Beyond Her Beauty

CHAPTER 13 (Begging √)

We had been given front-row seats for apparent reason—to show us what would happen if we made such a stupid mistake—but from here, not more than twenty feet from the platform, I could see and hear everything that really mattered to me.

Liezel was staring at Carter, and he was looking right back at her, craning his neck to do so. The fear was unmistakable, but there was also this look on her face, as if she was trying to reassure him that he was worth all this.

Liezel never shared their relationship with me.

“I love you, Liezel,” he called to her. It was barely audible over the crowd, but it was there. “We’re going to be okay. It’ll be okay, I promise.”

Liezel never shared about her relationship to him. I was disappointed in her because she didn't tell me about him. I do believe that she's my long lost sister. Mom and Dad found her at the park a few weeks ago after she lost. It is impossible that she's not my sister Liezel. She has the same face, same body, same voice.

Liezel couldn’t speak in her fear, but she nodded back at him. In that moment, all I could think of was how beautiful she looked. Her golden hair was messy and her dress is totally a disaster, and she’d lost her shoes at some point; but, my God, she looked so radiant.

“Liezel Swift and Carter Wink, you are both hereby stripped of your castes. You are the lowest of the low. You are Eights!”

The crowd cheered, which seemed wrong. Weren’t there any Eights standing here who hated being referred to that way?

“And to inflict upon you the shame and pain you have brought on His Majesty, you will be publicly Married with fifteen strikes. May your scars remind you of your many sins!”

Scarifying? What did that even mean?

My answer came a second later. The two masked men who had bound Carter and Liezel pulled long rods out of a bucket of water. They swiped them in the air a few times, testing them out, and I could hear the sticks whistling as they cut at the air. The crowd applauded this warm-up with the same frenzy and adoration they had just given the Selected.

In a few seconds, Carter’s backside would be humiliatingly struck, and Liezel’s precious hands …

“No!” I cried. “No! No! NO! PLEASE STOP THEM!”

“I think I’m going to be sick,” Natalie whispered as Elise made a weak moan into her guard’s shoulder. But nothing stopped.

I stood up and lunged toward Kaden’s seat, falling over my father’s lap.

“Kaden! Kaden, stop this! Please! I'm begging you!”

“You have to sit down, miss,” my guard said, trying to wrangle me back into my chair.

“Kaden, I beg you, please!”

“It’s not safe, miss!”

“Get off me!” I yelled at my guard, kicking him as hard as I could. Try as I may, he held on tight.

“Lily, please sit down!” my mother urged. What's wrong with mom. I mean that's Liezel! Her daughter! My sister!

"Mom!? Seriously?"

Mom faced me. "She's not you sister, I'm going to tell you everything after this…"

I feel so confused. But still, even she's not my sister. I still love her! I still wanted to save her.

"But still! You love Liezel right? She's been with us! Do something! Mom! Please!”

She just ignored me but I saw the little tears burst out at the end of her eyes.

“One!” cried the man on the stage, and I saw the cMarie fall on Liezel’s hands.

She let out the most pathetic whimper, like a dog that had been kicked. Carter made no sound.

“Kaden! Kaden!” I yelled. “Stop it! Stop it, please!”

He heard me; I knew he did. I saw him slowly close his eyes and swallow one time, as if he could push the sound out of his head.

“Two!”

Liezel’s cry was pure anguish. I couldn’t imagine her pain—and there were still thirteen more strikes to go. I want to run! Run and save her.

“Lily, sit!” Mom insisted. May was between her and Dad, her face averted, her cries almost as pained as Liezel’s.

“Three!”

I looked at the two old citizen crying while looking at Liezel

"Liezel! Stop it! Please stop doing this to my daughter!" she yelled.

I was shocked. Daughter? Daughter?

An old Lady buried her head in her hands, and an old man's arms wrapped around her, as if he could protect her from everything they were losing at that moment.

“Let me go!” I yelled at my guard to no avail. “Kaden!” I screamed. My tears were blurring my vision, but I could see him enough to know he’d heard me.

I looked at the other girls. Shouldn’t we do something? Some appeared to be crying, too. Elise was bent over, a palm pressed to her forehead, looking as if she might pass out. No one seemed angry though. Shouldn’t they be?

“Five!”

The sound of Liezel’s shrieks would haunt me for the rest of my life. I’d never heard anything like it. Or the sickening echo of the crowd cheering it on, as if this was merely entertainment. Or Kaden’s silence, allowing this to happen. Or the crying of the girls around me, accepting it.

The only thing that gave me any sort of hope was Carter. Even though he was sweating from the trauma and shaking with pain, he managed to pant out comforting words to Liezel.

“It’ll be … over soon,” he managed.

“Six!”

“Love … you,” he stammered.

I hope Liezen just quit being elite! This is cruelty!

I couldn’t handle this. I tried to claw at my guard, but his thick sleeves protected him. I shrieked as he gripped me tighter.

“Get your hands off my daughter!” Dad yelled, pulling the guard’s arms. With that space, I wiggled myself until I was facing him and thrust my knee up as hard as I could.

He let out a muffled cry and fell back, my dad catching him on the way down.

I hopped over the railing, clumsy in my dress and heeled shoes. “Liezel! Liezel!” I screamed, running as quickly as I could. I almost got to the steps; but two guards caught up with me, and that was a fight I couldn’t win.

From the angle behind the stage, I saw that they’d exposed Carter’s backside, and his skin was already torn, pieces hanging sickeningly. Blood was trickling down, ruining what used to be his dress pants. I couldn’t imagine the state of Liezel’s hands.

The thought sent me into an even deeper hysteria. I screamed and kicked at the guards, but all that accomplished was the loss of one of my shoes.

I was dragged inside as the man cried out for the next strike, and I didn’t know whether to be grateful or ashamed. On the one hand, I didn’t have to see it all; on the other, I felt like I’d abandoned Liezel in the worst possible moment of her life.

If I had been a true sister, wouldn’t I have done better than that?

“Liezel!” I screamed. “Liezel, I’m sorry!” But the crowd was so frenzied, and she was crying so much, I didn’t think she heard me.

I thrashed and shrieked all the way back. The guards had to hold me so tightly that I knew I’d be covered in bruises later, but I didn’t care. I had to fight.

“Where’s her room?” I heard one ask, and twisted to see a maid walking down the hall. I didn’t recognize her, but she clearly knew me. She escorted the guards to my door. I heard my maids shouting in protest at the way I was being handled.

“Calm down, miss; that’s no way to behave,” a guard said with a grunt as they threw me onto my bed.

“Get the hell out of my room!”

My maids, all of them in tears, rushed over to me. Mary started trying to get the dirt from my fall off my dress, but I slapped her hands away. They knew. They knew, and they didn’t warn me.