Kairyn places a hand on my shoulder. “You know what must happen now, big brother. The final punishment for a breaker of creed.”
I close my eyes, my head suddenly so heavy.
“Guards!” Kairyn roars. “Remove his armor!”
There are hands all over me, stripping me of my breastplate, my greaves, my gloves. My beautiful armor is thrown aside across the dais, scuffing against the wood.
I kneel before my brother only in the long-sleeve black shirt and trousers. Ranger’s cloth, nothing more.
And my helm, of course.
My brother places his hands on either side of my helmet. I look up at him and can almost see his eyes peering down at me, so full of resentment. Of sorrow.
“Spring,” he says shakily, “you will now gaze upon the face of the leader who betrayed you. Observe his flesh and witness his shame. Creedbreaker. In the long histories, your name will be reviled. And all who love you shall behold how far you have fallen.”
With those words, my brother rips off my helm.
89
Rosalina
“No!” I scream, but my voice is stolen by the crowd. They gasp, they sob. Others yell.
The High Prince has been unhelmed.
No, I think. He’s not the High Prince anymore.
I look at Kairyn. Emotionless. Still. Radiating with power.
Maybe it was done in the name of their creed, but it was done with villainy. “You betrayed us,” I snarl under my breath. Flames flicker on my fingertips. “I’m going to make you pay—”
Strong arms wrap around me, pinning me to an ice-cold chest. “Control your anger,” Kel rumbles in my ear. “Now is not the time nor place. Ezryn must complete his punishment. Otherwise, it will all be for nothing.”
My rage cracks, and a sob breaks out of me instead.
“I know,” Kel whispers, his own voice raspy. “I know.”
Ezryn kneels atop the dais, chin up. His face—his beautiful face I only discovered yesterday—is stoic, impassive. But I feel it through our mate bond: a shame and guilt like I’ve never experienced. The weight of it has me clutching at my chest. I want to run away and throw myself into the dirt, never to see the light of day again.
“One last thing.” Kairyn’s voice echoes hauntingly. He whips a slim knife from the folds of his black cape. “All who look upon you henceforth will know you as creedbreaker.”
He grabs Ezryn’s chin and jerks his head to the side.
Ezryn does not resist as Kairyn slides the knife along the tip of his pointed ear, arcing it in a curve. Cutting off the point, rounding it like a human’s. A flick of his wrist and he’s done. The tip of Ezryn’s perfectly pointed ear falls to the dais in a wet slap. Blood drips down his face, down his neck.
I fall then, an unhuman scream wrenching itself from me. Shaking, I clutch Keldarion’s leg and vomit on to the ground.
Another wet slap, and I know Kairyn has taken the tip of Ezryn’s other ear. I need to stand. I need to be there for my mate.
“Help me,” I croak.
Keldarion lifts me up, and I can tell by the tremor of his fingertips, the cold prickling in the air around us, he feels the same as I. But his tortured gaze confirms my own thoughts. We must bear this for Ezryn.
“You are no longer welcome in Spring,” Kairyn calls out. “You are the Traitor Prince. The Matronslayer. Let it be known what your people think of betrayers as you make your final walk through the city.”
Ezryn’s deep brown eyes flash, but he says nothing. Blood drips along the sides of his face. He takes a step down the dais. Then another.
“Boo!” a citizen screams. “Matronslayer!”
“Shame!” another screams.
My throat tightens. “Be quiet. All of you.”
But the voices are a chorus now, shouts of murder, of disgrace. They make way, parting before Ezryn with each step he takes.
I can’t let him do this alone. I push off from Kel and run after him, shoving my way through the crowd. The other princes run right behind me.
My heart hammers as I try to keep my eyes on him amid the throng. He walks so stiffly, so proudly, shoulders back and head held high, blood dripping behind him. But inside, he’s breaking.
“You have brought shame to Spring!” one fae man calls from the edge of the path. He whips back his arm and tosses. A rotten head of lettuce smashes against Ez’s shoulder. Ez flinches, then keeps walking.
“I’ll fucking cut his arm off,” Dayton growls, but Farron places a hand against his chest.
“And if we interfere, what will happen to Ez then? This isn’t our dominion, Day.”