"good morning, your majesty." Errot mumbled as he walked inside the dining room.
Canton was sitting on this huge table and was being served his breakfast, his gaze concentrated on his plate and nowhere else.
"You're late." He said, his tone accusing and dark.
Errot was a bit startled. "Uh, I'm sorry?"
"Was that a question?" He dropped his fork on the plate and turned to look at Errot.
Errot immediately looked away to avoid eye contact. "No, it wasn't." He mumbled.
"Sit down, Errot." His tone harsh.
Errot went to sit a bit further away from Canton when he stopped him. "Next to me."
Errot coughed awkwardly and sat down next to him as ordered. He started looking at his plate.
Canton motioned for Errot to pick something to eat from the food in front of him, so he picked a waffle covered with warm chocolate along with a glass of orange juice.
Canton rolled his eyes at his choice of breakfast given that juice with chocolate could be one of the worst combinations in the world but decided not to comment on it.
"Should I..?" Errot trailed.
"Go ahead. "
"Right." Errot started slowly eating and looking anywhere but at Canton, praying that he was training with Oda and not eating breakfast with the clearly angry King of Ink Blood.
A few minutes later, Errot finished his breakfast and tried to keep the silence that already existed the entire time.
He physically couldn't.
"Are you mad at me?" He asked warily.
Canton snickered. "Do I look mad at you?"
"Yes. That's why I asked. " He mumbled.
"Did you finish your food?"
Errot restrained himself from replying with a sarcastic comment. "Yes."
"Good." He got up and started heading out of the room. "Let's go."
Errot frowned and tried to catch up to the King. "Go where?"
Canton didn't reply, he just kept walking.
Midway, Errot realised that they were actually heading towards the underground floors of the castle, where everything got darker and colder. Suddenly a wave of wind hit him in the face and Errot looked around for any kind of windows that were probably responsible for this.
There were none.
Errot felt his brain send panicked messages to his body, shivers now making the hair on his arms rise.
He blinked as he kept following the King deeper into a room that barely had a few candles to light the way, his pace now slowed down.
King Canton stopped right behind a big metallic door and forced it open. Errot found it very odd that there were no guards here, making him and Canton the only people on this entire floor.
"Step inside. " His tone authoritative.
Errot did exactly that without hesitation.
As soon as he was inside, Canton closed the heavy door behind them and with a simple click of his fingers, the room was suddenly alive with light. Various torches were now shining bright with flames, but not so bright as to have everyone here blinded.
Errot found the chance to look around the room and suddenly his heart started beating so fast, he thought a heart attack was coming his way. His throat felt dry and it was slowly closing up on him, making him feel a bit suffocated. He took a sharp breath and froze dead on his spot the moment he felt Canton's hand on his shoulder.
"Errot."
Errot closed his eyes shut and turned around painfully slow, so he could face the king's direction.
"Kneel." King Canton's voice was icy cold, actually matching the freezing temperature the room accommodated them with.
Errot trembled his way down, his knee softly making contact with the hard, stoney ground, his head hanging low.
"Do you know where you are?"
Errot bit his bottom lip hard.
"Answer me."
Errot gulped. "I-I don't" his voice was barely above a whisper now.
"I-I think you do." The sneer was loud and clear on Canton's voice. "Where's that bravery now, love? Any sarcastic comments while we're at it? "
Errot shook his head no, his body going numb. "I'm sorry." Was all he managed to whisper.
Canton clicked his tongue, annoyed. "Everyone is sorry, Errot. But always a bit too late. Always for mercy, never to correct their actions. Their words. So no, you're not sorry. You're not sorry because that's just who you are. That's your character and that is something you can't change. You never regretted how you acted towards me, not even now, simply because you hate me. Isn't that correct?"
Pause.
"Admit it, damn it!"
Errot took a breath to brace himself for what he was about to do. He clenched his fists and raised his gaze upwards and was met with Canton's glassy emerald eyes. He was still trembling a bit when he said " Yes, I do hate you. You can't even imagine just how much."
Canton locked eyes with Errot, a smirk slowly making it's way into his lips.
"There. I appreciate honesty. I really do. Especially from Merlots."
