Chapter 32 #2
He scoffed, spraying me with spittle. “You did. You stole court property. You left without permission. You broke the rules, and now I get to be the one to make you pay.”
I gasped as he ripped the back of my dress in one brutal yank of his other hand, and I gritted my teeth as blinding light filled the corner of my vision.
Searing heat licked down my spine as he lowered his hand and sweat broke out on my brow as I hissed and arched towards the rock in an impotent attempt to escape it.
His mouth pressed close to my ear as he murmured, “Do not worry. I am not allowed to kill you… but that does not mean I cannot make you bleed.”
When he stepped backwards, I trembled at the sight of the solar whip in his hand. He was going to use that on me. I shook my head, turning it the other way, towards Sylvan, some foolish part of me hoping he would stop this madness.
His cold mask told me there was no stopping this.
Meiryn stared at her feet, her hands fisted at her sides, her knuckles white.
Lorien stopped moving.
I braced myself, squeezing my eyes shut and gritting my teeth.
It didn’t make the pain of the first lash any more bearable.
The whip cut through the air, whistling as it hurtled towards me, and I bit my tongue hard enough to taste blood as it streaked down my back from my right shoulder to my hip, filling my nostrils with the scent of burning flesh.
The heat of it cauterised the wound almost instantly.
Leaving scars.
A reminder that Lorien had beaten me this time.
I flinched at the second strike, tears forming in my eyes, and tried not to scream as agony tore through me.
I refused to give him the pleasure of hearing me break like that.
I weathered every lash that sent fire licking through my body, every lash that sundered my flesh and filled the air with the scent of it burning.
My wolf side snarled within me, caged by the pain, pushed beyond my reach by the agony.
Holding my tongue only seemed to drive Lorien on, each strike harder than the last until I finally broke.
I screamed as the solar whip sliced down my spine, right over the bones.
He was right there behind me when I did, his voice dripping with pleasure and pride as he hissed, “You deserve this and so much more, and I will be the one to give it to you. Remember who did this to you.”
This punishment wasn’t about Danica escaping his reach. It wasn’t about me leaving the court in secret or breaking a law. This was about me besting him in that challenge and killing his friend.
This was some twisted kind of justice in his eyes.
He backed off again and I stifled a cry as the whip cut down my spine again, my eyes watering as I gritted my teeth so hard they creaked.
I gripped the chains, twisting them in my hands as I weathered blow after blow, and how he laughed as he put every drop of his strength into each strike.
They never seemed to end. The agony certainly didn’t.
I shook violently, sweat pouring down my face and down my back, stinging the wounds. My legs and arms trembled, and my stomach heaved, bile rolling up my throat as he hit me again.
Darkness shadowed the corners of my vision.
Lorien was against my ear again, snarling into it.
“This is just the beginning.” He gripped my hair and shook my head, rattling me awake. “Do not sleep now. I want you aware of every blow I deliver. I want you to know that I am the one giving them to you, and I want you to know this is just the beginning of your suffering.”
It was just the beginning. I was deeply aware of that as he moved back to strike me again, even more brutal now. Every lash he delivered pushed me towards unconsciousness.
I tried to hold on and bear it, but gods, it was hard to remain awake, to withstand his assault without fracturing or feeling defeated. Humiliated. Weak. I couldn’t stop the tears that streaked down my face.
Just one more. I just had to remain conscious for one more and then it was over.
Lorien delivered it with glee, the whip singing as it sliced through the air and down my back.
And then he struck me again.
I twisted my head, looking over my shoulder at him, terror ripping through me as I realised he wasn’t going to stop.
He was going to kill me.
Meiryn was suddenly there, her hand on his wrist to stop him, anger flashing in her eyes. “Strike her again, and I will see to it you are the one hugging that rock, and you won’t just be screaming, you will be begging me to stop.”
She shoved his hand away.
He backed off, breathing hard, his body slick with sweat as he grinned at me.
Meiryn hurried to me and wrestled with my bonds, and I sagged into the rock as she unlatched the shackles, the last of my strength flowing from me as I found my freedom.
She pulled me up from the rock, sliding my left arm around her shoulders as she wrapped one of her arms around my waist, and I leaned into her as she helped me back across the courtyard.
The pain was too much for me to think through, to notice the highborn or Sylvan, or the journey to my room.
I drifted in the fiery agony with each step, battling to remain awake, refusing to humiliate myself further by passing out.
When we reached my room, Meiryn eased me down onto a padded stool.
I leaned forwards, curling over my knees, the only position that didn’t feel as if I was going to die.
She moved away and then came back to me, and I focused on breathing, narrowing my world down to that one simple action as she worked to clean my back.
Warmth followed each line that marred my back and the tang of magic laced the air, reminding me of someone else.
Kaeleron.
I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face in them, holding them tightly as I quietly cried while Meiryn tended to my back with magic.
I needed Kael.
Meiryn whispered, “I am sorry. The way he struck you… you’ll have scars.”
I had known I would from that very first blow. Lorien had purposely cauterised the wounds with solar magic as he had dealt them, leaving indelible marks on me. My wolf healing wouldn’t be able to erase them. I doubted even fae healing could, if I had that.
Meiryn went to the bathroom and returned with clean water that was deliciously cool against my burning back as she dabbed it with a cloth. “I will stay with you tonight. I won’t leave your side.”
“Thank you,” I mumbled into my knees, genuinely grateful that she would be here with me now that Danica was gone, needing to not be alone.
Wolves didn’t cope well with being alone.
Especially when they were injured and vulnerable.
It went against my every instinct, so having her near while I was regaining my strength and healing, having her here to protect me and ensure Lorien would leave me alone, was a relief that stole some of the pain and the fear away and allowed me to relax and focus on healing.
I had been right about her. I had been right about the seelie. Kaeleron was blind to it, and his prejudice had almost blinded me to it too, but there were good and bad seelie, just as there were good and bad unseelie.
These fae weren’t as different to each other as they wanted to believe.
Meiryn was one of the good ones.
I kept my face buried in my knees, letting the tears fall as my heart ached for Kaeleron, as I drowned in my need to feel his arms around me. He would take all this pain away for me.
I should have gone with Malachi.
If I had gone with him, I would have been with Kaeleron now. I would have been happy. I would have been whole.
It had been a mistake to remain in the Summer Court.
Because I knew Lorien would keep his word.
And the next time he would kill me.