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CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE

Ellery

The few bites of the sweet frozen ice I’d taken earlier curdled in my stomach as shrieks mingled with the unrelenting sound of the whip. Bile rose in my throat, and the cup I still held shook in my hand.

Beside me, Scarlet trembled as a new guard moved on to the next amsirah prisoner. The man started screaming before the whip struck his flesh.

I didn’t blame him. I wanted to scream too. My hand found Scarlet’s, and our fingers entwined as we sought strength from each other.

Beneath the amsirah who had already been whipped, the blood pooling under their legs had turned the grass red. Strips of their flesh also marred the once beautiful green lawn.

Turning away, I set the frozen ice on the window of a merchant’s booth. His nostrils flared as his panicked eyes met mine. I had to turn away, but my gaze remained locked on his as those awful sounds pierced the air.

We shouldn’t have come. Ryker had tried to warn me, but I was too determined to strike out against the aristocrats, to do some good again in this realm, and to bring some joy to the amsirah’s faces again that I hadn’t heeded his advice.

I was an idiot.

“You have to look back, miss,” he whispered. “They’ll notice if you don’t.”

I tried to shake my head to deny his words, but he was right; they would notice if I kept my face averted and my attention diverted from what they were doing. They wanted everyone to see. That’s why they’d called everyone from their homes, made them gather here, and paraded the prisoners onto the green.

We were meant to see, to remember, and to know. “They’re calling it The Show.”

Ryker’s words floated back across my mind. This was nothing but amusement for the king, just like the maze, except this was so much worse than the tease of the unattainable prize in the middle of Ivan’s labyrinth.

Look away! I gulped as I tore my attention away from the man and back to the show .

I could face the direction of what was happening, but I didn’t have to see. I kept my attention on the sky and the birds soaring high above. They had no idea what was happening here, and I envied them their oblivion.

Up in the clouds, they were free from the pain, sorrow, and fear now woven into the very tapestry of Tempest. My once vital, beautiful realm was a place of suffering.

It had to stop.

I should have stayed away, but every crack of a whip drove my determination to bring down Ivan and his cronies deeper. Even if it killed me, I’d see them defeated and stripped of power.

I had no idea how long the beatings lasted as I remained focused on the sky. They had to go on for at least an hour, maybe more, before the whips stopped falling. The screams ebbed, but the whimpers and sobs did not.

When the screams remained silent, I tore my attention away from the sky and back to the misery before me. My stomach sank when I saw a guard moving forward with a pair of loppers in hand.

“Lery,” Scarlet whispered.

My hand tightened on hers. The lump in my throat, which had made breathing difficult, swelled until I nearly choked on it.

I somehow managed to swallow it back as a murmur ran through the crowd. When Ivan lifted his hand, all sounds ceased.

“Bring me their pinkies,” Ivan declared.

Before the guard moved toward the prisoners, a surge of life filled some of them, and they started screaming. Their feet flailed in the blood-soaked grass as they tried to gain purchase on it.

I understood their desperation, but they couldn’t break free of the pillories. The first amsirah screamed as, with a crunch that I would hear for the rest of my life, he lost first one pinky finger and then the other.

Tears burned my eyes, and acid burned my chest as I focused on the sky again. Before, I shut out some of the sounds and awfulness, but I couldn’t this time.

Scarlet’s other hand wrapped around my arm, and we clung to each other as the guard made his way through the prisoners. When he finally finished, many of the amsirah around us trembled while a couple wept, but they hastily wiped away their tears; sympathy could spell death here.

Some of the other guards had been collecting the severed appendages; they placed them on the ground near Ivan’s feet. It’s like some sacrificial offering. Like he’s a god in this realm, and we’re the lambs.

And that’s exactly what it was as he smiled at all those severed appendages with a look of smug superiority. A fire of hatred burned inside me; I never thought I could abhor someone as much as the duke, but Ivan had proved me wrong.

When the last pinky was placed at his feet, the king rose from his throne. He continued to smile as he strolled over to stand behind the weeping prisoners.

He waved a hand at the battered amsirah as he declared, “ Anyone who dares to try rising against us will face this fate and worse. Their lives are no longer theirs; they are mine . Rise against me, and you will pay the price. I have sacrificed so much to keep you all safe, and I will not tolerate dissension in my realm. If you defy me, you will suffer the consequences of your actions, and you will suffer them for years .”

That final word caused some of the prisoners to cry out while others sobbed louder. Many hung limply, either too exhausted to lift their heads or unconscious. Their fate was something I couldn’t begin to imagine, but it could be mine one day.

No, mine would be worse if I was ever caught or my secrets came out.