Page 33 of Plaything of the Dark Elf

He chuckles. That doesn’t infuriate him, surprisingly. He wets his lips.

“I own you. And that will last forever. Get used to that fact.”

Shaking my head, I refuse to accept that. He doesn’t. I’m a human being who longs for my freedom and I know that I’m going to get it. Some day.

He nods towards the servants. “Do you know what’s going to happen to them? They’ve been disobedient and they have willfully ignored my orders. I can’t live in a place like this, surrounded by useless servants who refuse to obey my commands. Something must be done.”

I close my eyes and turn my head away from the servants. My breath hitches in my throat as I feel Etheron position himself behind me. He places both hands on either side of my head and forces me to lift my head and stare directly at the servants.

“I want you to watch what happens to the ones who disobey me. Do you know why I filled this room up with my servants? Take a guess.”

“I-I don’t know why.”

“They’re here to replace the old ones.” Etheron rubs patterns into my skin with his thumbs. “When Meru confessed everything that happened to you and gave me the name of every servant who mistreated you, I realized that I needed to get rid of more than half of my staff. My mansion was going to crumble if I didn’t act fast, so I did.”

I press my legs together, trying my best not to wet myself before the scene I’m about to see. Etheron wants me to watch, keeping his grip firm on my head to prevent me from turning away at the last minute. He’s too strong to fight against.

“I hope you realize that I’m doing everything for you,” he says quietly. “I wouldn’t do this for anyone else. I don’t care about anyone else. These are the lengths I’m willing to go towards to defend my property.”

My nose scrunches up distastefully. His property. I’m no better than a damn equus to him.

“Zukra.” Etheron beckons out a soldier from the shadows. “You may begin the executions.”

Zukra nods, unsheathing his sword loudly while the humiliated dark elf servants continue crying and mumbling their final words. The soldier looms over Meru’s body. In one heavy motion, he brings the sword down and slices it clean through the butler’s neck, decapitating him.

I flinch and try to turn away, but Etheron doesn’t let me. Despite my squirms, he holds me still and takes great pleasure in doing so. Excitement teems off of him, I feel it.

Continuing down the line, Zukra chops the head off of each servant who treated me badly. Eleven bodies. Eleven headless corpses in the end.

Blood inundates the floor underneath us, seeping through the crack and oozing towards my feet. I can’t move. Etheron holds me down. I resist the urge to vomit as I feel the warm blood coursing along the shoes, staining them a dark red.

Tears start falling down my cheeks. I’ve never seen cruelty like this before. I know that the dark elves treated me horribly and they deserved punishment, but not like this. Losing their heads? Over someone like me?

As I look around, the other dark elves watch in collective silence as their predecessors take the blade to the nape. They don’t show any emotional response. They don’t laugh or cry or whisper amongst themselves. Silence.

Meanwhile, my stomach lurches. I try not to stare at the bodies for too long. It’s an uneasy sight. It’s even worse to hear some of the dark elves pleading for their lives while Zukra silences them forever with one swing of the sword. Behind me, Etheron chuckles low while a servant begs for his forgiveness as Zukra approaches him. His sword drools with the heavy red liquid.

“Look at what happens to those who oppose me, Dalia,” Etheron says. “They lose. They don’t stand a chance against me. Even when they try to hide their secrets and deny their actions, the truth wins in the end. I always figure out when someone defies me. They’re like rodans and I have an apt nose for sniffing them out.”

Zukra lets out a heavy sigh as he executes the last dark elf. Bile keeps rising in my throat, so I keep swallowing hard. My eyes are fixed upon the ceiling.

I don’t want to look at their bodies. It fills me with too much guilt. Etheron killed them all because of me.

“I want you to remember this image every time you feel the urge to go against my desires.” Etheron takes my chin and stares into my eyes. Then, he forces me to gaze at the bodies. “Remember their lifeless corpses. Do you see the way they’re slumped over one another? It’s pathetic.”

“...Please, stop,” I beg. “I don’t want to see this anymore.”

“You have to. You need to understand that my enemies pay heavy consequences for their actions. Don’t make the same choices as they did, Dalia, because you’ll face the same fate. Do you understand?”

I nod. What else am I to do? Deny him? If I do, there’s a chance he’ll line me up at the very end of this line and have the soldier hack my head off, too.

“Good. I’m glad you know your place,” he says.

He lifts my chin up to the ceiling and plants rough kisses along my neck.

I grimace.

“You’re mine forever,” he whispers, darting his tongue against my skin, “and there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

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