A man hurried to Roman and handed him a large meat cleaver.
“Roman,” Violet whispered, at least she thought she had. Did she say it aloud at all?
Roman moved next to her and kissed her forehead. “Turn around and cover your ears until I tell you to stop.”
Without protest, she whirled around and slammed her hands over her ears, but nothing in all of Eden could muffle the man’s screams as Roman doled out his form of justice.
Muffled protests filtered through Violet’s fingers, and she spread them to hear better. “You touched her?” Roman demanded of someone.
“N-no, Your Grace,” Maye, the jewelry vendor swore. “I only told them she was your mate who’d forsaken you and the gods.”
A beat of silence. “She is not the one who broke the bond; She is Vivian’stwin sister,” he roared.
“I-I didn’t know, Your Grace, I swear it!”
“She’s lying,” the woman,Bea, who’d tried to stop them said, stepping forward. The man who’d held her back tried to clamp a hand over her mouth.
Roman crossed to the woman and ripped the man’s hand away from her. “Speak,” he ordered Bea in a softer, but terrifying, tone.
“Violet told them, Your Grace,” Bea stated. “I grew up in Saltu. Violet was a few school years behind me.” She glared at the man still whimpering on the ground behind Violet. Violet envied her for not shying away from what was certainly a grisly scene. “I tried to tell them she was telling the truth, but they didn’t listen.”
Violet dug through her memories but still couldn’t place the woman.
Roman pivoted to the sobbing jewelry merchant. His steps were slow and measured as he walked toward her. Violet followed him with her eyes, mesmerized by the power rolling off him. “She tried to tell you, yet you spewed lies anyway.”
Maye apologized repeatedly through her sobs. Violet twisted around to face Roman and Maye. Whatever he was about to do, she knew she couldn’t stop him, and as sick and twisted as it was, she didn’t want to.
Bending down, Roman discarded the bloodied cleaver in his hand. Violet glanced at the man on the ground and tried not to scream at the sight of his hands lying a few feet away.
Roman grabbed a dagger from his boot. “Apologies don’t take back what you’ve done.” He pointed his dagger at Violet. “Do you see what they did to that beautiful woman?” He wrenched Maye’s mouth open, grabbed her tongue, and cut it off.
The woman cried out in agony and fainted, her slack body sagging. The two men dropped her and moved away with equal looks of horror. Screams rose from the crowd and Roman tossed her tongue next to the other man’s severed hands.
He turned in a circle, looking at the entirety of the people surrounding him. “Take this as a warning. Whoever touches what is mine will suffer dearly for it. You stood by and watched as aninnocent womansuffered.” The words tore from his throat with the fury of a thousand men. “Imagine if she was your sister or daughter or wife. If you see who you think is Vivian Maekin, you handle her with care because if anyone lays a finger on Violet again, I will kill not only them, but any bystander who let it happen.”
Whoever touches what is mine will suffer dearly for it.Violet shivered.
Roman returned to Violet and lifted her into his arms.
“I can walk,” she protested, but stopped when his dangerous eyes met hers.
“Let me do this. Please.” Violet nodded and wrapped her arms around his neck. He buried his face in her hair and breathed deep. “Fuck.” He found the woman who’d spoken in Violet’s defense. “You, come with us.”
Bea scurried after them without a word. Luckily, the town’s inn was close by. The people inside must have seen or heard everything because no one said a word. A man hurried out from behind the check-in desk. “I’ll have extra towels sent up. Penny, call the doctor,” he urged a woman who looked on with horror.
Roman nodded. “Thank you.”
Bea and Roman filed into Violet’s room and shut the door. “Have a seat,” Roman told the other woman and nodded toward the bed. “We’re filthy, and you’re not. I don’t want to sully the sheets.”
Bea nodded and sat delicately on the edge of the bed, staring at the prince with a mixture of fear and awe.
What he’d done would mark him as a gruesome king, one to be feared, not loved. Violet shut her eyes against the guilt of what he’d sacrificed to avenge her. She could only hope he hadn’t inadvertently recruited more people to join the rebels against him.
* * *
“What’s your name?” Roman asked the woman.
“Bea.” She gazed at Violet. “I tried to stop them, but they held me back. I’m sorry, Your Grace.”
