Page 7

CHAPTER SEVEN

Ellery

Scarlet swung her arms over the top of the guard’s head and cinched her chains around his neck. He staggered from her weight.

His free hand swung over his head as he tried to knock her off, but she dodged his blows as he spun in a circle. She clung like a burr as she pulled her hands closer together; his eyes bulged until they looked about to pop out of his head.

Desperate for air, he released his sword to claw at his neck. The chains had embedded themselves in his flesh.

When one of the other women lifted his sword, she turned it in her hands and held it away from her like it was the first time she’d ever touched such a weapon. It actually might have been.

Then she lifted her head and, with an angry shout, lunged forward and buried the blade in the guard’s belly. The man’s eyes rolled as spittle flew from his gaping mouth.

He forgot about the chains as he punched the woman in the face, knocking her back. The sword quivered in his belly.

I tugged against Ruby’s unrelenting hold, but she didn’t release me. Instead, she gave me the universal look of all mothers who were displeased with their child.

The one that made heads duck, shoulders come up, and children scamper to do as told. The one that halted me in my tracks as a kid.

Ruby wasn’t my mother; I’d lost mine at the earl’s ball and would forever bear the hole her passing had torn through my heart, but Ruby had helped raise me. She’d yelled at me when I was wrong, cuddled me when I was hurt, fed me, listened to me, and been ever-present throughout my life.

As I grew older, she became more of a friend than a mother figure, but beneath the ferocity of her stare, I felt every bit like a child again.

“You’re no good to anyone if you’re captured or dead,” she told me.

I understood that but hated standing here while others fought to free me . They were all here because Ivan had been determined to get his hands on me .

They’d already suffered enough; I couldn’t let it continue. “I can help.”

“You’ll help more once those chains are off.”

The twang of numerous bowstrings and the loud whistle of arrows drew my attention as the guards released another volley at the crowd. Screams resonated throughout the day—a day that didn’t fit all this suffering.

The skies should be stormy and full of ominous black clouds. Instead, it was a clear, azure blue; the only clouds in it were two white puffs as threatening as a puppy.

Amsirah ran from the lethal arrows; they pushed and shoved against us. Elbows found their way into my ribs and dug into my back. Hands caught in my loosening braid as Ruby and I were pushed further away from Scarlet and Ryker.

We planted our feet, but that didn’t do much good against the masses fleeing the death hunting them. Unwilling to be separated, we held onto each other as we resisted the surge.

Crack! Many of those around me stopped pushing and shoving as they tried to ascertain what made that sound and which way they should go to avoid this new hazard.

A creaking sound followed the crack, and the stage shifted to the left. It hung there on the precipice of toppling.

Many of the guards on it scrambled toward the stairs while others grabbed poles. Gaius clung to one of those poles as the wood groaned before plunging from view.

The crowd gasped, and some of the men leapt off the stage to avoid riding it down. Dust and dirt billowed into the air as the stage collapsed.

The ground shook beneath my feet. A hush hung over the field for a second, and then a cheer started from somewhere within the massive group of women.

At first, the sound was distant, feeble, and uncertain, but as it spread across the land, it became more confident until the cheers of joy replaced the cries of anguish. The sky suddenly fit the day as pure joy filled Tempest again for the first time since Ivan had taken the throne.

We hadn’t destroyed our enemies—we still had a long way to go for that—but we’d watched many of them topple. Despite my happiness over the stage falling, I couldn’t join in with the applause.

Though Ivan was most likely the only one who died on the stage, its fall symbolized the aristocrats’ hold over the realm was cracking a little. Their reign of terror was far from over, but they weren’t standing all high and mighty over top of us any longer.

While the cheers continued, I focused on where the archers last fired their arrows. Ryker was there… somewhere.

I couldn’t celebrate when I didn’t know where he was or if he was okay.

When more lightning lanced out toward the archers on the parapets, I sighed, but the tension didn’t leave my body. He was alive and still well enough to fight them, but it was only a matter of time before the guards took him down.

As the thought ran through my head, a line of guards ran through the crowd toward Ryker’s last location. When some of the women tried cutting them off, the guards beat them back with staffs and swords.

I couldn’t see much of the battle, but a spray of blood shot into the air. Shrieking, the women fell back beneath the guards’ unbridled rampage.

Ivan may have fallen, but they still served the nobles, and now, because of his position in the realm, the duke would rule over them all. That realization lifted the hair on my nape.

I had to get free of these chains. As soon as I did, I could help save the amsirah, but until then, I was completely useless!

Once the aristocrats learned I was the female lightning bearer they sought, they wouldn’t be as interested in these women. They’d be free to run from this place, and hopefully they didn’t stop until they were all the way home.

My attention shifted to Scarlet as sweat poured from the guard’s forehead to drip off his chin. His fingers clawed sluggishly at the chains again before his eyes rolled back and he went to his knees.

When he started tipping forward, he leaned onto the blade still protruding from his belly. Planted in the ground, the hilt kept him propped up as he slid halfway down the blade before stopping.

Its tip poked from his side as Scarlet pulled her chains free and leapt off him. She knelt and tore at his clothes as she searched him.

A second later, she jerked something free, lifted it, and jumped to her feet. When some other women grabbed at her, Scarlet cast them nasty looks as she elbowed her way through the crowd.

“Fuck off!” she yelled. “You’ll get your turn.”

And then she was before me again with a ring of keys. She fumbled through them as more women tried to tear the keys from her to obtain the freedom they offered.

“Leave her alone!” I yelled. “ I’m the reason you’re here. If you want to be free of this place, then let her do this!”

My words took a few seconds to register with the amsirah around us. Once they did, their heads rose, and they blinked at me. They looked from Scarlet to me to where Ryker was lost in the crowd.

Pieces must have clicked into place in their minds as their gazes returned to me. Uncertainty flickered across their faces, but some also held traces of anger.

They were here because of me, and that fact was sinking in.