Errot's whole body turned pale, his mid- widened eyes stuck at Canton's and he could swear he saw death inside them.
"You don't look so good, love. Is something the matter?"
"What-" the word was barely audible.
"Now I think it's the perfect time for you to remove your eyes from mine."
Errot didn't waste any seconds to look down again, horror taking control of him.
"Welcome to my chamber of torments. " Canton smirked and continued. "If these walls could talk Errot, you would take a knife and slice your own throat in half. Everybody who walks in here, never gets out. Well, everyone except from me." He said, his gaze getting more intense every passing second. "And you. I'm not sure I've made myself clear but I don't have any intention of killing you. "
Errot closed his eyes again, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding all this time.
"Before you get too happy, I must inform you with my plans for your future. See, traitors and I aren't the greatest of friends. I may have spared your life, but I never promised you a good one. You will get tortured. You will be in a lot of pain. You will get out of here, crawling. You will become my slave and finally, after all of that, you will beg me to end the life I so gracefully handed you. And I won't. I never will."
Errot tried to take another breath but he could barely find the strength, Canton's words, daggers to his heart. There was the calm coldness again. Only him could manage to say all of this with ease, the words rolling down his tongue with such serenity.
"Do whatever you want to me. But don't. " His bottom lip started trembling, guilt dragging him down the ladder. "Don't hurt Oda. She's innocent. I was the one that forced her to do this. We just..." Errot's voice broke. "We just wanted to be free."
Canton rolled his eyes at that. "So melodramatic, Errot. " Pause. " I really don't give a shit about your blonde human friend. In my mind she was dead the moment I learned the truth."
Errot froze dead on his spot. After a long pause, Canton sighed.
"But I was unfortunately convinced to keep her. So, I came to the conclusion that she will be of great serve to my seneschal."
Errot nodded. His eyes started getting a bit watery but he refused to cry in front of Canton. At least not yet.
Canton moved forwards and glanced at Errot. "Arms open."
Errot showed obedience, miserably.
Canton reached for the chains behind Errot and cuffed them around each of his wrists. He did the same with his legs as well, so now Errot was chained hard to the wall, every limb on his body no longer free.
Once he was done, Canton took a step back and admired his work, up close. His eyes then fell to Errot again, his whole aura turning cold.
"I want to know, Errot. I'm curious. Did you really think I wouldn't eventually find out?"
"I knew you would find out sooner or later...I just hoped you didn't. " Errot mumbled.
He then heard Canton scoff. "What a moving speech. I'm so touched, love.
Not.
You weren't being hopeful, you were being ridiculously stupid. "
"If I had stayed in Merlot blood, I would have been dead days ago." His voice low.
"Oh great, so you thought, how could I possible save my disappointing ass life? That's right. I should move to Ink Blood because the King there is really such a sweetheart. "
"Nah, I think I always knew you were a dick." Errot didn't have anything to lose at this point. There really wasn't anything worse that could happen to him that wasn't already about to happen. So, when the king raised his fist and threw a perfectly aimed punch on his face, he should have seen that coming.
His head flew to the side the moment King Canton's fist made contact with his skin and Errot let out a small painful gasp. He instinctively tried to touch his bleeding nose with his hand when he felt a throbbing pain against his wrist, reminding him that he was now stripped from his right to use his hands.
Canton's face was stone cold, his features sharp and menacing.
Errot cursed Elian's name a thousand times inside his head, leaving a mental note to himself not to trust him or any Moccasin ever again. He sniffed to keep the blood from rolling down his nose but his efforts were useless, so he just gave up and let it run freely down his lips, painting them.. red.
"Red blood. " Canton nodded in disbelief. "Pathetic. Pathetic mortals. " He mumbled more to himself.
"You know, aeons ago, I made a promise to myself." He pulled one of his knives out. "I promised not to let any Merlot step foot to my dimension ever again, for whatever reason. " He crouched down in front of Errot. "Any human who would trespass, I would kill in an instant. " Brief pause. "I kept that promise until you appeared. I wasn't ready to go against my own words ..but I did. " He tore his shirt apart with one swift motion of his knife.
