"No," I grind out. "Get the fuck back to your seat."
"But..." She purses her lips. "I did this so we could finally be together. The way we're supposed to."
Her comment is a whispered hiss, but I laugh out loud at her audacity. "Poor, naive little Audra. You actually thought doing this would make me want you? Nothing could accomplish that after what you've done."
"But you don't care about her," she argues. "She's no one!"
"You're the no one," I deliver in an icy voice. "Now fucking leave me alone before I force you to get up on that stage with her."
That shuts her up, and she returns to her seat. The entire room goes quiet as the lights dim, the spotlights on the stage growing brighter. Pandora is brought out by Easton and Caspian's father, and my hands form fists on the armrest as I stare at her, shaking and vulnerable. As tradition dictates, she's merely wearing a robe, but even that's going to go off in seconds. For the whippings, the one getting hurt is always naked.
Oakes climbs the stage next, wearing an amused expression and a cruel glint in his eyes as he begins picking from the whips displayed on the wall behind her. I want to fucking kill him.
"Kneel," he tells Pandora without so much as looking at her. "Get that robe off and wait."
Her shaky hands push the smooth silk of her robe down her shoulders, pooling on the floor. My teeth grit together as I watch her, naked and exposed, while her prick of a father picks out his torture weapon. The room is deathly silent. There must be at least fifty people watching this, and none of them will speak out for her.
Emilian picks out a long, sturdy whip and lays it across his daughter's lap. Pandora sobs openly, breaking down for everyone to see. Any other day I would've thought it beautiful, but not today. Today I'm sick at the thought of her getting hurt at anyone's hand but mine.
Oakes raises the whip. It's about to crack across her naked back when I stand up. All eyes go to me, but my attention is solely on the man who killed my parents.
"Stop it." My voice booms and echoes in the room. Everyone is staring. "Don't fucking hurt her."
Oakes laughs out loud at me, and before I can do anything, he hits Pandora's back with the whip, hard.
No one could hold me back at that moment. It takes me a split second to reach the stage and start strangling the bastard while she whimpers on the floor. I'm ready to kill him. Ready to end this right the fuck now. But someone pulls me off, and I turn my crazed eyes to Lai's. He merely shakes his head before stepping back down.
"You've interrupted... a-a formal w-whipping." Oakes is trying to catch his breath, pulling at the collar of his crisp white shirt as he glares at me. "You know what the punishment for that is, Booth?"
"I do," I grind out.
"Why don't you tell everyone?"
"Taking her place." My voice is a hiss, and Emilian smirks at me as I help Pandora to her feet and whisper in her ear that everything's going to be okay. I allow one of the employees of the town hall to lead her away while I turn to face her father. "You're a fucking monster."
"Takes one to know one." He taps the whip against his palm. "Take her place."
I kneel in front of him, with my back turned to face him. My heart is pounding. I can't imagine what being whipped feels like. What shocks me is that I'm willing to endure it all... just so Pandora doesn't have to.
Before I can have another moment, the whip cracks against my back, hard and unforgiving. I swallow the groan on my lips and brace myself against the floor. Another slashing sound slices through the air and the whip hits me again, then again and again. At some point, I can't hold myself up anymore. I collapse on the ground, and Emilian just keeps going and going.
"That's enough," I finally hear through the fog in my mind, somehow turning around to see Lai leading Oakes off. He's wearing a self-satisfied expression I want to fucking erase off his face. That son of a bitch is sicker than any of us.
The pain is almost unbearable. The room empties slowly, hushed voices and whispers accompanying people as they slowly trickle out. Not even Audra stops to speak to me. The room stinks of shame.
After a couple agonizing moments, I realize there are only two people left in the room. Lai, and myself.
"You should go," I groan, somehow picking myself up and wincing as I wipe the blood off my back with my shirt.
"I can't leave you like this." He approaches, taking my shirt from my hands and putting it over my open wounds. It hurts so much I'm convinced I'm going to lose consciousness, but I grit my teeth and allow him to help me get up. "I called a doctor to your house. He'll sort you out."
I nod as a sign of gratitude. I can't offer him much more. He's my oldest friend and he's let me down too much with what he's done to Pandora.
"Are you going to be okay?" Lai asks.
"What the fuck do you think?" I stumble out o
f the room. "Look what all this shit has gotten me into. I've lost everything. Every-fucking-thing."