All the well. Soon it would be my bones on these marbled floors. Maybe the gods would mop up my blood and be tasked with dragging me out.
I heard the Scourgers move behind me. I took a deep breath. Squared my shoulders. Lifted my chin. I met the eyes of Incense Order and Xadari Legion. The eyes of the Fallen Prince.
I proudly accepted my fate.
Quazar remained standing, fury visibly radiating through his body. Something heavy and metallic slammed into my spine and locked onto my wings, clipping all seven pairs of my wings together.
I cried out.
I blinked back tears, lifting my eyes to the ceiling. It was only then I saw a long line of Dragèth perched atop the pointed domeover the cathedral. I found the eyes of a black dragon, so massive I couldn’t believe the glass could hold his weight. His bright silver eyes burned into mine, holding my gaze until I looked away.
“One hundred lashes,” Kaelthos stated.
The angel was soulless.
I looked at Quazar. Held his gaze.
Then the first lash landed.
Chapter 35
Three whips lashed into my spine, greedily biting into my skin through the fabric of my Disciple gown.
“One,” Scourger Lilithine counted.
I didn’t budge. I planted my feet, chin still lifted high. It stung, but I would stand my ground. Another lash landed.
“Two.”
Then another.
“Three.”
Lilithine counted as the Scourgers landed blow for blow. I made it through the first ten lashes without a reaction. They stung, they hurt, but I took them with my head lifted high.
Starfire churned through my body, rushing to my back, stitching together any torn piece of skin as the Dragontails ripped through the fabric of my gown. My cheeks flushed at the exposure of skin. Even then, I stood tall.
“Seventeen.”
“Twenty-one.”
“Twenty-five,” Lilithine hissed, as the three whips sank into my skin.
I stumbled. Blood began dripping down my spine, coating my skin. I sensed the trickles as they curled down my curvesbeneath my gown, dripped down my calves, until they began todrip, drip, dripto the marbled floor.
I pulled on my starfire. I couldn’t let those cursed inscriptions show. Not here. Not under the watch of Kaelthos. He’d have me skinned if he knew what Quazar wore permanently on his skin, also lived beneath mine. If I didn’t shed too much blood, I could still keep them from surfacing.
Burn, but never bleed.
I tugged on the material of my gown at the sleeves, dragging them long over my hands.
I straightened as another blow landed. I thought of Manmi and Papi. Of Ezekiel, Jael, Hosea, Uriah, Gabriel, and Evanae. My family. My hearts. My life.
I thought about all our times spent in our backyard grilling food, dancing barefoot to upbeat music, and jumping into our pool for a long twinight swim. We had so much love. So much joy. I lost myself in old memories as the lashing continued.
“Thirty-two.”
The three whips savagely struck my spine. Dragèth scales ripped across my torn skin. Talons sunk into my flesh and tore me open further. The whips remained in my spine for a moment, as if wedged too deep to be removed.
