Page 84 of Ruled By Magic

His gaze bore into Hex, and she looked down. “We fought. It was mutual.”

Adante turned to Leo. “This looks like a straight-forward case of brawling. A penalty of thirty lashes apiece. We have a celebration planned tonight, and we always kick things off with the military punishments. It’s a spectacle, keeps the troops in line. A sergeant can carry out the punishment, unless you’d rather do it yourself?”

His manner left no room for argument. For once, Leo appeared lost for words. I understood why. He couldn’t refuse the punishment without appearing weak. I took a breath, stepped forward, and sank into a low bow.

“Your Highness? Would there be any chance of leniency for my guard? She didn’t know the rules.”

Adante stared at me, shocked, as if a potted plant had spoken. He ignored me and spoke to Leo. “Will you allow your prisoner to address royalty?”

“Of course not.” Leo glared at me. “I’ll deal with you when we get back to the room. Apologize to the prince.”

I dropped my gaze, cheeks reddening. “I’m sorry, Your Highness.”

Silence stretched, and fear ratcheted up in my gut. Had I broken an Ataran rule? Given the prince an excuse to discipline me? I recalled Leo’s warning from the previous night and cursed myself.

Adante’s lips curved into a cold smile. “Over here, rules are rules. We allow punishments to be shared out among platoons, however. If anyone in your group,”—his eyes flicked to me—“would be willing to share in the punishment, we would allow that.”

He waved a dismissive hand at the guard. “Back to your duties.” The man left. He turned to Leo. “We’ll reconvene with the king in an hour to continue our discussion. I’ll leave you with your party until then.”

The prince strode away, silver cloak flowing behind him.

A serving girl appeared from nowhere to escort us back to our rooms. We walked in silence. I glanced at Hex. She kept her fists clenched, head down.

When we reached our corridor, Leo shoved open the door to our room. “In here,” he snapped. Once inside, he slammed it and shielded us, rounding on Hex.

“What the fuck were you thinking? I shouldn’t have let you come. The king was about to negotiate. We were discussing Peter’s release. Do you realize what you’ve done? Now Adante has the king’s ear to himself again. How could you be so stupid?”

Hex met his gaze, eyes blazing. “He squared up to me. What should I have done?”

“Let him square up to you! Kept your mouth shut and ignored the insult. If he attacked you unprovoked, you’d be blameless.”

A knock sounded. Leo spun, frowning, and held up a hand. “No one speak.” He dropped the shield and addressed Damien. “Get the door.”

Damien opened it. Two guards flanked Peter. Face drawn, he was wearing dirty clothes but standing straight. A guard stepped forward, bowing low to Leo. “Lord Commander. The king instructed us to release your associate as a gesture of good faith.”

Leo nodded. “Thank you.” Peter entered. Damien closed the door and Leo shielded the room.

Everyone flew into motion. Atalie grabbed Peter in a fierce hug and almost knocked him over. Damien clapped him on the back. Hex sniffed and let out a breath.

“Could I get some water?” Peter disentangled himself from Atalie and thudded onto a chair. Hex rushed to the cupboard, pulled out a glass, and filled it from the bathroom sink.

Leo looked at the group fussing over Peter, shook his head, and took a seat. I perched next to him. “Are you okay?”

“I was so close. Did you hear what the king said? It’s Adante who tried to have me killed. The king at least claims not to have sanctioned it. Even if he’s lying about that, it seems he wants to make a deal. But Adante gets more hostile every time I see him.”

“He does. And the king was drinking when we left. I hope he stays sober long enough for you to work something out.”

Peter shooed away Hex and Atalie to address Leo. “I suppose I’ve got you to thank for getting me out of that shithole?”

Leo nodded. “The king released you as part of our negotiations.”

“You took a hell of a risk. Thank you. Now tell me what game we’re running.”

Leo explained. Peter glared at Hex as Leo reached the end of the story. “That was an unbelievably fucking stupid thing to do, wasn’t it? If you pulled that shit on one of my jobs, you’d be out on your arse. But I’ve got more bad news.”

Leo sighed. “Go on.”

“When your brother said the punishments can be shared, he underplayed it. They’re designed to be. Some ex-soldiers in the cells talked about the weird way the army doles out discipline. They want platoons to bond as a unit. Soldiers can’t marry or have a life outside till they’ve done seven years. When one platoon member gets punished, they all do. They use brutal whips, even one lash does damage. Each member of the platoon takes a single hit. Thirty would kill you.”

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