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Mona pouted. “But how did they get them on her if she’s so powerful?”
“I think when she was sleeping.” The thought of the rotting bodies of the ladies she’d killed for their youth, their years of life, made me want to vomit. When the witch had come to our town, leaving the young wife of a farmer sliced open and drained of blood, she’d been caught quickly. The guards in our town, unlike those who lived in the small villages, were highly skilled and trained.
“I don’t understand why they don’t kill all the witches who are found in Salvius,” Mona said, placing her thumb against her lips.
“Because they don’t all commit murder and sacrifice rituals. If a witch is found in our kingdom, then they send them to Istinia. It’s a part of the agreement, which protects us with the elder council. Besides.” I gave Mona a watery smile. “Hardly any witches or warlocks are born of humans. It’s really rare. Don’t worry.”
Mona puffed out her cheeks. “I wasn’t worried.”
The crowd jeered as the woman stepped up onto the stool. I tugged at the collar of my white blouse. No emotion crossed the witch’s features as the rope was placed around her scrawny neck. The crowd grew louder until I couldn’t hear myself think. I couldn’t see the woman’s feet, as my view was blocked by the tops of the adults’ heads, but I could see her neck.
Watching as she stumbled, then the stool kicked, I gasped. Her death wasn’t as fast as I’d expected. The woman’s eyes bulged as she slowly suffocated from her own weight. Her body convulsed. Seconds ticked into minutes, until the witch stopped moving.
The crowd quietened.
“She is dead,” the doctor announced loudly after checking her pulse.
That was awful. My next breath caught in my throat. My knees almost buckled under my weight, and I grabbed the statue to steady myself. I covered my mouth with my hand as my stomach flipped, pushing vomit into my throat. I turned to Mona, who paled at the sight of the dead witch.
“Oh no.” I looked to my left.
A man marched to us and grabbed Mona’s arms, a whiff of liquor on his breath. “What’re ya both doing down here? Orphans.” He shook his head. “Yer coming with me. I’m taking ya back.”
I grabbed the man’s jacket, ready to beg him to let us go. Mona would be punished too, and I couldn’t allow it, not without a fight. “Please, sir, let us go. We will go straight back.” My fingers gripped into the crinkly fabric. “Sir, please!” I shouted, but he ignored me. “Let. Us. Go.”
“Miss Thompson. These yours?”
My heart skipped a beat. Turning slowly, the director of our orphanage stood tight-lipped, staring down at us with thunderous pale-green eyes and her hands crossed over her chest.
Miss Thompson held her cane, bending Mona over a desk once we were back at the orphanage. My tears fell thick and fast, but no matter how much I begged, she wouldn’t punish me instead. She knew this was the way to get to me. Mona had three lashings, and the skin on her back was bleeding. I couldn’t breathe through my nose through the snot. I wiped it on the back of my sleeve. “Please, stop.”
“This’ll teach you snotty-nosed brats to sneak off again. I spent an hour looking for ya. I could’ve caught my death out there.”
“I wished you would’ve,” I mumbled under my breath.
Her eyes widened. She’d heard me. I immediately regretted the quip. “We’ll see how your damned mouth likes this.”
She lifted the cane and came down hard again and again, until Mona was screaming and I couldn’t take any more. I ran at Miss Thompson and grabbed her wrist. “Mona, run.”
Miss Thompson snarled, then smiled sinisterly. “Come to help ya sister, have ya? How sweet. For it, I might just cut open her pretty face with this.” She laughed and held the cane up, where a piece of Mona’s flesh dangled.
“No!” I screamed. A spark left my hands as a power unlike anything I’d felt coursed through my veins. My insides burned, like flames licking through my veins to the point I wanted to tear off my skin.
“Elle.” Mona’s voice flooded me.
Miss Thompson screamed when I felt the power leave me, momentarily bringing her to her knees. Mona stood at the other end of the room, hugging her arms around her torso and crying.
Miss Thompson shrieked once more, then stiffened. My grip, which had left half-crescent marks on her arms, loosened once she fell to the floor.
“What did you do?” Mona whispered.
The pain was gone. “I-I don’t know.”
“Elle, wake up.” Viktor’s voice pounded into my ears.
The ring tumbled from my grip. I looked up at Viktor, my chest heaving as I attempted to catch my breath.
“You okay, doll?”
