Darius looks at Charles while the other Elites look around the room in silence. Charles continues to stare at Darius, his smirk never wavering. “I’m sure this will quell the rage within you at her deceit for a little while. This can be my gift to you, for all that you have done for Vrohkaria and all that you will continue to do,” he tells him. When Darius doesn’t move, Charles tilts his head at him.
Darius reaches a hand out toward Maize and grabs the whip by its black, worn handle. I swallow roughly. He pulls back slowly, letting the leather strips of the whip fall, the pieces nearly touching the floor. I swallow, looking it over from where I’m restrained, hands clenching. I pant through my nose, and I see Josh beside me, banging on his barrier the best he can, veins straining against his neck as he shouts, but I hear nothing. I just see the panic in his eyes. I look over at Kade, seeing his eyes widen slightly at what Darius holds, but he quickly clears his expression and looks down.
Is he still in there? Does he feel anything for what’s about to happen to me? Does he not care anymore?
“Let’s get the rest of her deplorable followers in,” Lord Higher says, making my head snap in his direction.
Moments later, Taylor, Sebastian, Hudson and Colten are brought down the steps. Anna, Josie and Danny follow behind them, all struggling as they are shoved forward and down the steps to where we are.
Their wrists are chained together, muffled sounds coming from behind the cloths tied around their mouths as they look over at us with wide eyes. Leo, Damian, Zaide and Jerrod each take a place behind them, replacing the cloaked figures who brought them in. The Elites push them to their knees in front of me, their features pained when they hit the hard floor. Their clothes are as dirty as mine and Josh’s, their faces also showing bruising where they have obviously been beaten.
How is this allowed? They did nothing wrong.
“They have all been questioned, as well as everyone else that was in your settlement. They refuse to talk. The blood witch is especially hard to crack. Maybe they will after we have given you some lashes.” A Higher says, his bald head gleaming under the torchlight.
“That is yet to be seen, Higher Frederick,” Lord Higher Charles tells him. “I’m sure they will talk eventually, if not, the traitor will.” His confidence speaks loudly throughout the hall, so sure in himself.
“Will Joshua receive lashes as well for the start of his punishment for aiding a traitor,” the Higher with dark brown hair asks Charles.
“I think that will be appropriate, Higher Mathew,” he hums. “Higher Berthold, Higher Aiden?” The Highers both nod their head in agreement, their faces unkind.
“I will take his lashes,” I croak, and my pack stills. Even Darius pauses at my words. I clear my throat, spitting out the blood dribbling down from my nose. “The law allows a replacement to receive punishment from those on trial. I will take it.”
“You speak of the law, yet you break it so easily,” Lord Higher Charles sneers.
“Law is still law.” I lift my eyes, my resolve clear in them.
He sighs. “Although I disagree with this particular law under these circumstances, it is indeed the law, which I abide by.” Bullshit. “Something you do not. Add twenty lashes to the current thirty.” My pack renew their efforts of getting to their feet, their muffled cries getting louder behind the cloth on their mouths, but the Elites subdue them, keeping them kneeling easily in their weakened state. “Kaden, you will receive fifteen lashes. But as you are somewhat innocent in the crimes committed. I will allow you to pass your punishment on to the traitor. Do you agree?”
Kade looks down at me on my knees for a moment, eyes blank as he answers the Lord Higher. “I agree.” My heart bleeds, but I’m thankful he doesn’t have to endure the pain that’s about to come.
My head turns as Darius walks down the steps slowly, the whip trailing along the floor. I look up at him. Silver specks float in his eyes, and I wince at the sight of them now instead of feeling captivated. Runa whimpers inside me, and I mentally stroke along her head, hoping to soothe her with the calmness I send to her. It’s okay. Everything will be okay. I’m not sure if that’s true, but I have to believe that.
Darius stops in front of me, his boots at my chained hands, and I look down at them. They’re clean, laces tied tightly. I breathe in his scent, wrapping it around me as deeply as I can to prepare myself as I’m sure the air will soon be filled with the scent of my blood instead.
“Will your pack speak up and save you? Or will you finally tell the truth?” he muses, bringing the whip up and running his free hands through the strips of leather.
“I have told the truth. I didn’t perform any ritual. I don’t know what you think you saw, but you’re wrong, Darius. You are so wrong,” I whisper, my voice cracking on the last word. He crouches low with a grunt, and I lift my head so his face is close to mine as I speak. “Think about what you have seen with your own eyes back at Eridian. Think clearly. I admitted to killing and harming your Elites, I never shied away from that. I made a vow with you to protect my pack. My world. Why in all that I am, would I ever do anything that would put my world in danger? Why would I do something like bringing the rogures here?”
“You lied about Sarah, right to my face and hid her right under our noses. Many have died from rogures. I couldn’t protect them because I was searching for her, because you kept her from me,” he growls. “All you do when you open your fucking mouth is lie!” I look into his speckled eyes as I sigh.
“Darius, please, you have to believe me. I thought… I thought we got to a point where we were beginning to understand each other. I though…” The only reaction I get is the tightening around his eyes. My shoulders slump when he says nothing. He’s not going to believe me. I did lie to him in Eridian, but I did it from a place of protection. I did what I had to do to keep us all safe, and it was all for nothing anyway.
