33. Lenna
33
Lenna
T he Cardinals Temple was full.
The Organ Mandor had presumably temporarily removed the epitellia wards of the Organ House to allow the panoms to answer to his summons.
Panoms were separated into different groups, mostly the members of each House sticking together. There had to be almost a hundred of them. Some looked spotless, as if they had been readying for an encounter with the Organ Mandor for days, and they considered it an honor. Some looked rather wrecked, especially the parents of very young children who carried these in arms. A new mother was nursing her baby while she stood in the waiting crowd. The look on her face was much closer to pure anger than fear.
Lenna didn’t want to get anywhere near the what-have-you-done face of her sister, or the already judging expression of her father, nor her mother’s concerned eyes. She hadn’t missed them one bit since she had moved to Corentre. Lenna nodded in silence and that was as much as a hello-long-time-no-see as she wanted to offer.
She preferred to be with Ciaran, who was next to his father and what she guessed were a multitude of cousins, uncles and aunts. Even though she knew that affiliating herself with the West House was not a clever choice. Not considering where Raoul had been found. And who would be the first ones expected to give explanations.
Before she had time to search for someone in particular, the massive doors to the throne room opened, and everyone made their way inside. After the last person crossed the doorway, the doors closed with a loud bang. A not-so-subtle reminder that they were at the Organ Mandor’s mercy, in the Cardinals Temple at the Organ House.
Rhei Coralt moured straight into the throne made of black feathers and bones placed on the altar a few steps above the floor level. His short, black hair and silver eyes framed every marked angle of his expression. His dominant presence would have towered above them even if he hadn’t been on the altar.
Lenna held her breath as Jake moured in after him and stood next to his father. His face was completely emotionless. The face of the discarder of Thyria. The face of the Heir of the Organ House, only son to the Organ Mandor.
Lenna felt her guts twisting at that sight. She didn’t recognize him. She hated he was who he was.
A baby cried at the back of the room, and Rhei Coralt bared his teeth at the noise. He closed his hand sharply, Taking the voice of the child. Lenna hoped he had only Taken his voice and not the air of his little lungs too.
Nobody made a single noise as the Organ Mandor opened both hands and two sharp daggers appeared in them. One made of Cardinal-red glass, one made of obsidian black glass. The Lawful Stabs. The unbreakable ones used for centuries to inflict punishments.
Lenna held her breath, trying to ignore the shaking of the panom next to her and the quiet sobs of the one in front of her.
Rhei Coralt looked at every soul in front of him, his somber face and lip twisting as his stare moved from one being to the next. He said, “Someone must explain how a discarded being returned to Thyria.”
The room was silent. The only noise was his impatient tapping of the red dagger’s glass against the bones on his throne.
Cobrian Castel took a step forward as he said, his old voice rough, “The discarded being was found in the West House. As the Ruler of the House, I will endeavor to provide an explanation.” A wave of panom power pushed the crowd in front of Cobrian to the sides, and he soared through the floor until he was in front of the Organ Mandor.
Ciaran walked next to where his father had been forcedly taken, and Lenna moved behind him, despite the barely recognizable alarm she read in Jake’s eyes. Cobrian, despite his advanced age showing in his many wrinkles and white hair, could have perfectly walked to that same spot. Being moved there by force was just a reminder of who had the biggest power on this island.
“Explain,” Rhei Coralt ordered.
Ciaran's shoulders shook slightly, his chin slightly tilting upwards, as if he didn’t take well that his father was being treated in such a disrespectful way.
“He was a servant of the West House before he was discarded more than two years ago. His body appeared on the doorstep of our castle a few weeks ago,” Cobrian said, his voice not faltering.
“By magic?” Rhei Coralt snorted.
“None of us certainly brought him there.”
The Organ Mandor asked, “And you forgot to mention this on the occasions we have met?”
Cobrian shook his head lightly. “I didn’t think it was relevant compared to the paramount matters the Organ House has to control.” He bowed his head deeply with respect. Ciaran bowed his head slightly too, even though his icy stare didn’t reflect the action.
The Organ Mandor tilted his head slightly. “The discarded being has been taken to Corentre. I expect you or your heir to dispose of him as soon as he is ready.”
