Serenah's anxiety rose as they neared the final mile of the drive home. She could feel it. A malevolent pressure tingling through her senses. Her heart raced. Amanah was up to something. Her erratic twin sense was working overtime tonight.
Normally, she couldn't read her sister because Amanah kept a tight lid on their bond. Serenah didn't do it as much as her twin, which was why Amanah often outmaneuvered her. Tonight, though, her twin sense was open. She was getting way more than she's ever had in the past.
Was Amanah so agitated that she'd lost control? Or was this a ploy to lower Serenah's defenses? Nothing could be counted out when it came to her sister's machinations. A second of inattentiveness around her sister always spelled disaster for Serenah.
"Serenah?"
Alastar's voice pulled her from her spinning thoughts.
"Yes?"
"We're home."
She froze, her eyes widening. When had they pulled into the garage? She gulped. She spotted one of her father's guards standing at the entrance. Her heart raced. Dread rose.
No, she had to remain calm. Maybe it wouldn't be too bad if she kept her head down and acted meekly. She prayed that she would come out of this moment without too much damage.
She unbuckled her seatbelt and got out. Head held high, she walked to the guard. She saw surprise flicker in his eyes before he opened the door and escorted her to her father's office.
Serenah walked inside, noting the positions of her family. Amanah sat on the couch, sipping tea, a smirk gracing her face. Her father stood near the window, his back to her, clearly dismissive of her presence. It stung. It shouldn't, but it did.
It also let her know that her hope for this confrontation to be less painful than the past was in vain. She was going to bleed. She felt it with a certainty born of other such visits to her father's office.
She spoke calmly, even though her heart was anything but. "You asked to see me, Your Majesty?"
She kept her eyes on her father. She felt Amanah's predatory gaze raking over her. She ignored it while resisting the urge to flee this room and her family's desire to hurt her.
Slowly, he turned, his expression killing any thoughts of a light punishment. Yep, this was going to be bad.
"I don't know how I came to have such a stupid daughter."
His words stabbed her. She wasn't stupid. Why did he always say such things?
"My orders are absolute, yet you seem to think you can ignore them, behaving however you desire."
His accusation pricked her anger. Anger at her sister's lies, anger at her father's delusions, and hatred. They were always falsely accusing her of things. If she actually did even a fraction of those things, she'd have been dead a long time ago.
She didn't speak. Anything she said would be misconstrued and turned into a weapon to trap her. Silence was better.
"I told you, Serenah, that you were not to get in your sister's way. That human is meant for your sister. He is not yours and never will be yours."
Serenah's heart squeezed in distress at his words. She knew that Romeo didn't care about her father's edicts. That he only loved her, not her sister. It didn't lessen the impact of her father's words. Her father had controlled her life since childhood, and her fear of his swift retributions was deeply ingrained in her.
In the past, she chose the coward's way to survive court politics and her sister's constant threats. Serenah wanted to live peacefully, using her healing abilities for others. Neither her father nor her sister wanted her happiness. No, they wanted her fear and pain.
Finding Romeo, her fated mate, was a blessing and a curse. For the first time in her life, she had someone who loved her unconditionally, no strings attached. She decided to fight for her fated one. She vowed not to lose something so precious. Her family kept trying to take it from her. Serenah was tiring. The constant fight to guard her bond and fate was eating away at her determination.
Her roiling thoughts came to a screeching halt when she saw movement from the corner of her eye. Amanah was standing. She flinched and backed up, her wary gaze on her sister, who stalked toward her, eyes gleaming with violence.
"Father," Amanah said, her tone sugary sweet. "My twin is hardheaded. She doesn't understand words. Actions work better."
Serenah gasped. Amanah was trying to get her hurt! Fear made her snap, "I understand just fine, Amanah!"
Amanah paused, eyes narrowing. Then she grinned, and Serenah realized, too late, the trap she'd fallen into.
The temperature in the room dropped. Her gaze whipped to her father's figure. His glare froze her in place.
"You dare raise your voice at the crown princess?"
"No, I-I…," stammered Serenah. She paled, terror stealing her words. Her father had picked up his cane from the table. He caressed it, eyes fixed on her.
"The humans have an expression, 'spare the rod, spoil the child.' You are living proof of what happens when discipline is not maintained. Time I did something about it," he drawled.
Serenah bolted for the door. She had to escape! In her haste, she forgot her sister's nearness. She took only a step to flee when Amanah tackled her to the ground.
The wind was knocked out of her, but it was long enough for her sister to pin her. Serenah bucked, trying to dislodge Amanah.
"No! No! Get off me!" she hollered.
Amanah's response was to swiftly roll Serenah onto her back and slap her hard enough to see stars. Tears of pain instantly flowed down Serenah's face.
She begged, "Stop, please!"
Amanah laughed. "No, little sister, bad children should bleed for their mistakes."
Serenah tried one last time to get her twin off her and failed. Amanah smirked, pulled her arm back, and punched Serenah in the stomach, knocking the breath out of her.
Wheezing, Serenah curled into a ball, her stomach on fire from the pain. Her father reached them then.
"Amanah, bare her back," he ordered.
"Gladly," replied Amanah gleefully.
She grabbed the back of Serenah's dress and, with a quick jerk of her hands, ripped the dress apart, revealing Serenah's scarred back. She shifted position so that she could pin Serenah's shoulders to the floor.
Serenah's breath returned, and she struggled against her sister's inhuman strength. She panted hard, fear spiking in her heart. Over the pounding of her heart, her father's cold, indifferent voice filled the air.
"Because you can't seem to remember my orders, starting tomorrow, you will stay home from school for two weeks."
"No," she moaned in horror. Not to be allowed to go to school would break her.
"You will receive twenty lashes daily during that time. You will learn your place and remember my orders."
She whimpered her despair.
"Now, let's begin."
She heard the swish of the cane in the air before it landed heavily across her back, pulling a scream from her. Her sister's cackling laugh filled the air in between the cane's rain of blows, Serenah's agonized screams, and the thundering of Serenah's heart.
~***~
Amanah stared down at her unconscious twin. She picked up Serenah's clutch and pulled out her phone. She tried to unlock it but failed. She cursed the fact that they were fraternal twins. She glared at the phone, then at her sister, before squeezing the phone so hard it shattered, breaking into a myriad of pieces in her hand.
Satisfied, she dropped the pieces on her sister's unconscious form. She turned to their father.
"Did you really mean it when you said she's going to be whipped daily for two weeks?"
"I do not say things I don't mean."
"Of course, Father. Just making sure. Oh," she tapped her finger against her lips. "Doesn't this mean she'll lose her internship for chronic absences?"
"Don't worry about that, my beloved daughter. I will take care of it tomorrow."
"I understand. Useless trash needs to be kept in its place, out of sight and out of mind," Amanah said, throwing a contemptuous glance in Serenah's direction.
"Yes, that is the correct way of power," her father agreed. "Go rest, my daughter. I have the trash removed."
Amanah grinned. She paused by Serenah's body and smirked. She had won this round. Now, to capitalize on this opportunity. Happy with her victory, she hummed a hymn of victory as she left the office.