Lukas had cried until his tears ran dry. He had tried to lie down and sleep but the musty smell was overwhelming. Then when he tried to sleep up against the cold stone wall his teeth started chattering. And so he just sat, head on his knees, while his mind cycled through every bad thing that could happen next.

 - - -

When the trapdoor finally opened again the muted light that filtered down was almost blinding to Lukas. He could hear a single set of footsteps on the ladder but couldn’t tell who it was. Maybe it was Wilt, come to rescue him he thought wildly. Or maybe Wilt had been captured too, the thought of which twisted strangely at his heart.

“Mirth, why is it so dark down here,” Artony muttered, quickly followed by the sound of a match being struck. He re-lit the candle, making little spots of light dance across Lukas’ vision. Lukas alternated closing one eye and then the other in an attempt to get his eyes to adjust quicker.

“What are you doing? Trying to wink me a secret message in code?” Artony sneered as he leaned casually against the bars to the cell. But Lukas said nothing back. “Wait; are your eyes all red and puffy? Have you been crying?” He tried again to get a reaction but Lukas just grit his jaw tight and kept silent. “You have been you poor thing and I don’t blame you,” Artony consoled in a voice that sounded almost sympathetic and Lukas could feel a fresh batch of tears well just behind his eyes. “After all it must be mortifying to know you are going to die a virgin.”

Hot embarrassment flushed his cheeks. “I’m not a virgin-” he started to protest when the rest of his statement clicked. Ice coursed through his blood to the point where the stones beneath him felt warm in comparison.

“Of course you are, everyone knows it,” Artony chuckled as he unlocked the cell. “Though if you were to ask me— nicely, maybe I could help you out.”

Lukas froze. Artony was already halfway across the cell before Lukas’ brain could decide how to react.

“I was planning to make you beg,” he swaggered closer, dominating the small space. “Though I have to say this meek, timid thing is a real turn on.”

Lukas pushed his back against the wall hoping he could just sink into the stone and disappear. It was all too much to process. He had spent all this time trying to be a good, honest person; trying to atone for the things he had done as a child, and for what? He had never been accepted or trusted by the people around him; no one loved or even cared about him. Now he was scheduled to be executed in the morning and this disgusting weasel of a man had him pinned in a corner while he fumbled with his belt. There was no sign of lust or passion in his beady eyes, just a sickly greed for power.

Artony slipped one hand up Lukas’ shirt while his other laced through his hair and pulled, to tip his head back. His thin lips crushed against his own. Artony tugged and bit at his lower lip trying to gain access but Lukas pressed his lips firmly closed. He pulled harder at his hair to the point that Lukas could feel strands break loose, but he wouldn’t yield. But when Artony’s other hand changed direction to slip beneath his waistband, something inside Lukas snapped back on.

He seized Artony’s wrists, releasing the grip on his hair, and then head-butt him straight in the face. Blood poured from his nose as he staggered back.

“Even at my rock bottom I would still never lower myself to tolerate the likes of you,” Lukas seethed as he rose to his feet.

“You broke my damn nose you little bastard,” Artony wailed though his speech was slurred and hard to understand through all the blood; his fists spoke loud enough to get the point across. Artony was younger than Lukas by a few years but both the Eelroys were built big like their father, stupid but big.

The first punch struck on the side of the face right on the spot Allwood had hit him hours ago. Lukas’ legs went to jelly and the world spun in every direction at once as he fell to the floor. Before he could even catch his breath the hard cap of Artony’s boot struck him in the side hard enough that Lukas tasted blood in his mouth.

Grunting and swearing Artony kept kicking and kicking until Lukas blacked out.