Page 60 of His Dark Delights
The carriage groaned to a stop, and the clamor of a thousand voices infiltrated the walls. My veins ran cold, and I bodily shivered regardless of the spring warmth and my heavy sleeves.
All the world moved around me in a haze. Rhydan stepped out of the carriage, pushing back subjects of Elleslan. Additional guards poured in, forming a path from the carriage to a platform boasting a massive pyre. The scent of flammable oils reached me through theodor of the crowd.
I moved in a daze, carried by His Majesty’s arm hooked through mine. From the corner of my eye, I noted the crown on his head but couldn’t recall when he’d donned it. Under the blazing sun, pregnant with golden light, he appeared fearsome and dominating.
Soren breezed through the line with an obvious swagger in his steps. His subjects reached through gaps in the soldiers. They grasped at their king, reverently touching his cloak or stooping to brush their fingers on his boots. All the while, he waved and smiled, and hundreds cheered when he laughed.
If not for his arm, I would have stumbled on the steps. Too many eyes were on me, glaring, staring, watching. Some with envy and jealousy, some with adoration and glee.
Atop the platform, Lunaric kneeled at the base of the pyre. Someone had stripped him of his shirt and his wings were limp behind him. A vibrant display for the crowd. His head hung, but I imagined he was glaring at the ropes on his wrists. My heart ached for him.
Soren raised his hand, causing his subjects to go silent. Thousands of eyes watched the king stride toward his bound prisoner and would-be assassin.
“I stand before you with the Prince of Fairy, Lunaric Oberynson, bound and beaten. This magic wielding savage attempted to kill your king!”
A palpable hunger rippled through the air. They thrashed and shuffled like a feral pack of wild beasts with slavering jaws. They gnashed their teeth and cried out for blood.
“For his crimes, not only seeking to murder me, but for being our enemy, a gods-damned fae, I King SorenCarnifex, condemn this monster to death. May he find mercy in the arms of the gods.”
That was it. No prayer, no drawn-out speech meant to last the day. Soren gave no chance for the fairy prince to beg for mercy or for his life. The human king had made his statement and now the citizens bristled with anticipation of the show. They wanted to see the fae’s head roll, and they trembled with delight at the thought of watching his wings burn to ash.
Soren unsheathed his sword. The steel sang in the silence, much to the pleasure of the eager crowd salivating for a show.
Lunaric’s head snapped up at the song of death ringing in the wind. He glanced once at the sword. My lungs froze at the lack of fear or apprehension in his eyes. They were alight from within, and gleaming like venom. And they locked on mine.
An outside force arrested me again, moving my legs forward. Racing, racing, running, I flung myself between Soren’s sword and the fairy prince. My fingers dipped between my breasts, curling around my knife from breakfast.
Soren growled, lowering his sword inches from missing my arm. “Lilliana, what do you think you’re doing?”
Loud enough for all to hear, I shouted with all the fury of hurricane-force winds. “The fae are not the monsters. You are the monster!”
Twisting around, I sliced through the ropes with all my might. That tiny blade meant for breakfast sausages wasn’t enough to cut rope on its own, but I was crazed, and a righteous madness drove me.
When the ropes snapped, Lunaric’s wings crackedopen. In one brittle moment, he acknowledged me, saying something urgent with his eyes I couldn’t read. He nodded, and a breath later, he flung himself into the air.
“Shoot that bastard down!” The Butcher bellowed at his soldiers. A flurry of arrows whipped into the air, whistling through the wind.
A fist caught my hair, snapping my head back. A yelp broke from me, and tears slipped from my eyes. A grating voice, more savage than anything imaginable, penetrated my ears. “What the fuck have you done?”
Through the tears blurring my vision, I saw Lunaric soaring away, far, far away and leaving me behind with the Fairy Butcher.
Soren paced the marble floor of the throne hall. Each thump of his boots echoed in my ears like a gavel, pounding away at my sentence. At any moment, he’d announce that my head was next on the chopping block and the unused pyre was for me.
“How could you do that to me? In front of the entire capital. Gods, Lilly, you made me look like a fool, and now I don’t know what to do with you!”
“You already looked like a fool. I did nothing more than what needed to be done.” I snapped back, hissing through my teeth.
His Majesty stepped down from the throne, towering over me. Evening shadows cast a dangerous darkness over his features. A week ago, I might have cowered under the glowering face of the Butcher.
He snatched the crown from his head and tossed itbehind me. It clattered on the ground, rolling away into the corners with a clink. A frenzy glittered in his eyes.
“You let my prisoner, the creature that tried to kill me, free. I can’t imagine why in the name of the gods you’d do such a thing. Do you think so little of me, truly? Do you hate me enough to see the bastard return and finish the job?”
“I let the Prince of Fairy go to salvage the kingdom before your war leads to the death of everyone and everything. If you continue your brutal rampage, then all our lives are forfeit.”
Soren stomped away, turning his back on me. His shoulders were wide, tense from the weight of his rage. He was an unknowable fortress standing just out of reach.
His arm lifted, and the chandelier light glinted on the silver knife in his hand.
