“Stop this. Let him go,” Shi’chen said, his voice rough.
“Maybe we will start with the whip,” En’shea mused. “Or perhaps we will remove the skin from his fingers, one by one. What do you think, Cousin?”
A’bbni moaned, jerking under the hands that held him as he struggled to turn his head away from the ghastly sight next to him and toward his brother instead. His mind raced with something, anything that they could do or say to make this end, but there was nothing, which was more frightening than any of En’shea’s threats. His mind so rarely was blank; the fact that there was absolutely nothing he could do was terrifying. All that was there was the smell of blood and leather, the flicker of the torches against the walls, and the racing of his own heart in his chest, so painful it felt like it would choke him more than the gag.
Shi’chen jerked violently at his cuffs, straining so hard against the stock that the metal creaked, though it still did not budge. “Do not touch him! I will kill you!”
“Your Father already tried. And look where he ended up,” En’shea said bemusedly, patting the top of the severed head. “Come now, Captain. This refrain is beginning to bore us.”
“We told you we do not know anything,” Shi’chen said, his voice rising in panic, his eyes meeting A’bbni’s. “If we knew anything, we would tell you, I swear it!”
En’shea turned toward Hi’jan who was standing off to the side watching his guards. “We believe our Cousin needs some motivation, Captain.”
A’bbni let out a gasp that was audible around the gag, giving another jerk, feeling his ears flatten with fear. En’shea smiled at him.
“Yes, Sovereignty,” Hi’jan said. He stepped forward, and Shi’chen let out a strangled-sounding moan. Hi’jan moved to stand behind A’bbni, gazing across the room at Shi’chen. “I suggest you answer the questions,Captain, or things will get very unpleasant for your brother very fast.”
“No!” Shi’chen protested, and A’bbni could see he was trembling. “Please, Your Sovereignty. I swear to you that we know nothing of this plot. I swear it on my life.”
“Your life is worthless to me,” En’shea replied dismissively.
“What do you want?” Shi’chen pleaded. “What can we do to prove our loyalty to you?”
En’shea laughed, the sound hitting their ears like the rasp of a thousand bees. A’bbni felt his heart sink. The crown prince had no intention of letting them out of here alive, regardless of what they might say or do. The best they could hope for was a swift execution instead of days or weeks of torture. He gave another twist against the two guards that held his arms behind him, but it made no difference. They only pressed him down harder into the wooden table, so hard his ribs ached.
En’shea waved his hand toward Hi’jan. “If you will not tell us anything, Cousin, your brother becomes Captain Hin-Ve’ssa’s personal property until he tires of him.”
A’bbni’s blood turned to ice in his veins. Even though he couldn’t see behind him, he could feel Hi’jan’s cruel smirk, and he was suddenly much too aware of how close Hi’jan was standing behind him, almost pressed up against the back of his legs. He instinctively tried to shift away, but the guards at his sides only dug their fingers more firmly into his arms to hold him still.
“S… Slavery is illegal,” Shi’chen said, though his voice shook, and A’bbni saw his ears flatten in fear.
“Do you think we are stupid?” En’shea asked, raising a brow. “We are Emperor, we are changing the law. And you, Dear Cousin,” En’shea turned to give A’bbni a honeyed smile, “will be the first punished under it for your family’s treason.”
The world swam before his eyes for a moment, and A’bbni struggled to take in a breath around the leather gag in his mouth and the pressure on his ribs. Hi’jan suddenly pulled a knife from his belt and slid it down the back of A’bbni’s tunic, being none too careful. The fabric parted under his blade, and beads of bright red blood welled in several places where the knife grazed his charcoal skin. A’bbni let out a cry around the gag, jerking against the hands that held him, but the guards held him firmly in place.
“Dammit, stop this! I don’t know what I can tell you!” Shi’chen yelled, turning desperate eyes from Hi’jan to En’shea and back. “We were not involved in Imperial Senate meetings. We have heard nothing about a rebellion or any attempt on Your Sovereignty’s life, I swear it! Please! Don’t do this!”
The tip of Hi’jan’s blade bit into the skin under A’bbni’s shoulder blade and stayed there, not pushing deeper, just breaking the skin and letting the blood pool around the tip of the blade. A’bbni jerked under the touch, a keening noise escaping around the gag in his mouth, but the guards held him still.
“Cousin, please,” Shi’chen said, focusing his eyes only on En’shea. “Stop this. If I knew anything at all, I would tell you. You know I would!”
Hi’jan’s knife tip dragged over the skin on A’bbni’s back, following the curve of one of his ribs. Light flickered in his vision as he tried again to pull away, but there was no chance of him breaking the hold of any of the guards that held him. His ears drooped in pain and fear, his eyes squeezing closed so he did not have to look into the filmy eyes of their Father’s head next to him.
“We grow bored of your denials, Cousin,” En’shea said, studying his gold-lacquered fingernails as if no one else were in the room.
“What do you want me to say?” Shi’chen asked, and A’bbni opened his eyes to look at his brother in desperation.
Please don’t,he thought, trying to send the thought to his twin with his eyes. Admitting anything right now would not make the situation any better for anyone.
En’shea waved a hand at Hi’jan, as if he had not heard Shi’chen, and A’bbni froze as Hi’jan’s knife slid down his back, grazing a cut in his skin that welled with blood. Then, the knife sliced through the gold silk drawstring that held his pants. The fabric slid off him, pooling by his ankles, and he flinched as the flat of Hi’jan’s blade caressed over the small of his back and down over the curve of one bare hip. He could barely hear Shi’chen’s words over the sound of his own heartbeat pounding in his ears as he struggled to take a breath, each one a little harder to bring into his lungs. The leather dug tighter into his jaw as he tried to draw breath around it, another spot of bright light flashing in front of his eyes.
“Damn you to the gods, En’shea, what do you want from me?” Shi’chen demanded, his voice higher and more desperate than A’bbni had ever heard it. “We have not done anything, I swear it! But let him go, and I will admit to whatever you say! You can execute me for treason, I will not deny it! Please!”
En’shea smirked, suddenly crossing over to him with deliberate steps, not taking his golden eyes from Shi’chen’s. A’bbni froze, too, praying that Shi’chen would not do anything stupid, though right now none of their options were good ones.
En’shea was only an inch taller than the twins, but he still managed to tower over Shi’chen as he reached up with his gold nails to trace them lightly down Shi’chen’s jaw with an almost lover-like sweetness. “You will, Cousin. You will admit to everything.”
“Yes,” Shi’chen said, gazing back into En’shea’s eyes. “Anything you want me to say, Sovereignty, I will.”
