Chapter 27 Erik
ERIK
Ariana’s entire body stilled. She did not even draw a breath, did not blink as her wide eyes held the stare of the Sidhe King.
Dread engulfed the room, and with it, the scent of fear emanated from nearly every being. They made not a single sound.
Timothy hid his hands, tucking them behind his back to veil the shaking while his attention remained glued on Clause and Ariana. The boy swallowed and locked his legs to keep them from trembling.
“You cannot be serious.” Ariana’s voice drifted out of her, soft with disbelief.
The Sidhe King titled his head. The movement somehow came off threatening. “I very much am. You have two minutes to decide who you wish to make the payment with.”
“I accept the punishment.” Gorm’s rough voice pulled at the attention of everyone. He looked at Ariana. “I told you where Iona would be, and in doing so, I accepted responsibility for my actions.”
Ariana’s face paled as she viewed her friend. “No.” She turned to Clause, approaching him. “You don’t have to do this.”
He released a breath, eyes dimming with a mixture of determination and something else.
“Maybe there’s a different way to teach you and your friends here this lesson.
But this is the punishment I chose. It is already done.
I am a man of my word and will not go back on a decision,” he said with a cold detachment.
“They don’t deserve this.” Ariana shook her head, brows drawn. “These were my actions. I accept responsibility myself. They do not need to suffer. Not fo–”
She never finished voicing the thought, for the man at Clause’s side abruptly shifted and backhanded her. The movement was so sudden; I didn’t even register it in time before it was too late. My attention had been focused on the King and her.
A deep, voracious tension shot through my body. My ears muffled, my claws slid out of my fingertips, muscles strained to not immediately act.
Ariana’s neck snapped to the side due to the power behind the blow, her hair fanning out from the movement. When she looked up, her eyes met with mine and they alone were the only thing keeping me from moving from my spot and peeling the skin from Clause and his men.
Her gaze held determination. The force of it kept me in place.
Ever so softly, she shook her head no. Telling me to stay put.
Blood swelled at the corner of her mouth.
My legs locked beneath me in an effort to maintain my position. To not rip the man to shreds with my bare hands.
The man had drawn her blood.
My gaze centered on him, and I committed everything about him to memory. From that point forward, he was living on borrowed time. I was still staring at him when his face morphed into one of agony, though he made no sound. His arm, the one that hit Ariana, was in Clause’s hand.
“You do not touch her,” Clause simply said.
The man’s wrist crumbled, as if the bone within disintegrated, his hand flopping to the side, no longer held up by anything that attached to his arm other than soft tissues.
When Clause released him, he cried out then, pulling his arm to his chest, holding his hand with the other.
He did not make another noise. Sweat coated his pale face and his knees nearly rattled against one another.
Ariana focused her sights on only Clause. Completely ignoring what had occurred. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Please.”
She then fell to her knees in front of him and bowed her head in pure submission.
My jaw clenched so hard that I did not know how my teeth did not splinter. The sight of her before him like that made my stomach turn. The blood in my veins that already boiled nearly evaporated altogether from the heat burning beneath my skin.
Never had I felt a more profound hatred for someone.
“I beg you. Don’t make me do this.” She meant her words for only him. “Punish me. Not them.”
He frowned, reaching out for her with the same hand he just destroyed a man’s bones with. She didn’t flinch away from his touch as he grazed her chin before forcing her head up.
Moisture lined her eyes. “Please.”
Something about him shifted. His gaze warmed, though his frown deepened. As if this somehow pained him to see her like this. “Choose someone, Ariana. And this will end sooner.”
A tear slipped out of her eye, rolling down her cheek. “I have never killed anyone with my conjuring before. Don’t make me do this. Don’t try to turn me into this.”
My heart stilled, crushed by an invisible fist. Ariana was in a position I could not find a way out of. A sense of helplessness clogged my throat.
Clause squatted before her, lowering himself to her, the two of them eye level. Something about the way his hand remained under her chin, gaze searching her face, seemed so intimate. And it was by the grace of the Spirit that I somehow kept from engulfing the world around the Sidhe King in flames.
“Then this will be your first kill,” he said, his voice gentle.
He withdrew his hand from her face. “If you do not choose right now, then I will take a life myself. And I will keep doing so as long as you drag your feet until every servant in this room is dead. And then we will move to the next servant compound, and the next, and the next. Until you complete your punishment.”
A look of shock passed over Ariana, and the only response she could manage was a small shake of her head. As though this was something she never imagined him capable of.
Clause sighed, his gaze hardening. He rose to his feet but didn’t stop there. In several steps, he approached the closest servant to him.
Ariana’s eyes widened, too slow to register what was going on. She jumped to her feet. “Wait!”
