How To Rule ✅COMPLETE

The Past

'My father.'

His father. How could his father do that to him? It baffled her that a man who was supposed to raise him could hurt him in such a cruel way, and at that moment she had never hated anyone as much as she hated his father without even knowing or having ever met the man.

'Why would he do such a thing to his son'

Rin looked at him in a way that Tenen did not even realised he had began to talk,wanted to talk. His voice was grave and he tried every bit the hardest for it not to portray the fear he still carried with him of his father. It was ingrained in his bones and no matter how hard he had tried to get rid of it, the fear still remained with him. That much he could admit.

'I was born a 6th son to my father. I was weak, punny and my wings were too weak to support me in flight. My father was a general in the army and to say I dissapointed him would not be far from it. Since I can remember he hated being associated with weakness but here I was, his son no less the epitome of weakness, a big disappointment.'

Rin watched as he sunk deeper into the covers as if trying to hide from the memories and she almost wanted to tell him to stop but she needed to hear the entire story. His eyes were staring up ahead but they focused on nothing and she knew he was relieving some of his worst memories. She wanted to hug him but she dared not move or interrupt him. She had learned a long time ago that comfort never made anyone feel better, it only showed one what they really were.

Weak.

'Each week after I turned ten he made me fight one of my brothers who were all five years and more my senior. If I lost he punished me. His punishments were always different each time but they always left a scar no matter how small, scars magic could not heal. He said the scares would act as a reminder in my next fight so that I strived to win the next time. A sort of incentive.'

Rin watched as he briefly made eye contact and she hoped her facial features showed him that it was okay to continue and she would still be there if he couldn't.

'But he hated me even more because I reminded him of my mother. She had died when I was five so I barely remembered her but my father never forgot to mention her each time I received my punishment. I was gentler than my brothers, just like her. I even had her eyes and hair colour. This always angered him and when he was angry he always took it out on all six of us which made my brothers hate me even more.'

Tenen paused as the memories of the last time he had seen his brothers replayed in his mind. Every detail of that day as if it had happened only yesterday and he couldn't bear to speak it all, so he opted for the shorter less gory version.

'Once when I was seventeen my brothers had finally had enough and they said it was time for payback. They each took turns in beating me; and when each had had a turn they did it together. They were worse than my father; he always stopped when he thought I was close to the edge but them, they didn't care; all they wanted was for me to hurt worse than they ever did and it worked. I was dying. I guess that's when my powers came into play. A last resort I guess. My shadows killed them all but even my powers couldn't heal me so I lay there as my blood mixed with theirs slowly healing till my father found me.

Tenen stopped before his voice cracked and what he really felt had the chance to bubble up to the surface. He had vowed never to be weak again but as he looked at Rin all he wanted was to drop all his walls and let her in but the fear of her leaving him for it was still greater even though his heart knew she never would leave him.

'I didn't know how to summon it then. It was more out of survival than anything else. That night my father changed. He was never the same. He blamed me for their deaths even though they attacked me and I was not in control. When I had healed and gotten my strength back is when he gave me that scar. He left me bleeding on the floor hoping bloodloss would kill me. That night, I never fought back; he made me believe I deserved it which I did. Some parts of me still believe I deserved it. The punishment. That's where Rowan's father found me. They say I was unconscious for two whole weeks. My father had aimed to break my back so if I survived I would never walk again but I guess I was just lucky.'

Tenen had never talked about that part of his past to anyone not even Rowan or Callum. He had barely said the entire story but it was still alot. His friends knew his father had done monstrous unspeakable things to him, they had seen the scars no type of magic could ever heal, his father had made sure of it, but he had never told them the whole story and as he relieved those horrible moments of his life he remembered the name his father had nicknamed him not bothering to ever call him by his true name.

Disgrace.