The wheel creaked as they strapped the girl to it, her limbs awkward and tense against the wooden structure. Her eyes, wide and glassy with terror, locked on the crowd as though begging for someone—anyone—to stop this madness.
But no one moved to help her. The air in the hall was heavy with silence, oppressive, and my pulse pounded in my ears. I could feel my heart hammering against my rib cage, each beat a little too fast, a little too frantic.
I clenched my fists against my thighs, trying to steady the shaking that had taken over my entire body. My fingers dug into the fabric of my dress, bunching it up beneath my palms. I was no stranger to brutality—being abused and sold by my stepfather had taught me that much—but this? This was something else. The casual way they paraded her out, t
