Chapter 64 The Torture
Fernando stood in the center of the elite training ground, the midday sun beating down on the packed earth. The elites formed a silent circle around him, their faces a mixture of shock and unease after the revelation from the slave hall. Kael knelt before him, wrists bound with silver rope that burned into his skin, blood still dripping from the shallow cuts on his arms from the earlier struggle. His massive frame trembled slightly, but his eyes held defiance.
Fernando's voice cut through the silence like a blade. "Why did you poison the water Alberto was supposed to bath with?"
Kael lifted his head, meeting Fernando's gaze. "I know nothing about it, Alpha. I swear on my life. I have no reason to harm the keeper."
Fernando's eyes narrowed. "You lie."
Kael shook his head vigorously. "I do not. Someone else must have done it. I would never betray the pack."
Samael stepped forward, arms crossed. "Tell us about your mate."
Kael's expression flickered. "I have no mate."
The words had barely left his mouth when a woman burst from the gathering crowd of onlookers at the yard's edge. She was young, her face flushed with rage and tears, a small bundle strapped to her chest. She rushed forward and slapped Kael across the face with all her strength. The crack echoed sharply.
"You deny me?" she screamed, voice breaking with fury. "After I gave birth to your son? You deny us both?"
Kael reeled from the blow, blood trickling from his lip. "Lies! Alpha, believe me! She lies!"
The woman stood over him, tears streaming. "He claimed me two years ago. Promised me everything. Then when the pup came, he abandoned us. Said a slave's child was not worthy of an elite wolf."
Kael screamed, straining against the ropes. "Alpha, please! It is not true! She is trying to ruin me!"
Fernando turned a deaf ear, his expression unchanging. He looked at Darius. "Gouge his eyes out. Open him up. Stitch him. Make him feel pain until death."
Darius drew his dagger without hesitation, the blade gleaming in the sun.
Kael's face drained of color. "No! Alpha, mercy! I beg you!"
Darius seized Kael's hair and yanked his head back, exposing his face. The elites watched in frozen horror, some turning away, others unable to look.
The dagger tip pressed against Kael's left eye. "Hold still," Darius said coldly.
Kael thrashed, but Samael pinned his shoulders. The blade pierced the eyeball with a soft, wet pop. Fluid and blood spurted as Darius twisted the knife, carving the eye from its socket. Veins snapped with tiny sounds. The orb came free with a sucking noise, dangling by the optic nerve before Darius severed it with a flick.
Kael's scream was inhuman, a raw howl of agony that shook the yard. Blood poured down his face in thick rivers, soaking his tunic.
Darius moved to the right eye without pause. "The Alpha commanded both."
The blade plunged in again. More fluid, more blood. Kael's second scream was weaker, choked with pain and shock. Darius scooped the eye out, cutting the nerve. Blood cascaded down Kael's cheeks, mixing with tears and snot.
Kael sobbed blindly. "Please... stop... I cannot see..."
Fernando's voice was ice. "Open him."
Darius sliced down Kael's chest, the blade parting skin from collarbone to navel in one long cut. Muscle separated with wet tearing sounds, blood welling thick and dark. Kael's body convulsed, screams turning to gurgling wails as Darius peeled the flesh back layer by layer, exposing beating heart, pulsing lungs, and glistening intestines.
The elites turned away in horror. One vomited. Another fainted.
Darius continued, carving deeper, the blade grating against ribs. He exposed the heart fully, the organ thumping wildly in the open cavity.
"Stitch him," Fernando said.
Samael handed Darius a needle and coarse thread. Darius began stitching the open chest, needle piercing living flesh without mercy. Each stitch pulled skin over exposed organs, the thread cutting deeper with every tug. Kael's body jerked with every pierce, blood bubbling from his mouth as he screamed hoarsely.
The pain was endless. Every breath drew air over raw nerves. Every heartbeat pumped blood into the open wound.
Kael's voice was a broken whisper. "Kill me... please... end it..."
Fernando stood over him. "Not yet. Feel every moment. This is the price of betrayal."
Darius stitched slowly, deliberately, closing the chest in jagged lines while Kael lived and suffered. The man's screams faded to whimpers as shock set in, but the pain remained, a fire that consumed him from within.
Alberto jolted awake with a loud scream that tore through the quiet of the healing ward. His hands clutched his chest as if trying to hold his heart in place. Sweat soaked his tunic, and his breath came in ragged gasps. The room spun around him, the dim candlelight casting long shadows that danced like monsters on the walls. Pain echoed in his body, phantom thorns pricking his skin, the memory of the forest's poison still fresh.
Mira was at his side in an instant, her hand rubbing his back in slow, soothing circles. "It is a dream, Alberto. Just a dream. Breathe with me."
Alberto leaned forward, head in his hands, body shaking. The scream had left his throat raw. He focused on Mira's touch, the steady rhythm of her palm against his spine. Slowly, the panic ebbed. His breathing evened out, though his heart still pounded.
"Where is Fernando?" he asked, voice hoarse.
Mira continued rubbing his back. "He went to find out who harmed you. He is in the training ground dealing with it."
Alberto lifted his head. "Who?"
Mira's expression darkened. "They say it was Kael. He poisoned your water."
Alberto shook his head, eyes wide. "Kael was not the culprit."
He swung his legs off the cot and stood, vision still blurry from the lingering effects of the poison. The room tilted, but he steadied himself against the bed.
Mira reached for him. "You are not fully healed. Lie back."
Alberto pulled away. "I have to stop him."
He ran out, bare feet slapping against the cold stone floor, vision blurring as he pushed through the pain.