Page 39 of Dark Reign

And what was perhaps worse, I now had an open wound. It would only take seconds for others to take notice and come sniffing for their next meal.

“Fine.” Bryson exhaled as he hovered above me. “You don’t want to tell us who you work for? Then we’lltorturethe answer out of you. After that, I’ll personally string you from the gallows like the worthless sack of skin you are. And then, once the last breath has left your body, we’ll tear every scrap of flesh from your bones with our teeth and let the huntsman’s pack lick your blood from the dirt.” He leaned in even closer. “There will be nothing left. It’ll be like you never existed.”

Liv didn’t speak, but her quiet sobs were hard to miss.

“I vote we feast on herbeforethe gallows, give her a glimpse of what Hell feels like, andthenwe hang her while there’s still a little life left in her,” Embry suggested.

The two shared a laugh and as I lay there, fearing theirs would be the last faces I saw before my end, I had a very human response—a tear slipped down my cheek. No, it wasn’t very heroic, but I never set out to be anyone’s hero anyway.

When their quiet laughter grew even louder, I knew they’d seen it.

“How awful this must be for you,” Bryson added mockingly, swiping the droplet from my skin. “Knowing you’re mere hours away from your last breath.”

His touch made me shrink away, and I was immediately shown he didn’t approve of the reaction. Before I had time to flinch, the back of a heavy hand struck my face, whipping my head violently toward the wall I came so close to crossing.

Panting, and fearing he’d use more strength with the next blow, I braced myself when that hand was raised a second time.

“Who sent you?” he snarled.

I was keenly aware of the ringing in my ears, the electric tingle at the base of my skull that indicated he had also given compulsion a try. These two must have transferred in from the North Quadrant, the only region Ianites had developed such an ability.

His brow quirked a bit when an answer didn’t immediately fly from my mouth like he expected, and anger swelled within him. The open hand balled into a fist then, and I recoiled a bit at the sight of it. However, instead of feeling it slam the side of my face, it fell to Bryson’s side. Not only that, but the heavy boot Embry had brought down on my wrist lifted away, too, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it. The pair certainly hadn’t grown tired of tormenting me, but what I didn’t realize was … we had company.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Corina

“Your Highnesses,” Bryson gulped.

That assertive, mocking tone of his had suddenly turned small in the princes’ presence, formidable as they were. I glanced up, my eyes climbing the length of one after the other, mesmerized by those steel gazes, the regality they possessed without even trying.

I guessed Julian had gone to get the others to help him find me after thinking better of letting me run off. My eyes lingered on him and found confusion in his expression as he stared, likely sensing the blood that seeped from the wound, the sweat that beaded around my hairline—my very human responses to being attacked by his kind.

His brow tensed, a hint that he’d just begun to piece together the events from our first encounter in the ballroom until now. Perhaps it was suddenly clear to him why I felt compassion for the woman we spotted in this very garden, whilehestood by content to watch her die. Perhaps he comprehended why, now, these sentinels had deemed my life just as inconsequential as hers.

Embry took a step back to bow when his partner did the same, relieving my wrist of his weight. No longer pinned to the stone walkway, I gripped the wound that burned beneath my glove. Covering the red stain that seeped through the material was a natural reaction, but it wouldn’t do any good. It had been made abundantly clear I wasn’t one of them.

There was no way to gauge how much time this interruption would grant me. It wouldn’t have come as a surprise if one of the princes—realizing I impersonated an Ianite—ordered the sentinels to have me put to death tonight. I’d violatedseveralMortal Bylaws.

So, I used this time wisely.

Staggering, I got to my feet and surveyed my surroundings for the quickest, most efficient escape route. With their kinds’ speed and agility, with the tall wall it’d take a miracle for me to scale, I realized the likelihood of getting away was nonexistent.

The slight movement earned me Julian’s attention—attention in which I had once foolishly relished. Only, his reaction to the Doll being murdered before our eyes had reminded me of what I was to him.

Just a human.

“Explain yourselves?” Julian demanded of the sentinels, his heavy gaze lifting from me to shift from one to the other as he towered over both, awaiting an explanation.

His‘Dynasty Brothers’,as he referred to them, stuck close to his side, but I didn’t miss the looks of confusion that marked their expressions. One by one, they observed me—the stranger who’d foolishly crashed the party of the century.

I could only guess what they thought of me. At one point in the evening, I’d felt the unmistakable pull of attraction from each, but now I only sense their distrust.

Both guards snatched burgundy berets from their heads, clutching them to their chests. Bryson prepared to respond first, gathering his thoughts, practicallywreakingof weakness and inferiority. It all but oozed from his pores as he blinked crimson eyes at the East’s incumbent emperor.

It was quite the sight, watching as these two tyrants shrank when Julian cast a single haughty glare down his nose at them.

“I know it may be difficult to tell at first glance, Your Highness, but this woman is no Ianite,” Bryson hissed as an accusatory finger jabbed in my direction. “She’s …human.”

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