Lady Amanda
Lady Amanda, Chief Inquisitor of the Kingdom of Syera, had travelled all the way from the capital to hand deliver the letter of betrothal from the King and the boy's father to Edward Adeyemi, like some messenger. It was undeniable that there was nothing degrading about doing this, however she was of the belief that this task was one best suited for someone from the boy's family. She after all was the Chief Inquisitor, there were crimes dying to be solved, victims that needed closure, criminals to hang and criminal masterminds to torture, however she was here delivering a message with an extra mission given to her on the road; disciplining the wayward Prince.
She had an idea of why the King had wanted her to journey all the way from the capital to the Tower, and it was not just to deliver the letter, but to make it known to everyone in the Tower, and by extension the families of the Kingdom, that the King didn't really consider his son as anything worth taking note of. With that message being delivered efficiently, the disciplining of the Prince and putting him in his place, which was below the position of a slave, would well and truly damage the boy's mind as well as leave him open to anyone dying to cause as much physical damage to the boy as they could cause knowing very well that he could not defend himself with his magic or an army. It was bad enough that the kid knew that his own parents hated him so much they wished him dead, but to find out that he had been robbed of the only thing he could claim as his by right of birth, well, who knew what damage to the Prince's psyche that would cause if he was not killed first?
Of course she knew it was quite cruel to take out ones anger on the boy who had been born without magic through no fault of his own, but who was she to tell the king how to run his own household? Hell he could decide the following morning that he wanted Prince Dominic to be drawn and quartered until he could perform magic, and she would not bat an eye. It was not because she was unfeeling and uncaring about the boy's misfortune, on the contrary, she sympathized for the poor guy, however she would rather not be the first person to tell the King to calm down; if his wife was united with her husband in being unnecessarily cruel to their son, well who was she to convince the king otherwise?
Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the carriage and unto the cobblestone road that led to the Tower. The Tower was as menacing as one would probably imagine it to be. It was tall, dark and made it's voice known by simply being an imposing visage surrounded by a river that supplied the school with all it's water needs, from drinking to bathing and swimming; the heaven forbid someone to deep a finger into it.
"Lady Amanda" The Head Mistress of the Tower greeted from the gate as the Chief Inquisitor walked towards the gate with her trusted bodyguards by her sides. "Welcome back to the Tower."
"I am happy to be back." She replied with as much enthusiasm as she could fake. One of the downsides of being a Chief Inquisitor at age 29 was that everyone kept thinking in their minds that she had fucked her way to getting that position, the upside was that she was already a powerful woman without needing the help of any man to be her husband first, the downside was that no woman truly respected her and no man really wanted to be close to her unless if they wanted sex from her.
"The King told me why you are here." The woman began as she escorted Amanda into the Tower to meet her latest victim.
"The boys had a fight and he wants me to discipline them." Amanda replied as they both entered an elevator. That was the official word of course, seeing as the King had decided against spreading word of the betrothal, not until she had announced it in the presence of everyone in the Tower. The King feared that his daughter might kill the boy if it was known before it became official, almost as if making it official would protect the boy from the wrath of the Princess.
"Discipline him is more like it. The King hates the fact that Prince Dominic is in this school with the Saints, the fact he started a fight with his superior... that is just wrong on so many levels and deserves the stiffest punishments." The Head Mistress said with an arrogant know it all air that irked her. Unlike the rest of the kingdom that enjoyed seeing their Prince in pain and humiliation, Lady Amanda hated it and only gave out the pain when she had to not because she loved to.
"I agree." Amanda replied even though she did not agree one bit, but what could she even do? The entire nation would celebrate the day Prince Dominic died of some unfortunate accident or for some crime great enough to warrant his death. It was sad really that the boy had to suffer for something he had no hand in, this made her know without an iota of doubt that the boy would not be crowned King after his father; it seemed most likely that this Edward boy, whom the King loved very much, would inherit the throne by marrying the Princess Dominica. Situations like that made her hate the King, but what could she do other than her job? Also, she owed her present wealth and power to the King.
The walk across the hallway from the elevator was a short one given that the Prince whom she had come to meet was just getting out of an elevator and into the hallway with his sister stitched to his side like an extra limb. Looking at the twins who looked so happy in each others presence made her feel sorry for the sister who was forced everyday to endure the pain of student after student, naturally below her brother in station, mocking and playing wicked pranks on him. If she was not by his side, they could even go as far as becoming physically aggressive with him which had happened many times already, last night was just one of those rare times he fought back at being physically threatened.
"Prince Dominic." Lady Amanda began as she walked towards the Prince ignoring the other students tried to press themselves into the wall to avoid her path, parting the sea so to so to speak, giving her a clear path to the twin royals. "Do you know why I am here?"
"You forgot your shoe?" Dominic replied as he looked her in the eye, already dreading her presence.
"I wish it was because of something that unimpressive." She replied as she came to a stop in front of the two of them. "But as I am sure you know by now, it is not."
"You will not touch a hair on my brother's head." Dominica said as she stood in front of her brother; unfortunately this was not the first time the Princess of Syera had tried to protect her brother from bullies like the King and his cohorts as well as every student in the Tower, and she doubted this would be the last. Sadly regardless of her defiance or the Prince's smart retorts, the result would always be the same.
"Princess, let us not make a scene here. Your brother started a fight with the son of the Prime Minister, a grave mistake on his part and, has to pay for his crimes." She replied as she looked at the Princess in understanding, however she was given a task to carry out, a task she had no choice but to carry out.
"But Edward started the fight, he had called my brother the prince of Syera an abomination!" Princess Dominica protested in alarm.
