Page 9

CHAPTER NINE

Ellery

At first, I hovered anxiously as they tore through my home, destroying things they didn’t have to ruin. I winced every time one of my mother’s pretty vases or figurines hit the floor and shattered.

Tears burned my eyes as they tore the beautiful tapestries she’d spent hours crafting from the walls and stomped over their tattered remains. It had been a couple of years since my mother had the time to create any new artwork, but she loved it almost as much as she loved my father and me.

Art and creation were a part of her; they were woven into the fabric of her being as surely as love was woven into everything she created. They brightened our home, added color, and brought joy to us all… and now they were mere shattered remnants of the once peaceful, secure, loving home we’d once resided in.

That home had vanished after my father’s death and Ivan’s increasing rule of the realm, but these beautiful things had held memories and brought some cheer into an increasingly bleak existence. And now it was all being destroyed.

I cried out and lurched toward one of the men who lifted a vase from a shelf, twisted it in his hands, and dropped it on the floor. Freezing, my mouth hung open as I gazed at the ruined vestiges of the vase my grandmother had made for my mother.

“Nothing in there,” the man said before stomping across the pieces.

I charged after him, but my mother grabbed my arm and pulled me back. “No, Ellery. These are things. You are not.”

“I hate them,” I hissed.

“Do not speak again.”

My jaw clenched as my gaze swung toward her. I wasn’t a child anymore.

The alarm in her eyes froze my words. Her fingers bit into my arm as she gazed at me with such pleading it hurt more than the destruction of our things.

This is my fault. I brought this down on us by helping with that robbery.

No, this is the fault of Ivan and the nobles. They drove us to this. Everything was so much better under Leo’s rule. We’re only fighting back.

That didn’t lessen my guilt as crashes and bangs sounded from upstairs. Shrinking in on myself, I clasped my mother’s hand on my arm and squeezed it.

Her blue eyes remained full of concern as her fingers became bruising, but I didn’t try to lessen it or pull away. She was terrified I’d do something stupid and she’d lose me too. She wasn’t going to let me go.

My heart sank when one of the men approached the portrait hanging over our fireplace. I’d hated sitting for that painting, but that image of our unified family and my proud mother and father was everything to me now.

Please don’t.

But I couldn’t bring myself to beg them to leave it be. I wouldn’t beg for anything from these assholes, even if it would do any good… which it wouldn’t.

My hatred grew as they ripped the portrait from the fireplace and tossed it aside. It fell to the floor and cracked before it crashed with a bang.

Little crackles of energy zipped across my fingers before I closed them to suppress my lightning. Dread briefly replaced my rage when I realized I was close to losing control. If I did, things would go from bad to much worse.

I had to look away, yet I couldn’t tear my gaze from the cracked portrait. It had fallen so the back was facing up, but every detail of that painting was emblazoned in my memory.

They’d treated it like trash… just as they treated all amsirah who weren’t part of the king’s precious inner circle. Those of us who weren’t sycophants were toys meant to be played with, broken, and tossed aside.

At one time, we were treated with respect in this realm; now, we were nothing. We still held a little more position over the peasants, but not much anymore.

If this was what they were doing to our home, I couldn’t think about what they were doing to those poor souls with so much less. I doubted the assholes who raided their homes would leave them with anything, because I was certain they were searching every home in the land… except the aristocrats.

We brought this on everyone.

I blinked away the tears as my fury ebbed, and I hunched in on myself again.

We’ll give them money. We’ll help them, and if we win against Ivan, we can improve their lives.

No, we would win against him. Failure wasn’t an option.

My mother tugged at my arm. “Let’s go outside, Ellery.”

“But….”

Her steely expression caused my protest to fade. There was nothing we could do here, and staying would be a bad decision. I wasn’t sure I could control my temper and powers if I continued to watch this travesty.

With a sigh, I followed her into the foyer, where the sheriff stood by the door. His eyes twinkled with amusement as we approached.