Empty Chains ✔️ | #ONC2019

| Chapt. Eleven | Judgement |

Numb to the core, I wander the halls of the castle.

My eyes burn with repressed tears, limbs shaking and struggling to support me under the weight of my fear and heartbreak. Empty corridor after corridor with no one inside and alone without Demetri to guide me.

I don't know how long it's been before the familiar, large archways greet me and I enter a room with a few contestants and their Reapers. Searching for my own handler, I instead find Noah, David, and Atticus in a corner.

They pass a few words between them but ultimately shut up.

My legs carry me over without thought and I nod at the men before me. Noah and David greet me with their own small gestures, but Atticus sizes me up with a raised brow.

Suddenly a knowing and furious look washes over him. "He told you," the Reaper practically growls.

My eyes widen and I stammer in shock.

While David and Noah look confused, Atticus grabs me by the forearm and starts hauling me off to a different corner of the room. As weak as I am, I barely fight. Tingling spreads through my arm where he holds me, a pressure weighing on me, heavy with grief.

"You do not tell anyone, you understand me?" He snaps in my ear, a small scoff following. "He had no reason to hurt you in such a manner. I knew that dumbass would gut you by getting so close."

My eyes squeeze shut in frustration, fighting off all the emotions raging inside. "Why is this a trial...?" I ask softly.

Atticus rests a hand on my shoulder and shakes his head. In nothing more than a black tee shirt and tight black jeans. Dark chains hang from his waistband, looking more like a Hot Topic employee than someone working with the dead. The blond hair spikes up in the front, flattening in the back but light in the torchlight.

A similar look I'd once seen on Demetri's face takes over his features. "You cannot possibly imagine the number of times our lives have been at stake, Holly."

I frown. "But why... Why does it have to be this way? Does he not value any of you?"

"My Lord holds favor over a few, yet none enough to avoid risk. He is not in a position of love, he is in a position of power. Even we are pawns. He attempts to train us to believe as such. While I understand that he told you out of care, I do not support disrupting your mental state before a trial."

My eyes darken in realization, my hand covering my lips ever so slightly. "He acts as if he wants to die."

"Do not fret over such things, Holiday."

"Atticus, would he let me kill him?"

The Reapers facade falls for a split second, a deeper depression showing through. "I'd like to believe otherwise."

My mind begins to race but Demetri steps into the room armed to the tooth. With knives and various other equipment tucked into pockets and slots, I don't remember ever seeing such a hard look surrounding him.

A fierce aura that only worsens when he sees us together alone.

With a predatorial grace, Demetri closes the distance between us. Atticus drops his hand away from me, passing an apologetic look my way before rejoining David and Noah.

I can tell their wondering just what we were talking about, it would appear Noah even has the balls to ask.

But Atticus doesn't open his mouth again.

"What did he say?" Demetri's eyes narrow in on me, something colder than I've ever seen from him.

"Nothing I don't already know..." I mutter, shoving past him.