Esme already predicted that the outcome of her situation would not end well. She knew the repercussions of her actions before choosing to sever her hair, but the scariest part of this was, whatever Dahmer planned on doing to her would be more preferable than what she faces in the hands of Alpha Irish.
That man even owned a secret cult.
When Dahmer's whip landed on her back, she bit her tongue to stifle her cries. In front of the servants, his guards, and a few members of the Montague family, he whipped her without remorse or any semblance of compassion.
The thrashing echoed within the chamber, and some of the servants could barely bring themselves to watch.
Dahmer unleashed a torrent of abuse, his voice cracking with fury as he said, "I told you what would happen if you failed me, didn't I?" he sneered. "You're a shame to the Montague name, a pathetic excuse for a pack member! I wouldn't hesitate to spit on you, but you're not even worthy of that. And do you know why? Because you're a worthless, unwanted thing. Not even your own mate could stomach the thoughts of you. You're nothing but a useless, disposable piece of trash, Esme!"
As he continued to rain verbal insults on her, Esme's eyes burned with the tears of pain, yet she remained silent, her body conditioned to absorb the torment. This was far from the first time Dahmer's whip had left its mark on her, and without the accelerated healing of a wolf, her fragile body was forced to mend at a glacial pace.
Her innate frailty had been a concern since the day she was born, prompting her father to shelter her from the world. But he had only done it to protect her from the cruelties of other packs. However, fate seemed to have played a cruel game with her by delivering the trouble to their doorstep the day he decided to marry Lady Percy.
Her relatives don't even look in her direction, so they pretend to know nothing about what Dahmer does to her in her own father's home. With no ally to defend her, Esme had learned to wear a mask of submission, understanding that rebellion would only invite harsher retribution. Just like last night, she dared to defy her mind's caution, and she was paying for it.
What was the purpose of her existence if it was to be nothing but a punchline to fate's twisted sense of humor?
She was incredibly tired.
Through her haze of tears and pain, she spotted her supposed mate standing in a corner, merely watching. His indifference was a stinging reminder that without a wolf, she was disregarded, abandoned and forgotten.
Her father's presence seemed to haunt her, and a question of 'what if' made its way to her head. If he were still alive, he would never have allowed this to happen.
The merciless thrashing continued and it shredded Esme's clothing, biting into her bare skin. The whip on her skin shattered her resolve, and an anguished cry escaped her lips as the agony overwhelmed her. Tears streamed down her face, and she felt the warm, sticky flow of blood that trickled down her back.
Dahmer halted in his brutality, momentarily winded, and he glared at her back with vicious contempt. "You won't beg your Alpha for mercy?" he scoffed. "If only you had surrendered to my will from the start, you wouldn't be in this pathetic position. Those 40,000 men would have bolstered our forces! I wanted to expand our domain, to fortify our defense, cause who knows when another war will break out in this godforsaken land! But you, you selfish, obstinate fool, you've ruined everything, and now you must pay the price!"
Raising his whip with a snarl, he continued to thrash at her with unrestrained fury, and his mother just stood there, watching with an expression of cold approval.
Esme's eyes were starting to become blurry, her body wracked with unbearable pain, and her ears buzzed with each lash. For over twenty minutes, the agony prolonged, pushing her to the precipice of unconsciousness. Just as her eyelids grew unbearably heavy, she glimpsed a figure sprinting towards her.
"Leave her alone!" Finnian's panicked voice echoed within the room as he ran towards Esme, shielding her back from Dahmer's whip. He had tears in his eyes as he met Dahmer's ruthless gaze.
"Stop hurting her!"
"Finnian!" Luna Percy's reprimanding voice echoed within the room. "What do you think you're doing interrupting your brother in that manner? Come here!"
Finnian shook his head. "No!" he disobeyed, "he will kill her! Sister Esme did nothing wrong! I'm not going anywhere till he leaves her alone!" The finality in Finnian's voice shocked his mother.
Dahmer lowered his whip and met his little brother's teary gaze. "You're going against your own mother for someone like her?! That useless witch!"
