Scorn and Devotion

Scorn and Devotion Part 3

Warnings - depicted abuse from an establishment, mentions of alcoholism

"Swordplay again Ms. Starfell ?" Lady Everdeen's thin lips curled into a cruel smile. Of all the Ladies that worked here, she was the worst. She truly treasured each punishment she doled out.

"A few strikes from the glass whip will change that."

Lady Everdeen grabbed my arm and wrenched it behind my back. I stifled the cry I wanted to produce. I did not want to give her the satisfaction of hearing me in pain.

I had never heard of the glass whip. I didn't know what I was in for. Perhaps it wouldn't be quite as bad as I was imagining. Surely they wouldn't do something too horrible to us, we were the children of nobles after all.

I was dragged to Lady Everdeen's quarters. The room was like something out of a fairytale. The bed looked like winding golden tree branches, with a thick black canopy hanging over the top. Everything was colored gold and black giving the room an air of decadence and foreboding.

"Shirt off Ms. Starfell," she ordered. I knew what to do by now. I took off my nightgown and now I was just in my pale undergarments. This was part of the humiliation and torture, to debase us this way. A cold pit of dread yawned open in my stomach.

Lady Everdeen was carrying something that glimmered in the firelight. I dared a glance and I was a lamb being hunted by a lion. She held a crude and twisted-looking weapon. Shards of jagged glass were embedded in the tough leather. I couldn't imagine the pain of those dragging over my body.

It came without warning, though no warning could have prepared me for the white-hot pain that radiateed down my back. Like flames licking down my spine the weapon bit into me.

I was screaming now, I didn't care if I looked weak. I couldn't hold it in. Tears streamed down my face, agony distorting my features.

"Why do you do this to us," I begged. "How can we please those husbands you keep talking about if our backs look like a slab of meat?"

Lady Everdeen stopped for a moment. She seemed to have never been asked this question. It was clear she had no answer. She aimed to hurt people, it didn't need to make sense.

"Don't challenge authority!"

The next attack had me nearly passing out from the pain.

"Stop! Stop, please!"

A loud banging noise awoke me from my nightmare. There he was standing, the crown prince, in a rumpled nightshirt, holding out his sword. Though his hair was everywhere, and his eyes still held the dregs of sleep, he looked fierce. From his perfect form, I could tell he was expecting a fight.

"Timothée what are you doing," I demanded sitting up.

"You were screaming," he said almost breathlessly. "You were crying out for help. I came as fast as I could."

I couldn't look at the sincerity in those emerald eyes. I focused my gaze on Daybreak instead. Daybreak's twin still laid beside me in my bed.

"There is no intruder, nor any trouble. I suggest you go back to your own room."

I laid back down covering myself back up and closing my eyes. I did not like the feeling that was crawling up into my heart from the depths where I'd hidden it. Fondness, fondness for Timothée, and how he always tried his best to protect others. I pushed it down as I had at the Academy. He deserved no warmth from me. If he truly watched over those he loved he would have never given me over to that place.