Clause reached out to a young Bavadrin boy who looked no older than Timothy. The boy’s massive, shocked eyes only enlarged as the Sidhe King reached for him, fingertips grazing a forearm.
The boy dropped dead. His young life, taken. Just like that. As if it were nothing.
Beside me, Timothy stopped shaking. His entire body stilled as he viewed the boy on the ground. When his eyes met the Sidhe King, the scent of fear no longer surrounded him.
He then lunged.
Ariana reacted nearly at the same time, her hand shooting out towards him.
A wall of mist formed around Timothy at once.
It muffled his screams as he threw himself at the mist barrier, over and over.
His balled-up fists pummeled Ariana’s conjuring to no avail.
The entire thing lasted only seconds. He abruptly stopped, the energy leaving him as suddenly as it came.
Timothy fell to the ground, bowed his head in defeat, and wept.
“That was just a boy. A child.” Ariana’s voice turned cold as she addressed the Sidhe King. “He had a life to live. People cared for him. He was someone’s family.”
Clause turned from Timothy to her, looking unimpressed. “I told you the rules.”
“Ariana,” Gorm called her name. When she glanced at him, he closed his eyes and nodded. “Come, sit with me.”
She viewed Clause again. Pain and rage etched into the lines of her face.
“I will never forgive you for this. I want you to know that. If you make me do this, I will never forgive you.” There was a shard of desperation in her voice.
As if despite what just happened, some small part of her hoped that her words could move him to reconsider. As if he might have cared.
She must have concluded that there was no other way but to accept his punishment.
A conjuror could not fight Clause with their gifts.
And hand to hand, he had an enormous advantage with his power.
She believed his threat, and after what he just did, so did I.
Desiring to save as many lives as possible placed Ariana in a terrible position when it came to his demand.
Given how easily Clause just took an innocent boy’s life, the lengths he would go to in order to make her into someone else was clear.
Clause’s lips curled at the side. “Yes, you will. And it is because of this that you will grow strong enough to survive this world.”
“Ariana,” Gorm grumbled.
That time, when she looked at the old man once more, her feet moved. Everyone watched as she approached him, and she settled into a seat beside him while he still lay on the bed.
Gorm reached out, taking her hand in his. “I always knew the risks. I told you I accepted the consequences.”
She let out a shaky breath. New tears fell down Ariana’s face as she held his gaze. “I can’t.”
“Yes, you can. You will.” He glanced around. “Look around you. I am the oldest here. I have less life left to live, anyway. My feet are falling apart. I am withering away. And, at least this way, my death means something. We get to protect everyone else in this room. No one else needs to die.”
More droplets rolled down her cheek. “I am so sorry,” she whispered, voice hardly audible. She tried to remain strong, but her shoulders curved with agonizing defeat. Her voice lost its strength, her gaze filled only with painful regret.
She was breaking before me.
It was unbearable to watch, yet my eyes remained fastened to her.
“I would have likely died from that last foot infection if it weren’t for you. You coming into our lives has been wonderful. Never regret that. This situation is not your fault.” He paused. “Now, get on with it.” He nodded encouragingly. The old man faced death without an ounce of hesitation.
Time continued moving, and the longer they took, the closer the Sidhe King came to taking another life.
Ariana slid her hand over Gorm’s, and he wrapped his fingers around hers.
She took a deep breath before her eyes shut. Tears streamed from them in rivers before falling from her chin. Her brows furrowed, lip quivering. She released a shaky breath, and I realized she was trembling.
The silence spreading through the room was so profound it was deafening. Solemn darkness encased the space.
Gorm’s body tensed, his eyes closing. He exhaled, then made a gagging sound. It didn’t even last a minute, but felt like an eternity.
Ariana’s shaking intensified.
Gorm twitched several times before finally stilling.
His fingers loosened on her hand.
His heart ceased beating.
Keeping her eyes closed, Ariana leaned forward. She pressed her forehead into his chest. Her words were barely a strangled whisper. Her voice crackled, breaking, as she said, “I am so sorry, my friend.”
She then released him, hand letting go of his, and sat back up, her eyes finally opening. An awful hollowness shone in them as she stared ahead.
Clause approached her and kneeled at her side.
Ariana’s distant gaze tracked him as the backs of his fingers brushed her cheek, smearing the last of her tears.
“You were exquisite,” he said to her, as though to compliment her on a task well done.
She did not reply with words, though her eyes promised of death.
His lips twitched, and he rose to his feet. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning for the breaking of our fast,” he said to her before he and his men left, one of them cradling their broken wrist.
They left two bodies in their wake.
One life taken by the Sidhe King, the other by Ariana.