"She is my sister!" He announced, "and if you consider me as your brother, you will leave her alone!" Finnian was scared as he looked into his brother's eyes, but his anger for what they had done to his sister had overwhelmed him to the brink that he didn't care about manners of etiquette.
When Dahmer noticed his brother wasn't going to get out of the way, that his little brother was actually standing his ground despite the fear of getting hit with the whip, his jaw clenched, and he looked at his mother before storming out of the room with his whip.
When Luna Percy and her eldest son left the room, Finnian looked back at his big sister who was critically wounded on the floor. A wolf always healed progressively, but he knew of his sister's inability to heal like the rest of them.
"Sister Esme?" His voice trembled as he called out to her, and when he touched her, he realized she wasn't moving at all.
His eyes swept the room, unable to believe the servants remained statue-still, as if paralyzed by fear. "Why is no one helping her?" He demanded, his voice cracking with desperation, and only then did they react.
Esme, in her subconscious state, felt her body was being lifted off the floor, that one movement sending a fresh wave of agony coursing through her body. She felt weightless all of a sudden, and the muffled sounds around her seemed to be coming from all directions, urging her to stay awake. But even their words could not keep her conscious, and without a struggle, she succumbed to the darkness clouding her vision.
By the time she was brought into her chamber, Vivienne's hands were over her mouth at the sight of her lady. She didn't need to ask to know that this was Alpha Dahmer's cruelty, except, it was more nasty today, and Vivienne immediately led the guard to Esme's bed.
"Milady!" Vivienne's eyes were teary, and from the wounds on her lady's back, it was obvious she had been brutally dealt with.
The healer arrived not too long after she was brought into the room, and he assessed her condition. However, after checking her vitals, his expression turned a shade darker, his eyes fixed on her still form.
"Is Milady…?" Vivienne's breath caught in her throat as she asked, and the healer's face seemed to age a decade as he slowly shook his head.
"I'm afraid Lady Esme has passed away," he whispered, the finality of his words sending a blow to Vivienne.
Her lady is dead????
Esme's body began to plummet in the depths of a black, bottomless void, her cerulean locks fluttering in the air like short seaweeds, as if being swallowed by an endless chasm. It was like a whole new dimension shrouded in nothing but the lingering darkness, and Esme had somehow found herself in it.
Without warning, the vision of a mysterious man appeared in her head, and he was on his knees, trapped in thick heavy chains like a prisoner. There were symbols, or rather, dark runes covering his naked torso, but it was difficult to make out his full appearance.
The environment was dark, and the air was heavy with the stench of blood, anger, desperation, and something more.... something darker.
Esme felt scared in an instant, and she could not open her eyes. It was impossible to think in this dimension. What is this place?? And who is that man??
"Someone is here." Esme stiffened in terror when the man's cold, deep voice broke through her subconsciousness. His tone carried so much hate, underlying his shock. It was almost if he wasn't expecting anyone to be here.
"Who is it?!" He didn't bother to raise his head and look for himself, but a terrifying, low chuckle rumbled in his chest.
The sounds of metallic chains clanking violently echoed in her head, and the figure was suddenly struggling to free himself from that bondage. It was nearly impossible to make out his visuals, except for the silver-white hair that framed his face like a curtain.
To her horror, the chains holding the man in place angrily snapped, setting him free, and Esme's eyes flew open without hesitation.
With a strained gasp, she bolted upright in the bed, her eyes wide open in fear upon recollecting the man in chains. Her heart pounded fiercely in her chest, as if she had narrowly escaped some sort of nightmare, and she struggled to catch her breath.
The light sobs coming from a corner drew her attention immediately, and she turned her head to see Finnian and Vivienne at the door, crying to themselves.
"Lord Finnian, you cannot see her lady now," Vivienne was unsure of how to break the news to the youngest lord. "Lady Esme is resting. You must return later so as to not disturb her."
"I heard what the healer said, so don't lie to my face." Finnian's big eyes were leaking with tears as he cried. "Sister Esme is no more, isn't that what the healer said?"
"Who is no more?" Esme inquired in a barely audible tone, startled by Finnian's comment. The sound of her voice only made Vivienne cry into her handkerchief, and she uttered.
