The Lunar Queen (Lyric and Mason) novel Chapter 53

Chapter 53

When consciousness finally claws its way back, my arms ache like fire, wrists bound high above me in thick silver chains that bite into my skin. The metal sears where it touches, a constant burn that drains my strength, but it’s not as agonizing as it should be. I blink against the dim light, taking in the grim room around me-damp wooden walls slick with mold, the air thick with the smell of rust and decay. Flickering shadows from a single bare bulb overhead cast everything in a sickly yellow glow. Blacked-out windows, no escape. Just silence, broken only by the distant drip of water somewhere in the dark.

Time stretches into a hazy blur, minutes or hours, I can’t tell. My body hangs limp, muscles screaming from the strain. Then, murmurs filter down from outside the door, followed by heavy footsteps thudding on wooden floors to my right./My heart pounds as Summer walks in, flanked by her sneering crony, Savannah, and with three burly pack warriors bringing up the rear. Their eyes gleam with malice in the low light.

‘Look at little miss perfect,’ Savannah sneers, her voice dripping venom as she circles me like a vulture.

‘Not looking so perfect now,’ Summer chimes in, her laugh sharp and cruel.

I lift my head weakly, meeting Summer’s cold stare. ‘Summer, why are you doing this? I stayed away from him like you said. My

voice comes out hoarse, barely above a whisper.

She steps closer, her face twisted in rage. She slaps me across the face, “i saw the picture Lyric” she spits “I saw you kissing him,

how is that you staying away from him” she snarls

‘Please, just let me go,’ I beg, my throat raw. ‘You can stop this now. I’ll leave, and I won’t be a problem anymore.”

‘No!’ she snaps, her eyes flashing. “That is not enough!’ She screams the last words, spittle flying. Then, calmer but no less vicious,

“you need to learn and so does he, nobody is good enough for him except me” she says. She nods to the warriors “do it”

Two of the men advance, their boots scraping the filthy floor. Rough hands grab at my clothes, knives flashing as they slice through

fabric with deliberate slowness. My shirt rips away first, then my pants, leaving me stripped bare, exposed under their hungry gazes.

Chills race across my skin, not from the cold, but from the way they rake their eyes over my naked body-breasts heaving with

panicked breaths, thighs pressed together in futile modesty. Revulsion twists in my gut, making my stomach churn.

‘Please, sto- The plea dies on my lips as a sharp slap cracks across my face, snapping my head to the side, My cheek burns, tasting

blood where my lip splits.

‘Shut up,’ Summer spits, her breath hot and foul against my ear.

She gestures again, and one warrior uncoils a silver-tipped whip from his belt. The first strike lands across my back with a vicious

crack, the metal lashes tearing into flesh like fire. I arch against the chains, a strangled cry ripping from my throat. The second

follows, slicing across my shoulders, blood welling hot and immediate. They don’t stop-three, four, five lashes raining down, each

one carving deeper welts that throb with unholy agony. By the seventh, my voice is gone, reduced to ragged gasps as my body

swings from the impacts, skin splitting open in raw, weeping lines.

Savannah steps forward then, a silver knife glinting in her grip. She drags the blade down my arm first, slow and deliberate, parting

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Chapter 53

skin from wrist to elbow in a burning trail. Blood streams down, warm and sticky, pooling on the floor. She moves to my legs next. carving long gashes along my thighs and calves, each cut drawing fresh screams that echo off the walls. ‘Please! I beg through the haze of pain, tears streaming down my face.

This torment drags on for hours, the basement filling with the coppery scent of my blood. They pour wolfsbane into the wounds- vials of the acrid liquid tipped over my arms and legs, seeping into the cuts like liquid flame. It ignites every nerve, a blood-curdling scream tearing from my chest as my body convulses, muscles seizing in white-hot torment. I thrash against the chains, vision

blurring, but they just laugh.

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