Bile rose so quickly there was no stopping it. I turned, bending as I vomited water and what remained of the stew I’d eaten hours ago. I heaved until my legs gave out and I hit the bloodied floor on my knees, until my stomach cramped and tears streamed down my face.
Lord Arion waited silently through it all, speaking only once I quieted. “Is that all?” he asked as I shook. “Or will there be more yet to come up?”
I shook my head. There was nothing left inside me.
“Then stand. We must be on our way.”
I rocked back. I didn’t know any of these . . . these people, but there was nothing they could’ve done to deserve this.
“Why did this happen?” I rasped, throat sore. I had to know what could drive a living creature to be this cruel to another, because I couldn’t fathom such destructive evil. It didn’t matter what I’d seen in Archwood. This brutality was something else entirely. “Why did you all do this to them?”
There was a heavy sigh, one of boredom or impatience, maybe both. “Why not?”
I stared at him in disbelief.
“I was kidding,” he said as if that somehow was better. “One of our knights got a bit out of hand. The screaming started, and well, Prince Rohan is not a fan of such annoyances. If they had only stayed silent, they might have lived to see the sun rise.”
“They . . . they were slaughtered because someone screamed?” My voice pitched high.
“I can see that answer displeases you,” Lord Arion noted. “Will it help you regain your footing to know that most of the town has been left untouched? Because I do hope so.”
Most of the town? I thought of the wails Grady and I had heard coming from outside the inn. Were the ones not so lucky left like this? Split open and left to rot when the sun did rise like they had been in Archwood?
“Do you not care for lowborn at all?” I asked, even though I knew the answer. Or I thought I did. I knew that the King had taken little interest in us, but this was . . . it went beyond anything I believed the Hyhborn capable of. “Does the King think this is okay?”
“The King abhors violence,” Lord Arion replied. “He also abhors dens of vice and sin. He would see this for what it is. A cleansing. There was no life of value lost tonight. Now, we need to continue.”
A bone-deep rage unfurled, chasing away the coldness of terror and disbelief. My throat burned with my fury. “Fuck you.”
Fair brows rose above the black-and-green eyes. That was all I had a chance to see. He moved so fast.
The blow he landed stung my cheek and lip, knocking me to the side. I threw out my hands, catching myself before I hit the floor. Burning, throbbing pain radiated across my jaw, up the side of my head. Blood soaked my palms as I breathed through the ringing in my ears.
Good gods. . . .
This wasn’t the first time in my life I’d been struck, but I’d never been hit so hard that I could hear ringing in my ears.
Blood coated the inside of my mouth. I spat, wincing at the sharp spike of pain from a tear in my lip. I tentatively ran my tongue along my lips, half surprised that no teeth had been knocked free.
“Look at me.” His whisper touched my skin like a breath of winter.
I drew back, sucking in a short breath as I lifted my head to the Lord once more. The lamplight was bright here— brighter than a few seconds before. Tiny hairs along the nape of my neck rose as power charged the air.
His smile grew. “Listen to me.”
Before I could take another breath, his voice reached inside me and seized control. An unseen weight settled on my ankles first and then traveled up my legs, circling my waist and wrists, slipping over my shoulders. A quick, sharp pain lanced my skull, and then the pressure was there, filling my mind, and every breath I took tasted of . . . of mint.
The center of his eyes— where the blots of green ringed his pupils— brightened and expanded until only a thin strip of black was visible. “Stand,” Lord Arion commanded.
I didn’t want to. Every part of my being rebelled against it, but my body moved without conscious effort. He’d seized control of my body— my will. I rose.
The Lord brushed his cloak aside, grasping the black hilt of a sword. Lamplight glinted off the lunea blade as he withdrew it, leveling the pointed end at my chest. “Walk forward.”
A foot lifted, then another.
He smirked. “Farther.”
My heart thundered as I stared at the wickedly sharp edge of the sword. He was . . . he was going to have me impale myself? No. I wouldn’t do this. I couldn’t do this. No, I whispered, then screamed the single word, over and over, but none of those sounds made it to my tongue. My hands opened at my sides, fingers splaying wide.