"I miss Milady so much that I'm starting to hallucinate. What will happen to me if the lady's no– AHHH!!!"
Vivienne's scream pierced the room, her soul nearly fleeing from her body when she turned around to see her lady sitting up on the bed.
"M-MILADY?!" her eyes bulged to the point it nearly fell out.
Finnian's tear-filled eyes widened when he saw his sister staring at them, awake and most importantly, alive. It didn't take more than a second before his blue eyes shone, the lingering tears making them sparkle, and he rushed towards Esme's bed out of pure excitement and relief.
Vivienne hastily followed, and they stood at the edge of her bed, unable to believe it.
"Milady!"
"Big sister!"
As if timed, both the servant and Finnian burst into uncontrollable tears, leaving Esme worried and disoriented.
"Why did you frighten us so, Milady? We were made to believe that you were dead!" Vivienne could no longer hold back her sobs after seeing her lady awake, and that made Esme feel a pang of guilt. To think she had whole-heartedly accepted death when it came knocking earlier no longer sat well with her.
She didn't want them to weep.
"I'm sorry." Esme gently patted Finnian on the head, her own eyes filled to the brim with tears as she looked at Vivienne. "I did not mean to cause either of you such worry."
When the situation calmed, the healer was summoned again, and he was unable to believe it himself till he stepped into Esme's room and found her awake.
He checked her pulse, and it was normal. On any given day, her pulse was normally feeble due to her naturally weak state, but right now, it beat steadily beneath his fingers.
"Impossible." The healer muttered, looking at her with a dumbfounded expression. "I tested thrice to be certain, and you had no pulse, not even a heartbeat. I was so sure you had passed on but now you're awake, and your pulse…"
He held her wrist, pressing his thumb against the vital point with the appropriate pressure. "Your pulse is much stronger than I remember. Such a phenomenon like this one is unprecedented, Milady."
The healer's eyes searched hers, as if looking for an answer to this mystery that defied his understanding of life and death.
Esme avoided his gaze and felt her own pulse, equally mystified at the prospect.
She too had felt the cold embrace of death, she didn't even want to wake up from it, but something pushed her into it.
Her memories of the moment after her collapse had vanished. However, she remembered waking up scared, and the scent of blood — she wasn't sure if she hallucinated the smell or if it was something else entirely.
Whatever it was, it certainly didn't leave a good feeling behind. It's as if there was something terrible coming for Illyria, a huge calamity even.
Despite the myriads of questions swirling in her mind, Esme remained quiet, keeping her lips sealed. The healer sensed her need for rest and proceeded to check the wounds on her back, observing the prominent marks.
The scar, fresh and old, told a grim tale of her suffering at the hands of Alpha Dahmer.
As relieved as the healer was to find her alive, he harbored a deep uncertainty in conclusion to his lady. Perhaps death would have been a kinder fate for her, because if she had died, at least her suffering in the therondia pack would cease.
While attending to her wounds, the door opened, and Esme's heart sank when it turned out to be Alpha Dahmer.
Her heart sped. She shifted uncomfortably as he approached her bedside, and that toxic air that never failed to leave his side had followed. Alpha Dahmer signaled with his eyes that the healer should leave them, demanding privacy, and while the healer left, Vivienne chose to stay behind and finish what the healer had left, carefully bandaging Esme's wounds.
Her deliberate ignorance did not evade his notice, and his eyes narrowed.
"Are you deaf?" Alpha Dahmer's voice held a menacing edge to it as he frowned at the maid, displeased by her audacity. "Get out, I wish to speak with my sister alone."
"Milady's wounds cannot be left without the proper care." Vivienne replied, her tone as polite as she could muster. "She narrowly escaped death, and as her personal maid, I must see to it that Milady is safe before following orders, Alpha Dahmer."
Alpha Dahmer had not expected a cold come back from the maid, and that made his pupils dilate before narrowing with a venomous intent. Out of fear for her maid's life, Esme intervened, "Wait outside, Vivienne."
Though reluctant to leave her lady alone with the monster, Vivienne could not disregard her lady's command and obediently did as she was told, exiting the room.
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