The tornadoes and my thunder had torn up chunks of the floor that had captured some of the corpses. Those bodies lay at odd angles.
Appendages were scattered everywhere, and the whole room stank of blood, already decaying flesh, urine, and shit. Far too many had lost control of their bowels, either from panic or death.
“Where have you been?” Ivan demanded.
As I crossed toward them, I waved a hand around the room while weaving through the bloody remains. “Escaping the mayhem… like all of you.”
I couldn’t tell if the earl was furious or petrified. His face was drawn, and his skin seemed pulled more firmly over his cheekbones.
No color remained in his face or compressed lips. Standing beside him, his sons were pale and twitchy.
Dozens of amsirah were on their knees before the dais. Their arms and legs were chained behind their backs by manacles, most likely spelled to suppress an amsirah’s powers. Some of them sobbed, but others didn’t make a sound.
I didn’t have to ask; I knew these poor bastards were the rebellious servants they’d captured. What remained of their fate wouldn’t be an easy one.
When they shifted, the chains rattled, and my skin prickled as memories of my imprisonment tried to bubble to the surface. I’d once been trapped and helpless too.
I’d once listened to metal bars clang and rattle as ophidians removed us from our cells to do to us what should never be done to another. A clammy sweat beaded my forehead; I wiped it away before digging my nails into my palms to maintain control.
Now wasn’t the time to get buried in memories. I may not be back with the ophidians, but the amsirah on the dais were as big of snakes as those monsters… if not bigger. And if I wasn’t careful, I’d wind up dead.
CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
Ryker
Other servants movedthrough the room, helping to clean things up, and I recognized a few of them. It took me a few seconds to realize my father had brought some of his men and women here.
They were going through the bodies and separating the rebels from the guests. I suspected my father didn’t bring them here as a favor to the earl. He wanted his servants to know what would happen if they dared to rise against him.
“My guards say they saw you here,” Ivan stated.
“They did. I fought for a while, but when I saw the opportunity to leave, I took it. Did I miss anything?”
“They destroyed my home,” the earl lamented.
Of course, he didn’t care about the lives lost here; it was about histhings. I worked to keep my temper under control while surveying the chained amsirah beside me.
I recognized more than a few from the previous night. They’d weaved their way through the room with their trays and offered food and drinks, all while planning to kill us.
While I understood, I didn’t appreciate it.
“They drugged and killed my guards,” the earl continued.
While I’d already learned this from Callan, I played dumb. “They did what?”
The earl’s eyes were full of rage when they met mine. “They drugged and killed a fair number of my guards before the rebellion started.Fuckingcowards.”
Like every one of you, they didn’t run away as soon as the battle started.But instead of speaking the truth, I kept up pretenses.
“Was it only your servants who participated in this?” I asked. “Or did they have outside help too?”
“So far, it seems to have only been the servants,” my father replied.
One of the earl’s sons, I couldn’t remember his name and didn’t care to try, thrust a finger at a woman in chains. “Shewas the harp player.”
The woman whimpered and hunched further into herself.
“And apparently, the band was involved too,” my father said dryly. “Do we know who was in the band?”
