Page 37 of Magic of Sins

I press my hands to my temples and try to breathe deeply, calmly. Maybe I just haven’t had enough to drink. That must be it. I’m feeling faint, now of all times!

The woman lets out a sharp scream. I open my eyes just in time to see her being dragged away from the man by a guard. The man’s hands are forced behind his back, then he is pushed to his knees. The woman sinks to the ground as well. Tears run down her cheeks, but she cries silently as her gaze clings to his.

The king makes his way through the bystanders, who shrink back, looking frightened. He comes to a stop between the two sinners. Rage is written all over his face. Sheer, ice-cold rage that makes my heart beat faster.

Slowly, my dizziness subsides. My thoughts become clear again. The significance of what is happening sinks heavily on my shoulders. The couple has given themselves over to lust, in full view of everyone. And even worse, they did it in front of the king.

His brow is furrowed and he pays no attention to the couple at his feet, as if they’ve already forfeited their lives.

“Please” the woman begs. “Your Majesty, please…”

She holds out her open palms to the king, but the guard standing behind her gives her a violent shove and she falls backto the ground, burying her tear-stained face in her hands.

“This is not good,” Ophelia mutters next to me. “This is not good at all.”

“What will happen to them?” I whisper.

“I don’t know.”

The princess has gone white as a sheet. Erin reaches out a hand to her, but then drops it. Even though all eyes are on the king and the two sinners, this is definitely not the time or place for that. She seems to realize it as well.

“We are a society with rules,” the king’s voice thunders. “Those who fail to abide by them put us all in danger. We must give sin no room in our lives.”

Some men and women nod affirmatively. It all seems so staged. As if this couple were only here to demonstrate what happens to those who don’t obey the law. But the woman’s tears are real. And so is the man’s despair as he keeps shaking his head in disbelief. Why did they do this? Surely they had to know they wouldn’t get away with it.

“I’m going to marry her,” the man blurts out. He draws himself up, and I can see the glimmer of hope in his eyes. “Please, I’ll marry her, and we’ll have children. Then we can forget about what happened here today. We didn’t mean to do it. We didn’t want…”

“It’s done,” the king replies harshly, and the man slumps. “The sin cannot be undone.”

At his signal, the couple is pulled to their feet. The woman stumbles forward toward the hall’s exit. She seems resigned to her fate. But the man braces himself against the guard’s grip.

“What will happen to us now?” he demands in a trembling voice.

I hold my breath. I wonder what the penalty is for such an offense. Imprisonment? Chastisement? Or will they be put in one of those reformatories where sinful behavior is corrected?Perhaps it would be best for the two of them. But whatever happens, they will be tainted for the rest of their lives. For sin is not something that’s easily forgiven in Virtue.

The king lifts his chin a little higher. His forehead has smoothed out, the angry lines have disappeared. Instead, there is now deep contempt in his gaze as he looks at the man. There is a coldness that is unparalleled.

I bite my lower lip so hard I taste blood. I probably shouldn’t feel sorry for the sinners, but I can’t help it. They just wanted to be close to each other.

As the king speaks, the air around him seems to freeze and the woman flinches with every word, as if she’s being whipped.

“I will make an example of you.”

Ophelia closes her eyes in surrender, and I’m sure that can’t be good.

Chapter Eleven

Public flogging.

The words haunt me in my sleep. Ophelia muttered them to me as we left the hall. The sentence her father passed on the pair of sinners. And all because of a brief embrace. Was it worth it? I can’t imagine.

During the night I startle awake again and again, finding myself in a strange room, in a strange bed.

Ophelia and I no longer share a room. I now sleep in a room down another hallway, one floor below. It’s a guest room with an adjoining bathroom. Much smaller than Ophelia’s, but cozy. Still, I can’t shake the constricting feeling in my chest.

I feel like I can’t breathe properly. As if the walls are closing in, making the palace my prison. The king’s steel-gray eyes haunt my dreams. They seem to see right through me and drag all my secrets out into the light. Secrets I didn’t have until I met Caden.

At dawn, I peel myself out of my rumpled sheets, walk to the window, and open it. The hinges squeak. Cold, crisp morning air hits me. Tiny dewdrops have collected on the outside of the pane.

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