Screams echoed throughout the corridors as Razmyr drug Lady Charlotte down the hall by her blonde locks, ignoring her kicking and clawing at his hand. He turned another corner and kicked the door down that led to the room that Ray'ven was in.


 "Look," He hissed out and tossed the rich bitch against the floor. "Watch how I end her life so you'll know I won't hesitate to do the same for you." He drew his arm back and hacked the woman's head off before another scream or please could leave her lips. The head rolled, only a blonde curly mess beside the bed where Razmyr tossed Ray'ven. 


Ray'ven stood from where she had been sitting on the far corner of the bed. The sight of her aunt's head had her covering her mouth, stomach-churning violently as her knees gave way and she collapsed to the floor in shock. 


Tears blurred her vision and she wanted more than anything to look away from the horrible sight before her, but she couldn't. Her eyes remained glued to her aunt's dull green ones, her beautiful face frozen in the expression of horror and fear that she had felt in her last moments.


"Aunt Charlotte?" Ray'ven choked out. Her mind couldn't register the scene in front of her. Tears dripped down her face and she finally managed to look away from her aunt's dead eyes to meet the cold ones of the man who had killed her so easily. 

"Why?" Her voice cracked in anguish. "How c-could you do this? Why would you do this?" Ray'ven's beautiful blue-green eyes stared at him accusingly. How could someone be so cruel?

Razmyr chuckled under his breath towards her blatantly self-explanatory question that she'd asked. He had told the wench to obey yet she slapped him and threatened him the moment he stepped foot into the home.

"Why would I not do this?" His head cocked towards the side as his fingers curled around the deck of Obsidian cards within his grasp. One by one, he shuffled through them until his thumb shifted a single card upwards and over.

"You're lucky. I rarely draw aces, but that doesn't mean I can't," His narrowed gaze found her face as he walked to the side of the bed.

"Hurt you a little. You will learn your actions have consequences. Something you rich people tend to know nothing about. You step on us. Treat us like beasts. Animals. So don't be so surprised when the dog bites the hand that fed them. Don't be offended when we act as what you've made us. We are no longer human beings but feral creatures that act on instinct and greed, survival of the fittest. If you leave a dog in the wild hungry, master or not, it'll eat its flesh until its hunger is quenched. Meat is meat. Bone for bone."

He smirked, removing the hat from his head before gripping the collar of her dress and slinging her off the bed and onto the floor.

A royal on her knees. The sight pleased him, but not enough. He used the heel of his boot to shove the smart-mouthed woman over until she lay beside the decapitated head, and then, he nudged the bloody, severed piece right in front of her face.

Razmyr dared her with the scowl he'd made to move. "Bow to me and apologize."

Her eyes clenched shut as she was forced to kneel. Ray'ven could no longer bear the sight of her aunt's dead eyes and she turned her face away from it. She swallowed back the sob that threatened to spill past her lips. She knew without a doubt that the man that stood above her would take joy in the fact that he was causing her such pain.

Delicate hands clenched into fists, her forehead resting against the cold floor. Anger and humiliation filled her, but so did fear and it overwhelmed the other two emotions.

If her father saw her as she was now...Ray'ven was not quite sure what would happen, but she knew that she had no other choice than to submit to the pirate, Razmyr's will. She could not risk him going after Strel, if she were even still alive.

Taking a shaky breath, she sent a silent apology to her aunt once more before speaking. "I-I apologize." The words were softly spoken and bitter in her mouth.

"Such bitter words to say your lips tasted so sweet." Razmyr said before he leaned down and curved an arm around her waist. Lifting her from the floor and to her feet, he guided her down the hall towards the area where the loud shouts had come from. The pirate lord was sure it had something to do with James.

 ***

Once they had reached the large hallway where blood decorated the walls and the floor, where Strelitzia's father lay slain, Razmyr halted. His face remained emotionless, lips pressed into a thin line while his gaze roamed to James. "It's time to leave. Burn the house down. Carry her to the ship."

Night had fallen, leaving it easier for the two to go unnoticed when they'd leave. The only thing the civilians would see was the house going up in flames and smoke.

They would be long gone by then. Turning Ray'ven around along with him, he lifted his hand and pinched a pressure point in her neck, rendering her unconscious before heaving her up into his arms bridal style.

James kept his head lowered to his captain the entire time. His soft brown eyes shifted. Strelitzia had still been staring at him with such hatred. He hadn't meant to take her father's life.

But it wasn't any better that he knew if he hadn't, Razmyr would've. Razmyr would've caused him a more painful and slow death than one could imagine. His lips curved into a gentle smile as he said, "I'm sorry. Forgive me."

No. He wouldn't ask for forgiveness because of her father, he'd never receive it. James rose his sword, his gaze unwavering, then flipped it around and slammed the hilt into her stomach hard enough for her to fall forward unconscious as well.