Isolde.
Isolde couldn't believe her eyes at the moment as she looked past the gladiators fighting in the pit, blood spurting and splashing all over. It was truly her Lucinda. Her poor sister. Her eyes watered as a deep longing filled her heart.
For the past ten years, she hadn't set her eyes on her family. She only wrote to them and ensured the keeper sent all her payments to her family. Isolde subjected herself to that fate because she wanted to protect her family from such horrors. All her efforts to shield her parents and sister from violence had worked until now.
The monster lord of Abbator had captured her beloved sister. Isolde took a brief moment to admire how Lucinda had grown sharply into a woman. If she counted it right, Lucinda would be nineteen years old. She remembered how she and her sister used to play under the moon when Lucinda was still young. How they'd preen before the mirror, admiring themselves.
All those memories were bleak now, shrouded by the shot of dread filling her body.
"Shush, mouthy. The show's yet to begin, come let's watch," Draco's voice snapped her away from the drowning thoughts.
The violent shove on the chain had her moving. Isolde found out Draco was the one pulling at the chain now. She hobbled on her feet as he strode past two men who were pleasuring each other by wanking off their cocks as they watched the gladiators. Their groans of utter pleasure assaulted her ears as Draco dragged her to the elevated platform where a throne was, overlooking the cage.
"Sit. At my feet," He commanded her, face devoid of a smile.
"Why are you doing this?" Isolde summoned the courage to speak. Draco shook his head, not indulging her while he took a seat.
Eyes glided to one side, and she saw Draco wave a man over.
"My lord," The man bowed and threw a fleeting glance at Isolde. She wondered what was in the bag he carried.
"This is Tristan, Isolde Hawstrings," Draco indulged her, introducing the man. She knew there was something crooked about it, and she turned fully to watch the lord and the man, Tristan. "He is a magic peddler, you see? And tonight, I only want him to add some spice to the entertainment..."
Isolde winced when Draco tugged her down to his mouth level and growled. "And I hope to the gods you have pleasure watching it..."
"Do not hurt my sister, you monster!" She roared, bucking at the restraints. She wanted to run across the hall to meet her sister. To cradle her in her arms and mutter words of comfort to her. She hated the tears on Lucinda's face.
Like a pet, the lord pulled at her until she crumpled and sat at the foot of the throne, crying as she watched the peddler call off the fight of the current gladiators.
The crowd began to murmur amongst themselves, wondering why the game was suddenly called off. Before the crowd, the peddler, Tristan, announced.
"For a greater pleasure tonight, the lord has ordered me to add a little bit of spice for tonight's show!!!"
"Yeah!!!" The crowd of boisterous males roared, throwing their fists in the air. The cocks of naked males dangling and flailing as they jumped up in exhilaration.
"Welcome, the champions of the pit!" Tristan roared, and the back door yielded. Isolde's eyes moved over and saw two males that were as large as life and in their half shift slither into the pit, howling to the audience.
Their amber eyes glowed, showing their lycans were almost at the surface. Their chest, covered with furs, heaved the moment they bounded into the cage.
Tristan walked into the cage, slipping out some kind of poultice from his bag, and with it, he incited the magic that temporarily bonded the fighters with Isolde's sister. With a firm tug, Tristan bound Lucinda into the cage, circling her chains around the bars.
Lucinda, with tears in her eyes, looked at the gladiators circling each other. Apparent fear shone in her depths as she screamed for them to release her from the cage, bucking against the chains.
"Lucinda!" Isolde wept where she was and turned to Draco. "They're going to hurt her, can't you see that?"
Draco grinned darkly and nodded. "Of course, I can, mouthy. But that's the fun of it. After all, this wouldn't have happened had you agreed to sign the contract," He flicked his eyes back to the stage as the gladiators began to fight.
Their clawed hands clashed as they wedged them in the air, growling and pushing to know who would break. The taller one among the gladiators pulled back one of his clawed hands and smacked it over his opponent's face.
The gladiator howled in pain, staggering back as blood seeped from his temple. The moment that pain was inflicted on him, it occurred on Lucinda's body. Blood seeped from her temple as it split open, and she wailed, feeling the pain.
A thunderous roar blared in the pit at the bloody sight of the girl.
It dawned on Isolde at the moment that every pain the gladiators inflicted on themselves would happen to her sister. Wide, horror-struck eyes stared back at the lord. She couldn't let her sister suffer because of her.
"Make it stop!" She demanded, feeling anxious. Her cheeks were dotted with tears, and her eyes were completely red.
Draco roared a maniacal laugh when the gladiators hit each other simultaneously. One had a split lip and broken teeth, coughing out blood, and the other had a wound on his leg, and he crumbled to the floor.
Lucinda wailed, crumbling to her feet as blood gushed from her leg, lip, and mouth. Weak bloodshot eyes roamed around the pit until they landed on Isolde for the first time.
The sisters held their gazes, lost in the depth of it. A broken smile split Isolde's lips as she mouthed.
"My little Lucinda,"
Lucinda, touched, began a full-on crying fit at the sight of her sister. One she hadn't seen in over ten years. Amid her cries, she jerked up when one of the gladiators kicked his opponent on the belly, sending him flying across the cage.
Isolde couldn't stand the torturous sight any longer, and in haste, she turned to Draco and spluttered.
"Please, call off the torture! I'll sign the contract," her head was lowered as she spoke. Shame enveloped her, knowing she yielded to the monster. But it was all for her sister.
Draco hummed, tipping his chin as if contemplating something. "Fair enough."
He waved Tristan over and ordered him to call off the temporary bond and pull Lucinda away from the cage.
After that, he grabbed the chain and jerked Isolde back to her feet. Wordlessly, he walked away from the pit with Isolde behind him. She knew he was gloating about his successful win. She'd sworn never to beg him, but at last, she did beg him.
It dawned on Isolde at that moment that the lord was her breaking point.
Breaking point? Isolde paused briefly as the words echoed in her mind like she'd heard them before. Had she?
"Keep moving, mouthy!" Draco's roar had her frozen legs moving. She hobbled behind him as the sentinels lurked around.
After climbing the long stairs of the tower, they arrived on the third floor, where Draco's study was.
The sentinel by the door fluttered it open. Draco strutted inside with Isolde behind him. She stood in the center of the large study decked out with bright candles and a candelabra, and waited for Draco.
He was rifling through the Items on his shelves until he found what he was looking for. Draco gaited back to where she stood and gave her the contract.
"Sign it." His voice echoed.
Isolde looked at the parchment, then back at him. "I've no quill to sign it."
Draco pinned his gaze on her as he reached out, clasping her hand in his gloved ones so fast that Isolde gasped and blinked up at him.
Draco darted his hand into his sheath and pulled out his dagger. Without blinking, he turned her thumb and sliced it open at the tip.
Isolde winced, eyes wide, before she looked down at the blood pooling out of her thumb.
"Use it," Draco ordered. Those tears in her eyes roiled his belly. He drifted his eyes down and watched as Isolde placed her bloody thumb over the contract, signing it.
"Good. You made the wise choice after all..."
"I need to see my sister," Isolde gushed, looking hopeful at him.
Draco folded the parchment and responded. "Unfortunately, you're not allowed to see her until further notice."
Isolde's eyes widened at Draco's words. No, no! She screamed inwardly as the words dripped from her mouth, "You fooled me."
Draco smilingly stared at her and shrugged, "In the end, you begged me for it."
TBC.