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CHAPTER EIGHTY-FOUR

Ellery

I wasn’t sure how many of the amsirah breathed as Ivan’s words hung heavily in the air while he turned to stare at all those gathered around. I had no idea what this asshole had sacrificed, other than some carisle to pay the warlocks to trap us here, but I would make sure he lost everything in the end.

This man had done nothing but cause us all heartache, yet he told us he was doing good for us. Worse, he wanted us to believe it.

I wasn’t sure if Ivan believed what he’d said or not, but either way, he was batshit crazy.

“No one is to touch them, feed them, or do anything for them,” he continued. “If you’re caught trying to offer aid, you will join them!”

The crowd shifted uneasily around me. Flies were already starting to gather around the thirty-six men and women who’d dared to fight for their freedom.

We were bringing The Hollows money; Ivan brought them terror. This was supposed to have been a day of hope for those here, but that hope had been sucked away. No matter what we did now, it wouldn’t return, and I wasn’t sure the return of the Hooded Robber would be enough to make them fight anymore… not after this.

Or maybe this would make them want to fight more. I sensed a lot of unhappiness surrounding me, but there was also anger, not as much, but it was there in the set of some amsirah’s jaws and the fire in the eyes of others.

When Samael waved his hand, some of the guards jogged over to join him. One of them was the man who’d helped load my mother’s body into her coffin; I couldn’t remember his name.

He stood proudly beside the sheriff as the king turned and sauntered back to his throne. He kicked aside some of the appendages as if they were no more than trash before reclaiming his seat.

“Go on now,” Ivan declared as he waved his hand at the amsirah gathered around the lawn. “And remember what will happen to you if you dare to defy me.”

The crowd shuffled uneasily. I sensed their impatience to sprint away from this awful place, but no one wanted to be the first to move.

It wasn’t until a group of servants lifted the king’s throne, with him still sitting on it, and carried him over to his carriage, that some started shuffling their feet. When they set the throne down and Ivan rose to enter his carriage, everyone remained in place until the rest of his entourage joined him.

Numerous guards lingered on the lawn, watching over their flayed prisoners while the crowd started to disperse. The amsirah were still eerily quiet as they turned and shuffled away, more broken than they were before this.

Unable to trust my knees to hold me, I stayed where I was, my feet planted in place and my hand entangled with Scarlet’s. When Scarlet trembled again, I shook myself a little and placed one hesitant foot in front of another.

Scarlet leaned against me a little as we crept down the street. I looked back to see if the merchant was still in his window, but he’d vanished.

“Are you okay?” I whispered to Scarlet.

The color had yet to return to her face, and distress radiated from her doe-brown eyes when they met mine, but she nodded. “Are you?”

“No.”

Neither of us discussed what had happened as we made our way down the road. There was nothing we could say to make it any better… we could only do something, which was why we were here.

My hands still trembled as I pulled another purse free. I kept it against my side as I searched the street, but despite the huge increase in guards in The Hollows, they were all focused on the prisoners and the town center.

Out here, we were surrounded only by the beaten-down amsirah who were more focused on survival than us. We were doing everything we could to help as I set the purse in a pile of straw. Someone would eventually find it.

We were halfway down the road when I spotted Ianto on the other side of the street. It was impossible to miss him, as he stood a good head and shoulders above the rest of the crowd.

Amsirah moved swiftly out of his way as he strolled down the sidewalk. He lacked his normal smile.

Ianto didn’t see us, or at least he didn’t look our way before he stopped outside a door and ducked to enter the building. The sign above the door read Alehouse .

After the king’s display, I suspected that bar was booming with business and contemplated having a pint myself. It would be a relief to drown my sorrows in a glass, but if I started drinking, I might not stop.

“I’m out of purses,” Scarlet whispered.

I felt one last purse tucked under the waistband of my pants and hidden beneath my shirt. “I have one more, and then we can go.”

“Good.”

I was about to tug the purse free and set it on a cart we were passing. It was outside a small home with a baby crying inside, but the sound of my name stopped me. My fingers fell away from the purse, and I turned as the man I’d seen with the sheriff crossed the street toward us.

Did he see something?