in service to another (джен)

The whip whistles as it slices through air and skin alike. Severus groans and presses his forehead against the rough stone, blinking back tears of pain. The agony is dulled by the numbing cold, revived by the flow of warm blood, equalising into a stinging ache that ebbs and flows up and down his back and thighs.
“Let this be a lesson to you all,” the Dark Lord whispers, sibilant, and Severus can hear the sweep of his robes over the stones he’s bleeding between. “Your failures will not go unpunished. Again.”