When Inayah came to, she was lying on a cold hardened ground. A soft groan of agony escapes her lips as she struggles to blink then roll over, now conscious of the world all around her. She blinked again then stilled at the sound of scurrying.

A rat.

Inayah shot upwards and glanced around at the darkness that consumed the reeking room. She raised a hand towards her pounding head, then faltered as chains around her wrists clattered noisily.

Someone had shackled both wrists and ankles.

But who-

Lycus.

The grimace that pinched her face suddenly tightens at the thought of him. Salem. Inayah shoots to her feet and stumbles forward, hands outstretched and blindly groping for something, anything. It was not until her fingers curled around metallic bars that Inayah heard the slamming shut of doors overhead.

Footsteps echoed along the open hallway, drawing closer and closer still. Inayah blinked as faint yellow lights drew from the furthest end of the hallway and with it came the sight of the cells all around her.

Empty cells with chains hooked on the walls. Blood had rusted over the metal and the old, decaying odour of urine and defecation burned her nostrils.

Inayah took several steps back as the figure drew closer, each footfall matching the rapid beating of her heart until finally, the figure stopped directly before her cell.

She squinted as he raised the lamp to his face, casting a net of light over her own as well.

“Inayah,” Salem spoke, “I have been searching for you everywhere.”

His voice alone sent thrills of terror ribboning down her spine, and Inayah was close to vomiting as her stomach lurched and cartwheeled.

"Salem I-" she began and he held up a hand.

He curled two fingers in a 'come hither' gesture, "Come here, Inayah." She hesitated for a drawn moment, searching the monstrous depths of his expression -- deadly calm gaze fixated on her in such a way that she would rather walk straight into the flames of hell than his embrace.

"And it is not 'Salem', slave," he spoke as she approached, "what is it?"

Inayah licked her chapped lips nervously lowering her gaze as the bars began to open, "Master." She chanted, not realizing just how foreign that word had been.

"It seems you forgot just where you stand," the cage opened and he reached for her, hand automatically rising to her hair, fingers gently carding through them. "How was it? Hmm? Time spent with my brother..." Before she could counter, his hand roughly gripped her hair and with a sudden viciousness, dragged her with him along the hallway.

Inayah tried clawing at his hand but it was of no use. She tried screaming but the pace of his movements only forced all her concentration to her legs in order to trip.

"Tell me, dear slave," Salem spat venomously, "what were you planning with him?"

"Nothing!" She cried as they reached the mansion's ground floor. Amidst her horror, Inayah realized that he was leading her outside. It was night time beyond the walls, a cold wind stirring through his property. Through the fog of tears clouding her eyes, Inayah saw two other men standing at the base of the stairs, a long thick wooden pole set between.

"Your punishment has only just begun, slave." Salem shoved her onto the ground and grabbed her ankles, easily flipping her onto her stomach. He laid the pole between her shoulder blades and back, pulled her arms around it until her elbows were hooked behind it, then he tied her hands in front of her so she was bound to the pole. He had his men set it up on two forks to hang her up, then he tied her ankles together, then to the pole, wrenching them higher and higher until she was screaming and her feet were close to touching her back.

He moved back around in front of her and pulled out his knife as she panted, trying to breathe. He sliced Lycus' shirt open down the front, her breasts exposed to the world. She noticed then, the fire being stoked and the brand being heated in it. She tried to struggle and she pleaded with Salem, but he did not listen. He paced, an angry stalk as he waited for the iron to heat until it glowed. He finally lifted it and gave her a grim look.

"Hold her," he ordered and two of his men took hard hold of her. He pressed the brand just above her left breast, over her heart and she screamed, then smelled her own flesh burning as he held it there, looking down at her in grim satisfaction. He finally pulled it back and threw it down on the ground. He grabbed her jaw, digging his fingers in hard enough to bruise, but she hardly noticed over the pain of the burn. "Did you enjoy fucking my brother?" he asked, his voice full of rage.

"No!" she wailed, trying to hunch and ease the burn. Her joints were coming close to dislocating and he was holding her jaw so hard she had blood in her mouth, but she only felt the searing burn.

"Now you are mine, branded like the whore you are. Did you enjoy fucking my brother?"

"No! I didn't! I didn't!" Inayah begged from in between heaving breaths. "Please it hurts-"

"You don't know pain yet. How many times?"

"Once! I swear it!" she panted, starting to hyperventilate. Black spots filled her vision and she passed out.

When she woke, she could feel a cold metal collar around her neck and her wrists and ankles. Her chest burned and she sobbed as she tried to move. She was secured to the bed she was in, spread eagle with no clothes on. There was a bandage on her chest, over the burn, but that was all she could tell.

Salem opened the door and glared down at her. "How many times?"

"Once. I swear."

"Liar."

Inayah closed her eyes, trying to stop the tears. "I promise you."

Salem paced the room angrily. She could feel his wrath roll off him in threatening waves, and she swallowed as her chest trembled in agony. A certain questioned burned on the tip of her tongue, but Inayah was terrified of asking him. It would only anger him more. And maybe she didn't wish to know the truth.

Salem stopped pacing then, dark eyes slanting towards her figure; "Were you planning on running away with him?" The words had caught her off guard and she reacted too slow, her hesitation an evident answer.

Salem's mask of nonchalance cracked and all that spread was darkness.