Javier was now standing in front of the hearth watching the fire while humming softly. After Yasmin's bold statement he didn't say anything more, just went over to the hearth to watch the servants as they fed it with fire wood. It was now blazing with a lively dance as if taunting Yasmin of her impending doom.
Javier soon left his spot near the fireplace and came back over to where Yasmin was. He stopped by a wooden table that was near her to put on a pair of brown leather gloves. Yasmin was just noticing the table since it wasn't directly in her line of sight and she had to strain her neck to get a decent view of it. What she saw made her heart lurch, the panic that was previously dulled by her rage immediately came back in full swing.
"Hey…" she started with a trembling voice, "is this a branding or a torture chamber?"
Lord Javier looked up to meet her eyes before looking back to the table, he trailed his leather cladded fingers over each utensil designed to cause pain before stopping and picking up one. Some silver shears that glistened under the light from the fire.
"Well, it depends on the person." He spoke as he made his way towards Yasmin. He stopped at her side, away from her eyesight. "But, in your case–" Yasmin flinched at the touch of cold metal pressed against her neck, her body immediately going tense– "I'd say it's gonna be a little bit of both." The sound of fabric being cut through echoed loudly in the air, soon Yasmin felt warm air kissing the skin of her back. It was then that she realised what happened.
"Why….why are you undressing me!?" Yasmin yelled.
"How else I'm I supposed to brand you? Though, it was quite shameful of me to destroy the royal colour; the symbol of the goddess wisteria."
With a small sigh he placed back the shears in there spot on the table, "I'd best not let the marquess find out about this."
'That's what you're worried about, you damn bastard!'
"Now then!" Javier clapped with an excited grin, "Let's get to it shall we."
Javier went over to the fireplace to pick up something that was resting within the flames, a branding rod. Holding it carefully he made his way back over to Yasmin with a grin on his face and his eyes curved up in glee.
A feeling that Yasmin wasn't that well acquainted with washed over her in waves. The crippling feeling of fear, the desperate need to find a solution; to get back control, the vulnerability and resignation of knowing that no matter what you do ... .the results have already been decided. That dreadful feeling of helplessness. She had only felt this way once in her life and that incident had prompted her father into getting her to take self defence classes as well as kickboxing. She watched wide eyed and with shaky breaths as Javier came closer to her, her body moving on its own to desperately escape the restraints and her mind working overtime to try and reassure her.
'It wasn't real'
'It can't be real'
'Calm down, none of this is re– but what if it was?'
As if given a revelation, all of Yasmin's thoughts froze.
'What if it was real?'
The world has so many unknown mysteries, though scientists always seem to find a reason and a sensible explanation for it. Still, there's so many things that human beings haven't managed to figure out, so many unexplained phenomenons…. Vampires, werewolves, mermaids, harpies– all of those myths and legends must have originated from somewhere. Is it really that impossible to believe that a person could just magically be transmigrated into a fictional world?
Yasmin was trying to come to terms with her inconceivable situation but the logical side of her brain couldn't comprehend.
She shook her head from side to side, 'It can't, it just can't', it wouldn't make sens–"
"You know," Yasmin snapped back into focus at Javier's voice, "normally I'd give my servants some anaesthetic to ease some of the pain but, this is a punishment for you little one. You've disrespected me more than once and I had promised to discipline you myself."
He was standing beside Yasmin now, once again out her sight, "I'd also normally gagged my servants to prevent them from biting their tongues by accident but," he trailed a hand gently across Yasmin's upper back before adding pressure to hold her in place,"I want to hear you scream."
"Wai–" before the words could fully leave her mouth a piercing scream was forced out of Yasmin and echoed around the room as Javier firmly pressed the branding rod against one of Yasmin's shoulders. The pain was immediate and so was her tears. Her body flinched violently against the restraints, the harsh movements causing the leather to rub against her skin; peeling it and even drawing blood.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Yasmin felt a sharp pain unlike no other, the heat was intense and she swore she could hear her flesh sizzling over her screams. The process itself wasn't long but the pain made it felt as if she was being burned for hours. Even after Lord Javier removed the rot, Yasmin still felt a searing, unrelenting burn and could even smell the scent of her flesh burning.
The pain was the last factor that convinced Yasmin that this was real.
'It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It fucking hurts! It hurts so much!'
"I'm sorryi'msorryi'msorryi'm so–" a choked sob cut off her words, "I won't….I won't do it again! I- I'll…change the ending so-so please–" Yasmin could barely form words, she could barely even breathe. Her shoulder felt as if it was on fire, the pain just kept getting worse and worse, and she felt as he she'll pass out any moment from the intensity.
"I…..wa…wanna…..go home…please… let me….go home…."
"Nar...ra….tor…..please…."
Her voice was becoming faint and her words were wheezing out and strained.
"Ah ah ah," Javier said, pressing down on the freshly burned skin, Yasmin cried out. "Who said you could go to sleep huh? We're not finished."
Yasmin made a sound akin to a dying animal. After experiencing that pain that felt as if her skin was melting off, she thought she would surely meet her maker. Even now it felt like a million fire ants were gwaning at her shoulder, the feeling was so unbearable she could barely breathe from the intensity. She had to force herself to concentrate on her breathing lest she passed out from lack of oxygen intake.
Javier walked back over to the table of…..'instruments' to place down the branding rot and to take up something else that Yasmin couldn't make out due to blurred vision. "Usually, this would have been done another day after the servant had rested and the brand was slightly healed but–" he tinkered a little with the thing in his hand, "As I mentioned before… this is a punishment,"
He strolled back over to Yasmin, stooping down a little to stare into her bloodshot eyes. His lips stretched into a malicious smile. "Therefore, I have no need to be considerate."