Claimed by the vampire prince

Chapter 290: Chapter 290

Trigger warning: This Chapter contains mentions of child abuse!

His breathing grew uneven, chest rising and falling too quickly, and she could see the battle raging behind his eyes. Circe said nothing more. She kept her hand where it was, and gave him the silence he needed.

Several thoughts flashed through his mind at that moment, memories he would give anything to erase permanently.

"I was twelve when it started," he said suddenly.

Circe stilled, every muscle in her body going taut.

"I had already been living in the palace for five years by then and in that time, the queen did everything she could to isolate me. She despised me from the moment she learned of my existence. She knew about my father’s affairs, yet I never once saw her confront him about them, no matter how much they clearly wounded her pride. Instead, she reserved her anger for me. She took it out on me whenever she pleased." His jaw tightened.

"She is the reason my brothers and I never shared a close bond. By the time those first years passed, even the servants avoided me. I lived in a palace that was always bustling with people and yet it was the loneliest place I have ever known."

Circe’s fingers curled slightly against his arm.

"Then Irah took an interest in me," he continued. "At first, her actions seemed innocent. She went out of her way to speak to me when everyone else pretended I did not exist. She asked how I was faring after each punishment the queen inflicted, spoke to me softly when no one else would."

A pause.

"I did not trust her at the beginning. She was one of the queen’s ladies-in-waiting and anyone who served Nheera so closely had to be wicked as well. But she wore me down eventually. She made me trust her completely." His mouth twisted faintly. "I was so desperate for kindness that it barely took her any effort at all."

His gaze dropped to the floor.

"It took some time before her friendliness became something else and before she began watching me expectantly, as though I owed her something for every kindness she offered. She would touch me but eventually those touches stopped feeling comforting. And somehow... everything spiraled beyond my control." freewebnσvel.cøm

He finally turned his head and looked at Circe. Once he did, the words spilled out in a rush, as though holding them back any longer would tear him apart.

"My first experience with a woman was with someone old enough to be my mother. And I wish the story ended there but it did not. It went on for years. During that time, I learned something else about her. Something she hid from everyone. She was depraved. She loved to watch her lovers bleed," he said. "She had a knife she kept just for me. Each time, she would draw its sharp tip down my skin, carving thin lines along my body. I knew it was not normal but by the time I understood that, it was already too late."

His fingers clenched.

"Irah isolated me far more than the queen ever managed to. I couldn’t say anything because...." His words trailed off and he swallowed.

"You were shamed," Circe said softly, finishing the thought for him. Her eyes were full of understanding.

He nodded once.

"I was ashamed that I ever believed someone like her could care about someone like me. And even if I had spoken... no one would have cared." A bitter edge crept into his tone. "The people with the power to stop it would have either been complicit or indifferent. No one bothers with a child when even his own mother doesn’t care about him."

The room felt unbearably still.

"She was careful," he went on. "She made certain I believed it was mutual. That I was responsible. That I wanted it because I never stopped her." A hollow laugh escaped him. "For years, I believed that meant it was my fault. That I had no right to be angry. No right to call it what it was."

Circe’s throat burned, her chest tightening until it ached. She did not interrupt him. She was afraid that if she did, he would never speak of this again.

"She reminded me of it whenever she pleased," Ragnar said. "Whenever she thought I was getting too comfortable." His jaw tightened, the muscle jumping beneath his skin. "She would corner me and say things like she did tonight, twist the past until I began to question my own memory."

Then more quietly, he said, "But there is one moment I will never forget. She brought in another boy while I was with her. He was younger than me. I still remember his face and how she took a knife to his skin in the same way she so often did to mine. It took watching her do it to someone else for me to finally understand just how horrible the situation was. To see it clearly." He let out a breath. "And yet I was still the fool who went back to her. Again and again. I kept going back because I didn’t know anything else. Because she had made me believe that was all I was worth."

"That’s not true." Circe said vehemently.

Ragnar gave her a sad smile. "Yes, but I didn’t know it back then. I built myself into someone important in this kingdom. I became feared and respected. But none of it mattered when she looked at me like that. It was as if I were twelve years old all over again."

He stood even taller, his shoulders pulling back as though he were finally releasing something that had been weighing down his spine for decades.

"I hated myself for not stopping her," he said quietly. "For letting it happen again and again. For letting it last as long as it did." His gaze dropped to the floor, shame threading through his expression.

Circe stepped fully into his space then, closing the distance between them without hesitation.

She reached up and cupped his face, her hands warm and steady, forcing him to look at her. The emotions in his eyes were raw, stripped bare in a way she had never seen before.

"What I see," she said, her voice firm despite the sting at the corners of her eyes, "is a person who was manipulated and abused by someone who knew exactly what she was doing."

He shook his head faintly. "I wasn’t completely helpless."

"You were twelve," she said again, more firmly this time, refusing to let him retreat. "And even if you hadn’t been at the end, it doesn’t make it any less wrong."

The words struck something deep within him. He exhaled a tired sigh and for the first time his composure truly fractured. He leaned forward, resting his forehead against hers, his lips hovering just inches from hers. freewebnøvel.com

"I was so afraid you would be repulsed," he confessed.

"I’m not," she said without hesitation. "But I am angry. Furious, actually." Her grip tightened at the back of his neck. "And not at you."

They stayed like that for a long moment, breathing each other in, the tension slowly draining from the air as the storm between them eased

At last, Ragnar pulled back just enough to look at her properly.

"I should have told you before now," he said softly.

"Yes," Circe agreed. "You should have."

Then her expression softened, and she brushed her thumb gently along his cheek.

"But you’re telling me now," she added. "And that matters."