Sully marched to me and took my arm, pulling me toward him with more aggression than I had ever seen before. “I said no!”
I all but bared my teeth at him. “Well, good thing I wasn’t asking for permission.”
“So, you have no limits to get your payday? Is that what you’re telling me?” Sully’s jaw clenched, palms fisted, and his body tightened so much it appeared his spine might snap.
“I’m telling you I refuse to be broken!” I yelled.
His rage had finally rubbed off on me, and if I didn’t focus my attention on the branding, I would completely lose my shit on him.
The Elder had already reapplied the poker to the fire and had pulled it out and handed it to Sully who only stared at it. The tip glowed a golden, burning yellow-orange again. Smoke burned my eyes from it and the air shimmered near the heat of the tip.
“Sully…” the Elder began. “It is your responsibility to brand the belle in order to complete the Trial.”
Sully darted his eyes to me, to the hot branding iron, and then back at me. “Is this what you want? Really want?”
“Do it,” I snapped, as I extended my wrist.
“On the hip,” the Elder said, pointing to my hip bone.
I took a moment to process the new location on my body that would permanently be scarred, but actually preferred it over my wrist. So, with that, I lifted up my short dress, and glared at Sully, willing him not to chicken out.
“They won’t win, Sully. Don’t let them,” I said in a low voice.
“So fucking sick.” He glared at all the Elders in the room. “You guys are sick bastards. How do you sleep at night?”
He then took the brand from the Elder and brought it close to my hip.
He considered doing it. I saw that.
And then I saw the revulsion shudder his entire body and what a violation of his soul it would be to press it against my skin, to harm me like that.
Sully could only be pushed so far. He was a bull of a man. And they’d just reached his breaking point. He’d burn down this entire manor before he ever applied that brand to my skin.
So, I reached forward, wrapped my hands around the poker high enough where I prayed it wouldn’t burn, and yanked the brand flush against my own fucking hip.
Burning metal, burning flesh.
Barbeque.
It smelled like barbeque. I smelled like burning meat.
I howled in agony and threw the brand away from my flesh at the same time Sully yanked it back in complete horror.
Pain, blinding, hip on fire, fire burning up my right side. Fire, I was on fire. FUCK IT HURT; I WAS ON FUCKING FIRE—
My leg muscles gave out.
Arms from behind grabbed me before I fell. Their arms. They were holding me. Not Sully.
Sully was still standing in front of me, horror on his face. Why wasn’t he holding me? Sully. Sully. Get their hands off me!
But I couldn’t quit or refuse. Goddammit, I’d come this far, I’d overcome this Trial. Nothing and no one would beat me. No one.
The last thing I remember was silence, darkness, and a fire burning so deep on my hip that I wondered if the pain would ever end.
Fire, fire, I was burning up in fire…
I wasn’t sure how long I wallowed in the shadows of this misery, but when I finally opened my eyes, Sully towered over me. I was in our bed, and he sat on the edge of it with worry painted over every inch of his face.
“She’s awake,” he called over his shoulder in a mixture of relief and fear.
Mrs. Hawthorne walked up behind him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “Oh good. Looks like she’s getting some color back in that pretty face of hers too.”
“Are you okay?” Sully asked, running his hand over my forehead and through my hair.
“What happened?” I asked, not sure how I ended up in our room and in our bed.
“You fainted, lass. Completely expected considering what you went through,” Mrs. Hawthorne answered.
“How are you feeling now?” Sully asked, reaching for my wrist and checking my pulse. He looked up at Mrs. Hawthorne. “I still think we should call a doctor.”
I shook my head and tried to sit up, only to have Sully push me back down onto the pillow. “No doctor. I’m fine.” I glanced down at my body and saw a bandage on my hip. The burning sensation was still present but not nearly as bad. “I’m okay.” I was a little breathless as I said it, but really, the pain was so much better than it had been earlier, it was shocking.
“There’s burn ointment on that wound of yours,” Mrs. Hawthorne said. “It will fix you up in no time. Heals like a charm.”