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Chapter 53: The Krane Family
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2024-10-29 19:42:56There was a weighty silence that fell over the dining room of the Krane estate, as Chiri and Cazer Krane’s arrival was announced by the strained hinges of a broad wooden door. At its center, among the dark walls and morbid paintings, stretched a long table. Its black polished oak surface reflecting the resentment of the people who sat at it, the sentiment seemed to have been multiplied. Performing their roles nicely as the designated black sheep of the family, they had adding insult by arriving late to the Krane’s mandatory gathering.
The slight obviously not lost on each member of Cazer’s vile family, they glared in their direction as her and Cazer merely greeted the distain with a curt bow.
“Father.” Cazer said. Customary to greet the head of the family first, Cazer’s stiff acknowledgement of the middle-aged man at the head of the table, was only met with more displeasure. Atticus Krane’s lips pressing together until they became a thin line, he withh
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Deep within the underground cellar of the Krane estate, was a room. Darker than night or the deepest parts of the sea it was difficult to say whether the space within it was large or small. The color of its walls long forgotten, the room was filled with the whispers of cruel spirits and the malice of the most ruthless of demons. Mercilessly descending upon the small figure within, there was no shelter from their abuse. Locked in a ceaseless battle of wills, they chipped away at his young untarnished soul so that he might relinquish it over to them. Not sure of whether he had spent hours or days grappling for his soul in their relentless company. Cazer Krane’s tears had long since dried up. Curled on his side in the room, he held no futile illusions of someone coming to his rescue. The room being a place his family commonly referred to as ‘the pit’. Cazer had been subjected to this type of punishment countless times prior. However, he fel
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Throwing open the doors to their chambers, Cazer stomped into the room. Compelled by his hot temper, he yanked off his jacket. Throwing it onto the ground in agitation, Chiri observed his mood silently as she clicked the door shut behind her. Her back pressed to its cold handle, she leaned into it metal as if intending to guard against any intruders who might add to her husband’s vexation.The rest of the meal, passing without further incident thanks to Cazer’s intervention, it had at least been bearable. Nonetheless, his temperament had been gradually worsening since they excused themselves from the table shortly after dessert. The poise Cazer displayed during dinner now crumbling completely under the pressure of his rage. It was clear that his family’s disrespectful behavior and Rhett’s unwelcomed advances towards her had managed to agitate him.Unsettled at seeing him disturbed in this way, Chiri regarded him from
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Chiri’s head resting in the crook of Cazer’s arm. She blinked, bewildered mildly by the soft glow of morning light filtering through the curtains behind him. Not seeming to pay any mind to the invading light, Cazer’s dark lashes shaded the deep pools of his eyes as he stared back at her calmly.Neither willing to permit the other any sleep, they had eventually fallen into their current position. Lying next to one another, limbs still tangled together, hardly any words had beed exchanged between them over the course of the night. Taking turns provoking each other until daybreak, they had not allowed a moments repose for their minds to wonder towards other less pleasant musings. Engaging in a constant game of give and take, their bodies had reciprocated each movement as if it were a delicate unspoken negotiation between them.His fingers still playfully caressing Chiri’s curves, they roamed and meandered over her edges
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His cold eyes still bearing down on him, Cazer submitted himself to Atticus Krane’s scrutiny. Standing far beneath the grand rooms of family’s estate, in the darkly macabre interior of his father’s private study; Cazer met the disgusted glare of the Head of the Krane family with dignified composure.The lines his father’s face twisting into an unpleasantly familiar scoff from across the large bureau desk. This display of his abject disapproval common, it affected Cazer little to see his evident discontentment now. The thin moustache on the man’s upper lip twitching from his irritation at this most recent development, he stated severely, “I do not condone your marring of the Krane name with this Dhryzic, Cazer.” Not completely able to deny the compulsion to acknowledge her distinct presence amongst them, Atticus’s dark irises ro
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