Okay so this is a chapter that has no zutara or maiko or anything of that sort. It get's sort of intense and it reveals a big secret about Zuko. So get ready for that also reviews are always appreciated, so please leave some!

Chapter 10:

Today was the start of yet another treacherous day, there would be another council meeting today in the evening and I still wasn't allowed to duel. I hadn't had much sleep the night before and my eyelids were heavy with each repeated blink. The maid delivered my breakfast after my bath and I devoured it reasonably quickly.

I made my way down the stairs, deep in thought. I always had thought that if I was going to get married to Mai anyways I didn't need to have any feelings for her, but I was wrong. It wasn't even that I didn't have feelings for Mai, quite the opposite actually, I knew now that I did like Mai. It was a much more reasonable deal if I did like Mai and we would get married.

She was everything a queen should be, and I did like her, I wasn't in love with her, far from that actually, but I still did like her. Mai would make a suitable queen; she would be strong and supportive- hopefully. Her physical appearance also matched that of a Queen, everything about Mai was already royal, since she was a princess.

I leaned back against the wall of the grand staircase. Maybe marriage wouldn't be that bad of an idea…I liked Mai and if I had to marry someone, Mai would be fine. But the problem wasn't Mai or any of the other girls that were 'suitable' for my marriage. I didn't want to be strapped down so suddenly. I was only eighteen years old, I had so much ahead of me in my future and marriage would be restraining me from all of that.

Father would force me right away to take up so many more responsibilities and opportunities, but I didn't want that. It was bad enough that I already had to listen to him make these horrid plans in the council meetings. I honestly just did not in any way or form want to get engaged or married. I didn't want to have to be tied down with someone else.

But would anyone in this family listen? Or even care about what I wanted for a change? I scoffed at the idea, father actually listening to me. So I came to one final conclusion, I could either mope around all the time and despise the idea of marriage and have to get married anyways, or I could suck it up and deal with the matter like I should, head on. Because in one way or the other my engagement to Mai was inevitable, so I might as well enjoy it while I could, even if I didn't want to.

My thoughts drifted to Katara, the faint sound of her playing piano was in the air. It seemed strange that I hadn't even thought about the reason I had brought her here. It wasn't to be my pianist; it was for me to keep my promise with Sokka, her brother. I would use these twelve months of her stay as a distraction. In the end, I would tell her everything about her past, I would tell her and I would take her to her brother and then it would all be done.

But would I be allowed to just take off into Alarac forest after my marriage, I wasn't sure. But one way or the other I would reunite her with her brother. It was the least I could do after…after everything.

"Well look who it is!" I heard his voice. And I wasn't certain of anything except one thing, I would murder him. "Glad to see your injury's clearing up, I'll be able to whip your ass again in a couple of days by the looks of it."

And then I had no idea what happened, I had whirled around and grabbed Chang by the collar of his shirt and slammed him as hard as I could against the wall. A mixed sound between a gasp and a moan of pain escaped his lips. Anger was pounding through me as I held him, his feet dangling a foot from the ground, slammed up against the wall.

I gritted my teeth together, "I'm going to murder you." I hissed at him and for a brief moment a flash of cowardice showed in his eyes, it cleared up almost instantly as he swung his leg forwards pathetically and tried to kick me. I held him with one hand as I punched him as hard as I could in the stomach. I knew he was winded as he wheezed his words.

"You're- a d-disgrace to your f-father!" He spat out through his clenched teeth. I pulled back for a moment, only to regain a tighter grasp on his collar and I swung him back against the wall, and I actually heard the sound of his spine hitting the wall.

"You son of a-" I began until I heard his voice. The voice of the man who was my father.

"Prince Zuko! What in spirits name are you doing?"

I kept my firm hold on Chang, who had his eyes squeezed shut as if the pain had suddenly become unbearable. Bastard. I looked at my father from the corner of my eyes. "I'm teaching him a lesson." I replied, my jaw still clenched shut.

"Release him at once!" My father's voice boomed through the staircase's foyer and it echoed back and slammed right into me.

