Page 42 of When Storms Ruin

“We have all voted, gentlemen. It comes down to you,” Isaac said, nodding his head towards Puck and Warrick.

“Voted?” Tyr asked.

He sounded so young, his eyes wide as he searched our faces.

“You know our rules, Tyr.” Isaac’s tone was cutting.

Tyr set his jaw under Isaac’s gaze, but his hands were shaking.

“I’m with Nik,” Puck replied. “Too much of a coincidence that he found us, if you ask me. He betrayed us once before, he will do it again.”

“Surprise, surprise,” I murmured under my breath.

“If Warrick agrees Tyr is a traitor, it will be a tie,” Tess muttered quietly beside me.

I could only hope that Warrick wouldn’t sentence a child to death. That made us no better than Donika herself.

It felt as if we all collectively held our breath as we waited for Warrick to speak. Would they let him back into the resistance if the council voted that he wasn’t guilty?

The tension in the air was almost tangible as Warrick met my eyes. I didn’t believe Tyr meant for any of this to happen, and I desperately hoped Warrick felt the same.

“I don’t believe he meant to betray us,” Warrick finally spoke.

I wanted to rush forwards and hug him, but feared that might set Nik straight over the edge and past the point of no return. Nik’s jaw was set, his eyes hard.

He wanted nothing more than to kill Tyr for his betrayal of me, intentional or not.

“Tyr Kotova.” Isaac’s voice was deep as it reverberated across the training field. “You have been foundnot guiltyof the crime of betraying our true queen.”

The events of the day had worn me to within an inch of my sanity. I could barely process the fact that Tyr was back, and that he hadn’t meant to betray me. I certainly couldn’t come to terms with the creatures from hell Donika had created with her dark magic. Araneoch, Tyr had called them. I made a mental reminder to check the Kotova grimoire for any such spells once I got some rest.

The long soak in the claw-foot tub still couldn’t scrub the images of the creatures from my mind, and when I fell into bed, I was desperate for a dreamless sleep. The only thing I could see behind my closed eyelids were those hairy, spindly legs. That eyeless head and those razor-sharp fangs.

I curled onto my side, my wet hair cascading down the pillow, but it wasn’t a dreamless sleep that I found waiting for me. I was pulled into a dream entirely against my will…the sensation becoming all too familiar.

I was dream walking.

Donika descended the steps of the dais slowly, her heels clicking against the marble, her eyes darkening.

“If I may, My Queen, it appears the experiments have been failing on some and a success on others. I have noticed that since Zion left you have pushed to run the tests before the subjects are ready…”

“What is your point, Corian?” Donika sneered, approaching a figure that lay in a pile of limbs on the cold tile.

She used her heel to turn the figures face upwards, and I gasped at what I saw there. It was a human, or at least, it used to be. It had black, lifeless eyes like Donika, but the blackness spread across the figure’s entire face as if it were a spiderweb of veins. The veins on their hands had also turned black beneath their translucent skin. The figures mouth was slack, the hint of fangs showing in their dark mouth. Whatwasthis thing?

It resembled the Araneoch we encountered on the training field yesterday, but it also…didn’t. This had once been a person. Human. This wasn’t some pieced together monstrosity.

“If we could simply ask Zion to come back, if we could find him—” Corian started, but his words trailed off as he met Donika’s gaze.

“Zion is not coming back,” Donika spat, giving the figure before her a shove before advancing on Corian. “Bring in the next one.”

“At once, your majesty.” Corian nodded towards a guard at the double doors leading to the throne room, and another figure was led in. This figure was slumped between two guards, her head hanging limply, her blonde hair covering her face.

“This is the one who has lived?” Donika asked, crossing her arms over the bodice of her diamond-adorned gown.

“Yes, your majesty. This onethrives.”

It didn’t appear as if she was thriving to me. As soon as the guards released her, she fell into a heap, her knees hitting the tile with jarring impact. Donika cocked her head to the side as she examined the girl. Her shadows reached out and curled around the girl’s chin, turning her face towards her.

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