Page 55 of Petals for Vicious Secrets

Rhei Coralt closed his hand, and Lenna found her voice leaving her, almost choking. She knew that if she tried to speak, only silence would come out.

“In fact, let me return your voice,” he smiled as he opened his hand and the sensation on Lenna’s throat disappeared. “I want to hear you screaming while you learn this lesson.”

She didn’t feel the Organ Mandor mouring until he was behind her. She didn’t feel the Lawful Stab approaching her skin. She only felt the first deep cut from the top to the bottom of her spine as Rhei Coralt pushed it through. And she started screaming.

The pain was unbearable. The Lawful Stab had been infused with powers for centuries, and its touch against her panom blood was going to be enough to leave her unconscious on the floor.

Brachyan, open your eyes. Brachyan! If you close them, he will strike harder.

Lenna tried to open her eyes at Jake’s mental request, but it was so damn hard. The tears poured through and her face was clenched with pain.

The pain.

It was so painful. How was she going to have four more? How was Ciaran going to survive twenty of these?

“Good girl,” the Organ Mandor said. She didn’t need to look at him to know that he had a grin on his wicked face. She wanted to throw up.

She tried to get ready for a second round, to tell herself that it was almost over. That it would finish soon. But it was nowhere near over. And she couldn’t do it. She couldn’t endure it again.

The glass cut her skin in a different place this time, and her scream deafened her own ears.

She sort of heard Ciaran asking the Organ Mandor, “May I please take her remaining three strikes in her place?”

But the request was denied between vicious laughs as Rhei Coralt said, “She must learn. But I will add three more for you, since twenty seems to not be enough.”

She needed to wake up from this painful nightmare. She needed to get out of here. Her breaths cut as her sobs became uncontrolled.

Don’t give him the satisfaction of thinking he is breaking you.

But he was breaking her. Lenna bit her bottom lip to rein her sobs back in. She was pretty sure she made her lips bleed too with the force it took for her to keep her sounds in. She tried to open her eyes, the salt of her tears stinging, barely noticeable compared to what was happening on her back. She heard the blood dripping onto the floor. The clothes on her legs getting wet. The iron-infused smell.

You are much stronger than this, Brachyan. Don’t let him break you. He doesn’t deserve it.

But the sharp red glass sliced her open again, and she clenched her jaw as much as she could, her teeth aching at the pressure to keep her scream in. Her nostrils flared as the tears flowed freely down her face. She couldn’t endure two more. She simply couldn’t. Rhei Coralt was going to end her here, in front of his throne and all these panoms, just to prove he could.

She lifted her gaze and looked straight into Jake’s eyes. How had he survived this when he was a child? How many times had he endured this? She saw his shoulders and arms tense, his lips tight in a line and his eyes—His eyes were the definition of rage. His eyes were violence.

“That’s enough,” Jake's voice cut the air, just when his father was lifting the red Lawful Stab again, ready to strike Lenna’s back for the fourth time.

The Organ Mandor’s face turned towards his son. “Nobody interrupts the delivery of a punishment, boy. Not even you,” his face was livid. “Especially not you. The amount of times I had to remind you, and you have forgotten?”

“She has learned the lesson. She is an heir. If you kill her, the island will collapse, and the love of your life will not be pleased,” Jake said, walking down the steps from the altar until he reached his father.

“She won’t die from two more strikes,” the Organ Mandor grabbed his son by the chin, his fingers pressing so hard they would definitely leave bruises behind. “But you will do the last strike, boy. Since you also need a reminder of who you must obey.”

The Lawful Stab hit her again. She couldn’t tell if it was making a fresh cut this time, or only deepening a previous one. Lenna felt very dizzy. She didn’t feel her knees or her back. Her body wasn’t hers anymore. She needed to lie down wherever she was going to be sent. Lie down and sleep. For days. She needed this to be over. And she knew Jake was going to be punished if he refused to hit her. She had accepted this. It hurt a particular part of her, but she accepted it. She only needed him to do it quickly. Before she collapsed.

“I will not hurt an heir,” Jake snapped, removing his father’s hand from his face. He lowered his voice, so the crowd didn’t hear him, as he said, “I am not as fucked up as you are.”

Jake’s feet trembled, as if his father was trying to force him into moving, but he was resisting to let his body do it.

“Seems like you need discipline too, boy. Again. You will take your favorite number of strikes, and some time in the cells while you reflect on your behavior, your priorities and your duties as the future Organ Mandor,” Rhei Coralt said.

Jake’s stare was predatory. His eyes held a promise. But Jake kneeled in front of Lenna, closing his hand to Take his own shirt, leaving his exposed back before his father could do it for him. She couldn’t focus her stare, but she was damning him for refusing to hit her so he could avoid his punishments. She was starting to think that maybe dying was the best option, to stop feeling this excruciating pain.

The Organ Mandor walked behind Jake and sliced his skin open. Lenna only knew because of the ripping sound it made. How he did not even react to such pain was beyond her. How could he master to not scream, when her throat was dry and rough from it?

You are stronger than you think, sweet fire, Jake said into her mind. Lenna looked at the feelings reined in his silver eyes, and that was the last thing she saw before the glass sliced her alive for the fifth and last time, and she lost consciousness.

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