“It’s stranger that you never cease running your mouth,”Kieren said.
The magic of Kieren’s mind speak grazed across my mind, the brush reminding me of the way my magic had once swam inside me. Would the longing for that missing piece of myself ever go away? Or would it forever keep me a prisoner in a body that now felt foreign?
From their inner pockets of magic, both Silas and Evander pulled out thick work gloves. Both gloves were worn with tears and discoloration that spoke of how often they used them. It made me wonder what kind of work they’d done in the human realm that would wear down the gloves the way they were.
“Shall I serve as the day’s entertainment?” Aidas asked with a quirked eyebrow.
George stammered out a reluctant laugh. I understood his trepidation. It felt wrong to laugh amid all the deaths, especially when many of those responsible were still alive. I wouldn’t say they were well, though. They were, at the very least, fed.
While I wouldn’t be able to put the prisoners of battle in our dungeon, Alastor had suggested keeping them in the large cottage my uncle once called home. It was far away from any city in Niev, while it bordered the area where Tera Insaldame began.
I didn’t like the idea of putting his people in danger, but his lirio and nyxx could camouflage with their surroundings, serving better as guards than the fae of my kingdom. Should any of the prisoners escape, they’d have to contend with Alastor’s warriors.
George and Alastor had stripped my uncle’s cottage of its magic, leaving it cold and uncomfortable for the prisoners.While we’d left them clothed, we didn’t offer any other luxuries.
Honestly, they deserved far less than what they received, but I did it for Donnie, who should’ve been the one in charge of our prisoners. Or maybe not in charge but, at the very least, given an opinion on their well-being and future.
Still healing from the illness that had overtaken his lungs, Donnie spent most of his day asleep while Leah tended to him. Her own magic seemed to be malfunctioning from overuse. And while I hated working her so hard, what else could I do? Niev was suddenly short on healers, and with so many injured, there was no way to care for them all. But our healers tried.
A part of me wished my warriors had killed every human they’d battled with after the attacks on our military school and castle. Then I wouldn’t have to worry about housing or feeding them. I wouldn’t have to worry about them escaping and causing even more harm.
But George had been right in not executing them. After all, the dead couldn’t speak, and we still needed answers.
They just didn’t need to speak quite so loud. I glared at the cottage that now served as a prison, rage flooding through my veins as one human male shouted.
“Someone better put a barrier around the cottage or I’m going in there and shutting him up myself,” I said, staring at my gloved hands in disbelief. But was this really my life? No longer able to erect a simple barrier.
“Maybe we should see what he needs,” Javier said, casting a nervous look at the ground when I growled.
“What he needs is to cease screaming.” Using his magic, George lifted the snow from the ground and sent it through the cracks in the old cottage. More screams followed.
“Please!” the male bellowed. “I want to see the king.”
My lips tugged up in a grin, and when I pushed the door open, George followed me inside. I pulled my sword from the sheath on my hip.
“Who requests an audience with me?” I asked.
The prisoners parted while a lone male strode forward.
“I do.” He licked his chapped lips, keeping his fisted hands at his side. “I know the fae who’s betraying you. I . . .”
His words cut into a scream when fire erupted, licking across his face and trailing down his body. Several prisoners ran past him toward the open door while others raced toward the far end of the cottage. I lunged on the male’s burning body, rolling him on the ground to try to quell the fire.
George summoned the snow again, this time covering the male with it. It did nothing to subdue the fire that flamed even higher, consuming the male in another sharp burst.
Just as suddenly as it’d started, the fire vanished.
Breaths heaving from my tight chest, I stood on trembling legs, looking at the charred flesh that peeled away to show shattered bones.
The humans’ screams reached deep inside my mind, squeezing it until I was dizzy from the sound. Their fear didn’t just surround me but engulfed me in its sour scent so that I tasted it on my tongue.
“Enough!” I shouted.
The humans stilled, those along the furthest corner pressing their backs against the wall, as if they hoped the very walls would soak them in.
I stared at each terror-stricken human, my own throat bobbing with theirs, and when I turned to George, his features mirrored my emotions.
“They’re all bound by magic,” I whispered.
