Chapter 29 She's gone
Lyra's POV.
“She didn't do anything, please don't punish her” I pleaded with Seraphina.
The moment I stopped speaking, Enna also raised her voice.
“I told her I'd do it. She has nothing to do with this” Enna defended me and I was starting to think that the girl was stupid.
I should be the one to get punished for this, she was only trying to help.
Seraphina's gaze darted between the two of us and she chuckled amusingly. “What do we call this?”
“Are you two lovers or something?” She added.
No one responded to her. That wasn't what mattered at the moment, begging her matters the most.
“Please, just punish me instead” my voice rose again.
“I can't.” She wasn't smiling and her eyes were darkened. “You are like family, sister-in-law”
I scoffed at the sister-in-law she had been going on and on about all throughout today.
“You've always punished me. I was your sister-in-law from the beginning and you knew that” I snapped. “Why should it be different now?”
I was starting to get angry and frustrated and that made me raise my voice slightly at Seraphina, something I shouldn't even think of doing.
She moved closer to me. “That was when I didn't accept you as my sister-in-law,” she said.
“And you don't want to go limping on the walk with the alpha, do you?” She smirked.
We held each other's gaze for a few minutes and I didn't know what to believe about Seraphina anymore.
I knew this side of hers was believable, a wicked witch like the girl had called her but I didn't know what to make out of the nice good side she showed me this morning.
“Take her!” Seraphina ordered. “Bring her to my chambers”
The escorts bowed and dragged Enna away like she was some sort of criminal.
I hate that I wasn't able to do anything. I hate that I watched them take her without being able to speak to defend her.
Seraphina walked after them and I knew I had to follow behind her even if she did not tell me to.
She had come to take me from the maids quarter in the morning and my job was to follow her around and take care of her personal needs.
At Seraphina's chambers, Enna was made to stand outside while Seraphina and her escorts walked inside.
I knew what she wanted to get. The whip.
I stood in front of Enna and sighed deeply while running my hands into my hair.
“What the hell do you think you are doing?” I asked her in a low tone.
She smiled. Fucking hell! She smiled. Who smiles in a situation like this.
“Protecting you,” she said.
“Exactly! Why the hell will you do that!” I snapped. “I'm used to treatments like this, you shouldn't get yourself involved”
Maybe that was the reason why I failed to make friends all throughout the years I had been here.
I didn't want to get them so entangled in my life as mine was a mess and theirs surely wasn't.
Enna had always gone unseen by everyone. Always alone, quiet and was barely known by everyone but just because she became friends with me, she was starting to get known and was even getting a punishment because of me.
“I'm doing it because tonight I don't want to hear you tell me you are tired because of the beating you got and won't be able to tell me what happened today” she said.
That sounded like a joke but it only made me sigh. Was she stupid or was this just her nature? Nice to the core?
“Look at you,” she continued. “You look so beautiful in Lady Seraphina's dress”
“Of course, I want to know how it happened,” she added..
At that moment, Seraphina walked back out and one of her escorts was carrying bunches of canes.
“I smack her, you count” she said to me.
Cruel! I was being made to count while I watched as she beat her endlessly.
I watched and counted.
One….two…three… when it got to the fifteenth one, the back of her legs were already so red and with marks from the cane.
I looked up at Enna and her lips were shut tight, her eyes closed as she tried to steady her breathing and ready herself for the rest of the beating.
I couldn't do anything and I hated myself for that. When it got to the thirtieth, she was already exhausted and looked like she could collapse any moment from then.
Twenty left….. That was still a lot. I didn't think I could watch that.
“Can I take the rest for her?” I asked.
Seraphina lifted her face to look at me and she smirked.
“Of course you can,” she said and I sighed, relieved.
“But……” she had a condition and I hoped it would be something I'd be able to do.
“If you are going to help her then we would have to start from the beginning again. Are you sure you want to do this?” Seraphina asked with a smirk.
I curled my fists. She'd have to start from one again.
But that was fine, I was the one who was supposed to get the punishment in the first place anyway.
“I’ll—” I wanted to tell Seraphina I'd do it but Enna's voice cut through the air before mine.
“Don't be stupid, Lyra!” She snapped. “if you agree, then what becomes of the pain I just went through?”
She tilted her head slightly to the back. “Please carry on” Then she brought her face back to me.
“I got this. I can endure” she said.
Seraphina made sure she whipped her until the fifty got complete. When Enna was told to get off the wooden stool she was made to stand on, she collapsed to the floor.
“Enna!” I yelled, my voice in panic. I rushed over to her and my body shook. Her face was pale and she had succumbed to darkness.