Her jaw dropped. “Are you crazy?”
Ianto snorted. “That’s what I asked.”
I shot him a look before clasping Ellery’s upper arms. “No, I’m not out of my mind, and neither is Tucker. I won’t stand by and watch them be paraded around and endlessly tortured throughout Tempest. There’s no hope that, once the tour ends, their suffering will also come to an end. I doubt they’ll kill them outright; while I’m sure he’ll have grown bored with The Show by then, Ivan will keep them, and he might do it all over again. By then, there won’t be any pieces left to cut off. I won’t let that happen.”
The color drained from her face. “What they’re doing isawful, I know it is, but those prisoners are heavily guarded; they’re the king’s prize, and he’s never going to let anyone take them from him.”
“I’ll find a way.”
“How?”
“I don’t know, but Iwillfind a weakness in what they’re doing, and I will blow it open.”
“You can’t do this, Ryker. I know what happened to you—” Her gaze flicked to Tucker. “—to both of you. I understand what you endured was… was…horrificbut… but… you can’t risk your lives for them. We have too much going on, and we’ve worked so hard to risk losing it all now.”
“They’ll become soldiers for us once we free them,” Tucker said. “They already hate the king and aristocrats, but they’ll hate themmoreafter what’s been done to them. We’ll train them to focus their rage until they become deadly soldiers who will help us win this war.”
CHAPTER EIGHTY-NINE
Ellery
I couldn’t believewhat I was hearing. Tucker was usually the reasonable one.
The events of today had thrown them both back into their pasts, and neither of them were thinking straight. Watching the torture the king and nobles unleashed had caused Ryker to relive his childhood and time in the ophidians’ dungeon. Tucker was also once again in that prison.
I understood how atrocious it was for them, the pain, terror, and helplessness they’d felt while watching their friends fall to the ophidians’ evil, but thiscouldn’thappen. It was far too risky.
“I know what you both endured, and I can’t imagine howhorribleand frustrating it was to watch your friends die at the hands of monsters while you couldn’t help, but you’re letting your emotions and past rule you,” I said.
“No, you can’t imagine, and for that, I’m grateful,” Ryker said. “But you saw some of what we endured today, and while we couldn’t stop what happened in the past, wecanstop this.”
“Are you talking about what happened while you were in Doomed Valley?” Ianto inquired.
“What do you know about it?” Tucker asked.
Ianto rocked back on his heels. “Just the rumors that ran rampant through the realm after the war ended. I’d heard the Scourge was captured and was a prisoner of some salamander thing.”
“Not salamanders, snakes,” Ryker said. “The ophidians were half man and half snake.”
Ianto’s upper lip curled into a sneer. “I’d prefer salamanders.”
“It wouldn’t have made a difference. They were monsters,” Tucker said.
“You were there too.”
Ianto hadn’t asked a question, but Tucker responded. “Yes, I was there too. I was one of the many who went in and one of the few who survived.”
“And these ophidians tortured you.”
Again, not a question, but this time, Ryker responded. “For months.”
Ianto exhaled a loud breath as he ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair. “I’m sorry you went through that, and it’s awful, itreallyis, but I agree with Ellery on this. I think you’re letting your emotions rule you.”
I hadn’t expected Ianto to be an ally, but I was glad to have the giant on my side. He was also a voice of reason, and I hoped Ryker and Tucker would listen to him.
Instead of responding to Ianto, Ryker turned to stare into the forest. “And what do you think?”
My eyebrows rose at his odd response of talking to the trees. Nothing stirred within the shadows of the woods, but Ryker’s eyes didn’t waver from that spot.
