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I ran home without looking back. I ran past the maids, ran past the guards and shut myself in my room.

“Oh, Goddess,” I panted, breathing heavily as I made my way to the bathroom.

I splashed water on my face, my hands trembling.

I stumbled back into the room and curled up on the bed, trying and unable to push the events of earlier from my mind.

What had happened? Where had those men appeared from suddenly, and where was Ianthe? Had they done something to her too?

I sat up on the bed, unable to rest as I thought of Ianthe. Where was she? What had happened to her?

Oh, Goddess, what if she were hurt? What if she needed my help?

But I couldn't go back.

The guards! I could tell the guards, and maybe they could go look for he—

I jolted out of my reverie when I heard footsteps stomping towards my room from outside. Before I could blink, the door swung open.

It was Alpha Roman, his face a terrifying mask of anger, and behind him was Ianthe.

How?! I wondered, my thoughts a puzzle. How had she escaped?

“Ian—” I began, but before the word could make it out of my mouth fully, I was met with a heavy slap on the side of my face.

I almost stumbled off the bed due to the force. I tried to straighten myself, but he wasn't done. Alpha Roman grabbed me by my hair and pulled me off the bed with it, my face making a sharp and loud connection with the floor.

“You slut. You dare give your body to other men?!” he thundered. “I am going to make sure the remaining few hours of your life are the most painful ever known to man.”

I sat up on the floor, weak and dazed. I tried to form words out of my mouth, to say something, but the words wouldn't come out.

“I — I —” I couldn't make it past those words. Blood streamed down my nose and into my mouth as I struggled to crawl away from Alpha Roman and pick myself up from the floor.

I finally managed to say, “W-whats going on?”

Roman bent to my level and grabbed a fistful of my hair. He flicked open a knife and placed the tip underneath my eye socket. “What's going on is that I will end you in a way so agonising that your tattered spirit will be rejected by the gods.”

“I-Ianthe, what's going on?” I asked, tears now falling and mixing with the blood. “S-someone t-t-tell me, please. Wh- wh- what's going on? What has happened?”

Ianthe shook her head, and for some reason, tears were falling down her cheeks too. “I can't. I'm sorry, Serene.”

“Caant whaa?” I said, slurring my words as darkness threatened to take over.

“I can't lie for you.”

“Wha are you talking abou?”

Grip still tight in my hair, Alpha Roman brought out his phone and showed me a picture. “This. This is what she's talking about, you whore,”

It was a picture of me and those men from earlier. The picture had been taken at the exact time they had asked me to smile while they were groping me. The smile looked like I wanted it, that the men and I were —

Revulsion rose through me, and before I could stop myself, I vomited all over the floor and on Alpha Roman.

Whack! The side of his boot made contact with my head and I fell back down in my mess.

I crawled towards Ianthe in the filth, struggling weakly like my bones had been melted. “I-I-Ianthe. Te-tell him. I-I-It was you a-a-and I. Tell h-h-him.”

When I got no response from her, I turned back to the Alpha. “We-we went a-a-apple p-p-picking a-a-and she j-j-j-just disappeared. P-p-please be-believe me. T-t-they t-ried t-t-to r-r-rape me b-b-but I-I r-r-ran.”

Alpha Roman's face contorted in a fresh bout of anger. “Rape you? RAPE YOU?!” He reached down and grabbed me again, shoving the phone towards my face. “Rape you?” he repeated, his voice now dangerously soft. “You're flashing a big smile at them and you claim they want to rape you?”

“T-t-they f-f-forced m-m-me,”

Twack! The slap came again without warning.

“You will hate your existence by the time I'm done with you.”

He stormed out of the room, leaving Ianthe behind.

A satisfactory smile on a lip, a glint in her eye, she bent low towards me. “Poor, poor, Serene.”

The realisation hit me swiftly. This was her doing. “Y-y-you d-d-did th-this,”

She leaned forward and whispered slowly in my ears. “Yes, I did.”

“W-why? W-why do y-you h-hate me so m-much?” I asked. “I w-want t-to know. W-why d-do y-you h-h-hate me s-so m-much?”

“What you should be wondering about is how you can live. But that will be a futile thing to do, of course. You are worse than dead.”

I tried to hold on to the hem of her dress, but she shrugged me off and stomped viciously on my palm.

“Enjoy the last hours of your life,”

With that, she left the room and I was left lying there.