Lenna’s heart couldn’t beat any faster, any stronger. Cobrian paled as he asked, “Dispose of the man?”
“He is not a man . He is a discarded being,” Rhei Coralt clarified sharply. “The healers at the Beftac Center will analyze his body to see if there are any traces of information about how he returned to Thyria. It would be helpful to examine his peculiar… psychic state. As Ruler and heir of the House, I cannot kill either of you without altering the lands we live in, hence why your punishment will bear another form.” The blood in Lenna’s veins froze.
“Your ancient body will not survive what you deserve, so I need to make some adjustments,” the Organ Mandor told Cobrian. “You will receive five strikes from the red Lawful Stab. And your heir will receive the remaining twenty strikes that your body wouldn’t survive. And when he is ready, one of you will kill the discarded being.”
“No!” Lenna shouted, her voice leaving her mouth before she could reconsider. The corner of her eyes registered Jake’s wide ones. She stepped forward, standing next to Ciaran. “You can’t kill him,” she said.
“Excuse me?” the eyes of the Organ Mandor were barely slits. He had even stopped moving the glass daggers.
“You can’t kill him,” Lenna repeated, her voice cutting before adding, “Please.”
The Organ Mandor laughed, standing up. “In case anyone here ever dares challenge what I can or can’t do, let me remind you.” He stood up and walked to the front of the altar, right before the first step that led to where Lenna, Ciaran and Cobrian were.
“Despite whatever illusion of power being Rulers and heirs to the petal Houses gives you, there is only one sovereign ruler in Thyria. One ruler who everyone answers to. The ruler of the Organ House, blessed by all the Cardinals and the Cardinal Queen herself,” he said, his voice resonating against the walls. “I rule this city, this country and this Cardinals-blessed world. Everyone answers to me. Every single human being. Every single panom being. My generosity is letting you live.”
“If you were so generous, you would let him live,” Lenna insisted. The fear in her was so real it was palpable. Fear for Ciaran’s punishment. Fear for Raoul’s life. She saw Jake closing his eyes briefly.
The Organ Mandor looked at Lenna, and Lenna felt her knees bending against her will, leaving her kneeling in front of him. “I think having someone with such a mouth as the Heir of the North House is going to bring problems.”
“So I have been told all my life,” she spat.
Jake’s voice sounded inside her head: Shut that pretty mouth of yours for once, sweet fire . Lenna tried her best to not jump at the sudden mental whisper. Jake’s face was mainly impassible, only his eyes showed a glimpse of anger.
“I have always been devoted to integrating crucial messages from a young age, in unforgettable manners,” Rhei Coralt said, and Lenna could have sworn Jake shivered, his upper lip curling. “Since your parents clearly failed at teaching you, I must ensure sure you learn discipline, Lenna Brachyan.”
He closed his hand and her upper body was exposed. Lenna didn’t know if one of the few gasps from the crowd belonged to her sister or her mother. She felt Ciaran’s body next to her tensing.
Despite her legs still locked in a kneel, her arms weren’t locked, so she covered her exposed chest. The Organ Mandor forced her to bend over; her bare back inclined.
“You will receive five strikes with the red Lawful Stab. You will be locked in the subterranean cells until you remember your inferior place as the heir of the North House, and who will always rule over you. Until you ask for forgiveness.”
“Fuck you,” Lenna spat.
Rhei Coralt closed his hand, and Lenna found her voice leaving her, almost choking. She knew that if she tried to speak, only silence would come out.
“In fact, let me return your voice,” he smiled as he opened his hand and the sensation on Lenna’s throat disappeared. “I want to hear you screaming while you learn this lesson.”
She didn’t feel the Organ Mandor mouring until he was behind her. She didn’t feel the Lawful Stab approaching her skin. She only felt the first deep cut from the top to the bottom of her spine as Rhei Coralt pushed it through. And she started screaming.
The pain was unbearable. The Lawful Stab had been infused with powers for centuries, and its touch against her panom blood was going to be enough to leave her unconscious on the floor.
Brachyan, open your eyes. Brachyan! If you close them, he will strike harder.
Lenna tried to open her eyes at Jake’s mental request, but it was so damn hard. The tears poured through and her face was clenched with pain.
The pain.
It was so painful. How was she going to have four more? How was Ciaran going to survive twenty of these?
