Luna cocked her head to the side.
He wasn't screaming, he wasn't groaning, he wasn't begging for it to stop. He was just hissing through his teeth. And hell, he was barely even doing that.
A light that she refused to acknowledge began to burn in Luna's chest. She had had something else there, once. But that was before.
"Another pair," Luna said once they removed the rods.
Looking at her, surprised, the slaves hesitated.
"Another pair!" Luna snapped, frustrated. Of course they chose now not to listen. Of all the times. She knew, of course, that some of them got squeamish around the punishments,but this strong of a reaction was new. They looked around, as though asking each other if they were all really okay with this before proceeding. Or maybe they were just trying to build up their courage.
Having a burning iron rod placed on your back didn't cause much blood flow, but it certainly caused a lot of pain. Luna preferred using heated rods instead of just knives, or more likely, some other form of specially crafted blade, because there was a lot more pain at a much lesser cost to the body. Just a few scars that were probably permanent. If she cut her males when they disobeyed, or when she felt like it, as easily and freely as she applied the iron rods, they would bleed out far too quickly. And besides, she would have to waste money and resources on healing them. With burns, they would hurt, or at least be uncomfortable, for a few days, but they generally more or less got restored without need for salves or any other sort of medical supplies. Of course, using a salve or something of the sort would make it easier on them, but that wasn't exactly Luna's goal.
After they got over their moral qualms, they dipped the rods back into the alchemical brew that lay to the side, and then dropped them, quickly backing up.
Even with protective gloves, it was difficult to hold the iron. Hands were sensitive, after all. Luna had suggested numerous other ways to do it, one of which would likely result in them being mute, which, although it would be very nice for her, they hadn't seemed too keen on. So they kept with the gloves, but always switched out who was doing the holding. Sometimes Luna would refuse to let them switch, because she wanted them to be uncomfortable with it. The gloves kept most of the actual heat out, so it didn't actually matter as much as it felt like it did, but there was still a severe discomfort, naturally.
One of the others fished the rods out of the small cauldron with a metal tree branch, and another received the rods, albeit somewhat reluctantly, but there was nothing he could really do at this point. His choices were basically to lie down and take the markings himself, or place the rods in their proper places on the new man's back. He could always throw them to the ground, but Luna was vicious with anyone who ruined or disrespected her equipment, whether it was a needle or a scalding brand bar, and they all knew that, so the third one wasn't really an option. And while he may feel bad, he certainly wasn't about to take someone else's punishment on himself.
Luna smirked as he laid the bars back onto the new male's back.
Instead of placing them beside the other markings, he set one in the same spot as the second one had gone the first time, and then continued the pattern by placing the second bar to the right side.
Luna's method of punishment was methodical and easily interpreted. Beginning at the top left, near the subject's left shoulder, the rods would be laid, two at a time. With each pair, except of course for the first one, one would overlay the second of the last pair exactly, meaning each place got seared twice in the end, except for the first and last marks. Generally she was able to comfortably fit two rows of markings, and when she couldn't, she just staggered them slightly so that she could. If anyone was still being punished after that, and hadn't gone mad, or grown numb to it, either of which would defeat the point of punishment in the first place, or just killed themselves for despair, which Luna didn't exactly discourage, she would begin to fill in the spaces in between the bars.
It might kill someone, eventually. But so far, the only murder being done was by her slaves' own hands.