Shanghaied: A Woman Down Under Series Prequel by K'Anne Meinel

Author:K'Anne Meinel [Meinel, K'Anne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: series, romance
Publisher: Shadoe Publishing, LLC
Published: 2019-08-28T23:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHT

“One. Two. Three…” The men counted the five lashes that were being meted out to the poor boy in unison. Danny had been caught cheating on one of his lovers with another man. The fact that he had been shared around by these men meant nothing. It was their right and at their discretion who he was with. That he had gone off with another man and had been caught meant he had to be publicly punished and taught a lesson. The other men on the ship were watching the cocky little twit get his comeuppance.

Danny screamed with every lash from the long, black whip. It was designed for maximum punishment, ripping his shirt and his skin to shreds. His men didn’t want to kill him, just warn the boy from straying again. After the fifth lash, they cut him down from the main mast post, which was now flecked with the blood and skin of its newest victim. There were others that had been tied here and lashed, some to death. Mel shuddered.

“What? You don’ think der boy deserved the lashin’?” one of the men asked Mel, noticing her reaction and ready to rib her over it.

“Oh, probably,” she answered, not willing to debate it with him. She was just glad she hadn’t ever warranted a lashing. Her back still hurt a couple weeks later from where Seamus had struck her twice with his short, almost crop-length, little whip. Those leather fronds had hurt like the devil. She could imagine the sobbing boy’s pain. His back looked horrible. She hoped her own back wasn’t infected but was unwilling to go to the ship’s surgeon for anything. She’d washed as much of it as she could reach. She’d even stood in the rain to clean it further, volunteering to be out on deck doing her duties through the latest storm. She’d even allowed a wave to catch her, the sting of the salt spray causing her pain as it soaked her shirt and touched her back. She knew it must be healing after all this time, but still, some of her work made stretching difficult.

In the coming days, the boy lay on a bunk with one of the men that claimed him tending to him. Despite the sores on the boy’s back, they continued to use him, and Mel was thoroughly disgusted with these men. They were the dredges of society, and she wondered that the officers on this ship didn’t interfere. She didn’t begrudge them having sex with each other, but this was a boy, and even if he claimed to be sixteen, he looked twelve. They had used and abused him from day one. The boy was no longer arrogant and stayed out of everyone’s way. He was doing his duty as they saw fit and laying on his stomach to avoid the pain in his back when off duty. This seemed to increase the adoration of the men, who felt they owned him and were delighted to see him so helpless and laying there for them to abuse.

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