I shudder as a chill rolls through my body with staggered precision, like the spines retracting along the back of a Dragon.
Varic steps between us and engages the Emperor in a private discussion.
“So like a former commander to think it necessary to interrogate the traitors!” His Majesty says, clapping Varic on the shoulder.
“Fine!” Emperor Aldritch calls out. “Fine. This is your night, after all. Have your fun. They’ll only be alive a little while longer!”
Varic spares me a glance, and the hope burning within his irises is a punch to the stomach when he turns to bend and whisper at an angle where I cannot see well enough to read his lips.
“Guards!” His Majesty commands. “Make them stand.”
A horde of Guards swarms in to grab hold of the scattered sorcerers, whom they yank upright to stare at the floor or hang their heads to the side, while their chests all continue to rise. One of the sorcerers turns and catches my eye until a look of horror deepens the lines creasing his face, and he lets out a scream. The Imperial Guard holding him shoves a black handkerchief in his mouth to suffocate the noise.
“Hi, we haven’t been introduced,” Varic says with such kindness that tears threaten to spill over my lashes; a sign the Imperial Grand Witch has retreated. “I’m Imperial Lead Guard Varic, newly appointed to our Imperial Grand Witch Tasch.” His eyes meet mine as his lips form my name with a hint of a smile entering his tone.
My heart leaps as the familiar heat creeps its way up my neck.
“If you would please inform us as to your purpose for using unsanctioned magic?—”
The Emperor scoffs. “There is no reason to use unsanctioned magic.”
“Go on,” Varic encourages the sorcerer nearest him. “You can tell me.”
“I work on the docks,” the older sorcerer begins, and Varic nods. “They require us to work expeditiously, but I’m old and unable to move as fast as I once could.”
“Come now, Varic,” Emperor Aldritch says, gesturing for him to move away from the sorcerer, but he simply maintains his attention on my victim.
“We need the coin. If I lose my job, my family will lose our home. I used the speed magic to help complete my tasks on time.”
Varic nods, while the Emperor storms forward, grabbing hold of Varic’s leather harness and tightening his grip as he leans in. “Enough. You’ve had your fun playing General. They broke the law. They knew the price, and now they must pay it.”
His Majesty sends me a fleeting glance, and my heart drops as I prepare to do what I must.
Varic’s comforting heat returns at my side, pulling my heart back to its rightful spot in my chest as every part of me yearns to grab hold of him and run.
She returns now that there is no hope of stopping this, though Varic was bold enough to try.
The room fades away as threads of fear rush from my body, pulsing in spirals, arcing through the air to cleave the sorcerers’ hearts by amplifying their despair, anguish, terror, and hopelessness—a terrible way to expire, and the same method by which thousands have met their end through my magic.
She disappears, leaving me as my power sputters to nothing, weakened until I can no longer sense a connection with the sorcerers’ emotions. My own pulse slows, and tremors begin to overtake my muscles.
Purple mist rises to support my form as a jumble of words are spoken somewhere nearby, though I cannot hear which through the tinny ringing rising in volume while a black cloud descends over my vision.
Warmth embraces my back as I draw in one last breath filled with nutmeg and clove.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Drained
“—fuck?” Varic’s voice breaks through the thick fog of waking. “Does he always make her murder others before an audience without giving them any opportunity to explain themselves?”
“It varies, though he usually makes her torture them longer before he has her kill them,” Lars explains. “The audience depends on if he is hosting anyone or not.”
“If you dislike this so much, then you’re definitely going to disapprove of what he usually makes her do down there,” Fray says.
“What does he usually make her do?” Varic asks, voice clipped.
“Gods, Fray,” Lars says, followed by the sound of him rubbing his hand across the back of his neck.
