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It makes the horror of what Arlo endured for me so much worse. I haven’t been struck this way since Madam Dahlia carved my back with fifty lashes. I’m not sure how I survived her beating when four lashes feel like I’m on the verge of passing out.

The whip whistles through the air again, and I choke out a sob, anticipating the agony. But it doesn’t come. Quiet gasps and murmurs sweep across the deck, and I twist my head, body shaking.

Kylian.

The whip is wrapped around his arm.

His hand is closed tight around it, the leather biting into his skin. His blood dripping in dark, steady drops onto the deck, and his expression is pure murder.

“That’s enough,” he snarls viciously, and even the men surrounding us cower.

Eagan stops instantly. Eyes flicking to Kylian with a warning that doesn’t need to be spoken.

Kylian’s voice slides into my head.

“This is why you listen. I never wanted this, never wanted you bleeding on my deck like some common whore they can laugh at.”

He unwraps the whip from his wrist slowly and tosses it to the ground, yet his words infuriate me. I stood here and endured this show of power just for him to insult me further. As if I’m not hurting enough. As if I haven’t learned from my mistake. His words were cruel and unnecessary, especially when he spoke them only to me. It wasn’t part of this show he put on for the crew.

“Release her,” he orders, and murmurs break out across the deck. Everyone is hesitant to come too close, feeling the deadly energy radiating from the king.

Rage blooms in my chest, hotter than the pain. He allowed this. I knew why it had to happen and accepted it, but there was no need for his harsh words when I am already broken. The worst part is that he didn’t even have the stomach to do it himself. He made Eagan carry his guilt so his hands could remain clean of what needed to be done to keep what I am hidden.

Gripping the ropes, I force myself up, shaking, blood slipping down my skin.

“Fucking finish it!” I scream at him.

Kylian’s head snaps toward me so fast it’s obvious he isn’t human. His eyes burn brighter than the lights on deck. The crew goes dead silent around us. Like I’ve spit in the face of a king offering mercy.

Kylian strides toward me and grips my face, forcing me to look at him.

“You dare take that tone with me,” he snarls. “After I offered you leniency?”

My breath stalls.

His eyes search mine, but I give him nothing. No response to the desperation behind his angry gaze. He’s pleading with me to just play along so he can get me back to our room. But just like his words showed no mercy, neither do mine.

“What kind of king orders his toy whipped and doesn’t have the balls to do it himself?” I rasp, blood in my throat from biting the inside of my cheek.

The silence that follows is so thick it feels like the air has been suctioned from my lungs.

“Give me that fucking whip.”

Eagan hesitates. “My king,” he warns quietly. I see it then, the fear in his eyes, not for me, but for Kylian. He knows the king is about to cross a line he can never come back from.

“She has been punished,” Eagan adds, his voice strained. “If she loses too much blood, you risk killing her before we get answers,” Eagan pleads, trying to make the king walk away, but I know he won’t. If he does, he’d be admitting that I am his weakness, that I am more than just a traitor he intends to fuck, drain, and get information from.

I hold Kylian’s gaze, unflinching, and something dark takes hold of him.

“You asked for more of this,” his voice bites into my skull. “So now you’ll learn what it costs to provoke a king.”

He moves behind me, and I grip the ropes, twisting my hands around them.

The crack of the whip splits the night in a whoosh. I feel the breeze before it even touches me, then pain detonates across my back so violently I can’t breathe. I can’t even scream at first because the sound is ripped from me in pieces. Then it happens again, and again, three lashes in quick succession, each one deeper, harder, faster, and I hit the deck. My body gives out as I collapse onto the blood-slick floor, and an anguished wail rips my throat.

Kylian makes a sound so thunderous and monstrous the crew scatters like rats. They got what they wanted, and now they realize the monster they worship is no longer performing for them. He’s barely holding himself back from killing everyone in sight.

Hands grab me, Eagan’s, quick and careful, cutting ropes, lifting me. But Kylian is already there, scooping me up like I weigh nothing.