Page 50 of Of Flames and Fallacies

Sweat coats my palms, and Cole gives my hand a quick reassuring squeeze. A subtle, nearly subconscious gesture he’d been doing for years.

“Darian has them gathered near the outlook tower,” Carlisle reports. “We are pulling the patrols and assembling the full squad.”

Cole turns toward me, releasing my hand ever so subtly. “Go back to your room,” he says with a hard swallow.

“Captain, you know the rules,” Carlisle calls from behind him.

Cole tosses a glare at Carlisle. “She doesn’t need to see this. She’s a temporary guest—”

“She is a subject of this outpost. Which means all rules apply.”

Cole stands, his body rigid and unmoving.

Carlisle’s eyes narrow. “Captain, are you saying you’re granting your sister a pass for the mandatory attendance of all the King’s military personnel?”

Cole flexes his hand into a fist, his knuckles turning white. He finally dips his head in defeat.

We gather with the rest of the squad assembled near the northern outlook tower. Shoulders brush mine as more people join the crowd. An eerie hush settles over the throng, broken up only by shuffling feet. Every face I stare at is lowered, the night shadowing their faces and grim expressions.

At the top of the stone, moss-dusted tower stands Darian, alongside several other soldiers with torches. Between the soldiers are two figures with black bags pulled over their heads. Their metal shackles gleam in the flickering torchlight.

Cole steals a glance at me, a thick well of anguish darkening his amber eyes, before his face settles into an emotionless, stone-cold mask.

He gives my hand a quick squeeze, his voice softly threaded within his breath. “Look away.”

Carlisle motions to Cole, and the two of them disappear into the throng.

Archie slides in next to me and meets my gaze. As I’m about to ask him what’s going on, Darian clears his throat from the outlook tower and the shuffling crowd falls still. Cole and Carlisle join Darian at the top platform.

Carlisle calls out across the crowd, “Today, we condemn two dragon sympathizers. Let us be reminded that our King is just,and the law is the law. To protect us from the rebels and dragons, we must uphold our laws, regardless of who they are.”

A woman farther into the crowd sinks her head into her hands with a body-shuddering sob, and the man next to her hushes her.

A soldier on the platform rips the bag off one of the prisoners. I don’t recognize the offender, but his eyes round with fear. He writhes against the soldiers as they struggle to keep him still and loop a noose around his neck.

My jaw falls open, my chest constricting. Fear locks me in place, each second ticking by painfully slow as it all unravels before me.

The prisoner cries out, “Wait! Wait, please, let me explain—”

One of the soldiers shoves something into the prisoner’s mouth to muffle his screams. They unbag the second offender, wrap the noose around his neck, and nudge the both of them toward the edge of the platform.

No.

No, no, no.

How can they not hear them out? Shouldn’t there be a trial and questioning?

I scan the crowd around me, waiting for someone to stop this.Anyoneto stop this. But nobody moves, their eyes locked on the tower.

I jerk forward, tempted to stop them, before Archie catches my forearm. Glancing sideways at him, he bites his lip and shakes his head.

“On behalf of the King, you are hereby condemned to death by the noose. May the gods grant you mercy,” Darian calls.

My gaze swings back up to the tower and connects with Cole’s. Sweat drips down the back of my neck, slithering down my spine as my breath catches in my throat.

Look. Away.

A guard shoves one of the prisoners off the platform, and I rip my stare away and down to my heaving chest.

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