Serenah stared at her reflection and grimaced. She looked horrible with dark circles under her eyes and her disheveled hair a mess atop her head. She also saw several bruises from last night's fight. After getting home from the dance, she fled to her room and spent several hours crying her hurt and fear. Fear that her father would come to punish her already battered body. Surprisingly, he did not show up last night. That only made things worse.
Now, she stood, anxiously awaiting the dreaded summons to appear before her father. Anxiety gnawed at her gut, making her nauseous. Her bathroom door creaked open, and she whirled around, swallowing a scream. When she saw Lael, her legs gave out and she sank to the floor with a sob.
"My Lady!" Lael ran to her side, checking her for injuries.
"Lael," she whimpered, flinging her arms around her maid.
"It's alright, My Lady," Lael murmured, caressing her hair soothingly.
"I can't stand this waiting!"
"My Lady, what happened?"
"Everything! It all went wrong. And Amanah, she set me up. I can't believe I fell into her trap."
Lael's eyes widened at Serenah's words. "What trap?"
"She set her minions on me and Romeo. We ended up fighting at the dance. Well, Romeo did. I didn't do so well. I got attacked by several of my sister's followers."
"How dare she do that to you! Why couldn't she leave you alone?"
"I don't know! And the principal said he would call father about the fight."
Lael sucked in a breath; her eyes full of worry. "Oh no, My Lady!"
"This is the worst! I don't want to be punished for something that isn't my fault." Serenah burst into tears of frustration. She didn't understand why her life had to be this way.
Lael gathered Serenah in her arms and started rocking her, murmuring soothing words. Serenah felt some of her anxiety lessen. She loved Lael who always mothered her and made life bearable.
"Come on. Let's get you up from this floor and dressed."
Shakily Serenah stood with Lael's help.
"My Lady, jump in the shower and I'll fetch your clothes."
Serenah nodded and did as Lael asked. Thirty minutes later, she was out and dressed in a baggy tee shirt and sweatpants. Lael had her sit and braided her hair into a French braid. She looked at herself in the mirror and felt better than earlier. She turned to thank Lael but was interrupted by a sharp knock on her door. She tensed.
"Come in."
The door opened and one of her father's personal guards entered. She froze and didn't speak.
"Princess, His Majesty has called for you to go to his study."
"I understand." She stood and Lael squeezed her hand. She took a breath and left her room.
Neither she nor the guard spoke. It was the longest five minutes of her life. They arrived and her escort announced her arrival.
"Enter!"
She gulped, stood straight, and walked in. Serenah wanted to run back to the safety of her room when she saw Amanah and Grand Duke Noward in the study with her father. Why were they here? Well, she could guess why her sibling was there. Probably spinning more lies about her to their father, she thought bitterly.
She moved to her father's desk and came to a stop, her nervous gaze on his face. It was impassive. That was a bad sign. She had no way to gauge his mood. She prayed to Autem that she would only get a tongue lashing and nothing else.
"Serenah, I got an interesting phone call this morning from Principal Greenwood." Her father tapped his ink pen on the desk.
She felt her heart start to race. Tension was thick in the air as was her father's anger. It was heavy and pressed on her. She almost couldn't breathe.
"He said that you got into a fight at the dance."
"I was assaulted by several girls, Your Majesty. I did not start trouble. I was minding my business and getting food with my friends when the other girls attacked me."
"Oh Sister, why do you lie?"
Serenah whipped her head around and glared at Amanah. Her sister had stood and was walking toward her with a smirk.
"I am not lying, Amanah. I only speak the truth." Serenah felt hurt and angry at her sister's antics. Amanah was trying to get her into trouble.
"I saw the whole thing. You verbally provoked those girls, calling them names, and taunting them."
Serenah's mouth fell open at her sister's accusation. Dumbfounded she could only stare at the malicious expression on her twin's face.
"Serenah, I warned you last time that there would be consequences if you sullied our family name."
"But I didn't!" she protested. She started to say more but clamped her mouth shut when her father abruptly rose from his seat and glared at her.
"Are you calling the Crown Princess a liar?"
Serenah dearly wanted to scream "yes" but that would be disastrous. She gritted her teeth in anger. She was not going to win this. Her father only believed Amanah. She wanted to rail at the unfairness of it all. She would have to do her best to weather whatever punishment her father threw at her.
"No," she muttered and lowered her gaze. There was no way to win here.
"Your Majesty, Princess Serenah is young. You should go easy on punishing her."
Serenah wished the Grand Duke would shut up and go away. He was making things worse.
