𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐃𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐄 || 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑾𝑯𝑰𝑻𝑬 𝑸𝑼𝑬𝑬𝑵

𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝑋𝑋𝑋𝐼𝐼𝐼

~Rescue~

Westminster Palace....

"I swear I don't know!" Constance screamed as the leather strap came down on her back again, striking agony into her torn flesh. Her head fell forward onto the bedpost, knocking her wrists that were strung above her head by a rough rope.

She'd been held there for the past half hour, being dragged from her bed by Somerset's men without reason and without warning, her mind so confused she was unable even to scream. Lizzy had tried to explain that she was too sick, that she needed rest but went ignored and Constance was hauled to Somerset's rooms through the torchlit corridors where shadows danced like demons on the walls, staring around like a scared child.

The men holding her offered no explanation; simply throwing her to the Duke's feet who loomed above her like the grim reaper.

Pure rage resided in his eyes as he looked down on her trembling figure, struggling to hold her own weight as she tried to push herself up from the floor. She was still sick, she was still weak but he didn't care and without warning she was dragged to her feet again; hands strung up against the bedpost. She'd tried to look around, try to grasp what was happening and then her head had been pulled back; a voice hissed in her ear.

"Where are they?"
'They? They? Who was they?' She blinked, frowning as her mind spun, trying to drag her back to rest.
"T-they....." the grip tightened, forcing a small cry from her.

"Your children" Somerset demanded "Where are your children?" Her eyes flew open, suddenly alert and her heart pounding. Her children? What did he mean her children? They were at Bermondsey Abbey, that was all she knew, that was all....unless.....
"I don't know"

The Duke raised his eyebrows, sneering.
"You don't know?" He asked, his voice not one note above normal but no less menacing "you don't know?" Constance shook her head, glancing up to where her hands were bound. The rope cut into her skin, stopping the blood reaching her fingers so they began to tingle strangely.

The hold on her hair was relinquished and her head slumped forward, leaving her in her confused daze for a moment before she heard the clink of a buckle, a slide of leather.

"Why...."

A burning pain stuck across her back, dragging down her skin and slashing the thin linen of her nightgown. She screamed, her spine arching in an attempt to run from the agony but the rope held her fast and when the belt came down again, it bit into her skin, painting a line of blood across her back.

"Where are they?" Somerset was suddenly by her side again, grabbing her chin like he had the first night they'd met; forcing her eyes to meet his.

"I don't know!" She cried, her voice breaking with a sob as two heavy tears rolled down her cheeks "I don't know....." Again, the Duke only sneered and waved a hand to the man behind "No...." The leather hit her back again and her legs trembled beneath her, her frail body unable to hold her.