Her gaze held determination. The force of it kept me in place.
Ever so softly, she shook her head no. Telling me to stay put.
Blood swelled at the corner of her mouth.
My legs locked beneath me in an effort to maintain my position.To not rip the man to shreds with my bare hands.
The man had drawn her blood.
My gaze centered on him, and I committed everything about him to memory. From that point forward, he was living on borrowed time. I was still staring at him when his face morphed into one of agony, though he made no sound. His arm, the one that hit Ariana, was in Clause’s hand.
“You do not touch her,” Clause simply said.
The man’s wrist crumbled, as if the bone within disintegrated, his hand flopping to the side, no longer held up by anything that attached to his arm other than soft tissues. When Clause released him, he cried out then, pulling his arm to his chest, holding his hand with the other. He did not make another noise. Sweat coated his pale face and his knees nearly rattled against one another.
Ariana focused her sights on only Clause. Completely ignoring what had occurred. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Please.”
She then fell to her knees in front of him and bowed her head in pure submission.
My jaw clenched so hard that I did not know how my teeth did not splinter. The sight of her before him like that made my stomach turn. The blood in my veins that already boiled nearly evaporated altogether from the heat burning beneath my skin.
Never had I felt a more profound hatred for someone.
“I beg you. Don’t make me do this.” She meant her words for only him.“Punish me. Not them.”
He frowned, reaching out for her with the same hand he just destroyed a man’s bones with. She didn’t flinch away from his touch as he grazed her chin before forcing her head up.
Moisture lined her eyes. “Please.”
Something about him shifted. His gaze warmed, though hisfrown deepened. As if this somehow pained him to see her like this. “Choose someone, Ariana. And this will end sooner.”
A tear slipped out of her eye, rolling down her cheek. “I have never killed anyone with my conjuring before. Don’t make me do this. Don’t try to turn me into this.”
My heart stilled, crushed by an invisible fist. Ariana was in a position I could not find a way out of. A sense of helplessness clogged my throat.
Clause squatted before her, lowering himself to her, the two of them eye level. Something about the way his hand remained under her chin, gaze searching her face, seemed so intimate. And it was by the grace of the Spirit that I somehow kept from engulfing the world around the Sidhe King in flames.
“Then this will be your first kill,” he said, his voice gentle. He withdrew his hand from her face. “If you do not choose right now, then I will take a life myself. And I will keep doing so as long as you drag your feet until every servant in this room is dead. And then we will move to the next servant compound, and the next, and the next. Until you complete your punishment.”
A look of shock passed over Ariana, and the only response she could manage was a small shake of her head. As though this was something she never imagined him capable of.
Clause sighed, his gaze hardening. He rose to his feet but didn’t stop there. In several steps, he approached the closest servant to him.
Ariana’s eyes widened, too slow to register what was going on. She jumped to her feet. “Wait!”
Clause reached out to a young Bavadrin boy who looked no older than Timothy. The boy’s massive, shocked eyes only enlarged as the Sidhe King reached for him, fingertips grazing a forearm.
The boy dropped dead. His young life, taken. Just like that. As if it were nothing.
Beside me, Timothy stopped shaking. His entire body stilled as he viewed the boy on the ground. When his eyes met the Sidhe King, the scent of fear no longer surrounded him.
He then lunged.
Ariana reacted nearly at the same time, her hand shooting out towards him. A wall of mist formed around Timothy at once. It muffled his screams as he threw himself at the mist barrier, over and over. His balled-up fists pummeled Ariana’s conjuring to no avail. The entire thing lasted only seconds. He abruptly stopped, the energy leaving him as suddenly as it came. Timothy fell to the ground, bowed his head in defeat, and wept.
“That was just a boy. A child.” Ariana’s voice turned cold as she addressed the Sidhe King. “He had a life to live. People cared for him. He was someone’s family.”
Clause turned from Timothy to her, looking unimpressed. “I told you the rules.”
