Framed
1257 Words
IRIS POV
The world cracked open beneath my feet, swallowing me whole. The cold stone of the courtyard felt like ice against my skin, but it was nothing compared to the absolute frost expanding in my chest.
Every eye was pinned to me, burning with an unadulterated hatred that felt heavy enough to crush my bones.
“I didn’t know how it got there!”
The words tumbled out of my mouth in a frantic, desperate rush, my voice sounding incredibly small and hollow in the open air. My hands were shaking so violently that I could barely keep my balance.
"I swear on the Moon Goddess, I didn't take it! Someone put it the–“
Before the final word could even leave my lips, a sharp, whistling sound sliced through the air.
SPLAT.
The head maid's hand flew across the space between us, and a brutal slap hit my face.
The sheer force of the blow snapped my head sharply to the side, sending a violent jolt of pain straight down my neck. I tasted blood right away. The inside of my cheek got cut by my teeth. My eyes went blurry. Dark spots flashed in front of me.
“Lies! Did the ring walk up to your bed! You are not only a murderer but a thief.”
The words stung my heart. The accusation ripped through my chest like a physical blade, twisting deep inside my ribs until I could barely draw oxygen.
A murderer. A thief. They were stamping the crimes of my bloodline onto my skin, burying me under the weight of sins I hadn't committed. The murmurs around the courtyard swelled into a deafening roar of disgust, the other maids nodding along with the old woman's poisonous words.
Panic seized my throat, tight and suffocating. I couldn't breathe. I needed someone to prove my innocence.
“Mira can prove I’m not lying, we both went to clean the Alpha manor.”
My voice cracked, thick with unshed tears as I turned my head frantically, searching the crowd. I looked back at Mira.
She was standing exactly where she had been a moment ago, her arms crossed over her stomach, her face perfectly composed.
“Mira—”
I choked out her name, begging her with my eyes to step forward, to speak the truth and break this suffocating trap.
Her head shook, and I couldn’t see disbelief in her eyes. There was no shock on her face. There was no terror for her friend. Instead, her features hardened into a cold mask that made my blood run entirely to ice.
“Iris, why did you do it?”
“What?” The words escaped my bleeding lips in a breathless gasp. My heart completely stopped beating.
“I clearly warned you yesterday to not touch the ring.”
The world seemed to tilt on its axis. The air vanished from the courtyard, leaving me drowning in pure horror.
My brain completely short-circuited, replaying her words over and over again, trying to force them to make sense.
She was framing me. The only person who had shown me kindness was pushing me to hell.
No! No!
“Stop lying!“ I yelled.
The scream tore from the very depths of my soul, raw and agonizing, scraping against my throat until it ran hoarse.
"You know that's a lie! I never saw the ring! You were the one who told me to go to the bedroom! Mira, why are you doing this to me?!"
The head maid smiled smugly, showing her yellow teeth. She didn’t let me speak. She turned to the guards standing behind her.
"Seize the thieving rat. Let's see how loud she screams when the whip c***k her skin."
Tears filled my eyes as I looked at Mira. Why did she betray me?
Two massive guards lunged forward. Their heavy, calloused hands clamped down on my arms with bruising force, twisting my wrists behind my back until my shoulders popped in protest.
I was dragged to a wide pole in the courtyard and my hand was chained against it.
The heavy iron cuffs bit viciously into my skin, cold and unyielding, locking my wrists securely behind the thick, weathered wood of the execution post.
The rough bark scraped against my forehead as they forced my chest flush against the pillar. I could hear the heavy clinking of the chains padlock snapping shut, and sealing my fate.
Everyone gathered, looking at me in disgust. The entire servant staff, the low-ranking warriors, the cooks, and the stable hands formed a tight, suffocating circle around the platform.
They spat on the gravel, their eyes filled with a lethal combination of disgust and hatred for the captive girl.
Through the blur of my tears, my gaze swept across the crowd one last time, desperately searching for a shred of remorse. Finally, my eyes landed on a familiar figure standing near the edge of the stone steps.
I saw Mira eyes gleam in satisfaction. She was thoroughly enjoying the sight of me chained.
The head maid stepped up onto the wooden platform, her boots creaking heavily against the planks. In her right hand, she uncoiled a long, thick leather whip.
The dark hide caught the morning light, supple and heavy, ending in multiple braided tips designed to tear flesh from bone.
"Let this be a lesson to all!" the head maid bellowed, her voice echoing off the stone walls of the manor. She raised the whip high above her shoulder, her old muscles tensing with practiced cruelty. "For the crime of grand theft against the Alpha, the punishment is thirty lashes!"
My breath hitched. I squeezed my eyes shut, pressing my face hard against the pole, my fingernails digging into the wood until they split.
Pheeww—
The whip sliced through the air with a terrifying, high-pitched whistle.
CRACK!
An explosion of white-hot agony erupted across my upper body. The sheer force of the impact tore the back of my cloth, leaving a large mark that immediately began to weep with heat.
The thin fabric of my maid's uniform was shredded into bloody ribbons as the leather teeth cut directly into my flesh.
I screamed as the whip kept touching me.
My back felt like it had been set on fire, bathed in liquid flame that sank deep into my muscles. Every strike broke the skin further, overlapping the previous wounds, sending waves of agonizing shock straight up my spine and into my skull.
CRACK!
Another strike descended, ripping across my shoulder blades. My body violently jerked against the iron chains, the metal links rattling frantically against the pole as I tried to pull away from the source of the pain. But there was nowhere to go. I was trapped, pinned to the wood, completely exposed to the malice of the pack.
This is so unfair!
My mind screamed through the blinding haze of pain. I hadn't done anything. I had only tried to clean, to survive, to keep my head down.
Blood began to trickle down my lower back, soaking into the remains of my skirt. My knees buckled beneath me, my legs turning to water as the sheer agony threatened to drag me into unconsciousness. The only thing keeping me upright was the heavy iron chains holding my wrists to the pole.
"Ten!" the head maid counted, her voice booming over my ragged, breathless sobbing. She pulled the whip back once more, the leather now glistening dark and wet in the sunlight.
- Writer