"But Father I-"

My father was furious, he was staring at me as if already planning my death. "I said release him at once!" I had never heard my father speak that loudly. It racked me to my core and my grasp on Chang loosened. I heard Chang's muffled curse at me, but I wasn't paying attention. I was all too aware of my father. Chang dropped to the ground with a loud 'thump'.

I was still seething as I looked over at father. He watched Chang leave with an icy stare, Chang scampered off, faking a limp- or maybe he wasn't. My heart was in my throat and I was having trouble with keeping my breathing calm. Father finally turned to me, all too calm. I swallowed hard and I bit the inside of my cheek to shut myself up.

"Do you know who that boy is?"

He's a son of a bitch, is what he is. I couldn't find the words to reply to father.

"He is the sons of one of the Kingdom's council men."

Maybe father would realize why he was pinned up to wall, if he knew the entire story. Father had never asked anyone how I had been injured. Heck, it wouldn't be a surprise if father didn't even know I had been injured.

"If I see you again," His icy voice, deadly and venomous, began, "Talking your uncontrolled rage out on any of my council men." He paused and paced around me, "I will have you banished, right then and there."

It was a threat my father enjoyed using, but he had never used it on me. I swallowed back a large lump in my throat, only to feel suffocated with a new extent. He suddenly leaned in close to me, "So let's forget this ever happened."

Oh Spirits. Spirits. Anything else, please. I prayed desperately in my head.

"But you know there are repercussions for what you have done."

I felt as if I had just been struck with a club right on my head. I took a dizzied step backwards and tried desperately to regain my composure. My head throbbed and my entire body broke out into cold sweat.

And that was it; I was being led into the room, the wretched room. Father was sitting on his throne, as if everything was going right. As if for once I had become useful to him- as his entertainment.

My shirt was ripped off my back and I was sitting, facing father on his throne. Padded belts were being wrapped around my waist and legs, tightened to a point where I was sure my blood would have stopped circulating. My wrists were bounded the tightest and by that point, my entire body was trembling, but I held onto my composure on my face. The last thing I needed was father thinking I was weak.

"You know Prince Zuko," Father began, "This is what you deserve for your actions. Five canes' is the amount you will be receiving today."

I kept my stare looking right past him, not gaining enough composure to look him straight in the eye, but also not wanting to show my weakness by looking down. The pleasure in his voice was unmistakable. Two guards stood on both sides of me and the third stood with the cane right behind me.

I clenched my teeth together. The man brought out the long metal rod and swiped them in the air behind me, testing them out, and I could clearly hear sticks whistling as it cut through the air. He took his place behind me and I didn't close my eyes. I didn't dare close my eyes.

I heard the crisp silence of the moment as the cane fell and then it struck me, right across my back. I gritted my teeth together as hard as I could and my fists were clenched ever harder. The burning pain swam through my body and I was holding my breath, because if I released a breath it would be so much more than a breath.

Father leaned forwards in his throne, watching intently. The silence broke through again and I heard the loud 'crack' of the whip hitting my back. My back jerked forwards from the pain, and I closed my eyes for one moment because I knew that tears were filling them. I couldn't cry, I wouldn't cry, not in front of father. My lungs were begging for air, but I wouldn't breathe. My heart was pounding furiously and my skin was clammy and I was shaking violently as I saw the few drops of blood dripping off my back.

The silence tuned in for the third time and the whip fell. I heard the sound of the throne creaking as father shifted in his seat to get a closer look. This time, I couldn't take it, I gasped as loud as the gasp came as it hit me and I couldn't breathe. I cried out in pain, my scream pure anguish and I saw the disappointment in my father's eyes.

The fourth whip fell harder than all the others, my back was slick with sweat and blood and the cane landed on a place already hit and the tears streamed down my face. I shut my eyes as tightly as I could, but the tears continued to fall as I screamed from the unbearable pain.

Then there was the silence that came much too fast, not giving me any time to regain any sort of self-control. The whip fell with the loudest most excruciating crack as it landed on my back. I gasped through my tears that were still falling I began shaking, every part of me as I tried to shut myself up in a world where there was no pain. I could feel my father watching me as I clawed at the air, trying to gain any sort of serenity.

