Syn came to stand to my side and leaned down so his mouth was at my ear. “Now, I can hold you down for this, but I’d like for you to submit to your punishment as an example to the rest over there.” He spoke so that only I could hear his words. “If I have to make you take it, then you’ll watch as each girl takes a turn right here where you kneel now and they’ll all know whose fault it was. Understand?”
“I’ve never… no one has… please don’t do this. I’m sorry.” My pleading embarrassed me, but for the moment, fear overrode pride.
He smiled. “Shh. I had the boys peel the branches for you.”
Peel the branches? What did that mean?
Syn placed a hand at my neck and I watched Gabriel step forward and take the birch from the soldier before coming to stand at my side. I looked up at Gabriel.
“I think you chose wrong,” he said before turning his attention to the branches, rearranging them, pulling one from the bunch and discarding it after finding a bump.
Again, just as the night before, I’d hoped he would show mercy. And again, I was disappointed.
Gabriel nodded to his brother who pushed me forward.
“Bend down, hands on the ground, ass pushed out for my brother to whip,” Syn said.
“Please don’t!” I fought him, trying to free myself, but he only squeezed my neck harder. “I didn’t know. I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!”
“Take it easy, brother,” Gabriel said, intervening. “She’s scared.”
It took a moment, but Syn released me and took a step back. “Fine.”
Gabriel turned to me. “Evangeline,” he said, using my full name, imploring me with his eyes to look at him while mine brimmed with tears. “You’re going to be punished. How you choose for that to happen is up to you. I realize you’re afraid. You don’t know us, you’ve been taken from your home, your family perhaps, but this is your new life. The sooner you understand that, the better off you’ll be. You will obey Syn. You will obey me, and you will obey whichever master who buys you.”
“Buys me?” Tears streamed free from my eyes now.
Gabriel brought a hand to the back of my head and caressed my hair. It was the most tender, most gentle touch I’d ever felt, and in that moment, I trusted him. My brain screamed at the stupidity of that trust, but my gut said yes.
“Shh now. Let’s take it one step at a time. I can’t let you off the hook — it wouldn’t set a good example — but if you’re a good and obedient girl, I’ll see about getting you some ointment after your whipping. Understand?”
He was still caressing me and I sniffled loudly, wiping tears away with the backs of both hands.
“Now, I need you to bend down and put your hands on the ground. You’ll need to do that to brace yourself so you don’t fall forward when I strike. Can you do that for me? For the others so they don’t find themselves in this same predicament?”
I tasted my own blood as my teeth worked my lip, but I nodded.#p#分页标题#e#
“Good girl,” he said. “I’ll even help you down.”
The stump was low enough that I wasn’t quite upside down, but high enough so that I wouldn’t have been able to do it on my own. With Gabriel’s help, my hands were flat on the ground and my bottom raised up high, all of me exposed to whoever stood behind me.
“I’ll give you an even dozen, Evangeline. Be good now.”
Not a moment passed between his words and the first stroke. I thought I’d die when it landed, the ten or so twigs bundled together biting into me as one, covering the whole surface of my bottom, feeling like ten separate lashes. I didn’t make a sound louder than a gasp at the first one, but the second had me crying out and those cries only grew worse as Gabriel punished me. No one spoke. In fact, the only sounds were those of the birch striking, of Gabriel’s breathing as he laid on stroke after stroke, of the weeping of the girls forced to watch me being made an example of.
“Half way,” he said.
Half way. I was going to die. It was impossible to hold my position. I felt a hand at my low back, pressing on it, steadying me while at the same time, forcing my bottom higher. But that hand also rubbed a slow circle, and somehow reassured, and although I took the next six strokes without any grace, I managed to remain in position. No one else would have to endure this because of me. I would take it. I would take the punishment so no one else would have to.
When it was over, two sets of hands lifted me back up to my knees, and with an arm around my waist, Gabriel hauled me to my feet. I wept as he held me with one arm, supporting me fully, allowing me to hide my face in his chest.