Wasteland World：Becoming the Queen by Narwhal

ABEL'S POV

Prince Elon sits on a monstrous bed surrounded by six naked concubines. Their hands caress his chest and back in a seductive manner, but his attention is fully focused on the wailing slave being whipped by the guards.

Deep red marks appear on the slave's bare back as the two guards swing the whips with vigour to impress the werewolf Prince. His sadistic smile broadens with every strike that makes the restrained human slave wail in pain.

Two other slaves already underwent the same severe flogging and died at the spot. Yet the Prince and his concubines doesn't seem to be getting enough of the hideous entertainment. They seem to be at liberty to kill as many of us as they wish.

I am next in the line and I fear that I may not make it out alive. I would be lucky if the guards wear out their strength and fail to swing their whips as hard as they are doing.

"Leave that one. I am more interested in watching that bastard son of a whore have a ruthless thrashing!" Prince Elon orders, pointing a finger at me.

My body quivers as one of the guards unties the slave's hands from the rope attached to the ceiling while the other comes for me.

"Time to pay for your mother's sins," he hisses as he takes hold of the chain around my neck and drags me towards the dangling rope. His partner awaits with a new whip in hand, one that appears more lethal than the former.

The rope is quite close to the massive bed for all it's occupants to have a clear view of their sick entertainment.

"So that's the famous illegitimate prince? He looks a lot more ravishing that what the rumours say," one of the concubines comments as the guards force me to my knees under the rope and attach the restraints around my neck and wrists to it.

"At least his punishment will be captivating to watch," another says, sounding just as deviously ecstatic as the prestigious prince.

"Hit it like a bastard dog," Prince Elon orders in a furious tone.

The guards step back after tightening my restraints and ready their whips.

My jaws clench in anticipation of the inevitable pain, yet the sheer force of the whip knocks the air out of my chest. A wave of excruciating pain spreads across my back and an instinctive yelp escapes my mouth.

The second guard swings his whip with even greater force and the resulting pain becomes impossible to withstand without letting out a raw scream.

I bite down on my lower lip as more strikes continue landing on my bare back, some hard enough to cut through skin. The blows hurt worse when the whip hits the same place twice.

"I thought he was going to cry out more," one of the concubines says in disappointment even as the tired guards continue raining down heavy lashes on every part of my back.

"It's these imbeciles that haven't hit him hard enough!" Prince Elon mutters angrily, pushing aside some of his concubines as he gets off the bed.

He approaches and the guards step back.

"Your punishment would have been most delightful to watch, if only these incompetent idiots didn't wear out so quickly," he says, taking the whip from one of the guards.

I shiver because his massive strength can rip fresh out of bones. He is the most gigantic man in our entire werewolf kingdom thanks to the alpha king's pampering.

"My girls want to hear you holler like a proper slave. And I want to see your back bleed!" he hisses before landing the first powerful strike on my lower back.

The pain makes my vision blur. I feel the wetness of my blood against my skin as it flows out from the cut that the whip made.

The grinning concubines applaud their master, and he lands a dozen more strikes on my already sore back in a ruthless display of immense strength.

My body feels like it has been trampled on by an elephant. Five more strikes would kill me.

"Father has always barred me from actually killing you. Which makes me wonder if you really are not his son," the arrogant Prince confesses in an amused tone. He then bends and whispers in my ear.

"But after I wear King Elowen's crown tomorrow my decisions will final. I will have you shamefully executed to celebrate the beginning of my reign."

I sigh because I was expecting to die tonight. Tomorrow isn't that far either. But the threat of execution isn't something new in my wretched life.

There is however a chance that one of the other Princes will be the crown's heir and they won't be as eager to kill me.

Tomorrow's momentous ceremony will be the greatest there has been in centuries, and the beloved princes needed to be delightfully prepared for it.

Seven days ago the eye of Elowen's crown awakened, a sign that the mighty crown was ready to choose a new heir from Elowen's royal bloodline.

Elowen was an ancient powerful, werewolf king who built an empire so great that it became the envy of all other kingdoms and empires. Under his reign his subjects enjoyed safety and prosperity. But the more his kingdom and wealth grew, the more envious those closest to him became. Soon they could not control their jealousy and plotted to end his life.

Upon his death, his great powers moved to his crown. But none of his traitors could wear it, as Elowen's crown had developed a mind to choose it's own heir.

None of the members of Elowen's royal family was deserving the crown's powers, so the eye of the crown slept for many years. And a prophecy arose that it would awake after three centuries to grant it's powers to a new heir, but only from Elowen's bloodline.

Prince Elon, Prince Edmar, Prince Callum and PrinceTedmond are the youngest descendants of Elowen there is. One of them will be granted the crown's unraveled power, to rule over all neighbouring kingdoms and far lands, as their lord and emperor.

Hundreds of Royals and rich men will be gathered in the palace grand hall tomorrow to see which of the embellished werewolf princes shall become the emperor, even though none of my father's adorned children deserves such power.

Yes, I may be a human but I was not born a slave. My dead mother was once King Roderick's beloved wife, and I was their first born son.

I was a cherished young Prince, until the day that King Roderick realised that he could gain more influence if he married women of royal blood from the neighboring kingdoms.

My mother was a commoner. Her marriage to him had brought the kingdom no more influence than it already had. But because of their bond she still did not expect his betrayal.