Page 71 of The Great and Terrible

Chin high, the woman strolled to the dais. She climbed the steps, clearly accepting her lot.

Jasher handed the pack to Leona and followed the woman up at a steady pace. As the crowd gathered round about, he positioned himself behind the offender, who couldn’t hide her tremors.

Tears streaked down her cheeks. “When my husband died, he left me drowning in debt. The tax collector came to take my baby in payment. To make her a sacrifice for Governor North. I…the stories I’ve heard. The horrors. My dear one is only three years old. I couldn’t let him take her. He wouldn’t let her go so I…I made him. Please, don’t kill me for it.”

“Where is your daughter now?” Jasher asked. The emotionless of his tone froze me to the bone.

“My aunt has her. They are long gone, so don’t bother searching for them,” the mother replied, her tremors infiltrating her voice.

Jasher’s grim gaze cut to me before he withdrew an ax. Everything inside me screamed in protest. He wouldn’t, couldn’t do this. I toyed with the ring. No burn. No flood of strength or evidence of power. No solution.

A cry of despair left the mother when thunder and lightning intensified, coming faster.

“Kill her now!” a woman shrieked.

Jasher white-knuckled the weapon’s shaft. “A sacred lawhas been broken, and a price must be paid.”Ice cold raindrops pattered over the crowd. Several splashed on my overheating brow. “Will anyone show mercy and take this woman’s place?”

I heard a faint note of hope in his voice, and the cracks he’d forged in me last night widened, welcoming light. An idea came to me. Something I shouldn’t consider. Too dangerous. A risk like no other. But I did consider it. Jasher needed my help. He’d saved me from myself countless times. Now, I had a chance to return the favor.

“Anyone?” he echoed, the hope gone.

Not giving myself an opportunity to ponder the end results, I called, “I will. I’ll do it.”

All eyes swung my way. Patch and Leona gaped, even shook their heads in negation, but the executioner glared. Would he kill me?

We would find out. Because I couldn’t let him kill an innocent. And this young mother who’d only sought to protect her childwasinnocent. I removed my hat, thrust it at Patch, and raised my chin. “I will,” I repeated.

The mother collapsed to her knees, sobbing. When the crimen above her head faded, I knew it took residence over mine; an awful, eerie energy pulsed against my skin.

For Jasher. For Tandi. For me.

The crowd parted, creating a path for me as I made my way forward. Up the steps and onto the stage. “Go,” I told the mother. “Find your aunt and child and never come back here. Stay hidden.”

She sprinted off as fast as her feet would carry her. Good.

The rain increased. Every droplet stung like a needle prick. Jasher held my stare as I willingly approached the chopping block.

“What of your father?” he snapped. “How will you transport serpens-rosa to him when you are dead?”

When, not if. “Why are you talking? The storm comes. Killme.” Brave talk. I knelt down and rested my cheek on the wood. Tremors plagued me, but I didn’t cry. Not even when I caught sight of Leona and Patch. Both looked ready to vomit.

“You don’t think I will?” Fury laced Jasher’s question. “You’ve tied my hands, Moriah. Ensured I must end someone else I care for. How could you do this to me?” he hissed.

The confession rocked me in ways I couldn’t have guessed. “I care for you, too, Jasher.” Very much. The sky darkened until being electrified by forks of lightning. “You’re running out of time,” I reminded him, merciless. I had to be.

“You have none left,” he snapped.

From the corner of my eye, I watched him raise the ax. I bit my tongue, tasting blood. If he did it, he did it. I died. End of story. At least I’d made a difference in someone’s life, stood up for what I believed, fought against the wrongness I despised, and taken a chance on a man worthy of the risk.

“You have ruined me, princess.”

His guttural admissionwreckedme. “I take that as a compliment, tinman.”

Wind whipped up, blowing locks of my hair around my face. An animalistic roar sounded not too many miles away, sending the crowd into a frenzied panic.

Shouts rang out. “The monstra!” “Kill her!” “Kill her before we’re destroyed!”

One roll of thunder bled into another. Still Jasher hesitated. Other roars came louder and louder. My ring heated at last.

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