Elric strode down the dark halls alone, and the musing in his mind of what a family felt like was hard to shake. The covens saw him as a means to an end. He was just a man who would eventually be sacrificed, so why would they waste their time and effort on getting to know him? He’d never had anyone who wanted him around, just for himself.
But these people, they felt like friends. Like he could talk to them about nearly anything and they would listen. It was a novelty. A strange new world that he’d woken in, and he thought, perhaps, he liked it.
Elric walked by one of the doors that was left ajar for the new witches and heard giggles coming from within. That squeezing in his chest only grew stronger. They werehappyhere.
He paused in front of it, listening for the conversation and the hope that he knew they were feeling.
“A witch!” one of them whispered a little too loudly. Her voice was filled with excitement. “I always knew I was stronger than my sister. But I didn’t know that I was a witch!”
“And did you see the god? I’d serve him any day.”
“So handsome!”
His cheeks burned. He hadn’t expected this. Perhaps he should give them space to gossip. He didn’t need to know that they found him attractive. Women found this form appealing, so it made him easier to trust.
But just as he moved, he heard something else.
“Did you know in the old days they used to sacrifice him?” A different voice, calm and quiet. “They took his body, and they bit into it with knives and teeth and claws. They tore him apart, and then he gave them all the magic he had gathered from all the sacrifices they made. Magic all expelled at the same time. An infinite amount of power, all poured into the witches who sacrificedhim.”
“How’s he still here, then?”
“They bring him back. That’s what Jessamine is for. She’ll bring him back for us time and time again, and all we have to do is glut him with sacrifices and then we get to take everything he has gathered.”
Giggles erupted from within the room. “Do you think we’ll be sacrificing him soon?”
“I imagine so. The entire kingdom knows she’s back. She’ll want more power to protect herself and us.”
“Oh! I’ll hold a knife, then. I can’t imagine a god can even feel pain.”
He staggered away from the door, trying to remain quiet so they wouldn’t know he had overheard them, but bile rose into his throat. It was happening again. They already saw him as a tool. Soon it would be time,and he would have to say goodbye. They would dig into him with sharp knives… and he would let them.
He always let them.
Elric didn’t know how he found his way back to his room with Jessamine, but he braced himself on the doorframe before entering. His breathing was ragged, his vision blurry. All he could think was that soon enough, he would endure pain and torture.
For her. Always for her. Because if this was what it took for Jessamine to get everything she wanted, then he would sacrifice himself a hundred times.
Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to pull it together. All the fear and anxiety and aching heartbreak of disappointment, he shoved into the darkest part of himself. And then he opened the door to worship her again.
For as long as he could.