“Good girl,” the Organ Mandor said. She didn’t need to look at him to know that he had a grin on his wicked face. She wanted to throw up.
She tried to get ready for a second round, to tell herself that it was almost over. That it would finish soon. But it was nowhere near over. And she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t endure it again.
The glass cut her skin in a different place this time, and her scream deafened her own ears.
She sort of heard Ciaran asking the Organ Mandor, “May I please take her remaining three strikes in her place?”
But the request was denied between vicious laughs as Rhei Coralt said, “She must learn. But I will add three more for you, since twenty seems to not be enough.”
She needed to wake up from this painful nightmare. She needed to get out of here. Her breaths cut as her sobs became uncontrolled.
Don’t give him the satisfaction of thinking he is breaking you.
But he was breaking her. Lenna bit her bottom lip to rein her sobs back in. She was pretty sure she made her lips bleed too with the force it took for her to keep her sounds in. She tried to open her eyes, the salt of her tears stinging, barely noticeable compared to what was happening on her back. She heard the blood dripping onto the floor. The clothes on her legs getting wet. The iron-infused smell.
You are much stronger than this, Brachyan. Don’t let him break you. He doesn’t deserve it.
But the sharp red glass sliced her open again, and she clenched her jaw as much as she could, her teeth aching at the pressure to keep her scream in. Her nostrils flared as the tears flowed freely down her face. She couldn’t endure two more. She simply couldn’t. Rhei Coralt was going to end her here, in front of his throne and all these panoms, just to prove he could.
She lifted her gaze and looked straight into Jake’s eyes. How had he survived this when he was a child? How many times had he endured this? She saw his shoulders and arms tense, his lips tight in a line and his eyes—His eyes were the definition of rage. His eyes were violence.
“That’s enough,” Jake's voice cut the air, just when his father was lifting the red Lawful Stab again, ready to strike Lenna’s back for the fourth time.
The Organ Mandor’s face turned towards his son. “Nobody interrupts the delivery of a punishment, boy. Not even you,” his face was livid. “ Especially not you. The amount of times I had to remind you, and you have forgotten?”
“She has learned the lesson. She is an heir. If you kill her, the island will collapse, and the love of your life will not be pleased,” Jake said, walking down the steps from the altar until he reached his father.
“She won’t die from two more strikes,” the Organ Mandor grabbed his son by the chin, his fingers pressing so hard they would definitely leave bruises behind. “But you will do the last strike, boy. Since you also need a reminder of who you must obey.”
The Lawful Stab hit her again. She couldn’t tell if it was making a fresh cut this time, or only deepening a previous one. Lenna felt very dizzy. She didn’t feel her knees or her back. Her body wasn’t hers anymore. She needed to lie down wherever she was going to be sent. Lie down and sleep. For days. She needed this to be over. And she knew Jake was going to be punished if he refused to hit her. She had accepted this. It hurt a particular part of her, but she accepted it. She only needed him to do it quickly. Before she collapsed.
“I will not hurt an heir,” Jake snapped, removing his father’s hand from his face. He lowered his voice, so the crowd didn’t hear him, as he said, “I am not as fucked up as you are.”
Jake’s feet trembled, as if his father was trying to force him into moving, but he was resisting to let his body do it.
“Seems like you need discipline too, boy. Again. You will take your favorite number of strikes, and some time in the cells while you reflect on your behavior, your priorities and your duties as the future Organ Mandor,” Rhei Coralt said.
Jake’s stare was predatory. His eyes held a promise. But Jake kneeled in front of Lenna, closing his hand to Take his own shirt, leaving his exposed back before his father could do it for him. She couldn’t focus her stare, but she was damning him for refusing to hit her so he could avoid his punishments. She was starting to think that maybe dying was the best option, to stop feeling this excruciating pain.
The Organ Mandor walked behind Jake and sliced his skin open. Lenna only knew because of the ripping sound it made. How he did not even react to such pain was beyond her. How could he master to not scream, when her throat was dry and rough from it?
You are stronger than you think, sweet fire, Jake said into her mind. Lenna looked at the feelings reined in his silver eyes, and that was the last thing she saw before the glass sliced her alive for the fifth and last time, and she lost consciousness.