Episode 14
818 Words
The sky was iron-grey when the students marched into the arena. The air was tense, heavy, as though the walls themselves held their breath.
Today’s drills were unlike anything before. Wooden swords and staffs were replaced with steel. Not sharpened to kill, but heavy, cruel, capable of breaking bone.
At the centre of the stands, Lord Kane sat with his usual cold patience. Lady Valtira beside him, serene as a statue carved of obsidian. Casper lounged at their feet, his smirk already venomous. David stood at his shoulder, eyes gleaming with cruel anticipation.
The instructor barked,
“Mock execution drill. The condemned will kneel. The executioner will strike. We test not death, but fear.”
The students shuddered. This was no lesson in combat. This was psychological breaking.
Casper rose smoothly. “Father,” he said, bowing slightly. “May I choose the condemned?”
Kane’s lips curved faintly. “Choose.”
Casper’s eyes locked on Austin. “Him.”
A ripple tore through the students. Ethan cursed under his breath. Ashly took a step forward before Gina’s grip held her back.
“No,” Gina whispered. Her heart hammered so hard she thought it would tear free.
But Austin was already being shoved into the sand pit, forced to his knees, arms bound behind him. The crowd jeered. Casper handed the steel blade to David, his grin widening.
“Break him,” he ordered softly.
David stood above Austin, the blade gleaming. “Any last words, farm boy?”
Austin raised his chin, though his chest trembled. His ribs ached from yesterday. His pride burned hotter than the fear clawing his throat.
“Yeah,” he rasped. “Tell Casper he fights like a spoiled brat hiding behind his dog.”
Gasps erupted. David’s face twisted in rage.
The sword rose.
Ethan shouted from the side-lines. Ashly screamed his name. Gina’s wolf clawed at her skin, begging to break free.
And then…
“Stop.”
The word rang like a bell. Clear. Sharp. Final.
Lady Valtira had risen.
Her dark eyes locked on David, then slid to her son. “You asked for a mock execution, Casper. Not murder.”
Casper’s smirk faltered. “Mother, it was only a test.”
“Tests end when discipline turns to cruelty,” she said softly. “Or have you already forgotten the rules of your own father’s house?”
Lord Kane’s gaze flicked toward her, unreadable. For a heartbeat, the air felt like a blade’s edge.
Then he chuckled low. “She is right, boy. End it.”
David lowered the sword, reluctantly. Austin was dragged to his feet, his chest heaving. The crowd dispersed, murmuring, but the mark of humiliation, and defiance, burned in the air.
…
That evening, in the private chambers of the Kane family, storm clouds brewed.
“You humiliated me,” Casper spat, pacing before his mother. “In front of everyone. Why do you always protect him?”
Lady Valtira sipped her wine, calm as still water. “Because you are reckless, my son. Reckless wolves are predictable. Predictable wolves are weak.”
Casper slammed his fist against the wall. “He is nothing! Dirt-born trash. Yet you let him stand again and again!”
“Perhaps,” she said, her smile faint, “because dirt can grow roots. And roots can split stone.”
Casper froze, his eyes narrowing. “You think he threatens me?”
“No,” Lady Valtira said, rising gracefully. “I think he tests you. And the boy is not your greatest danger, Casper.”
Her hand brushed his cheek with motherly softness, but her voice was sharp as glass. “Your greatest danger… is yourself.”
Casper pulled away, fury blazing in his eyes. But he said nothing.
…
Later that night, beneath the oak, Austin winced as Gina pressed a damp cloth to his bruised ribs.
“You almost died today,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “If she hadn’t stepped in…”
Austin caught her wrist. “Gina. Look at me.”
She did. Tears shimmered at the edges of her eyes, though she refused to let them fall.
“I won’t let him break me,” Austin said firmly. “And I won’t let them break us. Whatever Kane and Casper throw at me, whatever rules they twist, I’ll endure it. For you.”
Her wolf howled inside her, aching to claim him openly, to defy the world. But she only pressed her forehead to his, trembling with the weight of secrecy.
Unseen, far above, Lady Valtira stood at her balcony. Watching. Always watching.
A whisper left her lips, carried only by the night wind.
“Endure, boy. Grow your roots deep. For when the stone cracks…”
Her eyes slid toward the black tower where her husband brooded, and her smile curved, sharp and knowing.
“…the crown will fall.”
- Writer