"Your Majesty, I am innocent," she tried one last time to get through to her father.
The slap to her left cheek happened so fast that she didn't have time to register her father's movement. She gasped, her hand going to her cheek.
"I did not raise you to be a liar and disobedient."
"Your Majesty, I…,"
"Silence!" he roared and slapped her again, this time splitting her lip.
Tears of injustice rolled down her face. She hated her family!
"You dare glare at me?"
"No!" Serenah denied, backing up a step.
Her father was on her before she could move. His hand grabbed her braid and yanked her forward, making her stumble.
"Your Majesty, please let me go!" she begged as he dragged her stumbling from the room.
His two guards fell in behind them and said nothing as they follow4ed.
She tearfully begged her father to release her. Her cries fell on deaf ears as he took her to an area of the castle she didn't recognize. Her father stopped at a large wooden door. One of the guards walked in front of them and pulled out a key, swiftly unlocking the door and turning on the lights. He stepped aside, as her father pulled her into the room and shoved her forward.
She tripped and fell to all fours. She jerked her head up to keep him in sight. Her father snapped his fingers, and the guards closed the door and spread out behind him. Her eyes darted around the room before returning to her father. She recognized this room now. It was a punishment chamber. She had heard of these rooms but never had the misfortune of being in one until now.
"You Majesty, please, don't do this! I'm innocent." She stood up, praying that her father would relent.
"Strip."
"What?" Baffled, she stared at him, not believing the order he'd given her.
"I know you aren't deaf, useless girl. Strip, now!"
Serenah frantically shook her head. "No, I can't. I am unmarried! It is inappropriate to show my naked body to anyone other than family, the royal healer, and my future husband," she protested.
"You either do it yourself or the guards will do it for you. It matters not to me how it is done."
Serenah's heart shattered at her father's cold, indifferent tone. He really had no love for her. She grieved for the father from her childhood. The one who loved her when her mother was still alive. She wrapped her arms around herself and trembled. She couldn't, wouldn't do what her father was demanding.
"Guards."
That one word filled her with fear, and she backed up as they approached, whimpering, "No, no, no," repeatedly. Her back hit the wall, and they reached for her. Something snapped in her when they touched her, and she struggled hard to get away. It was a losing battle. They ripped her clothes from her, and she tried to cover her breasts and nether region. Tears streamed down her face. Her face was flushed in embarrassment and humiliation.
"What are you waiting for?" Her father demanded in a bored tone.
Again the guards reached for her, and she screamed when they yanked her hands away from her body and up above her head, snapping the dangling shackles to her wrists. Her toes were barely touching the floor, and the strain on her wrists started to hurt.
The guards stepped away and moved behind her. Her braid had come undone, and her long hair fell down her back and over her shoulders, covering her breasts. She heard rustling and then the heat of her father's presence settled over her. She sucked in a startled breath. The crack of a whip to her right broke the silence and she gasped, terror filling her.
It had been a long time since her father beat her with something other than his fists. The first time it happened was when her healing powers were revealed. He'd beaten her with a wooden staff until she'd passed out. It had taken two weeks to heal from that incident.
She panted in fear when he cracked the whip again. She yelped when he yanked her head back and stared into her eyes.
"You will count aloud each lash you receive. If you miscount or don't count, I will add additional lashes for each mistake. You will get only water for the next three days and no magical healing. Do you understand, useless girl?" he growled, tightening his grip on her hair until her eyes watered from the pain,
"Yes, Your Majesty," she whispered, her tone defeated as all fight left her.
He released her, stepped back, and hit her.
She screamed in agony as the burn of the whip threaded into her still bruised flesh.
"One," she sobbed. She didn't know if she could endure this.
The whistle of the whip signaled the continuation of her torment.
"Two."'
~***~
King Bayrel stood admiring his handiwork. Serenah was unconscious, her body sagging in the shackles. In the end, she had taken a total of sixteen lashes. She miscounted twice. The blood ran down her back and soaked into her long silver hair. The steady drip of blood from her wounds was music to his ears. He had used the whip liberally making sure to mark her back, butt, and legs.
The punishment room was one of his favorite places to be. It was rather relaxing hearing the screams of his victims. At least they put up some fight. Serenah had given up at four blows. Weakling. So weak and useless. If he wasn't so afraid of the prophecy, he would kill her and call it a day.
"Pathetic." He put the whip away. "Let's go. After two hours, get her maid to come and take her back to her room. Remind the maid, no healing or food." He gave Serenah one last disdainful look.
"Yes, Your Majesty." The guards bowed and followed him from the room.