Errot tried to remain still. "I'm a very bad person, love. And sometimes...just sometimes, bad people get cursed. And curses might not work on where you come from but they work perfectly fine in Ink Blood. " Canton pressed his lips into a thin line, in thought. He then let out a humorless, bitter chuckle. "I tried to protect myself, I tried to prevent it. But this is a curse I can't break because it was casted on me by a very powerful creature. Elian kept a lot of things from you, Errot. And there is also a lot that the Moccassins aren't even aware of. You think you know me but you have absolutely no fucking idea of who I am, what I've done ,what I'm capable and what I'm not capable of doing. "
Errot rolled his eyes. "What a sob story for a heartless bitch."
"If I have to be, I'll be that bitch. I'll be that bitch right now, cause I own you. You're mine. Your life, your soul, your body, is now in my hands. So, let me just make sure that you'll always be reminded of it. " He stated and placed his knife against Errot's chest. He then started slowly marking his skin, bit by bit, letter by letter.
Errot kept flinching. Tiny, breathless whimpers were escaping his lips, the pain he felt insufferable. He tried to move, to pull at his chains, to break free of this nightmare but he couldn't. He had to stay there and endure it all. He was paying for his own mistakes. For his own hopeless dreams.
Why.
Why would a dream cost someone so much. Why was happiness so damn expensive. Why are there people in the world who take joy in torturing, killing and enslaving other people. Why can't everyone be like his dad. Like his best friend. His dad once told him not to ever end up bleeding.
'If you bleed, you will die'.
What his father didn't know was that Errot was bleeding everyday since. Now, he was bleeding more than ever. Both physically and mentally.
After what felt like hours, Canton finally pulled the knife back. Errot could see red on his chest, his stomach, his pants, the floor. Red. Red blood everywhere.
Errot tried to muffle his pain by biting at his bottom lip hard.
Canton started examining his chest and then his face. His grin couldn't get wider. "Pain makes you feel things. It makes you stronger. Pain means that you're alive. Appreciate it."
Errot took another shaky breath and swallowed with difficulty. He looked at Canton with disgust portrayed on his face. "Suck my dick"
Canton burst out laughing at that. "Have you ever been a sex slave, Merlot?"
When he didn't reply, Canton continued. "No? Well that explains your ignorance. It's you who will entertain me, not the other way around."
Errot couldn't keep his eyes on the king anymore. The bravery slipping away and getting lost behind despair. Suddenly, the pain on his chest felt insignificant.
Canton held his usual sneer. "Won't look at me in the eye anymore? I thought you liked toying with someone else's pain."
"Pain? That's what you call fucking pain? Eye contact?"
"Not everyone struggles the same." Canton said, his expression now raw and tight.
"I'm so glad it's so easy to make you vulnerable." Errot said and slowly raised his gaze back up and stared at Canton deeply in the eye.
Canton's face was now unreadable.
One
Two
Three heartbeats. The silence was so deafening, Errot wanted to scream.
"Unfortunately for you, your stare does absolutely nothing to trigger me. There only a few exceptions and you're one of them. " Pause. He chuckled. "You're so damn unlucky, you keep losing."
"Then why do you go mental every time I look at you?" Errot let a painful smile out.
Canton looked down and smiled humorlessly to himself. He then turned to Errot again. "Santos."
Errot frowned deeply at that. "Santos?"
Suddenly, a shadow started taking form right behind the king.
Errot scoffed at that, a bit surprised. "Should have known" he mumbled.
"He's all yours. " He said and turned his head a bit to the side. " I want him in pieces but breathing by tomorrow night. My room. "
Santos nodded. "Of course, your majesty."
Canton glanced at Errot one more time, his eyes falling at his name, perfectly scarred on his chest. He smirked just a bit and walked out of the room, leaving Errot at Santos' mercy.
His mind and heart were crumbling down, emotions scattered in every possible corner. Fear, sadness, guilt, disappointment, emptiness, nervousness, hatred, anger, despair. Even though the list was endless, there wasn't a single positive emotion in sight. Nothing that could keep him in tact. Nothing that could give him strength to keep going.
Hope had taken a dive so deep, she drowned and Errot couldn't do anything to save her.
♛