Authors: K. S. Haigwood
Good Side of Sin (47 page)
I fear my sibling has gone mad in her time away from Heaven.
Curious, I leaned forward on my throne to better connect with the girl. She flinched back, lowering her head and avoiding my eyes as if I was about to smite her for simply being dirty.
“Do not be frightened,” I said in a soothing tone, interrupting Melina’s rant. I hadn’t heard a word of what she had been saying, but she was now silent and glaring at the side of my head with her mouth agape. Just the thought of her stunned speechless would have been enough to make me laugh, had I been in the mood. Unfortunately, for her, I was not.
Hushed whispers spread throughout the large room as I studied the accused. It obviously wasn’t normal behavior for royalty to show such attention to someone of a lower status. Ignoring them all, I stood and slowly walked to the girl.
“Isaiah, what are you doing?” Melina hissed.
Without looking at her, I held up my hand to silence her protest. She huffed loudly, but knew better than to try and stop me. I’ve always considered myself a mild-mannered man, and Melina knows exactly what my limits are. She has tap-danced on the boundaries a few times, but never crossed them.
I came to a stop in front of the captive. Unsurprisingly, the guards didn’t retreat. If anything, they inched closer, the blades of their weapons actually touching the girl now. She whimpered, but didn’t make a move to wipe away the moisture from her tear-streaked cheeks. Melina had insisted I become part of her royal court, but it was obvious the queen’s personal escorts were not as accepting.
I cleared my throat and reluctantly glanced over my right shoulder at my sister.
Dramatically rolling her eyes, she flipped her wrist through the air. “Oh, leave her be for now. I’m intrigued to hear what my brother has to say to the larcenist before she is sentenced.” She focused on me then and raised a perfectly-shaped, brunette eyebrow. “This had better be good,” she finished curtly.
Simultaneously, the guards removed the threat from the girl and snapped to attention.
After a moment, shimmering, green eyes—pale and clear as glass—turned up to me, and I offered the girl my hand to help her stand.
I was taken aback when her eyes filled with horror. Instead of accepting my offer, she quickly shook her head and shrank back.
Melina’s laugh was abrupt, causing my body to stiffen, my jaw to lock and my hands to clench, involuntarily, into tight fists. My patience was wearing thin with my sister.
“Dear brother, the girl knows the price she will pay if she attempts to follow anyone except me. Let you not forget
whose
world you’re in.”
I whirled on her, unable to hide the rage coloring my skin crimson. “Give her to me! Let me have her and I swear on our blood that I will take full responsibility for her actions from here on out.”
Excitement filled Melina’s expression, but I was too livid to realize what she was planning in that morbid mind of hers. I only knew that I couldn’t let this girl suffer any punishment Melina had in store for her.
“Seriously, Isaiah, you don’t know what you’re saying—”
“For the last six months, I’ve watched you sentence these people to horrid fates that not one of them deserved. They are not evil and this is not Hell, Melina. Stop torturing them as if it is. If they act out, there is a reason for it. If they steal, it is because they do not have what they need to survive. Give it to them, instead of torturing them,” I pleaded. “Why must they suffer?”
She smiled sweetly, but I wasn’t fooled. “Because they are mine.”
“You are a sadist and I am ashamed to call you my sister.”
She sighed as she crossed her ankles and laid her folded hands atop her lap. “Fine. If you want this one, you may have her. But—no crime must go unpunished. You must take her punishment today for the crime she has committed. Any law she breaks from now on, will be paid by you in whichever punishment is deemed necessary for that particular crime. I will show no mercy because you are of my blood, Isaiah. Maybe you won’t be so quick to object to my rulings in the future.”
I could tell she was completely serious, and the blood drained quickly from my face. It was either me or the girl that would suffer chastisement; Melina would not yield to me in front of the crowd of onlookers. That would only show weakness.
She gestured with a little jerk of her chin to something behind me, and I turned swiftly to see two guards rolling a large platform to the center of the room.
I lost my balance and nearly stumbled over the girl, but managed to right myself without taking my eyes away from the torture devices that awaited their next victim. A variety of items used for corporal punishment hung on racks and lay organized on the three metal tables. Cat o’ nine tails, knives and daggers of different shapes and sizes, leather whips, leg and wrist irons, rattan canes—ranging from switch size to almost as thick as my wrist—were spread out for the choosing. Filling one of the four corners, a thick wooden pole stood out like a sore thumb. Somehow I knew I would be getting a closer look at it soon.
Melina’s words were like ice shards through my heart as she spoke. “First offenders receive caning—twelve strokes across the back and shoulders.”
My heart hammered against my ribcage. Wide-eyed, I glanced down at the girl’s shining eyes. She was scared, and ready to hear me refuse her whippings. From the look on her face, I was the only person that had ever taken up for her. And I felt a strong urge to not let her down now.
I reached out to touch the smeared muck on her face, but this time she didn’t shy away from me. Courage filled her pretty eyes, and my heart broke a little as a tear escaped and rolled to my finger. I nodded once.
My head shot up in alarm when the guards swiftly approached and grabbed her arms, jerking her, none too gently, to her dirty, bare feet.
“No. Wait—” They didn’t stop. They only continued to drag the crying girl toward the steps of the platform. I couldn’t let this happen. This inhumane cruelty had happened too many times over the last several months. I had to discover a way to change the way Melina ran her world. “No!” I shouted, and swung at the guard closest to me. He easily avoided my blow and sent me flying to the stone floor with the back of his hand. Hand to hand combat had never been one of my strongest abilities, and I cursed myself for taking it for granted that I would never need the skill. Despite my inexperience, I jumped back to my feet and a warrior’s cry tore from my lungs as I charged them. “Let her go—”
Oomph! Suddenly, I was jerked back against a massive chest with an arm locked tightly around my neck, cutting off my words, my screams and my breath. I struggled against the man holding me but, honestly, there was no point; my feet weren’t even touching the floor.
He jerked us to the left, putting me in direct sight of Melina. The smirk on her face let me know that this little scene had played out exactly the way she had intended.
“Want me to snap his neck?” the burly man asked his queen.
Melina shook her head. “Set him down.”
The arm loosened around my throat and I fell to my hands and knees with the urge to get as much oxygen into my lungs as I possibly could.
After a moment, I lifted my head and glared up at my sister. “Release her to me. Give up all ownership you have over that young woman… and I will take her punishment—today, and forevermore.”
Melina smiled as her hands came together in a loud clap that sealed our deal. “Done.”
Kristie Haigwood (a.k.a. K.S. Haigwood) is currently writing her 9th novel. She lives in Arkansas, US. She is the mother of 2 awesome kids and 2 great dogs. She is happily married to her soulmate who thinks reading is a solid waste of time. Opposites attract. Kristie’s works include ‘
Save My Soul’, ‘Hell’s Gift’, “Good Side of Sin’,
‘
Forbidden Touch’, ‘Eternal Island’ and ‘Eternal Immortality’
are available at major eBook retailers and also in print.
‘Eternal Illusion’,
‘
The Last Assignment’
and
‘My Sweet Purgatory’
are all releasing soon.
www.facebook.com/kristie.haigwood
http://kshaigwood.blogspot.com
