“What a display of loyalty they showed you! I was going to take you regardless, and they volunteered to be taken. But, I love a good hunt and did not get the delight of surprising the Latians as I had hoped. I could not see the look on Savine’s face when he saw you in my arms. Only those bellows of his and the feeble attempt at shooting vines in my direction. So, I brought the faithful friends along to see what you’ll choose as a sort of entertainment. You must admit, the entertainment in this cave is lacking. So let’s play the game. I will let you choose which one will be executed.”
“I can never make that choice,” Avery’s voice trembled. This man ruled a country?
“Ah, well then I will just have them all killed in front of you if you won’t play my game with me!” Rylo said as he laughed to himself.
With a burst of wind, Rylo turned and grabbed Rue, startling her awake. He pulled a knife to her throat as she let out a stifled cry. Susan and Weston jolted awake, both crying out as Rylo bent Rue’s body back into an unnatural angle, the blade at her throat.
“Stop! Stop! Please!” Avery shouted. Some warriors in the cave looked cautiously indifferent. Others jeered their leader on, calling Rue insults about her shifter identity.
“Now will we have a triple execution, or shall we find out what cruelty you are capable of, little witch? Or perhaps we could make you the entertainment?” Rylo said.
A gust of wind blew Avery across the cavern, drawing her closer and closer to the edge of the cavern. Avery stifled a cry. She wasn’t delusional in thinking her death would save her friends. But she would at least be brave in this moment. She had spent much of her time in Aeritis in fear, she refused to let her death be dictated by fear as well. The wind whipped her and dragged her body so she dangled head first. Her body hovered in the air, and she looked down at the ground thousands of feet below. Clouded skies distilled the early autumn light. The air was crisp and damp.
Then she was plummeting, free falling on the wind toward the ground. Try as she might, she couldn’t stifle the desperate cry as her body careened toward the forest floor below. Her eyes watered from the force of the wind, and her limbs flailed as she tried desperately to grasp something, anything. But the bindings on her arms and legs prevented her from doing anything but stretch and lurch as her body plummeted to the earth.
Immediately, the wind changed and blew her up, up, back into the cave, her body sliding across the sharp rocks to Rylo. With Rue still at knifepoint, he drew them both to the ground and shifted to sit next to Avery’s crumpled body. His feathered wings draped across her shoulders. Nausea built as he inched closer to her.
“Little witch, you are far too valuable for me to let you go splat,” Rylo whispered into her ear. With his free hand, he reached up and grazed a finger across the five hidden stars on her forehead. The bile shefought rose as she wrenched herself free from Rylo’s grip, vomiting on the rocky cavern floor.
Rylo pulled her heaving body off the ground, covering her battle armor in her throw-up. “Pick up the others. Line them up,” he ordered. Susan, Rue, and Weston stood before her.
“Now, choose before I grow bored of this game,” Rylo commanded, picking at his nails with a bored expression. A shimmer of light rippled across his skin.
“Choose me!” Weston shouted. “I could never face Savine knowing that I failed him. You need Rue and Susan more.”
“How altruistic of you! Avery, is that your choice?” Rylo asked.
Avery looked at her friends’ faces. Susan’s puffy, red-lined eyes and Rue’s shaking body nearly undid her. The tears began to flow in Avery’s eyes when she saw the look of sheer determination on Weston’s face.
She reached for the spark of magic, so faintly distant. What could she even do against these people?
Avery acted before she could think. She drew her magic up and called it forth as she kicked her bound legs at Rylo. The magic didn’t budge from within her. All Avery did was give the King of the Skies a kick. Rylo’s body looked relaxed, the continued boredom etched on his face. But he wasn’t bored. He wasn’t relaxed. His lightning-quick responses sent a shatteringly bright beam of sunlight at Avery, blinding her as she fell to the ground.
Everything went dark.
Slowly, she regained consciousness, but the world around her was grainy and shadowed. Avery tried to pull her magic forward to sense it, but nothing was there. Not a spark.
Rylo leaned his perfect, golden face so he could look Avery in the eyes. His head shook. “Now, Avery, that was foolish of you. Do not do that again. Choose. I am growing tired of you.”
“Avery, I would have been honored to die protecting you. I didn’t get that chance. Choose me so I can die with my honor intact!” Weston said.
“Don’t do this, Weston. Don’t play this game,” Susan protested.
“And leave her alone? She needs both of you more than me,” Weston replied.
“Weston, don’t,” Rue said weakly.
“King Rylo! I volunteer!” Weston shouted.
Rylo’s face transformed from boredom to a frown. “That is not how I want Avery to play the game. It’s her decision. I am not asking for volunteers. She chooses or you all die.”
Tears cascaded down Avery’s face. This was beyond fucked up. How could she decide who to have murdered?
Then it came to her. If Weston made this sacrifice, perhaps she could at least bargain for her and the others' safety.
“If I do this, will you keep Rue and Susan safe? I need your oath that you or your people will not hurt us,” Avery said. She knew by now that the fae took oaths seriously. If she could get an oath from him to not harm her and the others, then maybe she could gain some sort of upper hand.
“Ah, you believe you can bargain with me? I always enjoy playing a little game. So let’s change the stakes. I will agree that nobody within my dominion will harm you, Rue, or Susan physically,ifyou agree to be the executioner. I will choose the method of execution.”
