A cruel smile revealed the Vicereine’s fangs. “And I am here to deliver your sentences.”
“Where’s the Emperor?” A brave prisoner, a burly Beastrunner with shaggy black hair, piped up from the edge of the crowd. “He too cowardly to come here and show his face to hissubjects?”
The Vicereine snapped her fingers and a Vasilikan flashed to the Beastrunner in a supernatural blur, delivering a heavy blow to the male’s stomach. He crumpled forward, clutching his middle, but his sarcastic smile didn’t falter. The Vasilikan rejoined the line with the other guards.
Cassandra glanced at Ronin, who quirked an onyx eyebrow. It was strange that Eamon would misshersentencing. Perhaps this was just another of his ploys to throw her, prove how ineffectual she was. How unworthy of his presence.
“Matakos,” the Vicereine spat. “You’re up first.”
Ronin clapped Cassandra on the shoulder, then squeezed. A show of solidarity as he sauntered over to the Vicereine.
“Take off your shirt,” she commanded and Ronin obeyed, grasping it at the back of his neck and hauling it over his head. He kept the shirt clenched in his fist as two Vasilikans stepped out of line to wrap their gauntleted hands around his massive upper arms.
The Vicereine studied his bare torso, the aquamarine tattoos swirling across his chest. A mixture of attraction and disdain twisted her sharp features.
Ronin winked at her.
“Ronin Matakos,” she said, upper lip curling, “you stand accused of conspiring against the Empire and undermining theinterests of your Emperor with acts of treason. Do you have anything you’d like to say?”
Ronin’s answering grin was feral. “He’s not my fucking Emperor.”
“Charming.” The Vicereine’s voice was cloaked in menace and power as she proclaimed, “You are hereby sentenced to life imprisonment within Tartarus.”
A jet of red light burst from several feet behind the Vasilikans, seemingly out of nowhere. From the wards themselves?
It speared into Ronin’s chest, right over his heart. Flesh crackled and popped as the smell of burnt hair and charred skin wafted through the yard.
Ronin sucked heaving breaths through clenched teeth, but to his credit, didn’t make a single sound.
The light dissolved, revealing an angry, V-shaped brand that had burned away a section of Ronin’s tattoos.
The Vicereine traced a hand up his stomach, her fingers rippling over the muscled grooves, then clucked her tongue. “Pity to ruin such a work of art.” She pressed a thumb against Ronin’s burn.
“Fuck you,” he gasped, straining against the Vasilikans. “When I get out of here, I’m going to rip off your wings and feed them to your lover.” He spat, the blood-tinged glob splattering at her feet. “Imperial whore.”
She smiled and cupped his cheek. “Hold on to that anger as long as you can, Matakos. It might even serve you in there.” She ripped the shirt from his hands and shoved it against his chest. “Get dressed and go wait by the gate while we deal with the rest of the dregs.”
Ronin slipped his shirt on, wincing as the gray fabric slid over his wound, then turned to the towering obsidian gate across theyard. What fresh torments awaited the prisoners beyond those mist-shrouded doors?
The Vicereine performed the same show on the remaining prisoners, the wards branding each with a life sentence.
During Reena’s turn, she elongated a claw and swiped it across the Vicereine’s face, drawing a line of blood. Lykan didn’t retaliate, merely offered Reena a crazed smile and made a snide remark about how quickly Tartarus would crush her spirit.
After what seemed like hours, Cassandra was the only prisoner left to receive her sentence. The rest of the group had joined Ronin at the gate, many collapsed, sobbing, in the dirt.
The Vicereine aimed a violent, gleeful grin at Cassandra, who sent back a matching one before the Vicereine crooked her finger, beckoning. “Cassandra Fortin. TheSaviorSister. Come forth and receive your sentence.”
Cassandra kept the smile on her face as she approached. She would not be broken by this golden-winged bitch.
The Vasilikans grabbed Cassandra’s arms and held her in place as the Vicereine dipped her head so close that her nose caressed Cassandra’s cheek.
Cassandra tensed, worried that Lykan might be able to scent the veiling potion, sense what Cassandra had become.
But the Vicereine gave no hint she’d uncovered the deception as she whispered, “It’s a rather ironic title, actually. Since all the obliviates yousavedhave been re-obliviated and sent to the continent.”
Cassandra’s heart spilled a fresh wave of grief. All the work that she, Reena, Hella, and Borea had done to save those poor humans, undone by the monster this female served.
She didn’t dare let anything show as she cast a stony stare past the Vicereine into the barren yard.
