In the hush of an eerie, white-lit room, Edmund's consciousness flickered back to life, blinking through the mist of disorientation.
With each tentative flutter of his eyelids, the world around him phased into existence, manifesting into a grotesque scene of grime and shadows.
The room was expansive, its boundaries pushing against the gloom, with walls stained by the ink of many years, whispering tales of neglect. But on second look, it just seemed like a large, dirty bathroom.
Flickering white lights struggled to throw their luminescent tendrils across the space, stuttering like the heartbeat of a dying animal.
His eyes widened upon seeing leather whips, sharp and weird tools of inexplicable function, and implements designed with a menacing purpose in mind hung there, casting elongated, misshapen shadows that danced with every flicker of the lights.
It was an orchestra of dread, playing a tune that resonated with the unseen corners of fear within his soul.
Edmund attempted to move, muscles tensing in anticipation, yet found himself immobilized in a peculiar configuration.
His head was ensnared within a tight aperture in the wall, a hole barely accommodating enough to allow him sight but restrictive to the point of imprisonment.
The constriction bore into his flesh with unyielding firmness, holding him captive to the whims of his unseen captor, making his nerves shiver in fear, wondering who did this to him, though this mind already guessed a few.
His mana circuit was sealed as well, planting a seed of despair in his stomach.
Yet, what sent a frigid chill snaking down Edmund's spine wasn't the eerie chamber or the creepy tools but the fact that, other than his head, his dick was dangling out a small hole.
He was naked. He could feel the chilly air taunting his dick, but his legs were restrained outside the wall, making it impossible for him to move his dick inside, "What the fuck! HEY!! Don't try anything stupid. Free me, this instant!!"
It was then, amidst the scream of tension and anxiety, that he heard the creaking whisper of ropes cutting through the stagnant air. With a sense of impending dread weighing upon his chest, Edmund's gaze followed the sound to witness a figure being maneuvered towards him.
His heart stopped, throat constricting with a gasp as he recognized the limp form of his sister, Sabina.
She was suspended, her arms raised, her wrists shackled in cold, unforgiving metal, chained to the ceiling. The chains pulled taut, dragging her feet across the grimy floor, bringing her visage into his immediate view.
Her legs were awkwardly and weirdly spread apart using a spreader bar, which was something he had only seen in her torture room.
This only made it strange to see one being used on her. On second look, even the black ropes and the restraints around her wrists seemed oddly familiar.
"Sabina!" The name escaped his lips, a desperate cry piercing the foreboding silence. His voice, laden with shock and concern, reverberated off the stained tiles, bouncing back to him with a mocking echo.
"Sabina, wake up! Are you alright?!" Edmund could see her breathing, but he couldn't tell if she was poisoned or something. Nobody here was strong enough to do this to her. She wouldn't let anyone. How could this happen?
But his cries towards Sabina were halted to a stop upon hearing footsteps, each thud reverberating through the despondent air with calculated gravity.
The sound grew louder, drawing near, unfolding a cadence of impending dread, until the figure responsible for the disturbance stepped into Edmund's strained view.
The visage of a man emerged, his skin painted with the subtle hue of dove gray, while deep, ominous yellow eyes twinkled with unspoken amusement.
With an elegance dripping from his stature, and a grin that could be best described as disconcertingly confident, Asher made his presence known.
"Feeling comfortable there, young lord?" The question, soaked in a syrup of sarcasm, dripped from his lips, punctuating the tense atmosphere with its deliberate casualness.
"Asher! You little...You did this?!" Shock, dressed in layers of incredulity, laced Edmund's words, constructing an echo of disbelief in the chamber.
Rather than offering a direct response, Asher's laughter unfurled, a sound both light and unsettling, "Hahahaha."
But suddenly, he stopped laughing as he raised a hand and,
*Pha!*
"Ungh…"
The impact resonated against Sabina's cheek, stirring her from the grasp of unconsciousness, with a groan escaping her lips.
"You dog! You dare touch her?!" Fury, raw and unbridled, ignited within Edmund's chest, a raging inferno of protective anger.
Sabina was his, and the sight of another man laying hands on her in such a manner was unprecedented, intolerable.
That red mark on her delicate cheek made his nerves sting.
"Oooh, such sibling love. I am touched," Asher mockingly said with a smile.
Sabina's ghostly red eyes, previously veiled by the gossamer curtains of unconsciousness, blinked open, settling on Edmund with an expression amalgamating disbelief and confusion, "E-Edmund?" Her voice, a whisper threaded with the delicate fabric of shock, filled the space.
"Sabina..." Relief, soft and subtle, washed over Edmund at the realization that she was, indeed, unharmed.
But Sabina's gaze soon transitioned from Edmund, landing on Asher with a smile chilling enough to frost the already frigid air, "Pretty boy, you have a death wish? I was playing nice with you all along, and this is what you try to do to us?"
With eyes flickering like angry flames, Edmund lashed out, his words sharp and filled with the venom of desperation,
"Did your mind get crippled for you to think that you can get away with something like this? Not even the queen can save you. According to our Bloodburn laws, not even royalty is immune from retaliation for offenses against the three Great Houses," he spat out, the threat looming in his words, "Even if the queen truly harbors affection for you, she'd be forced to order your execution, lest her authority crumbles," Edmund enlightened him, thinking he didn't know after waking up only 3 years ago. His lips then shakily curved into a smile, "Release us, and perhaps—"
"Hahahaha…"
His threat, half-formed and dangling precariously in the air, was abruptly severed by the cool, unyielding sound of Asher's laughter which only irked Edmund even more.