Well, that must have been painful to hear from someone he was supposed to be politically above, but hey, life was a bitch. "Forgive me your highness, but orders are orders." She said as she looked at the Princess with a little shake of her head. "Come with me Prince Dominic."
The look on Dominic's face said everything about his life, he was quite resigned to his punishment as if he had known that this was coming ever since the night before. It was sad for someone of royal blood to be afraid of standing up for himself, but there was nothing anyone could do about it.
Turning around, they walked down a flight of stairs and into the general assembly room where announcements were made for all students to hear and follow or simply understand. It was too bad that the day was going to start terribly for the Prince, good thing he had his sister to get him back to his feet after one or two humiliating incidents like this one.
"Kneel." She said to the Prince the moment they arrived at the centre of the hall filled with students all eager to witness the Prince get disciplined once again. His reluctance was gone, in fact he was completely submissive to his fate and went on his knees the moment she had made the order. He was like a slave to her and that did not sit too well with her given that he was supposed to be above her, it was like a servant commanding her master to do as she commanded
Putting her hands together, she began the spell that would place him tightly on his knees, she after all would not want him fleeing from her presence when the pain came calling. Once she was done, she spread her hands forcing his hands to go wide as well making it seem as if he was been held tightly by two chains stuck to the opposite side of the room. "Begin."
Her two bodyguards whose speciality were in doling out pain, understood her command and drew out their belts which changed to long thorny whips of fire with a spell uttered under their breaths. Hands outstretched, they began to whip the prince over his clothes, on his chest and on his back.
The thorns and fire gave a different kind of pain, like a side effect much worse than the whips themselves. The whips stung and hurt as they should, but the thorns ensured the pain went below the skin and into the nerves protected by the skin, exposing the inner part of his body to be burnt by the fire ensuring no infection but also making sure there were scars to remind the Prince of the consequences of fighting back against his superior; basically every Jane and Joe that could perform even a candle lighting spell was considered to be above the Prince according to his father and the rest of the nation.
35 lashes later, the Prince could barely breath through the screams and pain that wracked through his body. The sight of him on his knees with blood stains all over his now naked chest and back with burn marks that seemed to cover every inch of his chest would make his father proud she suspected. No one liked seeing or hearing about his son's misfortune like the King himself.
"Let this be a reminder to you your highness; everyone you see around you is your superior, lay one hand on their hair and this will be repeated." She said as she dropped the spell that had been holding him up. The result was instantaneous as the Prince collapsed on the floor in pain and tears preferring to try and get his bearings together rather than give her any indication that he understood.
Once she finished making her announcement, not just to the Prince but everyone else itching to get their aggression out on the poor boy, the Princess quickly moved to the brother to hold unto him, raising his weak and painful body unto herself, preventing him from laying on the ground like some piece of worthless flesh. Lady Amanda did feel sorry for the kid but there was absolutely nothing she or anyone could do about the boy's present situation; he was doomed to live the rest of his life like this.
"We will take your words under advisement Lady Amanda." Dominica said as her brother's blood spilled unto herself, staining her pristine white uniform in the process.
The sight of the Prince silently weeping into the Princess because of her actions made her feel sorry for the Prince's misfortune but only for a moment though; after all in her line of business, the heart could make her lose her job and there was no way in hell she was putting her fate in the hands of a powerless Prince and a Princess who was not yet Queen. "Please do that. Now if you can point me to Edward, I would love to have a word with him." She said as she locked eyes with the Princess who gave her death stare which didn't coincide with her face that remained calm; a very unnerving sight.
"How would I know? You could go to the male dormitory and find out for yourself." She snapped back before she tried to stand up with her brother who tried to carry is own weight and was failing.
Holding back any icy reply she would have otherwise given, she decided to refocus on why she was in the Tower, and it was not to exchange words with the Princess, but to deliver a letter to Edward, a letter that raised his station so high he could basically call himself a Prince.
Taking the elevator while being accompanied by the Head Mistress and her bodyguards, she arrived at the male dormitory and had to take the stairs to the top of the tower were only the most elite students stayed. On the opposite side of the Tower was where the Princess had her own room while on the side she currently was, was Edward's room; the Prince shared a room with seven other lesser nobles. As if the social interactions were not enough to remind the Prince about his place in the Kingdom, his father had to ensure that even where he slept reminded him of his station.
"My Lord?" She asked as she knocked on the door three times to no answer at first. "Edward." She asked once more as she knocked the door.
"Perhaps he had too many drinks last night and is sleeping it off?" The Head Mistress asked.
Releasing a sigh, she opened the door which was surprisingly not locked. Upon entering the room she knew something was wrong from the get go. The bed had not been slept in, there were no haphazardly placed shoes or clothes. The window was still closed as were the curtains still blocking the ray of the sun from coming in through the glass windows.
"It doesn't look as if he slept in."
"I can see that madam, the question is where did he sleep last night?" Amanda asked.
"We have not seen him this morning, and it is not possible for him to have slept in the female dormitory, he loves his own room too much." The Head Mistress said as she went around the room.
Amanda did not like what she heard. Sure there was nothing to worry about, but the Prime Minister's son missing the morning after having a public fight with the Prince was not a happy coincidence. She hoped the boy was just hungover some where else and not actually missing or worse; sometimes her intuition was a bitch.
"Let us search for him discreetly and if he isn't found by evening, we will declare him missing and I will open an inquisition into his disappearance." Lady Amanda said as she walked towards the window and spread the curtain before opening the window to let in air and light. "I will not leave the Tower without finding Edward." She said as she hoped against hope that the boy was alright and she was just overreacting because if Edward was found dead... the Prince who had enjoyed a terrible life would wish he lived more of it than the one he could live.