Oh shit.
My knees nearly gave out on me.
My heart pounded with a fierceness I didn’t understand as I ran behind my mother.
The Lirien who drove me crazy with his arrogance and charm. The man I’d fought to save, who’d saved me …
The thought of him wounded, in pain—gods. It was like a dagger to my gut.
The Vangar must have known they couldn’t take him one by one. The odds must have been stacked terribly against him if they’d gotten to him. “Did he hurt anyone?” That was all he needed to earn another sentence, especially with the rumor about Giulia.
“No. He surrendered. They struck him after.”
We arrived in the center of the tribe, where the agitated crowd was gathered. At the sight of Seth, I shoved my way through toward him.
Seth wasn’t alone. Darya knelt beside a crumpled, bloodied form on the ground—Rykr.
A choked breath left me, and I lunged forward. “What the fuck happened?”
One of the women in the crowd wailed, tears carving tracks down her cheeks. “My darling,” she cried. “My darling girl. They must be punished. Both of them!” She lifted accusing, red-rimmed eyes at me.
The din from the crowd swelled. “Punish them!”
“Execute them!”
I fell to my knees beside Darya, who met my eyes with a worried look. She squeezed my hand gently. “He’s still alive.”
“Rykr,” I murmured, touching his brow. His eyes were closed. He was unconscious, his body beaten, bloodied, and bruised.
“Burn them!”
“Enough!” Seth roared, sword in hand. “We are not a people who dispense justice in anger. Seren Ragnall and her husband may have flouted our laws before, but she’s been tried and given a punishment. This is a new situation, and I don’t have to speak as a member of the council or your waldren. What I say is truth. Rykr Westhaven saved our tribe today and you repaid him in blood—brought shame upon us all.”
Darya flinched, her mouth pinching as she squeezed my hand.
Of all the people to help us, I never would have expected Seth. From the rage simmering in the crowd, it was clear Seth was all that stood between us and immediate execution.
But who in Nyxva had told them about Giulia?
My mother had pushed through the crowd by now, Tara and Amahle joining her. Tara’s sword was already in her hands, and she approached Seth and stood at his side.
“Justice!”
Darya rose to stand beside Seth. I slipped my hand into Rykr’s, noting the awkward bend of his fingers. Dammit. They’d broken them.
And his irons were gone. The lack of a Bloodbinding mark was so clear to me now … what if Darya saw it? I tugged his hand into my lap, shielding it.
Rykr didn’t need any more suspicion on him.
“Seren Ragnall and Rykr Westhaven have already been sentenced to the Skorn,” Darya said in a commanding voice. “If they are guilty of any other crimes, the gods will decide their fate.”
The crowd didn’t appear to waver, their clamoring growing louder.
Macklyn Bryce and his wife pushed their way through the throng. Macklyn stood beside Tara, throwing his arms out. “Rykr Westhaven saved my daughter and our tribe. He is no Lirien. He’s proven his loyalty. If any one of you wants to harm him any further, you’ll have to kill me first.”
Morgana Bryce joined him, her face set with the same fierce determination that I’d often seen in Ciaran’s.
A moment later, others followed. Members of the Vangar. Of the tribe. “He’s one of us,” Jabari Bankole shouted. “You will face us all to get to him.”
