Chapter 28

Ryker

I hadno doubt Ivan had made the labyrinth an obstacle of misery, but I was bored, and sitting outside with Ivan, my father, and all the other assholes gathered around them wasn't an option. It was bad enough that I'd spent this much time with them; I wasn't going to waste any more of it.

So, I clasped my hands behind my back and strolled down the hill to the entrance of the thick green hedges with the crush of amsirah. I felt my father's eyes boring into my back and the waves of animosity radiating off him.

He didn't want me mingling with the peasants… even if they weren't peasants. They just didn't possess as much wealth as him and the other aristocrats who hung back to enjoy the show.

He wouldn't stop me from entering the maze; it would only cause a scene if he tried, but he also didn't want anyone thinking we might need the money. After the castle he'd built, I doubted anyone would believe that, but they would be amused to watch me walk away from him… and he wouldn't like that either.

I smiled as I wandered into the shadowed maze and through the thick hedges crowding the stone path. Many of the other guests had funneled in ahead of me, but the wealthier ones remained behind, as Ivan had anticipated.

This was a game to him, and he'd turned his mice loose in the labyrinth to see which ones would eat the others. And he'd kept all his very fat cats by his side.

Though, I didn't see what kind of entertainment they would get out of this, considering they couldn't see those inside the maze. Their laughter followed me around a curve where I encountered the first split in the hedges.

Two pathways diverged to each side of me while one also continued straight. I didn't care about the prize, but since I was here, I might as well try to solve this thing.

Turning to the left, I traversed that path as I searched for differences amid the thick, green bushes and stones lining the way. No matter how closely I inspected the hedges and paths, I detected no difference from one section of the labyrinth to another.

The trail twisted and turned as I progressed through the maze; it split off in numerous directions. I'd lost sight of anyone else soon after entering, but sometimes, on the other side of the bushes, voices drifted to me, as well as nervous laughter.

For the most part, the maze remained oddly hushed. As the sun crept higher, it lengthened the shadows through the hedges and cast darkness over the pathway.

I rounded another bend as someone started screaming. The high-pitched wails came from my left and were coming straight at me as the screamer fled.

My father and the others who had remained behind would laugh at the amsirahs as they raced toward an exit. Meredith Marian, Ellery's mother, and some of the others wouldn't be laughing as they awaited the return of their loved ones.

The screams moved further away from me as the woman turned a corner on the other side of the bushes. I waited for whatever had terrified her to barrel through the hedge and into me, but nothing stirred.

My hands fisted as I willed whatever was out there to come at me. I didn't think I had any fight left in me after the Ghoul War and the ophidians, but after being at this coronation for a couple of days, I was itching to beat the shit out of something.

After another minute, nothing happened, so I turned and continued on the path. On my right, someone else started screaming, but this wasn't one of terror… it was pain.

My brow furrowed, and I took a step closer to the hedges. I rested my hand against one while waiting for more, but nothing came. I recalled Ellery blending into the crowd ahead of me with her shoulders back and her chin high.

It had been a man screaming, but did Ivan put something in here that would kill off his subjects? Many of those who entered weren't high-ranking aristocrats and didn't hold much power in the realm, but he still required them to help keep Tempest running.

What is out there?

When no more screams came, I moved away from the hedges and rounded another corner, where I nearly walked into a wall of bushes as I encountered a dead end. "Fuck."

I was turning to head back when something whispered behind me. Glancing over my shoulder, I spotted black eyes blinking at me from the foliage.

Thick black lashes framed the eyes as a snout and sharp teeth emerged. When the creature's lips skimmed back and it hissed, I braced myself as the thing leapt from the branches.

It was far longer than I'd anticipated and weighed at least fifty pounds as it pounced on my chest. After my time in Doomed Valley and dealing with all the monsters there, this creature didn't frighten me.

Small, prickly hairs dug into my palms as I gripped its wiry body. Its teeth snapped at my face as I pulled it away from me and threw it over my head.

It hit the ground with a thud and bounced across the path before it popped back up. Its back arched, and it hopped back and forth as it hissed and spit at me.

Sleek and black, the slender rodent was at least four feet long and stood two feet off the ground at the shoulders. The giant rodent bared its flesh-rending teeth as it snarled while continuing to hop around, searching for a weakness.

So, this was the tone Ivan had decided to set for his rule of Tempest… turn rats loose on all those he saw as far inferior to him.

If this is what he intends for his class of merchants, successful farmers, and manor owners, then what does he plan for those in the towns?

The class of farmers, merchants, and manor owners didn't have the money or power the king, duke, marquess, earls, and barons possessed, but they were the backbone of the realm. They kept things moving and the realm fed. Without them, Tempest would fall apart.

What is that asshole thinking?

But I already knew the answer—he had a lot of power and a bunch of amsirah to abuse with it. If this kept up, then the rebellion I suspected my father of secretly plotting would be a lot easier to pull off, as the occupants of this realm would turn on the idiot.

And a civil war was the last thing Tempest needed after what it endured with the ghouls. Shit!

I was sick of war and greedy, incompetent dickheads who wielded their power as abuse over others. Because of my father, I'd grown up with it, and I'd endured it again with the ophidians' torture. Now, I lived in a realm with a king who considered everyone pawns.

My teeth grated together as I glared at the creature who had stopped its hopping to charge at me. Ivan had turned these things loose on this maze and on a group of amsirah with no weapons. Some had been a part of the Ghoul War and knew how to fight, but many hadn't.

They could manipulate the weather, but most weren't trained and would panic if attacked. And how much good would their ability to create rain or snow do against these things?

Although ice would probably come in handy, as would fog to fight them, and of course, my lightning against these things. There was only one other lightning bearer in this realm, and if, by some off chance, they happened to be in this maze, then they had a lot more to worry about than these rodents… they had me.

I'd hunt them down and wring their necks, but until then, I had to deal with this shit. As the creature bounded toward me, bouncing on its short legs with its back arched, I didn't know whether to laugh or torch its ass.

When it reared onto its back legs and launched at me again, I caught it in midair and dodged its snapping jaws as it lunged for my face.