The soldiers released me of my binding and I was hunched over from the pain. "You are free to go." Father said, his voice calm and disgusting and horrid. I wiped the tears from my face furiously as my back fell ablaze. The guards helped me pull on my robes and I wanted to run right out of the room and never return. But it was too painful to walk; there was no way I could run.

I trudged out of the room, aware of father's eyes following my every step. I hoped I wasn't leaving a trail of blood, but I checked anyways. I walked, wilted, towards the infirmary and one of the usual nurses was there. I always came to her whenever I was caned. She saw the look on my face, and she read my expression clearly as her eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief.

She led me into a small curtained room as I pulled off my robe. She was one of the youngest nurses, also one of the easiest to speak to. She pulled out a small medicine box and looked at me, as if waiting for me to explain, but I was in no hurry to explain anything about what had happened.

"Turn around," I obliged and I turned around. A small gasp was heard from her as she opened up the medicine box.

"They're worse than usual." She commented, mostly to herself. She first patted my entire back with a sopping cloth to stop the bleeding. I winced from the pain every time she touched the wounds. "It's a good thing you came right away. With some gauze, they'll heal very soon."

I didn't reply, I didn't know how to reply. She applied an ointment on my back and then carefully smoothed it out over my entire back. She pulled out some gauze and wrapped it around me, it stung my wounds, but my back had grown numb by now. She turned over to me. "You can stay here for a while, you know…to…" She trailed off.

I knew what she meant. If anyone saw me like this, all clammy and sweat drenched with my tear stained face, people would ask questions. She sat down next to me and sighed, "I don't see why you put up with all of this."

I liked the way she spoke to me, as if I wasn't the prince but just another man. As if I actually didn't have to put up with my father's crap. She turned to face me, her lips pulled into a tight line, "I wish you'd tell someone."

I shook my head, "Who could I tell?"

"Anyone…your mother?"

I chuckled weakly, "My mother," I sighed, "If I could tell her don't you think I would've told her by now?"

She sighed again. "Why can't you tell anyone?"

She asked me this same question every single time I came in. It was a reasonable question with an unreasonable answer. I couldn't tell anyone because it would be too embarrassing and my father would have me killed right there if I told anyone. And even if I did tell someone, what could they do? Stop my father's cruelty? I shook my head again, that wasn't possible.

"The gauze will stop the swelling." She told me, "So you don't have to worry about anyone noticing."

I smiled; I wished someone did notice sometimes. I wished somebody actually noticed and put a stop to it, but it was impossible. Even if it was possible, it wouldn't be happening anytime soon.

She brought me a water bucket as she wiped my face down. I kept my eyes closed the entire time as she helped me pull on my robes once again. "Is it helping?"

I nodded, "Thank you." I turned to leave, but she gently took my arm, "Zuko…"

"I'm fine." I cut her off.

She sighed and I slowly turned to face her. "It's just…I'm just really worried about you…"

I shook my head, "Don't be. I'm fine."

She bit her lip and seemed to be fighting back tears. She seemed like she wanted to say something more, but couldn't find any words on how to say it. Instead she leaned in and wrapped her arms around me. "I'll be here whenever you need me." She sighed and I left without another word.

I didn't stop walking until I was in the safety of my own rooms. I knew father would still expect me to attend the council meeting, but right now, rest. I just needed some rest. I stripped off my bloody robe and threw it into the corner of my rooms. I usually was more careful with my soiled, bloodied robes because the maids would pick them up, but today, I couldn't care less.

I climbed into my bed and pulled the covers up to my waist, to leave my back and chest bare as I turned over. I couldn't sleep on my back even if I wanted to, so I lied down on my side. I reached for the pills beside my bed and swallowed three, hoping they would help me sleep heavier and drift my thoughts away from everything that had happened today.

I heard the muffled voice of my maid outside my door and I could faintly make out Mai's voice. I didn't answer my door when I heard a knock on it. I closed my eyes and drifted off into a heavy sleep.

Poor Zuko…I feel so bad for him & I'm writing the story! Well, tell me what you thought! Please leave a review if you want the new chapter sooner! If you have an criticism or comments then leave some and please continue reading!