Bab 7: Her Lady Is Dead??
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????
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