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Yes, she could use her power. She could use the wind that she had control of to suck the air from their lungs and watch them suffocate. However, she considered herself old-fashioned, and watching them hang from the noose was just so much more satisfying.
"Please, my Queen," the boy at the back whimpered.
The guard behind him kicked at his shin and hissed. "Shut up!"
Sienna leaned into her staff and waved one hand dismissively at the guard. "Let the boy talk."
That was all he needed before the boy, who couldn't be much older than fourteen, began to blubber. "Please, I am unaffected. I do not have the sickness of the Fae. I’m not Impelled. Please, I am of sound mind."
“You would not know. That is the greatness of their power. This is for your own good. I am freeing you from the shackles that those terrible creatures have placed around your mind." She was showing them mercy really.
A sob fell from his lips and she straightened to look at the other two prisoners. A woman in her sixties with her gray hair and tears streaking her dirty cheeks held her chin high and she looked away from the queen. Before her, a man who appeared to be somewhere in his mid-thirties squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head. Had he not been in shackles Sienna wondered if he would've come to her castle seeking her hand. Unfortunate that they had been diagnosed with the Impelling.
"Take them to the gallows," she snapped before she turned on her heels and marched into the ballroom with the boy’s wails rising louder than the music. She preferred the sound of sorrow to the sound of the string instruments being plucked away in the corner of the room anyway.
It echoed the pain in her heart.
While she craved the people’s love with some small part of her she knew she deserved their hate. That didn't make her any less fit for the crown; if anything it made her the best person to be in this position. She would do whatever she needed to do to protect this land from the Fae.
The murmurings of conversation died away as she entered and made her way up the dais to her throne. Her gaze skimmed over the crowd, not making eye contact with any one person before she lifted her attention to the back of the room where another platform had been erected. The crowd parted for the sobbing prisoners. The shackles around their hands and feet clicked against the wood floorboards.
Sienna inhaled the scent of the food that had been prepared, mixed with the strong perfumes of the guests. "These three have stood trial and have been found guilty for being under the influence of the Impelling. They are a danger to our safety! I cannot allow those who conspire with the Fae to live amongst us. All of our lives are at risk. For their crimes, they will hang!"
“For their crimes they will hang," the crowd echoed back to her.
Power thrummed through her staff into her being. The time was drawing near. Attention was being split between the queen and the prisoners. The guards who escorted them forced them up onto the stand as they dug in their heels to fight back. All except the old woman who stepped onto the platform as if this would be her last performance. She didn't watch the crowd or the guards. She didn't so much as look at the rope that dangled in front of her, waiting for her neck. She pierced Queen Sienna with her gaze.
Sienna smiled. And the corners of the old woman’s lips tilted up in response. A fleeting grin caught in the corners of her mouth, unafraid. Was she ready to greet her death with open arms? The crystal chandeliers reflected back in the old woman's glassy gaze. Rope slipped over her head. Tightened around her throat.
The need for death was heady and thick, tasting like smoke and feeling like the current of a river swimming through her veins. The entire room held their breath as they waited; together they counted down the final seconds of these lives. When the guards backed away Queen Sienna leaned forward.
The sobs of the young boy rose to an ear-piercing volume. The old woman's lips moved, her head turned just a fraction toward the child. Whatever she said, whatever her last words were, they seemed to calm the boy enough for him to look up and sniffle before Queen Sienna flicked her wrist.
A strong gust of wind blew across the room. Skirts and unbuttoned coat jackets wrestled with the force of air Sienna shot through the party. Her magic knocked open the locks that held the floor up under their feet.
Three doors opened. Three bodies fell.
The prisoners’ feet kicked underneath them as if they'd be able to find some sort of footing to hold them up. Their faces turned from red to purple to blue. Their eyes bulged from their heads. Sienna watched until life had fully drained from their bodies and she could feel the small relief their deaths gave her from the pressure of the magic that demanded it inside of her head.
Her guests had been wise not to make any noise, not to gasp as the doors had dropped open and the criminals had hung. No one shed a tear. No one called out. As soon as the queen smoothed her skirt and leaned forward on her throne, the citizens of Maipeg turned away from the criminals in the back who would remain as party décor. Everyone began their conversations again.
Ophelia finally slipped past the queen. She’d never had the stomach for death and often excused herself during times like these. Weak. That made the girl weak. However, since Sienna and she had been lifelong friends she excused the small imperfection. She watched as her friend glided across the floor seeking out the three men the court had deemed as worthy for their king.
To the queen’s surprise, Ophelia also stopped by the man that she herself had pointed out, Leo Maverick. Ophelia waved them forward and Maverick and his companion followed. Other propositions eyed these five with serious contemplation. It was no secret that any one of these five was more likely to get the crown than anyone else in the room. That just meant the others would have to work that much harder. Sienna tried to keep her face straight as they were lined up in front of her.
Which one?she wondered as she set her staff through the hole in her throne made specifically to hold it.Which one?That was the question.
"My Queen please let me introduce you to Mr. Jack McHaynes, Mr. Thomas Delroy, Mr. Lucian Dean, Mr. Leo Maverick, and his friend Mr. Hollis Weebly." Ophelia presented them with a sweeping gesture.
The group bent at the waist, all of them casting their eyes down except for the last. When Sienna made eye contact with him he cocked a brow and the corner of his lips twitched to the side in a failed attempt at hiding a smirk.
That right there was a good way to die.
"I will let you chat and I will be right over here," Ophelia said before stepping away quietly.
"It's so lovely to finally meet you." Lucian extended his hand, allowing the queen to set her fingers in his as he pressed a small kiss to her knuckles.
"What's lovely is the queen herself," Jack cut in, gently taking the queen’s hand from Lucian and brushing his mouth over her fingers.
