Whispers in the Wind

His name was Cedric and he was Young's younger brother. He was shorter, heavier, nastier, with beady, black eyes that had never held any warmth. He wanted to be master of his father's estates. He wanted to control the fortune the elder Young had spent a lifetime achieving. One thing stood in his way: Ray Young. Yes, he had tried to have his brother killed, but that tall, skinny fool had a guardian angel and each attempt had failed. Oh, he had come close at the estate in Wales, but that snoopy curate had arrived before anything could be done, had become suspicious, and had rescued Ray Young.
And now they were going to send him to sea, were they? He knew their plans...the servants talked. they had been afraid not to. It hadn't been hard to locate one of James's men who wanted extra pounds in his pocket. His brother would die at sea and everything his father had would come to him. It wouldn't take much to make it look as though that old man had given in to depression caused by Ray's death, and had done himself in.
He heard a noise at the top of the stairs and looked up. His black eyes met Young's green ones. A faint grin came and went on his homely face. "Be careful, Ray. We wouldn't want you... tripping...and falling again, would we?"
Ray Young went slowly down the stairs. He was afraid of Cedric and it showed. At the bottom, he tried to edge away from him but the shorter, stronger man slammed him up against the wall, held him there, and asked, "Guess what dear, old father has done?"
Young tried to free himself but the other's strength was greater. He shook his head, tried desperately to keep from trembling. Showing his fear only made his brother worse, but sometimes, Cedric would remind him of those other ones. Then, darkness from his past would take over, and he would remember clearly what those two others who had done to him, how they had tormented him, hurt him so badly, and the fear would overwhelm him and became too great to handle. Even now, he could feel it tickling at his mind, taunting, waiting.

"He's sending you to sea." He tugged at the curls that hung down to his brother's shoulders. "You're quite beautiful...for a man. Did you know that?" Once more, Young shook his head. 
Cedric sighed sadly. "Just think, all those men being on that ship for months and months and months and no women on board. Do you know how men ease themselves when they have to go that long without a female? They use each other, Ray. It's too bad you're so lovely, so tall, so slim. They'll take to you right away. Mark my words. They'll see you day after day and their lust for you will grow until it becomes too much." 
He watched the fear increase in the green eyes, watched the white, pinched look increase, and he gloated. "Do you know what they'll do to you?" And he went on to explain in graphic brutality the sexual acts the men would perform with Young, acts that reminded Ray Young of those performed against him when he was a child by those men who had held him and his mother. "And when one man finishes, he'll move and let another take his place. Each man will have tasted you before they are finished, and then they'll start again." Cedric smiled viciously. "Think of all that pain, that tearing, that blood... It would be a lot like back then, wouldn't it, Ray? When you were a child and caught by those men and they took you and mother upstairs to the attic. They stripped off your clothing, didn't they? And turned you over onto your stomach?" 
Pure white, Young shook his head in frightened denial. He shoved his brother away and ran, ran from the mocking laughter. Ray Young ran to the library only to freeze in the doorway when he caught sight of two men in there with his father.
"Ray? Are you all right?"

But Ray Young's attention was caught by James whose eyes were moving over his slim form in curiosity. The sea captain noticed the fear in he green eyes, in the way the mouth was held, and his own narrowed in thoughtfulness.
"Son?" When Ray only shook his head, the elder Young placed his arm around the young man's shoulder, encouraged him to move forward. "This is my old friend, Jasper James; you remember him, don't you?" Young strove to return to normalcy and he nodded though he bit his lip. His eyes met the tired, old ones of Jasper James, but immediately went back to James's blue, knowing ones, and he felt his face grow pale once more. "And this is Captain James, of the WHITE RAVEN. He...RAY!" He watched pure terror take over his son, watched in frozen dismay as his eldest son jerked away, ran from the room. "RAY!" 
James reacted first. He shot past the older men, met up with Young at the front door and grabbed him. "Wait!" He was unprepared for the fighting, for the sheer terror. Over and over, Ray's mouth formed the word, NO! "I'll not hurt you, Ray. You need not fear me." For it was clear to him that the other man was afraid of him. Ray Young's struggle brought them both down. 
As James pressed the slimmer body back against the carpet, mocking laughter from the top of the stairs shifted his attention from the man he was holding, and on upward. The stocky, ugly boy-man who stood at the top of the stairs saluted taunting derision and vanished into the upper hallway. James's concentration went back down to the man he held. 
"Calm down. I won't hurt you. I'm going to move now so we can stand up. All right?" He could see Young was incapable of answering, so great was his fear. Sighing, wishing he hadn't gotten mixed up in this whole, ugly business, he moved, stood up, pulling the other man up with him. And Young bolted again, straight for the door. When James tried to halt his retreat once more, Young fell, striking his head on the doorknob. He slumped unconscious to the floor.