|| ATHENA'S POV ||

As King Ajax ordered Viktor to be whipped for his alleged crime, a heavy silence settled over the crowd, broken only by the sound of the king's command echoing through the chamber. I stood among the onlookers, my heart pounding in my chest as I watched the scene unfold before me. Despite my best efforts to remain composed, I could feel the tension in the air, a palpable energy that seemed to suffuse every inch of the room.

As the first lash of the whip struck Viktor's back, I felt a sharp pang of pain shoot through me, a visceral reaction to the agony that he...