There was blood on the warlord's hand. It didn't matter how much he scrubbed, he could still feel it burning him where it stained his palm. He was convinced he could still smell the syrupy tinge of human his former apprentice carried. His own purely demonic blood seeped from where he had scoured his skin off in a vain attempt to get rid of it.
Pavo has pulled beating hearts out of chests, disemboweled the finest warriors with nothing but his teeth, stomped throats ripped heads from their worthless bodies, and never had any of it filled him with this boiling sickness. He felt his ribs would turn inwards and pierce his lungs. His every honed muscle shook with unbearable tension.
He could still feel the blood on his hand.
His apprentice, his fiance, the man he had raised from a boy like he was Pavo's own flesh carved off, he was a lying traitor. A whorish thing willing to abandon the only person who was idiotic enough to buy his sweet smiles and sugared words. A mutt whos kin wouldn't even acknowledge the existence of, leading them in a charge against the only true home he ever knew.
Pavo should have put the writhing, cowardly, disgusting thing in the chair he'd used to show the boy how to flay skin without killing who you interrogate. Should have relished force feeding him his own halfbred off cuts until his fragile little gut burst.
All Pavo had done was shove the ring that the only person he'd ever loved proposed to him with into the bastard's mouth before slapping him to stop his never ending lies and false claims of innocence and fictitious swearing of loyalty.
He hadn't even been the one to make the worm bleed. The strike had just knocked him back enough to gash open his scalp on the uneven stone work of the prison wall.
Pavo had grabbed him by his hair, pulled him off the ground and back onto his weak legs. He'd meant to make Esti look him in the eye and see the rage that Pavo had put so much fucking Effort into shielding him from all these years. Only to have it all killed by his palm coming away damp and red from those locks he used to brush and braid and play with or tussle every single day.
He hadn't seen the tears and snot staining the mongrel's face until that moment. Hadn't thought of the shadow born boy who hid under Pavo's cloak when the world was all too bright, or the young man he'd shown how to wield a sword, who trusted only Pavo to sew his leg closed after his first real battle left it in shreds.
Who never once doubted, who never once asked for more than Pavo could give, who never tried to prove himself the better of them.
Pavo had fled that cell like it was on fire. The man who had been his everything left there while he tried desperately to rid himself of the foul feeling of blood under his nails.
"Sir," there was a knock at his open door. Melagris stood there, her head up, her face stoney, her iridescence dulled by the filth of battle. "The injured combatants have been dealt with according to your orders. Cissa and Pica Corax have been found amongst the dead."
"Where's Gallo?" he already knew the answer, he just wanted to see if she'd take credit for her sudden promotion.
"He died in combat with the Corax boys," she lied.
"Noted. Bring the Coraxes to the prison. leave them in their brother's cell and tell the guards no one is to so much as look at Esti." he rolled his shoulders waiting for the pang of satisfaction he usually got from tormenting a hostage, none came. "You already know what duties you've inherited. See to them and make certain that there is not a single shadow in this village that a Corax can hide in while you do."
"Yessir," she bowed her head and began to turn to take her leave.
"Gallo was soft. I'm glad I will not have to see to his reappointment and I'm glad to have you as captain for this upcoming war. Slip up and your kin will be finding your corpse for years to come."
Melagris preened under his approval of her slaughtering her superior as she left to begin her work.
Morning came with all it's usual annoyances. Pavo had to remake the wards hiding his territory from other demons. The work being slow and tedious as he had to use methods he'd never taught Esti. Meaning methods he himself had never used. New keys were given to his flock of warriors, his herd of humans tallied and directed to take this or that path instead when they traveled. Boring discussions of rations and rebuilding and body burning.
Constant pitying looks thrown his way like darts. No one was stupid enough to say anything. No one even spoke Esti's name. It still made his absence from Pavo's side burn all that much more brighter and the blood he still felt on his hand throb.
The anger was gone. There was just a gaping hole where his insides should be.
Letters, discussions, assurances and bargains, meals, a bribe or too. Starting fights and helping clean away debris for no reason other than that he needed to make his every cell hurt. He needed to burn time before he would have to go decide what to do with Esti.
Night fell, Pavo hadn't slept since Esti woke him up at the beginning of the attack. There was nothing left to do. He tried to sleep, to let the traitor stew for a few more hours while his brothers began to rot beside him. Everytime Pavo dropped the spell on his prosthetic eyes, all he could see was Esti crying and alone.
He could still feel the blood on his hand.
He was stomping into the prison mere hours after sun down looking as weak as he felt.
His hair was loose around his shoulders, his eyes rimmed with exhaustion. His undershirt only half tucked into his sleep pants. Boots scuffed from dragging his feet. Never had he acknowledged a hostage without being dressed to the nines. Long overcoat and gold jewelry hanging from his horns and fingers. They needed to know he was better than them. That his wealth was so great that their blood ruining his finery meant nothing.
Pavo hadn't been able to make himself redress after his resolve cracked enough to send him crawling back to that cell. He needed to see Esti immediately.
Esti was exactly where Pavo had left him. Curled up in the corner with his face hidden behind his boney knees. The sleep clothes he'd been wearing when the attack started were torn and clinging to his grey skin like a snake's shed. His dead half brothers leaned against the wall beside him. Their guts distended with the rot brewing inside them, their blood caked faces twisted by rigor mortis.
Pavo wished Esti hadn't hated his mother's two younger sons. He needed the bitch to hurt even if he seemed too weak to do it himself.
He stood outside that cell with his arms crossed, waiting for his rage to come back.
It didn't. He could still feel the blood on his hand.
Esti knew he was there, kept his head tucked down even as his thin shoulders tensed by the subtle points of his ears. He looked so small. He was small, tiny compared to the full blooded demons he'd grown up around, but he never looked it to Pavo.
"Gracilis. Remember him? Finest warrior in my employ who just went missing one day."
Esti looked up, his brown eyes shadowed by his bangs. He knew Pavo didn't want him to talk.
"We, you, him, his apprentice, and myself, had been out hunting. He pulled me to the side while you and his brat were cleaning the kills, and he asked how much he'd have to pay to take you off my hands. Told him it depended what he wanted you for. You know how many other dumb cunts have made offers for you, He needed to do better than all of them," Pavo opens the door so he could come to crouch before Esti.
"He wanted to slash your throat and fuck the hole. Feed your body to that brat so the two of them could brag about eating the eldest Corax.
"I cut out his tongue and broke every bone in his worthless body for daring to suggest I'd let my apprentice be disgraced like that. I've lost count of how many demons smelled the human in you and made some stupid attempt to take what is mine because it made their mouths water.
"But after the shit you pulled? Telling your mommy how to get her warriors into the most protected village in these lands. It made me realize I should have let him. Should have given you to him as a gift and told him to not be so gentle as to let you die of a slashed throat."
Pavo let's the words hang between them, Esti is shaking and Pavo can see how hard he is struggling to not cry. It gave him no satisfaction. He didn't feel his words, the anger still refused to return.
"Good thing I didn't think some of your other wanters were worth killing."
"Pavo-"
"Shut up. You will not speak my name again. You are lucky you are a war trophy now. Because I'm going to be keeping you around as an accessory and as an insult to that bitch who made the mistake of not eating you the second you were born.
"If you disobey. If you attempt to run. If you step out of line Once. I will auction you off to the highest bidder and demand they let the group take turns with you before they begin eating you alive." he wanted to mean every word. He wanted to relish the idea of an enemy being brought that low, but the idea of Esti suffering that just made him sick.
Esti nodded, and Pavo saw a glimmer of hope in his eyes. Small, fleeting, and absolutely enraging.
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