Jessamine
Twenty lashes, I think as I put my left foot in front of my right, refusing to let my head hang in shame as the crowd watches me in utter silence.
Each beating, I had taken, my screams muffled by the bit. Twenty.
Ten more than mother gave everytime I ran. Very early in my life, I came to understand pain and fear.
My mother...she loved me. Too much. I was wild and free. I would run the expanse of the woods, threading places even warriors didn't.
She didn't understand why I ran to the wasteland and marshes. She didn't know why I spent hours sitting on the tallest tree, watching, waiting. I would return home, covered in small cuts and bruises, and I would reek of smoke and ash.
My mother was scared that I would run one day and never return, like my father.
So, she locked us in. Barred the doors for days. It didn't matter that we were starving and had nothing to eat. She'd rather we starved and died together than let me leave.
And one day, I grew tired of it. I took down the barricade and ran from home.
For three days.
I have never known fear the way I did when I returned home and saw our cottage in ruins, and my mother standing by it, laughing hysterically with a whip in hand.
And she had said to me that night, "You abandoned me, Jess. You never leave the ones you love. Ever." Her rare eyes of violet--my eyes--met mine and I recognized nothing in them as she whispered, gripping the whip tighter. "Come here. I promise, it won't hurt."
She lied.
I push the memories out of my head as I stumble into my room, shutting the door behind me.
The bed is only a few feet away, but I don't make it in time. The ground rushes up to embrace me and I let it as I slip into sweet oblivion, a place where there is no pain.
*********
Kier
I rake my fingers through my hair, exhaustion. It'd been a terribly long day and I want nothing more than to wash off the blood that clings to my skin.
Though, there had been no deaths, the damage was ghastly. The patterns to Atticus's attacks have changed. I had underestimated him, thinking his previous assaults weak and pathetic.
But it dawned on me as I watched the villagers tend to their wounded that Atticus's weak attacks had been to learn the Pack's weaknesses. His real attack had been brutal and precise, leaving me with a lot of buildings to repair and reconstruct.
A hectic day it had been, ensuring no one was left without shelter for the weeks it would take to rebuild.
I close my eyes, exhaling deeply. My grip on my aching knees tighten and just as I start to rise to stretch, my door slams open so hard, the impact sends shudders through the walls.
Lloyd storms in, eyes wide with rage, and his lips pull back from his teeth in a snarl. "She had her publicly whipped!"
"Perhaps a civilized knock at the door might have sufficed," I mutter dryly, kneading my sore shoulders.
Lloyd moves, and though I can clearly read his movements and knock him out if I wanted to, I let him grab my collar and pull at them. Calmly, I rip my collar out of his grip. "Stand down, Lloyd. NOW."
His breathing comes in ragged bursts at the command in my voice, and he falls back against his will. An odd sight, considering Lloyd is usually the embodiment of calm and calculation. I've never seen him in such a state. He lowers his head slightly, muttering, "I... apologize, Kier."
I peer down at him. "Not *Kier*."
Emerald eyes rise to meet mine, and his voice takes on a somber weight. "Alpha Kier."
I nod, pulling at my buttons. "Good. Now, properly explain yourself."
"Jessamine," Lloyd bites out and I stiffen at the mention of the name I have spent all day trying to forget. Everything rushes back to me; last night, her dangerous fingers splayed on my chest, her arms tight around my torso and those breasts that have tortured my dreams since she emerged from the lake pressed flush against my chest.
It took every ounce of my strength to rid my mind of those images, and yet, her name alone brings them flooding back.
"She was whipped," Lloyd rasps.
My head snaps left and I cock my head, watching his fingers clench and unclench. "For what reason?"
"She stole Helen's bracelet, apparently." There is venom and anger in his voice. Violence tenses the air between us and something in me rages at that.
"The punishment for stealing is eight lashes, Lloyd. It is a punishment befitting the crime," I tell him, even as Zephyr roils within me, hating my words as they leave my lips.
Lloyd looks at me, and gold flashes in his eyes. "I have known Jessamine since she was little. She is not a thief." His eyes harden. "Twenty."
I gaze at him, confused.
"Twenty lashes," he says, veins nearly popping out of his neck. "The punishment befitting a criminal. Did she deserve that as well?"
My fingers clench into fists. No, no one deserves that. Not even a thief. I see the truth in Lloyd's eyes, and though I know nothing of this despicable woman who is on a quest to snatch my heart, I find it hard to believe that she'd be stupid enough to steal a bracelet and get caught with it.
This woman, this vixen, she possesses cunning beyond measure. And...something more. When I looked into her eyes last night, it was the unwavering clarity of her gaze that unnerved me most. With her, there are no shades of gray, only stark black or white.
I turn my attention back to Lloyd. "And she pleaded innocent?"
"Till her very last lash."
Damn it all. I avert my gaze sharply, unwilling to let Lloyd witness the anger simmering in my eyes. "I shall have a word with my mother. You may go."
But Lloyd remains, his watchful eyes like piercing daggers against the nape of my neck. "There are two people in this world whom Jessamine loves fiercely, beyond words. You are one of them," he says, his voice trembling with emotion. "You may see her methods as queer, but this is the only way she knows how to love--head on, honest, aggressive. I only ask that in her blind quest, you do not let her break herself."
I look back. "And you know this how?"
Green eyes darken with emotion. "While she watched you for twelve years, I watched her."
Those words sunk in deeper than they should have, and they are all that echo in my thoughts as I walk the hallways, making only one stop before visiting my mother's chambers.
"Oh," my mother merely says when I storm into her room. "Come here, Kier. I must show you the new items the trade--"
"Out!" I thunder at the traders holding an array of fabrics and ceramics that do nothing but provoke my irritation.
They scramble to exit, careful to avoid me as they retreat. My mother rises from her seat, gathering her voluminous dress with care. She crosses the room, her eyes wide with concern. "Has something gone amiss? The rogues, did the attack—"
"I spoke to Helen."
Her lips part, and the frantic beat of her heart is palpable. "I did what was necessary."
Laughter bubbles up within me. "Father used those same words when he razed the homes of innocents. For all your aversion to him, Mother, you're more alike than you'd care to admit."
My mother takes a cautious step forward, her nostrils flaring in anger. "Do not compare me to that monster."
"The title befits the action. Why did you frame her? I made it clear I had no fondness for her. Why resort to whipping and humiliation? Even criminals aren't subjected to such treatment, treated like animals!"
"She is a gold digging whore. I offered her riches beyond her imagination and she sought more--"
If I ever thought my mother's actions could no longer surprise me, I was most definitely wrong. My frown deepens. "Come morning, you will render a public apology to Jessamine for your misconduct."
"Over my dead body," Mother hisses.
I approach her, my fingers grazing her cheeks. "Then you leave me no choice," I whisper, lowering my hand to her neck and forcefully removing the crest from it--her symbol of authority. "You have abused your power as Luna. Jessamine is a member of our pack and you have treated her unjustly. Your actions are unbefitting of a leader, hence I strip you of your title."
She stares at me in disbelief, hands rising to her neck, bare for the first time since her ascension as Luna. "Kier, do you realize what you've done? You're letting her come between us. Everything I've done has been for your sake."
My chest caves in, but I hold my head high, refusing to balk from my decision. "Reflect on your deeds, Mother. Until you offer an apology, Randale will oversee the court's affairs, and you will remain here with no visitors allowed."
"Kier!" she screams after me, but I'm already making my way toward the servant's quarters.