Reign of the Fallen (Reign of the Fallen #1)(87)

Over Hadrien’s shoulder, the glow of hundreds of lit torches is getting stronger by the moment, like a second sun rising.

As one of the guards snaps a pair of shackles around my wrists, I catch a glimpse of the crowd, and I’m relieved to see that at least some of them have fled. But not all. Not nearly enough. I hope Meredy didn’t come back for me after all, but that she found my friends and she’s taking them somewhere safe—if there is any such place anymore.

“Now, I’m going to have the guard remove his hand so you can tell me where Vane is,” Hadrien says smoothly. “Nod if you understand.”

I simply glare at him. It’s all I can do with my hands, and now my feet, bound in heavy iron cuffs.

Still, the guard drops his hand. I utter every curse word I can think of, ones I picked up from the masters and a few that I’ve only heard in the Ashes. Words that feel gritty on my tongue and stick in my throat, though I choke them out anyway and hurl them at Hadrien.

The prince’s face isn’t so handsome anymore. He’s frowning, his fists clenched at his sides like mine were when I had to listen to all the filth he spewed at the crowd.

“I was wrong about you, Odessa,” he says at last, the words devoid of any emotion. “You aren’t my Serpent after all. And although you haven’t said so, I assume Vane is dead if you’re wearing his mask.” He looks me straight in the face and smiles. “Perhaps we’re even, as my men are putting your friends Jax and Simeon to death as we speak.”

He turns, gesturing to a guard. The older man drops a familiar sword in the grass at our feet, followed by several small daggers perfect for tucking up a sleeve or in a boot. Jax’s blades. Jax, whose lips are dry and rough like his hands. Jax, who held me through the worst days of my new life without Evander.

Hadrien might as well have thrust the daggers into me, because the sight of them alone sends a wave of pain through my chest. Breathing hurts. Everything hurts.

The guard tosses something else. It’s tiny, difficult to see in the blurry world of light and shadow dancing before my eyes. “I might actually keep that. It looks expensive. Kingly, even,” Hadrien murmurs as the small shiny object lands near the daggers.

I don’t need to blink away my tears to know he’s got Simeon’s ring. The one he still wears on a frayed cord around his neck, just like he did on the day the nuns found him, a frightened child wandering the Ashes. Simeon, the only person who can make me laugh on my worst days. Simeon, who’s been my brother since the moment we met.

The noise of the crowd dies away. My knees buckle. If not for the guards, I’d fall to the ground. I want to sink through layers of earth to someplace where this pain can’t find me. Where I can pretend everyone I love is waiting for me in the next room.

“Where’s Valoria?” I demand. Surely he wouldn’t kill his own sister?

“She’s keeping the men of the dungeon company,” Hadrien drawls unconcernedly. “And she’ll stay there until she decides to support me, or she’ll swing from the noose. But since you’re here, you might as well witness the beginning of my reign.”

He grabs my chin, forcing me to look toward the cage.

I don’t fight him.

Three of the six Dead in the cage are now Shades, thrusting their rotting arms through the iron bars in an attempt to grasp at the distant crowd. The rest must have been eaten by the monsters. Six black shrouds and two gleaming crowns lie on the cage floor, forgotten.

Jax and Simeon are dead or dying.

Valoria’s in a dungeon with thieves and murderers, if she’s even still alive.

There’s no one left for me to save.

Except—Meredy. If she can stay out of harm’s way long enough, maybe I can escape and find her. The thought is all that keeps me standing.

“Now, let’s see what a fine group of Karthians like yourselves can do to the monsters that are threatening to overrun your homes!” Hadrien roars at the crowd. “Burn them. Burn all the Dead, and purge our beloved Karthia of the necromancers’ corruption!” He turns back to the cage. “I hope you’re watching, Sparrow,” he says softly, shifting his gaze from me to the nearby guards. “Release the Shades!”

The cage springs open.

I can’t tell the Shades’ shrill cries apart from the crowd’s shrieks.

“Run!” I scream before a guard silences me again.

People scatter in all directions. The few foolish enough to hold their ground are slain where they stand. Some throw torches at the three Shades, while others drop theirs, setting the palace hill ablaze.

“Don’t worry,” Hadrien whispers in my ear, breath hot. “I have a weather mage ready to douse the fire. And I have archers standing by with flaming arrows, if the monsters prove to be too much for my people. But they’re stronger than they think.” He half smiles, a gesture that would be handsome if I didn’t know how black his spirit was. “I had to have a backup plan, you see, in case Vane didn’t come through.” Winking, he adds, “I didn’t completely underestimate you.”

I have so much more I want to shout at him, but the hand over my mouth is pressed uncomfortably tight. Hoping to startle the guard into letting go, I push my tongue against the salty skin of his palm, but he doesn’t even flinch.

As the people’s screams get louder and tiny fires erupt all over the sloping hills leading up to the palace, Lyda and a few other living nobles join Hadrien beside the empty cage. They coolly survey the panicked fighting and the trail of carnage left by the three gray shadows as they dart among the people.