The Willbreaker (Book 1) Read Free Page B

mask.
                  Corinne kept her eyes shut tight while the snipping began. When Princess wanted to cut a different area of her hair, he would grab her by the back of the neck, like a bad puppy, and force her head another direction so he could continue. She wept with her eyes tightly close, trying to keep it as much to herself as possible. The cutting of her hair lasted for an eternity, when at last, he released his grip on her neck with a shove. She glanced at the long strands of hair resting on her shoulders and covering the floor. A pout erupted from her mouth at the sight of all of her beautiful hair.
                  Long hair indicated position within the castle. Servants and maids could not have hair reach their shoulders. The higher one’s status in the castle, the longer they could grow it. She grew her hair out with permission after she established her status as an advancing illusionist. Now, only an uneven and patchy mess remained.
                  Princess returned from the table, a thick leather whip dragging behind him. She followed the body of the whip down to the end of its tail, where a handful of leather strips dragged across the floor. Corinne’s eyes shot open with fear; Lash Lords fought battles with whips, although their battle whips had interlocking metal links that ended in a saw-like blade. The control and power they had over any whip unrivaled anything she had ever seen. Corinne even heard that a Lash Lord could split a blade of grass held from a man’s teeth from across the room, and never once cut his face. Her expression conveyed the raw terror she felt.
                  With a quick jerk of his arm, the whips tail became airborne, cracking a horrific noise as it reached its peak into the air. Corinne backed up as far as she could from him until the shackles held her tight. Princess's ice-blue eyes moved up from jagged holes and stared at her. She swore he smiled underneath that zipper. Princess was in his element. This is what he did best and he loved it. With a flash of his left hand to his side, Corinne jolted hard as the crack of the leather whip made her head flail backwards. Splitting pain blazed across her lower lip as warmth flowed down her chin. Corinne wailed out in pain.
                  Princess circled his trembling target, his leather whip dragging behind him. He became a predator seeking out his prey. Corinne felt vulnerable. Her sides, legs, back and stomach were completely unprotected; she wanted to protect them with her arms. The sound of a crack sent unbelievable pain to her tender left side, below her ribs. She screamed out in shock. Blood seeped into her dress where the end of the whip hit her. Before she recovered from the first hit, the whip struck her right side, in the same spot as her left. She screamed out again, this time releasing a wave of tears and cries. She could not see Princess behind her, as another blood-drawing lashing tore at her right shoulder blade. Corinne’s body reacted to the pain, stripping her of her breath. She heard the unzipping of a zipper.
                  “Corinne Allenmay, you have broken a law set forth by our Mother and Provider, Empress Aurora.”
                  Bleeding agony shot across the flat of her back. Corinne went limp from the pain, crying without restraint.
                  “Do you deny the accusation that you have broken the law? That you have been intimate with a man, against the orders of She who wishes to protect you?”
                  Corinne cried and cried, and with a sniff, she quietly said “No. I do not deny this." She knew that if she did not tell the truth or delayed her answer to Princess, she would be tortured to death for not giving herself to Empress Aurora’s will. That is how she worked.
                  Agony pulsed and throbbed throughout her entire body. Her body shook and quivered