Phoenix POV

**VIOLENCE WARNING**

        "Wait, what was that?" Valentine asks suddenly looking at me.

       "What was what?" I respond still shocked and processing Amator's message.

       "Your mind went blank for a bit?" Valentine states with it sound more like a confused question than a statement.

      "I don't know what you mean?" I respond just as confused.

      "The only time that's happened before was when - no! It can't be - you can't have - but there's no other - but you're only -," amidst Valentine's rambling she stats laughing a bitter laugh, "life is a cruel comedian and I seem to be part of the punchline."

     I stare at her more confused than before. She sighs as she looks at me again, "Don't mind me I'm just approaching 600 and and still waiting for my amor aeternus and you're only 16 and not only have you found your amor aeternus, but you share one of the rarest gifts with him. That's the only reason your mind would go blank is if he was talking to you."

      "I'm sorry," I say with guilt starting to gnaw at my insides.

       Valentine waves her hand dismissively, "Don't be. It's not your fault I'm a bitter, old, hopeless-romantic, who is still waiting for my soulmate."

       An awkward silence fills our table before Crisanta breaks with a whisper, "What did he say?"

      "He said my father is not going to end up here, which is something I was worried about. He also said to say hi to you for him," I whisper fearing the guards might hear.

      It's like a weight came off her shoulders as I told her what her son said. She looks relieved, almost as if she was expecting the worst.

      Our attention is drawn to a table across the room as a loud clatter sounds.

     Three guards stand next to a table and someone's food tray is thrown on the ground. That must have been what caused the noise.

    "So the food 'tastes like dog food,' huh? Well then, it serves its purpose, dog," a guard snarled.

     His buddies laugh at his words. The fae at the table lean away from the guards as their shoulders tense and fold into their chests, except for one. He flinches from the laughter but his shoulders remain stiff and level.

     The guards' laughter dies down as the leader speaks up again, "Well, aren't ya gonna eat your food, dog?"

     The man who didn't cower speaks up in a soft but firm voice:

"No."

      The quiet room grew quieter to the point you could feel the silence pressing on everyone. The only sound to break the silence was the lead guard's foot steps as he came closer to the fae man.

     "What did you say, dog?" The guard growls grabbing the fae man's hair.

     The fae man did nothing, but glare at the guard.

     The silence seemed to anger the guard more.

     "Fine, if the dog doesn't want to speak then maybe he just has to be shown to his food," the guard snarls.

      Before I understood his words, the guard yanked the fae man up by his hair and dragged him near the discarded tray before throwing him down to the ground. The fae man landed on all fours, his face almost hitting the floor.

     "Eat it," the guard demands.

      The man does nothing just sits there unmoving. The guard grabs the man's hair again and shoves his face into the food growling, "I said eat it, dog."

     The man kept his mouth closed which only angered the guard more if that was possible.

    "NOBODY EATS UNTIL THIS DOG FINISHES HIS MEAL," the guard bellowed nodding to the other guards who began to collect everyone else's trays.

    When the man continued to keep his mouth closed the guard knelt down beside him and use his free hand to plug the man's nose then forced a man's face back into the bowl.

    The man's face slowly became red due to lack of oxygen, until a small gasp is heard. At this sound the guard pushes the man's face down even harder into the bowl before jerking the man's head up quickly, and moving the hand from the man's nose to his throat. Food covering the man's face and a small bit in his open mouth as his chest rose and fell rapidly.

    "Swallow it," the guard ground out from behind gritted teeth.

      The man looked the guard right in the eyes and closed his mouth. A toothy smirk began to form on the guard's face, before the man spit the food in the guard's face.

       "EVERYONE OUT! NOW!" the roared grabbing the man's neck tighter.

        The other guards started to move toward everyone else as people quickly stood and began going out the door, some nearly running.

       "We need to move, now," whispered Valentine grabbing my arm as she and the res of the group stood.

        I followed figuring it's best to listen to her and not ask the questions that were on my mind. I glanced behind me and saw few of the slow being hit by the guards with long white sticks I previously hadn't noticed was part of their uniforms.

       The only ones not moving were the guard that ordered everyone out and the man who refused to eat his food. They stayed in the same spot with the guard's hand still around man's neck as the room cleared.

       The remaining guards herded us back to the housing units where we all quickly filed in each of us going into our rooms.

       By some lucky stroke of fate, Crisanta, Valentine, and Piper and her mom all ended up in the same room that the guards dragged me too earlier.

       For few moments we all sat in silence even Piper had seemed to have lost the spark she had earlier.

       Finally I found my voice, "W-what's  going to happen to that man and and is that type of thing normal here?"

      "He'll be beaten black and blue, enough so bruises will still be there tomorrow morning. He'll be forced to eat the same meal until he finishes it, meanwhile our food will be withheld from us until he does," Crisanta says in a voice that barely reached my ears from the bed next to me.

      "And yes that type of thing is fairly normal, sometimes it's worse but they usually save the worst punishments for private," Valentine says in a slightly louder but equally downtrodden voice.

      "You never want to end up with a private punishment," Piper's mother says her voice somehow conveying more fear in it then I've ever felt before.

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Hi everyone,

Sorry for the long wait this chapter was kind of hard to write hope you enjoyed it.