[Trigger Warning; Mentions of suicide, death, violence, physical and emotional abuse]
Serenah didn't know what possessed her to attack Amanah. Later when she looked back on this moment, she might be able to point to the exact reason she lost it. In her mind was white noise overriding all her thoughts and senses. All that mattered was giving her sister pain just like the pain she'd experienced.
She snapped out of her rage when pain radiated from her lower back. She didn't have time to process it before she was airborne and her father body-slammed her, stealing her breath. He pinned her to the floor with his foot. His next words infuriated her even more.
"Ungrateful brat! How dare you attack the Crown Princess, your sister! She is better than you in every way. I see that you are nothing more than a little beast who needs to be tamed and punished to know your place!"
Once the air returned to her lungs she voiced her anger. "Get off! I will not let you blame me for Amanah's carelessness! I didn't spend all that time working hard for her sake for my twin to discard it! You always take her side even when she is the one in the wrong!"
"Silence! You just can't stop lying, can you? I have a cure for your lies and your defiance."
Her father moved his foot, bent over, grabbed her hair, and jerked her to her feet. "I think a trip to the punishment chamber should remind you of who you are dealing with," he growled and dragged her from the room with her sister in tow.
Serenah futilely struggled against his grip. Tears of frustration prickled her eyes. She didn't want to go to the punishment chamber. She didn't deserve any of this! Curse her sister's petty machinations! Soon they arrived and she was forced inside.
Her father turned to the younger guard and said, "You both are relieved for the next four hours."
The guards bowed and left swiftly. Her father glanced down at her and she clawed his hand, again unsuccessfully trying to get him to release his grip on her hair. He dug his fingers in more, pulling a yelp from her. Unconcerned with her pain, he forced her to the center of the room where the shackles hung from the ceiling. She renewed her struggles. Her father laughed at her actions.
"Strip your sister and choose her punishment."
"No!" howled Serenah.
He let go of her hair, spun her around toward him, and punched her in the belly. Serenah sank to her knees, wheezing and clutching at her throbbing midsection. Amanah pounced on her, ferociously ripping Serenah's clothes off until she was nude. She kneeled there, shivering and still defiant. Her father's impassive gaze was on Amanah as she chose a riding crop from the instruments available.
Her father forced Serenah to her feet, ignoring her whimpers of pain at the abrupt straightening of her hurt body.. He yanked her arms up and secured her wrists with the shackles. He stepped back, watching as she dangled by her wrists, her toes barely touching the floor. Her arms howled in protest from the unnatural position of her body.
Her father walked around her once before grabbing her jaw in a bruising grip. "You brought this on yourself. All you had to do was obey my orders. That's not so hard to do."
"You're blind, Father! Amanah is suckering you, and the biggest fool is you!" Serenah cried out in frustration.
He laughed and backhanded her. Serenah's head snapped to the side from the blow, a trickle of blood running from her nose and split lip. "Even now you lie. And I am not your father. You do not have the right to call me that, you worthless ingrate."
"Father, can I punish her now?" Amanah asked, coming up to his right side.
Serenah gave them both an enraged look, which served to amuse her father, who chuckled at her expression.
"Of course, my darling daughter." He stopped speaking, dragging out the silence to make Serenah sweat. "Here is what we shall do."
He grinned indulgently at Amanah's happy smile. "You shall whip her twice the number of failing grades that were on your report card. After you finish, I shall add mine for disregarding my order, attacking the Crown Princess, disrespecting my authority, and ignoring the proper addressing of the King."
Serenah almost groaned in horror. They were such sadists! Why had she been born to such a cruel, hateful family?
Amanah clapped her hands together with a wide smile. "Thank you, Father." She stood on tiptoe and kissed his cheek.
"I hate you both! I hate you so much!" Serenah snarled, twisting in her restraints.
They ignored her. Her father gestured at Serenah. "Amanah, my dear, leave your marks wherever you like." He grabbed Serenah by the jaw again and squeezed until she yelped in pain, her eyes blazing with her anger.
"You will count each blow. If you forget or miscount, you will receive four additional blows for each missed count. Do you understand, Serenah?"
Defiant to the end, she refused to answer him. One day, she would pay them both back for this a hundredfold.
Her father stepped back and motioned for Amanah to begin.
Amanah smirked. "Oh, dear sister, I'm going to enjoy this."
She raised her hand, the riding crop whistling through the air as it connected with Serenah's back.
The blazing bite of the crop was as bad as the whip her father had used on other occasions. The fight drained out of Serenah as reality set in. There was no escaping her family or this room. She had to endure and pray to Autem for better times.
"One," Serenah whispered.
~***~
Time had lost meaning. The endless roar of torment from her body's wounds screamed their presence so much she couldn't ignore them. She had fainted a few times already. Her father dumped freezing cold water on her until she woke Then her sister would start again. Her initial punishment of fourteen blows at her sister's hands had increased because she lost count three times.
The air was filled with the scent of her blood. Her body hung limp in the shackles. Nowhere on her body was clean. There was that much blood. Currently, her father was whipping her with his favorite whip. He chose to whip her front, especially her breasts, belly, thighs, and legs. She would be lucky to be able to walk after this session.
The singing of the whip pulled her thoughts back to the present, and she flinched when the whip landed across her right shoulder. She couldn't hold back her cries. She had stopped caring that her father and sister were enjoying her torment.
Her sister's smug smirk broke something inside Serenah. Maybe it was better to just give up and die. She wasn't wanted by her family. No one genuinely cared about her. She was never going to be happy or escape the terror and the pain of being a princess in Poten's royal family.
Yes, let's just stop. Autem will find someone more fitting to be the savior. I want it all to stop. I'm so tired, she thought. She needed to tell Romeo bye. The human had been amazing, a breath of fresh air in her otherwise toxic life. She would miss him, but he, too, was better off without her in the picture. She had done nothing but cause him trouble.
Her fated mark flared with heat at the thought of Romeo. For the first time, and the last, she consciously reached through the link to Romeo.
Romeo, I love you so much. You'll never know how much. I wish you happiness and hope you find a girl who will be good to you and for you. I pray that your life is filled with success in everything you do. I'm sorry that I caused you trouble. I wish I'd had the courage to tell you face-to-face that I love you more than life itself. Be free, my love, my heart.
She was jarred from sending her mark's message by a punch to her right eye from her father. Serenah screamed, her eye immediately swelling from the powerful blow.
"Did you think I would let you escape from me, murderer?" her father hissed.
The familiar pang of deep hurt and sorrow at her father's words distracted her. She kept her good eye focused on his movements. She blinked. Standing behind her father and Amanah were two shadowy figures. They were somewhat blurry.
Great, she was hallucinating. This punishment was about to get worse. Her body was giving out. Maybe she'd get lucky and her father would kill her. She closed her other eye and prayed that her pain would end swiftly. Maybe in her next life, she'd be born to a nicer family.