"You think I'm ignorant?" Asher's words, a silk-wrapped dagger, slid into the conversation with ease, his eyes locking onto Edmund's with unyielding intensity, "Your lack of awareness regarding your own foolishness renders you even more pitiable than I initially assumed. Isola? She's been my ally, not yours, you dickhead. Thanks to my generous offer, your friends' last-minute betrayal only made things easier. But perhaps it's futile to anticipate intelligence from a young lord whose decisions are predominantly steered by his little dick."
The revelation hit Edmund like a tidal wave, leaving his eyes widening, dilating with the magnitude of shock rippling through his system.
In the theater of his mind, puzzle pieces shifted, rearranged, each one snapping into place with chilling clarity. Isola had been deceiving him, weaving a web of lies so intricate and convincing he had become ensnared without realization.
Yet, he found himself struggling to believe it.
Asher was the architect of her people's downfall, causing the death of their mother Kraken, taking control of the young Kraken, and practically enslaving her and her people by making them work for him.
Given the litany of offenses, Isola's hatred for Asher should have been deep-seated and unyielding. Why would she even help him willingly? She should be looking for a chance to escape at any given opportunity.
He thought she wanted to get close to him by hoping that he would help her bring down Asher.
It was one of the main reasons why he felt she would be perfect for him.
Not only can he possess someone like her, but he can get rid of Asher at the same time.
"I forgot to add…She isn't just my ally but my woman as well. Only this afternoon, I fucked her again and again, and oh devils…" Asher closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath as if relishing a passionate memory, "...her moans were so melodic, I could feel my soul pulsing, especially when she kept confessing her love to me. I—"
"Enough! You alien fuck!" A storm of fury and dread twisted Edmund's features, a tempestuous dance of emotions so palpable it seemed to charge the atmosphere with its intensity.
The churning ocean of rage, confusion, and betrayal left Edmund quite shaken.
With a scornful twist of her lips, Sabina suddenly sneered at Asher, "Even if you somehow enchanted Isola to ally with you, your escape from the consequences of this atrocity is fantastical at best."
Edmund, amidst the turmoil cascading through him, found a cold grin stretching across his face, echoing his sister's confidence, "She's right. You are walking on a tightrope that will lead to your death. If we disappear here, the subsequent investigation will be relentless and meticulous. Our House would never let it go. And once it's revealed that we disappeared within the confines of this 'Haven,' and my sister's people report it, the queen herself will have to question you in public, hehe."
Asher's response was a low chuckle, the sound reverberating through the dimly lit space, threading an undercurrent of menace in the tense atmosphere, "Disappearance? Oh, I have no intention of making you ghosts lurking in the annals of history. But hypothetically speaking, even if I were to pursue such a course, do you genuinely believe it would matter? After all, I am quite certain that not just you two, but also your esteemed parents, are well-acquainted with the unspeakable and treacherous acts you perpetrated against me while I was a helpless cripple, a soulless man for more than a decade. Such dark secrets have a tendency to surface in the glaring light of investigations, don't they? I wonder how your House would react if they knew."
Asher scoffed as he shook his head and added, "Honestly, you should be groveling at my feet, especially when I hid your atrocity during our war against the Umbralfiends. But what can I except from a ungrateful asshole like you?"
Edmund swallowed hard, the muscles in his throat contracting visibly, a tangible sign of the anxiety gripping him.
Without warning, Asher's gaze swung back to Sabina. With deliberate slowness, he reached out, fingers closing around her face in a grip that was simultaneously firm and unyielding, "Aware of your brother's deeds, you still had the audacity to threaten my maid to put me under your control," he murmured, voice as cold as winter's grasp, eyes glinting dangerously, "A punishment, administered before your brother's eyes, seems to be the only fitting retribution."
Sabina's eyes danced with defiant mirth as she retorted mockingly, exaggerating her expression of fear, "Ohh nooo, I am scared."
"Who said I want you scared?" came Asher's curt reply, followed by a shrug.
Edmund's eyes trembled, widening with a cocktail of emotions as he observed Asher striding towards the wall, where an assortment of sinister-looking implements were meticulously arranged.
His visage strained with anxiety, whispered to Sabina through gritted teeth, "He has gone really mad. If he already did this to us, he won't hesitate to do worse. How did you even get caught?"
Sabina's eyes flickered, reflecting a frigid, crystalline light as she scoffed, the sound brittle in the suffocating atmosphere, "That little pipsqueak," she hissed, disdain dripping from her words like venom, "She once again tried to trap me; only this time she succeeded. I walked into a room only to realize it was an illusion with a matrix surrounding me that left me weakened. The next thing I know, I am waking up in this ugly chamber."
Edmund's eyes widened incrementally, realization dawning like a chilling sunrise, "He did the same to me! But...Silvia? She pledged allegiance to him?"
Edmund couldn't believe Silvia managed to trap his sister. It was no different than hearing that a werewolf was trapped by a cat.
Still, all he could now think of was getting out of this disturbing pit, "We should—Curses, he is coming."
Edmund's gaze darted back towards Asher, the latter's movements casting elongated shadows that seemed to dance and flicker menacingly on the cold, unforgiving walls.
The whip in his hand was long and ominous, its length seeming to whisper promises of pain and vengeance as it slithered through the air, casting a dark and sinister spell over the chamber.
What the fuck was he planning to do with that??
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