Melissa.
The first lash fell before I could fully brace for it.
There was no warning beyond the subtle shift of air behind me, no mercy in the pause. One second the night was heavy and still, the next it shattered.
The crack split through the darkness, sharp, violent, final.
Then came the pain.
It tore across my back in a blazing line of fire, so sudden and brutal that it stole the breath straight from my lungs. My body arched instinctively against the table, fingers curling hard into the rough wood beneath me. Splinters bit into my palms as my nails scraped for purchase.
A cry rose in my throat.
I swallowed it.
I would not give them that.
The second strike landed before the first had even faded, before my nerves could decide where one agony ended and the next began.
Another sear
