Will it destroy us?
The chain secure, I flex my fingers, making sure none of the claws will slip off. Giving myself time to hesitate. To not cross this line that Arienna will cry over.
Even though they’re guilty, I know she will cry for them.
My sister’s eyes now haunt me too.
Her last moments.
She’s laughing at something Nicholas said, sitting beside me and Jace. I didn’t hear the joke nor her laughter though. That memory is too damn silent.
Pure, unforgettable silence – even when she accidentally knocked over her glass of ambrosia. Her eyes were light with laughter as she poured herself another. She looked at me as shedrank it, somehow knowing that that meal was to be her last. She wasn’t supposed to know. I’d wanted her to pass blissfully unaware.
But if I’ve learned one thing in this world, it’s that life is never fair.
It wasn’t to me.
Or Aurelia.
Or Jace.
And it will not be to my queen.
Moving to the side, I step in front of the male bomber. I look into his terrified blue eyes, letting them override all the ones inside me. As soon as the pink set fades, I lift my hand and take my fist’s share. For Saragese. For peace.
His mouth opening wide, he thrashes beneath the claws as they rip into his abdomen. Flesh and guts drop to his feet as I pull the justifier free. Stepping from one prisoner to the next, I take my fist’s share.
As the crowd cheers and the victims scream, only silence burns in my ears. Turning to King Dravr, I remove the claws from my fingers and offer him the device. He takes it without hesitation. Stepping forwards, he sinks his fist into the first woman’s chest, digging past her ribs and into her lungs. He snaps her bones as he rips his way free. Then he works methodically down the line from left to right.
“He’s not a monster like you.”
Arienna’s words break through the silence encasing me. My heartbeat increasing in rhythm, I recall her staring up at me with tears and terror in her eyes.
“It’s okay, Dickie. I love you.”
Aurelia’s silently mouthed words as she took her final sip can’t erase the guilt on my shoulders. Nor can it soothe the fear that Arienna won’t be able to handle this.
If my queen was here, would she take her own life after just to be rid of the nightmares? Or would she not even make it to the end? There was over a hundred people that was owed their fist’s share. The bombers would barely be recognisable as people by the end of it.
Undoubtedly, she would no longer look at me as if I’m her entire world, as if I’m someone capable of being loved.
I will never get to hear her say those three little words again.
Three little words I have gone my entire life without hearing. But now that I’ve heard them… I can’t lose that.
I can’t lose her to this fucking life.
Not even to Aurelia’s dream.
I’ll burn all of Raza to stop her from becoming queen.
Shoving my thoughts down, I focus on Saragese.
One moment at a time.
Jace is next, followed by every member of the Royal Guard that was there that day. Echo takes her share last. Then she passes the bloody claw to the first civilian. It’s the man who tried to attack me at the market, the one who lost his son, Sias, to the bombing.
Bawling his eyes out, he raises his hand to one of the women’s eyes. His arm shakes as he touches her flesh. His sobs vibrate along his entire body, and his lips move with words I do not hear. But his body language speaks loudly enough. He doesn’t have the strength to go through with it.
