“How many, Thay?”
My throat tightens. Salt floods my tongue.
“Three.”
He nods.
“I agree. Three will be enough. After this, I’ll take you home and put that healing ointment you made on your back. Okay?”
My lip trembles. I scrub my tears off on my shoulders.
“Okay.”
He stands, leaving me facing the post alone.
Don’t count the seconds. Don’t listen.
Don’t scream. Don’t cry. Don’t make a sound.
Pain explodes across my back, slamming me into the wood. The scream rips out of me before I can swallow it down.
Laughter follows.
Two more lashes.
Everything shifts. The ground. The air.
Then he’s kneeling in front of me again, green eyes bright, voice soft and disappointed.
“I give you chance after chance, every day. I defend you, protect you when they take things too far. Yet, you insist on using our relationship against me as soon as we step in here. You test me around them and think that I can just allow you to keep getting away with it.”
“W-what?”
“How many do you believe you deserve?”
“No, Mellcom. You just—”
“How many?”
I choke down a sob.
“Three.”
He grits his teeth.
“Not good enough this time, Thay.”
“F-four.”
My whimper morphs into a scream as he disappears from in front of me and the lashes land without a moment’s notice.
Hot liquid streams down my back and every flinch I make causes my skin to scream out in agony.
“No, no, no, no.”
“Why do you keep leaving me no choice but to resort to this, Thayla? Look at me—do you think I enjoy this?”
“Why does this keep happening?”
