Chapter 59 #3
Thick ropes wrapped around their torsos in tight, unforgiving coils, digging into fabric and skin alike.
The bindings pinned their arms harshly behind their backs, forcing their shoulders into an unnatural angle that made Rain’s own muscles ache in sympathy.
Their hands were tied so tightly that their fingers had likely gone pale, the circulation compromised.
Strips of coarse fabric had been pulled across their mouths and knotted behind their heads, the gags biting into the corners of their lips. Every shallow breath they managed caused the cloth to strain against their faces, dampened by sweat and fear.
Their heads hung forward, chins nearly touching their chests, as though the weight of exhaustion alone kept them from lifting their gaze.
Strands of hair clung to their foreheads and temples, plastered there by perspiration and the oppressive heat of the smoke-filled air.
The breeze tugged weakly at the loose ends, but neither of them reacted.
Their eyes—when they flickered open—were the worst of all.
Wide, glassy, unfocused.
Not vacant in the sense of emptiness, but in the way of people who had been pushed past their limit.
Eyes that had seen too much, too quickly.
Eyes that were still seeing the fear, even now.
Jay’s gaze, when it finally found Rain, trembled with a mixture of disbelief and desperate hope. His mother’s eyes barely managed to lift at all, her strength clearly waning.
Rain felt something inside him twist sharply; a cold, violent knot of fury and protectiveness that settled deep in his chest. Their posture, their stillness, the way they sagged against the ropes…
it all screamed of terror, exhaustion, and the kind of helplessness he had sworn Jay would never feel again.
Rain’s throat tightened painfully.
He pushed away from the table and stepped into the clearing, posture loose, movements unhurried. He let his gaze sweep across the assembled forces, taking in every face, every stance, every trembling hand on a weapon.
He wanted them to see him.
To feel him.
To understand exactly what they had provoked.
He was done running, done protecting them from him.
And Drazier was about to learn what it meant to face Rain Royale when he was in complete control of his power and utterly, terrifyingly furious.
“I must say, this is not a very welcoming—welcome, for an invited guest.”
Rain’s voice carried across the clearing with a light, almost bored cadence, the kind of tone that made the hairs on the back of every neck stand on end. He thrust his hands casually into his pockets, shoulders loose, posture relaxed; a deliberate contrast to the sea of weapons trained on him.
“I’d heard better things about your hospitality, Drazier. I must have been misinformed.”
His gaze flicked lazily toward Jay, bound and trembling. “Then again, judging by how you treat your own citizens…” He lifted a brow pointedly. “I shouldn’t have had such high expectations.”
The bait landed.
Drazier stepped into view, smoke curling from his nostrils like an omen.
He was taller than Rain, though not broader, his presence imposing in a way that relied more on theatrics than true power.
His skin was a deep, dusky shade; lighter than Scarlet’s but unmistakably of the same lineage.
Tight curls framed his head beneath a tall, cuboid golden crown, and his beard was knotted with red and gold jewels that glinted in the thinning smoke.
He scowled, voice cracking like a whip.
“They are traitors!”
Jay flinched violently at the shout, turning his head away. Rain felt the suppressed whimper ripple through Jay’s energy; a sound Jay didn’t allow to escape his throat, but one Rain felt as clearly as if it had been spoken aloud.
Rain’s smile sharpened.
“I suppose your daughters were traitors too, right? They must have deserved the despicable treatment you subjected them to.”
A ripple of confusion passed through the Red soldiers. They leaned in, hanging on Rain’s every word.
“Especially that little one. What an absolute menace.” Rain tapped his chin thoughtfully. “What was her name? Ah yes. Ember.”
Drazier snarled, the reaction instant and visceral. Rain’s grin widened; this was too easy.
“They were such pretty little things,” Rain continued, tone dripping with mock sympathy. “It’s a shame, really…”
“Where are my daughters?!” Drazier roared, stepping out from behind Jay and moving to stand beside him. “What did you do to them?”
Rain’s grin turned wicked.
Two aetherials stepped between them protectively, as if they could shield their king from Rain. He winked at them.
“I simply put an end to the suffering you caused. Honestly, it was the least I could do after all they endured at your hand.”
Drazier’s fury ignited. His teeth bared in a snarl, smoke huffing from his nostrils in hot, furious bursts.
“You’ll pay for this!” he growled, voice thick with rage. He grabbed a fistful of Jay’s hair and unsheathed a knife from his belt.
Rain’s power snapped like a trap.
“Ah, ah!” His voice cracked through the clearing like thunder as he raised his hand. Drazier’s dagger arm froze mid-air, held immobile by Rain’s power.
The reaction was immediate.
Warning shouts erupted.
Weapons lifted and the five guarding aetherials lunged toward Rain and slammed into an invisible wall he conjured at will.
Rain’s tone dropped into something cold, commanding, and absolute.
“Now. This is what’s going to happen.” He stepped forward, eyes burning with controlled fury. “You’re going to gently remove every despicable finger from that beautiful head of hair…”
His gaze cut to Jay, softening for a fraction of a second.
“…while I disarm you.”
His attention snapped back to Drazier, voice like steel.
“And then you’re all going to take ten steps away from them. Understood?”
Silence.
Confusion rippled through the ranks. Fear. Anticipation. The air thickened with it. Rain felt every emotion pressing against him, hundreds of hateful energies clawing at his senses, chipping at the edges of his control.
Even Drazier hesitated — Rain could feel it. The king had planned something, but nothing was unfolding the way he expected.
Rain’s patience snapped.
“In three,” he warned, voice low and lethal. “Two—”
He moved.
In a single, fluid motion he yanked the blade from Drazier’s hand while dropping the energy wall. The lunging aetherials stumbled forward and Rain struck.
He slammed the two manipulators into each other with a precise burst of force. Their heads collided with a sickening crack, and they dropped instantly, unconscious before they hit the ground.
Rain pivoted, shoving the remaining attackers back with a sweeping arc of power that sent them stumbling away like rag dolls.
Then he strode straight toward Jay and his mother.
The ropes kept them rooted to the pole, helplessly exposed but Rain reached them in seconds. With a sharp exhale, he expanded his power outward, forming a shimmering, impenetrable sphere around the three of them.
The world outside blurred into muffled chaos.
Inside the sphere, Rain finally allowed himself to breathe.
Jay’s eyes met his—wide, terrified, pleading—and Rain’s fury crystallised into something cold and deadly.
Drazier would pay for this.