While.. Markeilous didn't hesitate. He didn't even seem to process the question in a human way.
The moment Razeal's words finished leaving his mouth, Markeilous's lips parted and the answer came out clean, immediate, stripped of hesitation, as if spoken to a being far above him.
"Yes, my lord," he said, his voice rigid, flat, reverent. "I did."
His head lowered further, shoulders stiff as if bowing before an unseen throne.
"I raped Merisa Virelan," he continued, the words leaving him without emotion, without resistance. "With the help of the family elders."
The instant the sentence was complete, the pressure vanished.
The dread evaporated as if it had never existed.
Markeilous gasped sharply, sucking in air as though he had been drowning and only just broken the surface. His chest rose and fell rapidly, breath uneven, sweat dripping from his chin. Relief.. raw and physical flooded through him, so intense it almost made his knees buckle.
But he didn't move.
