Captain Carr barely seemed to hear her with his attention on her neckline. He cleared his throat. “You have a vicious streak, my lady.”
“Only for those who have wrong me. And who have wrongedyou.”
The carriage entered the town square, and Bryn glanced out the window. The square was packed with common folk from all over the Mirien who had traveled there to witness the hanging. Food vendors even walked around selling roasted meat on sticks as though Rangar’s death was a carnival.
Overhead, the clouds rumbled with thunder.
Bryn’s stomach roiled as they descended the carriage and made their way toward the hangman’s dais. She squeezed her gloved hands, reassuring herself that her finger was marked with ash. Captain Carr had commanded most of the Mir army to be on hand, a precaution in case the rebels might use the occasion to attempt another uprising.
A line of soldiers led to the gallows, holding back the crowd.
Bryn’s heart pounded as she lifted her skirt to climb the wooden steps. The executioner was already there in his blackmask, as well as Sergeant Preston and Lord Tarry. Her eyes latched onto the noose dangling from a wooden brace.
Where was Rangar?
The crowd roared as Captain Carr and Bryn took the stage to join the others. Captain Carr exchanged a few words with his advisor, and then lifted his hands to address the crowd.
“People of Mir,” his rasping voice rang out. “Today my bride receives her second engagement gift, which in keeping with tradition, is actually a gift for the entire kingdom. Today, an enemy of the Mirien hangs!”
The crowd cheered. Bryn watched them eating their roasted meats and felt sick all over again, though she knew the common folk couldn’t be blamed for their bloodlust. They’d been told that Rangar was a villain, and she herself had attested to it.
She searched the crowd closely, hoping to spot a familiar face. Valenden, or Saraj, or Calista, or any of the Baer soldiers she’d known from her time in the Outlands. But the crowd was too tightly packed. Everyone wore cloaks against the coming storm with raised hoods hiding their faces.
She had to trust she wasn’t alone. Somewhere, Valenden and the others were out there.
Captain Carr wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and she snapped back to attention. He announced, “By marrying the crown heir to the Mir throne, I shall soon have the blessing of serving as your king. Lady Bryn and I both vow we will not lead this kingdom down the same dark path as the previous rulers. Together, we will usher in a new era of strength and prosperity. Let this execution today be the symbol of the Mirien’s new future!”
The crowd cheered. Bryn couldn’t help but wonder if the crowd believed Captain Carr’s speech or if they were merely playing along. She hoped they would embrace Mars as their king as readily as they seemed to embrace Captain Carr. It was truethat Mars had failed them once, but she trusted that if given a second chance, he would repair the damage done.
“Bring out the prisoner,” Captain Carr ordered Sergeant Preston.
All other thoughts evaporated from Bryn’s head.
She turned toward the soldier’s station within the city wall. Two soldiers emerged, pulling along Rangar between them. His hands were bound with rope. His hair was mussed and caked in dirt.
Fury laced Bryn’s breath. They hadn’t even let him bathe before his execution. She would make sure that Captain Carr would pay dearly for what he’d done to Rangar.
As the soldiers started up the dais with Rangar, Bryn couldn’t keep her hands from shaking no matter how hard she clasped them. He stepped onto the platform, and their eyes met. Bryn’s breath stilled. How badly she wanted to wash the dirt off his face, kiss each of his scars. She dared to raise an eyebrow in a hint of a question.
He gave the barest nod.
He got my note in the ring box, she reassured herself.
Was that the reason no fear showed on his face—because her note had assured him Valenden was back and they had a plan? Or was it simply Rangar’s bottomless courage?
He met Captain Carr’s eyes boldly, and the captain stiffened.
“Prince Rangar Barendur of the Baersladen is an enemy of the Mir people!” The captain yelled in his rasping voice. “He absconded with the Lady Bryn, a daughter of the Mirien, and conspired with his brothers to take the Mir crown for his own family. His blood will fall on Mir soil!”
Bryn ignored the din of the crowd. She glanced at Sergeant Preston and the executioner as she plotted when would be the right time to approach Rangar. She tugged off her gloves,tucking them into her dress’s sash. A streak of ash still clung to her index finger.
She leaned toward Captain Carr. “Let me say my piece to the prisoner, Captain.”
But Captain Carr dismissed her with a condescending hand pressed to the small of her back. “I shall handle it myself, my lady.”
He addressed the crowd again and said, “Rangar Barendur’s blood is not the only Baer blood that shall soon fall. I vow to you today that his brother, Prince Valenden, will also pay for his crimes with his life!”
Bryn tried to hide the panic that crossed her face. No, no, no.Shewas supposed to have said this directly to Rangar as an excuse to get close to him. She passed a worried look to Rangar, then leaned closer to the captain, careful to keep her index finger from wiping off the ash. “I wanted to tell him myself—”
