Page 29 of The Lies of Lena (The Otacian Chronicles #1)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

LENA

T orrin was by the pathway exit when I made my way down the side of the castle. He fell into pace beside me, looking around us occasionally in case of any threat.

“Silas said Ryia’s killer was her aide, Amatta,” I muttered. “That she is a Mage.”

Torrin whipped his head towards me. “What? There is no way Amatta is a Mage.”

“How can you be so sure?”

Torrin went to speak and groaned, realizing he couldn’t be sure. It was too easy for us to glamour ourselves. “She can’t be Kayin if that is where your mind is going. They don’t even speak similarly. And I don’t mean the sound of her voice. Mannerisms, all that are completely different. ”

“She could be working with her, though.” I tensed. “Who knows who else Kayin has been speaking to?”

Torrin paled. “I…no.” He shook his head. “Kayin said she was working with Igon. And he would never have supported the assassination of the Queen. The King, perhaps. But not the Queen.”

“And if she lied?” I pressed.

He studied me, then shrugged in defeat as his eyes went forward. “We will just have to trust.”

I stopped in my tracks and then threw my arms in frustration. “I can’t go off blind trust! Not when it comes to him.”

“Keep it down!” Torrin hissed as he grabbed my arms. “Kayin and Igon insisted that Silas is who will determine the fate of our people,” he said calmly. “And while our connection to Kayin is…questionable now, I trust Igon with my whole being.”

I bit back tears. “I want to be able to believe that,” I whispered.

He squeezed my arms gently before releasing me. “ If you trust in anything, trust me, ” he said to me in my mind as I chugged the extra elixirs in my bag and emerged through the hedges, now in the Inner Ring.

Kayin’s words hit me.

You can trust him, you know.

Crowds were gathering the following day, flooding into the Center to witness the trial for Amatta, the supposed Mage who killed Queen Ryia. It felt surreal that Silas and his family were just here celebrating, only to be mourning in the same spot two days later.

Well, not exactly the same spot. Our focus now was to the left of the castle, at the guillotine.

I shuddered at the King’s presence. I noted that no tears were present, though he struck me as a man who had never cried. Next to him was Silas, with the same dark expression, though he was struggling, yet succeeding, at holding back his tears. I wanted to run up to him so badly—be by his side.

The crowd began shouting, hurling slurs as Amatta was brought out by guards. She was gagged, her eyes blown wide with tears and snot pouring down her face.

When they reached the platform, the guards placed her nowhere near the guillotine. Instead, she was being tied to a wooden stake. She was thrashing violently as they secured rope around her body.

She was terrified.

What…what are they going to do to her?

While the King spoke with the guards, citizens began hurling stones at Amatta, one making a sickening crack as it hit her head. People cheered as blood dripped down her skull, and I couldn’t help but feel sick.

Mother held my hand firmly, and I looked away. Like before, we were still further back in the crowd but close enough to see and hear everything.

The King stepped forward, his height and size daunting, and he held up his hand to silence the crowd before speaking .

“This witch killed your Queen in cold blood. Our loving, sweet Ryia. It was by the blessing of the Gods I was able to stop this monster before she killed any more innocent people.”

Amatta thrashed and thrashed, screaming despite her gag, but her attempted words were a mush of gibberish. Silas stared at her with disgust.

Despite the King's claim, Amatta's ears were rounded. Perhaps she refused to remove her glamour in hopes of survival.

“We have set rules in place, so witches know that they have no place here in our kingdom, yet they still plague our lands with their presence. And now, they have killed your Queen.”

The crowd roared in contempt, and I squeezed Mother’s hand tight.

Wrong…this felt wrong .

“That is why, citizens of Otacia, I will be putting a kill order in place for any and all witches.”

Silence.

“It is time to put an end to their kind, once and for all.”

My whole body went numb. My hearing became muffled. The words that proceeded to fall from the King’s lips did not register.

No.

No!

Ulric lit a torch as his speech finished, his eyes intense on Amatta, and handed the flame to Silas.

My Gods…he is going to make Silas do it?

Amatta was still shaking, flailing her body as hard as she could, but as Silas neared, she sagged in defeat. He hesitated for a moment before he lit the wood beneath her, and even with her mouth gagged, her horrific screams filled the entire kingdom.

Flames crept up her legs, up her torso, over her face. Smoke swirled upwards, and the nauseating scent of burning flesh permeated the air.

Silas just watched with an apathy in his eyes that sent chills down my spine, a coldness I had never seen on him. The crowd boomed, and my hand shot over my mouth in disbelief at that barbaric act before us. Mother tugged at my wrist and gave me a look that said, “Don’t show emotion.”

I couldn’t see Torrin, but I heard his panicked voice.

“Tonight. We must leave tonight.”

This. This was what Kayin warned us about. Mages—we were no longer just to be banished. Our existence was now to end entirely.

I couldn’t accept it. Accept that I had to leave. Accept that the home I had grown to love could’ve changed so much, so fast. Mother clasped my hand, and we tried our best not to appear suspicious as we hurried home, the sound of the brown-haired woman's screams fading to nothing as her body melted away.

“We leave tonight,” Mother said frantically, slamming our door and locking us in our cottage.

I couldn’t even argue. I was numb.

“You heard the King,” she continued, her body shaking as she began packing our things. “There is a kill order on us, Lena. I will not have us be sitting ducks in a kingdom with such a sick leader. This is what that woman Kayin must have been warning you about.”

“But…but Silas—” I felt like a shell of a person. This couldn’t be real. This couldn’t be happening.

“Is the son of that evil bastard,” she snarled.

“So, what?” I clenched my fists as reality began to set in. There was now a kill order on all Mages. We get caught, we are dead. “You don’t care that we are abandoning him right after he has suffered this loss?” The rational part of me knew we had no choice. “And what…I…I tell him I’m leaving—about who we are?”

She whirled towards me. “Absolutely not!” She grasped my shoulders. “I know you love him, but we cannot take that risk.” She resumed her packing. “We will fake our deaths. Set fire to our house. I will conjure up false bodies so they think we died in here.”

“Do you hear yourself?!” I asked incredulously.

“This isn’t just a simple banishing and running. This is truly life and death.” She wiped a tear that had fallen out of her eye. “I care for Silas greatly, Lena. I said before he’s like a son to me. But he is the Prince. He cannot escape his fate any more than we can. It is no longer safe here, and I know that Silas would desire your safety over anything.”

I knew that, too. But to leave with no explanation…to make him believe I was dead…

Find Torrin. Go to Ames.

I felt sick that the day had finally fucking come.

“I…I have to see him before we go.”

“Lena—”

“No! I will not leave without seeing him!” I cried. “One last time.”