I fell into step with Alois and resisted the urge to fiddle with my wedding ring. His presence still made me nervous, especially since he’d all but avoided me after we had sex. I’d learned to stand on my own since but still felt like a cowed child in his presence.
Our boots crunched against the dry dirt, the continual cawing of crows and the occasional word exchanged by the cadets clearing the streets filled the air.
“It’s not that I don’t trust you, Ellowyn,” Alois said softly, his wild gaze fixed on the burned husks of buildings, keenly watching for any movement.
I scoffed slightly as my eyes were drawn to the groups of Mages. None had Vessels, a problem I was certain Alois would try to remedy sooner rather than later. Even with our nonexistent training, the teams seemed to work together effortlessly. The Water Mages doused the fires in the streets first before the Air Mages came along to blow the smoke through the ravaged city. Few words were spoken, and it appeared that teamwork was just an inherent concept.
“It’s the truth. I couldn’t lie even if I wanted to.”
I hummed, not really listening to his words. There were so many other, bigger things to worry about at the moment that Alois’ trust in me was rather far down the list. When it was clear I wasn’t going to respond, Alois stopped talking, choosing to walk with me in silence as we canvased the empty city.
The destruction was staggering.
Not a home or business was left unmarred; some were piles of rubble, while others still burned. It seemed that the rebelsdidn’t just want to destroy the city—they wanted to eliminate the Cellian people, too.
How could my parents align with people like this?I knew these rebels were different than Torin’s group, but it was hard to reconcile—at one point, hedidfollow Solace’s descendant.
The thought exacerbated the queasiness in my gut.
Bodies in various states of torment were strewn throughout the city; some lay face down in the street, their clothes singed to reveal blistered and oozing skin. There were a few who looked relatively untouched until it was clear that their heads lay at an impossible angle from their necks. The worst were the corpses of the mothers and children who attempted to flee too late into the attack—the rebels paid a special kind of attention to those; babies often separated from their mothers, holes where their hearts should be.
The blood drained from my face, and I tasted bile on my tongue after making the mistake of peering into a large iron pot that held the bodies of more than one infant.
My ears rang as the back of my neck grew hot and my stomach muscles contracted. As I released the edge of the container and spewed what remained of my meager lunch over the bloodied and charred stones.
“What is . . . ohfuck,” I heard someone else say just before the sounds of their retching joined my own.
“Fucking despicable shit stains,” Alois growled before calling for a Fire Mage. I clutched my stomach with both arms as I waited for the nausea to pass. “Incinerate this,” Alois barked.
“What the fuck,” Tine said before I felt the heat of fire on my back. Slowly, I rose from a crouch and wiped the tears from my eyes with the back of my hands. A black handkerchief appeared in front of my face, and I thanked Alois weakly before using it to clean up my mouth.
I straightened and watched as the flames licked at the cauldron.
“Who would do such a thing?” I mused, more to myself.
“Do you know of no one who would stop at nothing to see their desires come to fruition?” Alois asked, his body close enough to my shoulder that I could feel his heat bleeding through his tunic.
I shot him a side-eyed look with my mouth drawn into a thin line. He barked a laugh, which drew more than a few curious stares. I felt my cheeks redden at his humor at such an inappropriate time.
We literally just saw babies boiled, and you’re laughing? Maybe he really is as unhinged as people think . . .
“Relax, Ellowyn,” Alois sighed, running a hand through his close-cropped black hair. “I’ve seen more than my share of crimes, committed some too, in my life to know that you need not take everything so seriously. You’ll end up like Rohak or put yourself in an early grave if you do.”
“Forgive me, but I think something like this”—I gestured vaguely around us—“should be taken seriously.”
There was a murmur of assent from a nearby Earth Mage before Alois frightened him away with a dark scowl.
“I don’t disagree with you, wife. Which is why my original question still stands—who do you know that would go to these lengths? Would tear mothers’ hearts out? Burn families in their homes? Boil babies?”
My stomach roiled again just at the mention of the atrocities surrounding us. I shook my head, too queasy to open my mouth.
“You’re smarter than that,” Alois said scornfully.
Anger flared, hot and sudden in my neck and cheeks. I clenched my hands, the nails biting into my palms.
“I’ve heard stories about you,Warlord,” I spat lowly and was pleased to see that I’d struck a nerve. Alois’ cheeks darkenedbeneath his olive complexion and his wild eyes turned darkly murderous.
“Watch your tongue, wife,” he growled. “Everything I’ve done has been for the good of Elyria. This”—he thrust a finger out at our Mages as they worked to clean up the city and dispose of the dead—“was done to send a message by the hands of the gods themselves. They have no regard for human life, no desire to protect what they made. We are nothing more than pawns to them in a game only they can play.”
