"'Tis the Empress' command," one of the guards uttered, his tone even, though the hand wrapped round his whip bespoke cruel intention. *Smack!* Sharp was the leather which cut the air and sounded.

"Please stop!" The girl wailed, and such pain entered through her, tearing her asunder from the inside out.

"Well, well," an icy voice breathed from behind; the clicking of heels upon the cold stone floor was like the approach of death. And there in the doorway stood the Empress, her figure framed in the doorway, a sly smile curling upon her lips. "Look what we have here. Didst thou miss me?"

"Please, let me go," whimpered the girl, the weakness of her voice barely above a whisper and tinged with despair.

"Why should I?" the Empress sneered, her eyes cold and calculating. "After all, thou hast committed a grievous crime against the kingdom—though of course, you know not what crime that be, for your wretched sister has whispered falsehoods into my ear, poisoning thy reputation."

"I have not committed the crime," the girl pleaded, raising her head to look at the Empress, her eyes wild with pleadings, but the woman in front of her was unmoved, unyielding in her cruelty.

I think not," the Empress responded, her tone venomous. "I shall not free thee. But I came to bring glad tidings." Her eyes softened, to grow cold once more. "I am with child," she said, coldly laying a hand upon her swollen belly. "And of the child? It is not thy husband's. Nay, 'tis my husband's child. I wanted thee to know this, for thy husband, the Emperor, is no longer thine, but mine."

A wry smile had crossed her lips-a knowing, venomous grin. "Since I carry his heir, I have no further use for thee."

The air seemed to grow thick, the very presence of it conspiring against the girl as it condensed into an oppressive presence. The Empress's hand closed tightly around the whip, her fingers wrapping around its handle with a sinister intent. With twisted elegance, she raised that weapon high above her head, eyes aglow with sadistic light.

"Fare thee well," the Empress breathed, her voice cold as ice. She whirled the whip with the force of a tempest. *Smack! * *Smack! * The sound boomed within the chamber, with each strike sharper, louder, and crueler. The girl's scream was fragile at the best of times, now nothing more than a guttural cry of pure anguish.

Each lash cut into her flesh, the pain beyond mortal endurance, until finally the sound of her screams dissolved into nothingness. The room was conquered by a gruesome, repressing silence-as if even time had stopped upon an advance of torment.