My chest rattled with a sob, but still a spot of warmth from the crystal kept me still. I wrapped my magic around that warmth and sent it into Brandt’s mind— carrying a memory of a young man and his fellow soldiers playing music beneath torchlight as Riyan danced with the woman he loved.
I sent a command as tears distorted my vision: “Listen to the music until the end.”
Brandt blinked slowly, accepting the command.
Then that sweet memory of Riyan sent a different tune to my mind—it was lower and slower, but it was calming me too.
The magical tether broke as the soldiers forced Brandt to face Derrick.
Derrick’s arm trembled.
Sapphira leapt forward. “Kill him! Defend our House!”
Rubia, Pearl, and Emeralda followed, growing more vicious with every heartbeat as they shouted up at the scaffold.
Brandt’s lip quivered only once before he spoke, his words cold steel. “I die for the North.”
The voices of the crowd rose like a tidal wave behind us.
“The giants missed one!”
“Kill the snow-eater!”
“Feed his corpse to the ravens!”
Tears wet my lashes. Derrick was no killer, he would ask General Hyton to do it. A quick death from Traitor’s Bane would be the mercy Derrick would give.
“Just close your eyes,” Amethyst whispered. “We all did when we were girls.”
But my eyes stayed on Brandt. I could not abandon him in his last moments.
“Vincere aut mori,” General Hyton shouted. “Conquer or die!”
Then Derrick plunged his spear into Brandt’s chest.
My hand flew to my mouth as I held back a scream. Brandt let out a pained cry. The tip of the Conqueror’s spear was crimson and gleaming in the morning sun as it stuck out of Brandt’s back.
Derrick’s whole body shook but his brow was hard. With a hiss through his teeth, he pulled out the spear and Brandt’s body hung limply between the arms of the soldiers as his blood cascaded onto the scaffold.
I held my breath as the soldiers let go of Brandt’s arms. Before his body could crumple forward, Traitor’s Bane sliced through the air and severed his neck in a single cut.
General Hyton gripped Brandt’s blonde hair and held his head up to the crowd. “Hail Alastar XII!”
I used all my will to not vomit. In the corner of my vision, Baron Elvar placed the Lycaster crown on Derrick’s head.
My hand pressed against my mouth so hard I nearly cut my lips on my teeth, but still the mysterious calming song played in the back of my mind.
General Hyton stuck Brandt’s head on the tip of the Conqueror’s spear as the crowd echoed, “Hail Alastar XII!”
Derrick stood in front of his throne as blood from Brandt’s neck dripped down the spear onto his arm. He did not look at me, nor his sisters, nor Brietta—his blank eyes were bolted forward over the heads of the crowd.
Fraleigh dropped to her knees on the scaffold, just barely avoiding the trail of fresh blood, and bowed deeply in reverence to her new owner.
The crowd erupted into cheers. Soldiers appeared next to Derrick to remove the spear, but he would not release his grip.
After a few tugs and soldiers whispering in his ear, Derrick slowly uncurled his red-stained fist.
The entire right side of my body shook as Annalisa clutched my hand and silently sobbed.
