Page 41 of Rhaz's Redemption
“Whatever they plan to do, I hope they do it soon,” I added. Rhaz looked like he needed medical attention, and god knows what they might have done with him already after we got back to the valley.
You are everything, Beatrice… I want to make myself worthy of you. Rhaz had said those words to me yesterday.He’d looked me directly in my eyes and confessed he wanted to be with me. I wasn’t sure what had caused him to change his mind, but I was both relieved and angry by this turn of events in our relationship. Why now? Why did he have to have such an amazing revelation at such an inconvenient time? Why was I not worthy of his effort to overcome his demons before, but I am now?
Those questions would have to wait. One thing at a time. First we had to get out of here, and then we could sort out the ins and outs of our relationship later.
There was a commotion outside and I peeked out the window to see two males setting a large wooden pole into a deep hole they’d dug in the ground. Then to my horror, Rhaz was brought out, looking just as weak and tired as he did earlier.
He’d been forced to walk in the front of our large traveling group all day. He kept eyeing me over his shoulder and looking me up and down, making sure I was okay. I lost sight of him after we arrived in the valley and now he was being paraded out into the open like a dog.
The door to our cabin swung open and a mean looking male barged in. “On your feet! The Savrix has an announcement to make.”
We all stared up at him for a long moment, unmoving until he barked, “Now!”
Everyone got to their feet after that and huddled closely together so Gabby could stand in the middle with little Tabby.
Once outside, we were forced to stand in silence while we waited for Dameron to take his sweet time to make his way to the village center.
Rhaz looked up and caught my gaze, and my breath caught in my chest. The same intensity he always carried within him hadn’t diminished one bit. Even on his knees with his hands tied behind his back, he looked at me as if his entire worldrevolved around my very existence. It was a heady feeling, and one that made me keenly aware of my every movement.
I looked away and spied Favalor to my right holding what looked like a baby swaddled in blankets, but when he caught my gaze, he lifted the fabric to reveal he was holding a doll. He was pretending to hold Tabby so Dameron wouldn’t go searching for the baby in our little group.
The males around him licked their lips and wagged their tails as they observed us. We were prizes to be won, gifts from their Savrix. We weren’t actual people, not to them.
Eventually, after we were all shivering from the cold, Dameron finally showed up. He walked with his head held high and looked down at us with a haughty disregard that one could feel from a mile away.
“You see this male before you?” He asked as he pointed to his own son. “Do you see how he has been tied up and put on display for all to see?”
He paused his speech to look out at those crowded around him. His gaze lingered on me and I wanted to step behind someone so I could hide from his stare. His eyes were filled with cruel intentions and promises of terrible things to come.
Rhaz growled when he caught his father staring which seemed to release Dameron from whatever trance he’d been in.
“If anyone wishes to defy me,” he continued. “You will find yourself tied to this very pole just like he is.”
Dameron pointed to Rhaz with a look of disgust on his face, which seemed odd. Everything I’d ever heard about this male, every vile act, had been in retaliation to the guys in our dekes being different, being shifters, and yet, it was just revealed that Dameron himself was a shifter too. He was perhaps the very first shifter ever born on this planet.
And now he looked down upon his son with vile intent in his eyes and I realized something pivotal to his story. He didn’t hate Rhaz at all. He hated himself. I’d bet my life that Dameron truly believed every vile thing he’d ever said about the shifters, and those thoughts and beliefs extended to his very self.
No, he didn’t hate Rhaz, he was projecting his own hatred onto someone he could hurt, someone weaker than him, someone who could take the hate and the pain that he himself could not bear.
I clenched my fists and felt the overwhelming need to hit something. All of this. All this pain and suffering was all the result of a man who couldn’t accept what he really was. He’d grown up in a community that saw change and progress as evil so when he realized he was different from everyone else, he saw himself as evil too.
I bet it stung so bad when he saw Axon and Sozu’s parents leave with the boys when they were exiled. He saw the acceptance in their eyes that he’d longed for his entire life. That’s what he was really fighting against. If he couldn’t find peace as a shifter, no one could. It was childish and nonsensical, and yet we were surrounded by people in this dekes that went along with his every command, which only served to further confirm the hate he felt for himself.
No wonder Rhaz had been afraid of his own demons. He was raised by a male whose hatred for himself resided deep within him. But what had made him change his mind? What the hell happened here when he visited two weeks ago?
“You’re dismissed,” the Savrix announced and everyone slowly started to go back to their everyday life as if this distressing scene before us meant nothing.
The same big sirret male who had forced us out of our cabin was now escorting us back into it. Fatima looked aroundand I could see the gears turning in her mind. She was looking for an exit, a way to escape this place.
“Do you see a way out?” I whispered in her ear.
“No, not yet, but I’ll keep looking.”
We made our way into the cabin and settled in on the hard wooden floor. I glanced around the room. Sarah had her knees pulled to her chest and she rocked back and forth in an attempt to sooth her nerves. Talia sat next to her, looking more angry than afraid. Fatima’s shoulder rubbed mine and we both rested our backs against the wall, and Hai laid on the floor and used her arm as a pillow as she tried to shut out the rest of the world and escape into sleep.
We all sat there in silence, just waiting. For what we did not know. Would Dameron come and distribute us between his men? Would our dekes arrive before Dameron could make his move? Would the next person through that door be our savior or our enemy?
“You did well yesterday, Drelic.”