We lock gazes, his eyes once again looking over my features as I wonder once again if he would really hurt me or if this is his anger speaking. After everything that happened between us in Eridian and the look of barely restrained fury in his eyes, I think he would really hurt me now.
The knowledge of that sends another unwanted crack through my already bleeding heart. I really thought after the few moments we had of this… connection between us, this pull of our bodies coming together regardless of the circumstances, that maybe he would be lenient with me when he brought me here. He would see me in some way other than this person he claims me to be.
I now know I was wrong to think that. I was wrong in that moment in the forest, with wisps dancing around him. I was wrong about the warmth I felt in my chest when we played with the pups as he smiled and laughed. I was wrong when he kissed me under the moonlight, holding hands with me because he wanted to. He was wrong when he told me that I was his to protect, because he’s not protecting me now.
“Do it,” I tell him, and I feel my eyes hardening with what’s to come.
“What?” he asks, confusion plain to see on his face. I see his knuckles whiten around the handle of the whip, his eyes darkening.
“I said. Do. It.” I nod at the whip in his hand and shuffle on my knees, trying to get as comfortable as possible. “This should be easy right? Whipping a traitor. So get on with it.”
He pauses, searching my face with his mouth in a tight line. “You’re not going to try and lie your way out of it with that mouth of yours? Not going to plead for mercy?” he asks.
I look him dead in the eyes and whisper him a truth I know too well. “There is no mercy in Vrohkaria, Darius. You should know that with the Highers sitting on their self-appointed throne of lies, and the rogures roaming the lands at their feet.” He blinks, his teeth grinding together as those silver specks get a little larger.
“Are we ready to proceed, Alpha Darius?” drawls Lord Higher Charles, and Darius holds my eyes a moment longer as he tenses, his eyes flashing black before he stands. His hand clenches around the handle of the whip, the leather creaking from the force as he moves behind me and out of sight.
I breathe deep through my mouth, slowly expelling my breaths as the fabric of my t-shirt tears at my back, exposing my skin to him, and I flinch as the cool air hits me. Runa whines inside of me, curling up to my back. I look over at Josh, giving him a sad smile as his eyes shine with unshed tears, still screaming and banging against the barrier, but nothing can be heard. I try to reassure him with my eyes before I turn my head forward, looking at my pack members one by one, my closest. Tears stream down Anna and Josie’s faces, and they’re all struggling against the Elites holding them, but they stop when I shake my head, my eyes telling them that it’s okay.
Lastly my eyes go to Kade, my sad smile still in place as I look him over until our blue eyes meet. “I forgive you, Carzan.” I don’t know if he can hear me in his barrier, but even if he doesn’t think he needs to hear it, I need him to know he has nothing for me to forgive him for. One day, it will all become clear, he will see, and he will hate himself for this moment. I know he will, but I won’t let him. I see him swallow hard, emotion leaking into his eyes before he faces forward, not wanting to see what’s about to happen.
I look up at the Highers, at Charles, seeing the sadistic grin he tries to hide behind the hand covering his mouth as he leans on the arm of the chair. I see it in his eyes though. I have seen it many times before when he told me he killed my mom and dad. When he taunted me until I cried for them, sobbing for them to save me. When he would try to use Kade against me to get me to do what he wanted. He loved how he could see the war within me as I tried to decide whether I should or shouldn’t bend to what he asked of me. I’ve seen it over many years from when I was nearly seven years old to just weeks before my eighteenth birthday. I’ve seen it thousands of times in the basement below my mother’s and father’s home that he and others, including my blood, turned into my own living nightmare.
“Alpha Darius, proceed,” Charles orders, waving a hand in our direction. No movement comes behind me. “We haven’t got all night, I would hate for another punishment to be added.”
My brows furrow at his words, but then a barely there growl comes from behind me before Darius finally moves. I hear the whip slicing through the air. I hear it glide with precision until it connects with my back, making my body arch from the sharp, burning pain. I try to hold it in, but a strangled scream escapes me as the second hit comes fast and quick. Then a third and a fourth, again and again.
No hesitation. No mercy.
Just like he said he had none.
Blood runs down my sides from my skin splitting, and I breathe through my nose, looking at a single spot on the floor as tears roll down my face as I wait for the next strike. A sob-like breath of air escapes me, and I grit my teeth and growl when it comes. Red paints the floor, the splatters making its own pattern before it becomes too much and pools around me. Agony fills me as another hit lands right on top of my already torn flesh. My body shakes from the intense pain. Runa whines inside of me as she presses as close to the surface as she can, trying to soothe me, but it’s no use. I choke on my next breath.
Another strike.
I bite my lip, my teeth punching through it.
Another crack.
Just accept it. It’s not forever, Rhea. You’ve had worse.
Another slash.
Breathe. Concentrate on the ground beneath you. Just stay looking at that one spot. Ignore that this is Darius doing this to you, your—
Another hit.
More tears pour from my eyes. Hold it in. Don’t you dare make another sound. Not one fucking sound.
Another lash.
Do.
And another.
Not.
And another.
Break.
