“I was engaged to a woman of royal blood; you wed a whore.”
The amsirah shouted, and the gargoyles snarled at him. While the duke’s first sight of them had caused him to piss himself, he didn’t shy away now. Instead, he stared defiantly back.
“Did you not imprison countless children after ripping them away from their families?” I asked when the room calmed again.
“We were training them to be soldiers.”
“You were brainwashing them,” Tucker retorted, and shouts of agreement ran around the room.
“Did you not assume a throne that wasn’t yours to take?” I asked.
“If I’d wed Bria, I would have had every right to that throne.”
“But you didn’t wed. You committed treason as well as countless other atrocities against those who reside in this realm.”
“As I said, you’ve already convicted me.”
“That’s because you’re guilty,” Ellery stated. “But you’re not convicted until we take our vote.”
“Which we’ll do now,” I said.
“What’s the point?” Veni asked. “You’re all going to vote for death.”
“Oh, I’m sure it will be a unanimous vote,” I said. “Which, if you were even a little bit justified in your actions, I’m sure someone would have voted against sentencing you to death. You see, the amsirah are far more forgiving than any of the aristocrats.”
His expression was one of utter contempt as his gaze held mine while the vote went rapidly around the room. I didn’t break Veni’s gaze as the others cast their votes. When it got to us, I didn’t speak; there was no reason for me to. I lifted my wooden hammer and banged it on the table.
“Veni Locksley, you have been sentenced to death,” I declared.
His face remained emotionless, but fear shone in his pale green eyes. He’d never plead for his life, yet he’d never believed death would come for him.
“The amsirah will decide the means of death next,” I said.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-FIVE
Ryker
One week later
I was pretty sure that all of Tempest, except for some of the children, had turned out for the duke’s execution. They crowded the rolling fields outside of the fallen palace, leaned eagerly forward, and exuded bloodlust as we led the duke through the crowd.
He kept his head high as he ignored the jeering crowd and items thrown at him. Some of those objects bounced off Tucker and me as we each held one arm, but neither of us acknowledged them.
The gargoyles had decided against coming here today. This was for the amsirah alone.
I wasn’t sure we’d make it to the stage erected for this day before they jumped on Veni and tore him apart. The only things holding them back were Tucker and me. They wouldn’t hurt us.
“What happened to Dahlia?” I asked as we walked.
“Who?” the duke inquired.
“The prostitute you captured. The one you believed I had a relationship with.”
She was an old friend from the Ghoul War. I’d paid her to make it look like we’d been seeing each other, and she’d been captured because of it. She hadn’t been in either of the dungeons, no one had seen her in the villages, and Tucker didn’t recall removing her from the debris.
The duke hesitated so long before answering that I wasn’t sure he’d respond. When a rotten tomato hit him square in the face, it exploded juice all over the three of us. I wiped away the seeds dripping down my face and flicked them away.
“You rotten piece of shit!” someone shrieked.
