AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But not Mia’s blood,he thought fiercely.I’ll die before I let them shed a single drop of hers. If it’s blood they want, they can have mine!
His words seemed to have provoked some kind of scandalized reaction among the Elders. They were all whispering together and he caught several phrases.
“Never been done…”
“Against the rules?”
“I don’t think so…”
Finally the Elder with the deep voice spoke to him.
“Very well—it’s never been done before but there is nothing in our rules that states that a husband may not be punished in place of his wayward wife. But are you certain you wish to do this, Brother Severith? We willnotgo easy on you!”
“All I know is that you’re not touching Mia—if you try, youdie,”Sev growled. “You want to cane someone? Fine—you can cane me. But if a single one of you bastards lays a hand on her, I’ll take you down. You might blast me full of holes, but before I go down, somebody’s losing their fucking head! And I mean thatliterally.”
He bared his teeth, which had sharpened into fangs due to the Rage that was still hovering just in the back of his mind and several of the Elders murmured and backed away from him.
But the Elder with the deep voice seemed determined thatsomeonewould be punished.
“Very well—she will not be touched. Jonash—bring me the cane. Methusum, wheel in the caning post.”
“And turn that off,” Sev snarled, nodding at the screen as the Elders rushed to obey their leader’s demands. “That was supposed to beprivate—you had no right to violate Mia’s privacy and watch it without her ‘knowledge or consent!’”
If it annoyed them when he threw their words back at them, Sev couldn’t tell. Their faces were all still hidden by the hoods.
Fucking cowards,he thought contemptuously as he watched them set up the stage for the next act in their sick little play. The images of Mia were finally—mercifully—turned off and the screen was blank once more. The chairs were cleared away and a tall post was placed in center stage and locked in place. Sev noticed there were iron manacles near the top clearly meant for restraining someone. To one side of it stood their Spiritual Advisor, Brother Jonash, holding a long, thick wooden cane. Its lower length was stained an ominous dark red.
“All right,” the Elder with the deep voice boomed, when everything was in readiness. “It’s time for the caning. In light of the crime, I believe each of us should deliver a blow and let it be the hardest and heaviest blow you can lay, Brothers. A great crime has been committed—the marks of it should never fade.”
“Time to go.” One of the Elders pulled at Sev’s arm but suddenly Mia was there, standing in front of him again, tears standing in her clear gray eyes.
“No,” she whispered fiercely, shaking her head. “No, Sev—I won’t let you take this beating for me.”
She was already unbuttoning his white shirt—which fell almost to her knees—as though she was determined to bare herself for the punishment. Sev put his hands over her, stopping her trembling fingers.
“Baby,no,”he said earnestly. “There’s no way I’m letting them beat you. You’re too little—too fragile. I can take it a lot better than you.”
Mia shook her head.
“It’smypunishment,” she told him. “And I…Ideserveit. I did what they said I did—I really was bad…and…anddirty.” As she spoke the words, her eyes overflowed and the tears slid down her flushed cheeks.
Sev thought his heart would burst.
“Baby girl, how can you say that—how can you eventhinkit?” he asked her. “These people are crazy—fucked up in the head! I wouldn’t put up with their bullshit if they didn’t have blasters, but since they do and they want to hit someone, it’s going to bemethey hit—not you.Neveryou, baby.”
“But—” she started to protest again.
“Stand at the edge of the stage and turn around—don’t look,” Sev directed her. “It’ll be over soon and then we’ll get out the fuck of here.”
He hoped, anyway. He didn’t know if the Elders had any other form of punishment planned, but if they did, he wanted to get Mia to safety first. He kissed Mia on the forehead and pushed his partner gently towards the edge of the stage, hoping she would obey his instructions. Then he allowed the robed and hooded Elders to lead him to the whipping post.
What else could he do?
FORTY-NINE
MIA
To Mia it seemed like the nightmare would never end. First she’d been stripped naked and accused—forced to relive her past. And then Sev had seen her shame too. It made her cringe to think that he’d witnessed the images of her touching herself intimately in the bathroom. But things kept getting worse and worse—now he was going to be whipped forhersins. Not just whipped butcaned.It wasn’t fair!
