Chapter 70

CHAPTER SEVENTY

Ryker

After the last body was claimed, I excused myself from Ivan’s presence. My father glowered at me as I did so, but there was no reason for me to remain.

They wouldn’t allow anyone else into the earl’s castle, and I’d played my part. I’d been a taciturn, deterring presence to all those who arrived for their loved ones.

Ivan had wanted a show of force for all those who returned for their dead to note. He hoped they would spread the word that the king had more men than they could ever hope to defeat.

I doubted most of them had noticed, as they were far too focused on their grief to take much note of anything else. That wasn’t something Ivan would ever understand.

The pile of dead servants would be carried outside and burned now that Ivan didn’t require their bodies to be on display. The captured servants had been led away by Samael and his men.

They’d sobbed as they shuffled toward their new life of imprisonment and torture. I didn’t look at them as they were led past me, but I felt their terror like it was my own and smelled the rank, foul aroma of the ophidians’ dungeon, my own shit in a bucket, and the filth clinging to me once more.

Tomorrow, they traveled to Nottingshire to begin their torture tour of the villages. Ivan insisted the tour would start in the largest town in the realm; those amsirah would be the first to see what would happen to them if they put one toe out of line.

He planned to keep them there for at least a week before moving on, but word of what was being done to them would spread throughout the realm long before they moved on to the next town. Once they finished with the villages closest to Ivan’s palace, the servants would be taken to the coastal communities. By then, they would already be missing more than a few body parts.

None of them would die before the tour ended, unless they were purposely slaughtered, and I wouldn’t put it past Ivan to start the tour all over once it came to an end. These poor, reckless souls would experience endless suffering for months, if not years, to come.

I couldn’t let that happen.

Striding out of the ballroom, my boots thudded against the freshly scrubbed stone as I made my way to the front doors. Samael and the man who’d helped place Ellery’s mother in her coffin stood in the doorway.

They watched as dozens of guards locked the prisoners into the pillories and shackled their hands before them with the chains that would suppress their powers. No one else would come to the castle, but those guards would stand there all night.

“Ryker,” Samael greeted.

I nodded to him before shifting my attention to the other man. There was something familiar about him.

“General Ryker,” the man greeted.

There were few who called me that anymore, and all of them were once soldiers under my command. However, while this man looked familiar, I knew all those who had followed me, and he wasn’t one of them.

“And you are?”

“Gaius Gisborne. I didn’t serve under you during the war, but I did serve under Colonel Baker.”

That’s why he looked familiar. I’d probably seen him on the battlefield. “He was a good man.”

“He was.”

“And what are you doing now?”

He looked to Samael. “Now I’m helping to keep order in the realm. It is very needed.”

I lifted an eyebrow at his pious, pompous demeanor. I really didn’t like this guy. Even Samael rolled his eyes, and he usually lavished this bootlicking shit.

“First the Hooded Robber and now this.” Gaius waved a hand at the manacled servants. “This is a tragedy. We fought to keep Tempest safe from outside enemies, and the nobility has ensured no others ever invade us again. We should be thanking them, not trying to destroy them.”

Gaius was Ivan’s wet dream of a follower.

“How right you are,” I muttered.

I shifted my attention to Samael. “Are you returning to Nottingshire tonight?”

“Yes. I doubt there will be any uprisings in the towns after the failure of this one, but I’ll be there to ensure there isn’t. Plus, we have to prepare for when the show rolls into town tomorrow.”

And that’s exactly what these poor bastards were to all of them… a show. Ivan and all of them were looking forward to this.

“I’ll see you there then,” I told him.

I had to learn how they planned to run this show . If there were any weaknesses in it, I would exploit them.

I would never allow these amsirah to be tortured indefinitely. I’d kill them all myself before that happened.

Striding down the stairs, I walked past the rows of guards and toward the main gates. They opened as I approached.

When I stepped outside the gates, I walked far enough away from the castle so I could open a portal. I emerged into Nottingshire.

It had taken more time than I’d hoped before I could leave Ivan’s presence without a fight. Ellery would already be here.

Anxiety gnawed at my gut as I studied the villagers. None of them paid attention to me as they scurried about, trying to survive the battle their lives had become.

Everything about Nottingshire was more worn, drabber, and dirtier than when Leo had lived. Then there had been laughter; there was none now.

The place stank of mud, body odor, and excrement. Merchants hawked their wares with little enthusiasm, and few had the carisle to stop and buy anything.

Ivan hadn’t been king long, but his rule had devastated the realm. Years of it would destroy us all.

I couldn’t let that happen. Turning away from the sad, dirty amsirah, I started down the muddy street with far too much horse crap on it. There was a time when the roads were cleaned before the horse finished shitting.

I had an idea of where the Veiled Rock was and suspected it wouldn’t be difficult to find. No matter what it took, I would ensure no one discovered Ellery and Callan there.