“The man blasphemed me in my domain,” she whispered into his ear as her nails ran over his neck. “This woman attempted to imitate me.” Lysara moved to the woman and ran her nails along the bottom of her eyelids, which had been painted red just as Lysara’s were. Then she ripped a fistful of hair from the womanand showed it to the boy. Her black hair had been dyed, and the roots were brown instead.
Azric swallowed hard as the woman cried out, but he didn’t move to protect her. This woman must have violated a law, and maybe he simply didn’t understand the laws of this world. He was speaking to a goddess, and who was he to tell her she was wrong?
“What kind of punishment is fitting for those crimes? A whipping?” That was the worst punishment he’d ever witnessed, and he believed himself brave to suggest it, hoping it would be far less.
Lysara smiled at him. “Whippings are for crimes against other humans. These two committed crimes againstme. That is far too light a punishment for something so heinous. The man should have his tongue…” She thought for a moment, tapping those crimson nails against her chin before smiling and saying, “… and balls removed.”
The boy was shocked at her demand. “Why would you want me to do it?” he asked. “I don’t even know how to go about it.”
Lysara moved toward the man. Her nails ran over his chest, gently caressing the thick black hair that grew there. “Don’t worry, Azric. I’ll teach you. I don’t expect you to know how to do anything yet. All I require is that you do your best to follow my instructions, and I promise, you will have whatever you desire.”
The boy took a deep breath and looked at the goddess he was bound to. “What will her punishment be?” he asked.
Lysara moved to the woman, and this time, when she ran her nails over the woman’s breast, thin red lines were left in their wake. A tear ran down the woman’s cheek as she pleaded, “Please. I didn’tmean to upset you! You’re the most beautiful woman in the world, and I wanted…”
Lysara’s hand moved faster than Azric had ever seen someone move. Her palm connected with the woman’s cheek hard enough he could hear her bones break. The woman screamed, though it was muffled since her jaw no longer worked correctly.
The Goddess of Beauty said, with danger in her voice, “I am not a woman. I am a goddess, and when I’ve decided that you’ve committed a crime, there’s nothing you can say to change my mind.”
She turned away from the woman who softly wept and looked at the boy. “You should break every bone in her body. Since every person in my realm has already died, we can hang her body above the front door of my home as a warning to others who consider trying to impersonate me. She can stay like that for eternity. She’ll find no release from death here. Her eternal misery will make me smile every time I see her.”
The boy shook his head at the horror of it. “No. I won’t torture someone just to heal your battered ego. It’s not right. It’s…”
Lysara ran her nails over his cheek again, and he tried to pull away, but this was Lysara’s world, where she commanded the very stone they stood upon and the air they breathed. Everything in this world was hers to command, including the boy.
“I told you I demanded perfect obedience, Prince Azric Cyrus. When I tell you to do something, you will do it.”
Flames exploded from Azric’s body as his father had taught him, but when they washed over Lysara’s hand and face, they didnothing. “My darling princeling,” she purred. “You cannot hurt me. There is nothing you can do to cause me even the slightest pain.”
Her nails dug into Azric’s cheek, slowly peeling the flesh from it. He let out a pained cry, and she said, “But I can do so much to hurt you, darling. Now, are you going to exact these two criminals’ punishments as I commanded?”
The boy, who had experienced nothing other than the light of the world, snarled at the Goddess of Death. “I’ll never do those things. You can hurt me, but I’ll never torture people for your pleasure.”
“You will, darling. You will, and you’ll thank me for giving you the opportunity because when you do as you’re commanded, I’ll make sure you get a reward worthy of you. And you are everything that I need.”
She glanced at the woman with the broken jaw who hung limply from her shackles before looking back at the boy. “We’ll start your lessons in obedience by doing all the things you were commanded to do. Except I’ll do them to you. Don’t worry, my darling prince, I’ll instruct you on what I’m doing so you won’t have any questions when it’s time for you to repeat the process.”
Her smile showed her cruelty as readily as a wolf’s fangs show his deadliness. “We’ll start with the more enjoyable one, removing a young man’s balls. Don’t worry. I’ll make sure you grow them back so we can practice again tomorrow. And the next day. We have an eternity to practice, and I think that by the end, we’ll both enjoy it.”
Suddenly, the boy’s clothes disappeared, and his body was pulled taut before the one person whom he was now terrified of. Lysara’s nails ran across the markings over his chest, the sunburst and dragon wings that were so at odds with her own mark across his back. She dug her nails in, ruining the image as she stripped flesh from his body.
The boy screamed in response, but he was not the only one in the room. Beside him, not even a few feet away, stood a dragon who would terrify any other person from Nyth. Anyone but a god. She seethed with anger at the boy’s pain, but she couldn’t do anything to help him. She knew the bounds of Maeve Arden’s oath, and Lysara was not stepping beyond them.
Through their bond, she whispered to him in a way that only he could hear.She won’t let any of these wounds go unhealed. You will be whole when she is done. She needs you, Azric. Be strong and let the pain flow through you. Soon enough, it will be over. Soon enough, we will be free of this place, free of her.
A bloody dagger appeared in Lysara’s hand. She smiled at him as she bent over, her face only inches from his thighs. She wrapped her hand around him and placed the blade against his skin. “You’ll learn that my words are the only ones that matter, my darling prince. You’ll learn to ignore others’ pain. You’ll learn to ignore their fates. You are mine, and if you disappoint me, you’ll suffer far worse fates than theirs.”
His response was terrible. Even though his words were mere screams, to the dragon, he spoke in broken sentences laced with tears.
Please save me, Inni. Please. I’m not strong enough to endure this. Please save me.
It took everything for the dragon to keep her own tears from her reply.I can’t save you, Azric. I’m not strong enough to go to war with her, but I am strong enough to be here. I’ll always be at your side, even if I can’t take the pain from you. Even if I can’t do anything except remind you that you aren’t alone. You are strong enough to endure this. I chose you because your heart and soul are stronger than anyone I’ve ever known.
The blade moved. A splash of crimson and the sickening sound of flesh hitting the ground. And the boy screamed like never before.
Chapter 41
Caeldra’s Shattered Ones are the most unusual of the Godforged. They’re not warriors as you’d expect. They’re quiet. Reserved. Yet, on a battlefield, their powers are devastating. Each of them has the ability to stop a small part of the world for a half-second at a time. Beware the quiet ones, for their fury unleashed is terrifying.
