Page 67 of What Fury Brings
Glen shot a look to Ydra as though she’d forgotten an audience was even there. Glen didn’t respond to her, instead turning toward the queen. “Your Majesty, it is a life sentence that Olerra is the substitute for. The beating must be of equal value.”
The queen nodded gravely. Olerra blinked when her aunt’s figure started to double.
When next she landed on the floor, Olerra could not get up again. Glen sent her foot into Olerra’s stomach again and again. When a kick struck her face, the world went dark.
15
Sanos felt every blow as if it landed on his own skin.
He was used to beatings. Used to watching as his brothers received theirs. But he’d never been forced to endure this.
He watched as this impossible woman took his punishment. No one had ever done such a thing before. And she barely knew him. She had no cause to do this. Surely the effort of taking herself a new husband was more appealing than this. So then why? Why subject herself to such pain and humiliation in front of a room of people who decided whether she would be the next ruler of her country?
What hidden motive did she have?
She took the beating silently. She took it admirably, rising each time she was struck to the floor. Until she no longer had the strength to stand. Until she could no longer keep her eyes open.
All for him.
The relief he felt when the queen’s guard finally dragged Glenaerys away from Olerra could not be described with words.
The princess was a mottled mess of blood and broken skin, but she was breathing.
Ydra was already approaching her with physicians in tow. They loaded her onto a mat that they hoisted up into the air. To his eunuch guards, Ydra said, “Bring him.”
Ydra bowed before the queen. “I will take her to my estate to recover safely.”
The queen nodded. Whether words failed her or she was a woman of very few, Sanos didn’t know. They removed his chains and made him follow.
For once, Sanos didn’t fight.
Ydra’s estate was quite large. Sanos admired the marble columns and beautiful exterior gardens for all of a second before he was ushered inside and locked within a bedroom.
He was not bound, for which he was grateful. He was, however, left with nothing but his thoughts.
It didn’t matter that Olerra was a general and a warrior. Hehatedseeing her hurt, and he hated that he hated it. He didn’t want to feel like he owed her. It was her fault that he was in this mess in the first place. He should not have had to deal with any of this, and yet, there he was.
He paced the room.
Why had she done it?
In his country, if a man saved another’s life, he was owed a life debt. The debt could only be repaid in one way. The one who had been saved spent their life in servitude to the one who had spared them until such a day came that the spared was able to save their savior’s life in return. These rules did not, exactly, extend to the royal family—because royals could not be expected to serve in such a capacity. But still, Sanos felt honor bound to this woman.
He growled aloud. She’d taken his life away first! She’d stolen him. And now she’d saved him. If anything, they were even. Except that he was still trapped and forced to do her bidding.
Sanos continued pacing until his last image of her sprang to mind. She had lain so still on the floor, her blood pooling onto the red obsidian tiles.
Damn her!
He would still escape at the first opportunity. He would be rid of her and this place, but his conscience needled at him, and he hated her for it.
When the door opened, Ydra was there alone.
“You fucking idiot,” she seethed.
“How is she?” he asked, meeting her gaze.
“Four fractured ribs. A broken nose. Bruises on every inch of skin. She’ll be recovering for weeks. Maybe longer.”
