“Daddy! Please?”
Mayra let her tears flow freely and tried to search the crowd that had gathered around them, looking for the face of the foreigner but not finding him.Good.Though some part of her wanted him to be amongst the faces, she prayed like hell that he’d run far from the horror of what was sure to come.
“Pull her back up,” the king commanded.
Mayra groaned loudly as one of the guards gripped her hair and pulled. She scrambled to her feet and tried to see the king through her busted eye but could barely make him out. She blinked furiously, trying to get the sand from her other eye as tears rolled down her face.
A myriad of possible punishments played themselves out in her mind. Death was most likely, of course. There were a thousand ways to be put to death on Vanfia. Rantel was fond of choosing the means of execution he thought most likely to terrify the recipient. If he could pry their worst fear from the condemned’s lips, he’d use the information against them.
Please oh please don’t let him know my fear. Don’t let him lock me in a box in the dark, unable to move. Anything would be preferable to that. Even death at the hands of his brutal sons.
“The blue blood on your gown tells of your deception, girl. For this, death should be awarded, but I will have mercy on you for my daughter’s sake.” He reached out and pressed his paw under her chin as he lifted her face a little. “You will become a shared treasure between my three boys.”
“Sire.” Mayra knew she risked her life by speaking out of turn, but surely, death would be better than to be a concubine to three full-grown Vanfian males. Nothing could be more horrific. The smell alone was something of nightmares. “I will lose all of my powers, and you will be without an oracle. Please do not do this thing. I can explain and will repay my debt in any way possible, but do not—”
“Silence, girl. Oracles are a dime a dozen. We will find another in no time. Terap will help us.” He snorted and pressed his paw in harder, cutting into the soft flesh of her throat. “You will moan with pleasure and writhe with ecstasy every night, thanks to my boys. It’s a gift I’d not give to just anyone, but I know what type of hell it will become for you. To be a whore to a foreign king and lose the only part of you that might have been beautiful. Shame really, but you’ve called this upon yourself, child.”
“No. Please. Anything but this.” Mayra turned her head and screamed as loudly as she could, begging the people around her for help. The guards dragged her toward the castle as she continued to fight against them. Surely, there had to be a way to offend them to the point of bringing their sword to her chest and draining her. Anything but the punishment she’d been given.
Embarrassment was all but gone, and finally, terror had taken its proper place.
