Page 62 of The Jester

The display on the parapet wasn’t enough. He needs to hammer it home just a little bit more.

No one escapes the citadel.

No one.

I reach for Briony’s hand, and we hold on to each other as Eldrion commands that the jester try harder, and Finn squirms and writhes.

The scene continues to unfold for more minutes than I can count. It feels like a lifetime. I want to run to him and untie him and take him away from this place, but I can’t. I want to take his pain away, but I can’t do that either because everyone else would see my light.

I can do nothing but watch.

Finally, as the crowd begins to grow bored of the display, Eldrion strides back into the centre of the room, takes a knife from his belt, the same knife he used to slit Kayan’s throat, and cuts the ribbons away from Finn.

The knife nicks Finn’s wing, and the piercings on their tips jingle sadly.

He stumbles back, trying to regain his composure, but Eldrion towers above him, holding the broken ribbons, his eyes boring into Finn’s as if he is saying, Now you know. Now you know that you can never be free of me.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

ALANA

My eyes blur with tears. I cannot wait any longer. For the first time since I’ve been here, the Sunborne are watching me. Looking for me to react, as if they are enjoying the cruelty that has tugged emotion from my body.

Taking my hand, Briony whispers, “Come with me,” and drags me away through the crowd.

At the back of the hall, we take a corridor I haven’t travelled before and keep going until we reach a small wooden door. Briony lifts the latch, pushes it open, and we emerge onto a small cobbled path that leads across a grassy lawn.

When we reach a row of dishevelled hedging, we pass through a gap in its middle, and I inhale sharply at the sight of a small, sparkling lake.

“I had no idea this was here,” I whisper.

Briony puts her hand on my lower back. “Eldrion used to come here a lot,” she says. “Now he spends most of his days locked in his chambers.”

At the thought of Eldrion’s chambers, I shudder.

I’ve been trying not to think about what I witnessed there, and what I did there – what I was doing while Kayan was dying. As the memory takes over, another sob shakes my shoulders, and Briony urges me down the slope towards the water.

When we reach it, out here in the moonlight, away from the castle, I feel like I can breathe for the first time in weeks.

I brace my hands on my hips, bend over, and breathe deeply.

Then I begin to pace up and down, shaking my arms and my wings, trying to relieve the tension that seems to be overwhelming my entire body.

“I can’t close my eyes,” I tell her. “All I can see is Kayan.”

Briony doesn’t reply, just stands there. A stoic presence, watching over me.

“Why would he do that to Finn?” I stop, anger bubbling up hotter than my sadness as thoughts of Kayan and Finn tussle with each other in my head.

“Because that’s what he does,” Briony says. “He humiliates, and he tortures, and he kills, and he is cruel. And that is how he keeps us under his control.” Her jaw twitches. She hesitates, as if she’s about to say something.

“Go on,” I tell her. “You don’t need to hide anything from me, Briony. What were you about to say?”

Wrapping her arms around her waist, she walks to the edge of the lake and looks out over the water. It is small and not as beautiful as the lakes at home, but it is still beautiful compared to the cold stone walls of the castle. So, I stand beside her and wait until she’s ready to speak.

“Kayan challenged Henrik once on why he was helping Eldrion. I think he believed the Shadowkind should rise up and fight back. But it’s not that easy.”

She doesn’t look at me, just keeps staring out, her eyes fixated on a spot on the horizon.

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