnap the Crown Prince of Astria and losehim. It was treason of the highest order, or so Eopmin and the rest of Astria have been told.
If the torture didn't kill him, his scheduled execution most certainly would. He, Ryodan Avandar, Firstborn of the House of Avandar, had been declared a traitor to the throne and Kingdom by Royal Decree. And only another royal decree could save him from the executioner's spear. Knowing their beloved King, Zoltan was counting his lucky starfish that Ryodan had finally made a mistake punishable by death.
There would be no pardon.
He supposed that it was only a matter of time.
So, if he was to die anyway, he would not say a thing. No, not one word out of his busted lips that would benefit Zoltan. He wanted to know where Kai was to either keep an eye on him and suppress his claim to the throne, or kill him and end Kai's legitimate claim entirely.
In a way, Kai was probably safer in Marius' hands, considering he hadn't killed him the moment he got his hands on him. So long as Kai had the Spirit inside him, Marius would refrain from ending his life.
Eopmin raised the whip again.
"Tell me-"
Eopmin's head disappeared. His headless body slumped to the ground.
Ryodan sighed. "That was my best shooter, Erasmus."
The fickle wizard emerged through a portal.
The shackles dissolved into ash.
Ryodan dropped to the ground, face-first.
"Get up, you fool. The alarms have already been triggered; they know I'm here. We have less than thirty seconds."
Ryodan forced himself onto his legs. Eopmin was a good shooter, but he was a bad torturer. A good torturer would have taken out the use of his legs first.
He ignored the spearing pain in his chest and forced out, "Have you found them?"
"Yes. We're camped by the trench."
Ryodan stared.
Erasmus saw the stare and explained, "There was nowhere else to hide that Zoltan couldn't find us."
Ryodan would have cursed if his chest didn't feel like it was being filled with venom.
"Fine. Let's... go." He could already hear the sound of heavy footfalls approaching.
"They're in the third dungeon!"
The guards rushed into the cell, but by the time they arrived, Ryodan and Erasmus were already gone.
*~~~~~~~~~~~~~*
Who's team are you on? #TeamMarius or #TeamRyodan?Thanks for reading! Next 7+ parts are already up on Patreon, in addition to exclusive NSFW content! www.patreon.com/feastofnoise