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CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR

Ryker

Other servants moved through the room, helping to clean things up, and I recognized a few of them. It took me a few seconds to realize my father had brought some of his men and women here.

They were going through the bodies and separating the rebels from the guests. I suspected my father didn’t bring them here as a favor to the earl. He wanted his servants to know what would happen if they dared to rise against him.

“My guards say they saw you here,” Ivan stated.

“They did. I fought for a while, but when I saw the opportunity to leave, I took it. Did I miss anything?”

“They destroyed my home,” the earl lamented.

Of course, he didn’t care about the lives lost here; it was about his things . I worked to keep my temper under control while surveying the chained amsirah beside me.

I recognized more than a few from the previous night. They’d weaved their way through the room with their trays and offered food and drinks, all while planning to kill us.

While I understood, I didn’t appreciate it.

“They drugged and killed my guards,” the earl continued.

While I’d already learned this from Callan, I played dumb. “They did what?”

The earl’s eyes were full of rage when they met mine. “They drugged and killed a fair number of my guards before the rebellion started. Fucking cowards.”

Like every one of you, they didn’t run away as soon as the battle started. But instead of speaking the truth, I kept up pretenses.

“Was it only your servants who participated in this?” I asked. “Or did they have outside help too?”

“So far, it seems to have only been the servants,” my father replied.

One of the earl’s sons, I couldn’t remember his name and didn’t care to try, thrust a finger at a woman in chains. “ She was the harp player.”

The woman whimpered and hunched further into herself.

“And apparently, the band was involved too,” my father said dryly. “Do we know who was in the band?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Ivan said. “If we don’t know, she’ll tell us. We’ll make her.”

His words, and the violence they promised, hung heavily over the room.

Which means Callan is now a wanted man. They can’t find him at Ellery’s.

I debated leaving and returning to her home. However, if I left now, I couldn’t be here when she came for her mother.

I couldn’t stand at her side for it, but I could be here , and she would know it was for her. Plus, my father and Ivan wouldn’t allow me to leave again.

They were putting on a show of strength in this room, and I had the strongest powers in the realm… or so they believed. Ellery held more power than me.

Besides, I doubted they would raid any homes today, especially since Samael stood in the center of the room, directing servants where to place the bodies. Many of his men were scattered throughout the bodies, watching as the others worked, which meant no one was out destroying homes.

Samael’s father, the captain of the king’s guard, stood at the front of the dais. If the king was going to send out men, he would have sent Samay to oversee everything.

“You shouldn’t have left,” my father stated as he stared at me.

“I did the same as you,” I replied.

His eyes glittered with malice as some of the servants closest to me exchanged uneasy glances. All those on the dais glared at me.

“ We were still here. We didn’t flee the castle,” my father grated through his teeth.

I shrugged. “I had no way of knowing that, and I returned.”

“You will remain here until we’ve sorted all of this.”

So, I was right; they weren’t going to let me leave, and it wasn’t just for a show of force. These rich, powerful men and women, surrounded by their guards, were scared shitless.

They were starting to realize how despised they were in Tempest and that some of those who most wanted them dead were the ones closest to them. It made me smile.

“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be, Father,” I lied, and they all knew it.

“What are we going to do about the servants?” the earl demanded. “I have none left, and no one can trust any of the ones they have in their homes.”

“We should kill them all,” one of the earl’s sons stated, “and get new ones.”

A few of my father’s servants stopped to look up. Their faces paled as they glanced from the earl’s son to my father. If they were looking for sympathy or a defense from my father, they hadn’t worked for him long enough.

And if I didn’t do something, they might kill every servant they had and replace them with new ones. Too many innocent amsirah had already died; I couldn’t stand by and watch more suffer for something they didn’t have a part in.

“I’m sure that after seeing this, there won’t be any more talks about rebelling.” I waved a hand at the huddled masses beside me and the bodies littering the floor. “Make a good example of them and let the whole realm know what becomes of them. Once they see that, I assure you, your homes will remain safe.”

I hated throwing these rebels to the wolves, but better this few dozen amsirah than the thousands who worked for all the aristocrats. And they would slaughter them all if they believed it necessary.

“Yes, yes, yes,” Ivan said as he twiddled his fingers before him. “We’ll make an example of these monsters. We’ll make sure the whole realm sees what will happen to them if they try to rise against us, and we will destroy them.”

A few of the captured servants whimpered and cowered deeper into their chains.

“And how do you plan to do that?” one of the earl’s sons inquired.