Page 58 of Alchemised
“Oh, come on, it’ll be fun, and they deserve it. By law, it’s required that all citizens disclose any relation to the Eternal Flame. They didn’t. They need to be made an example of.”
“Then they’ll be formally executed,” Ferron said. “I don’t need your ideas of entertainment staining the marble.”
“Come on, it’s the perfect start to the new year, putting the last of them in the ground. Everyone wants to watch them die. Are you going to be a shit host and disappoint all your guests?”
Ferron rolled his eyes. “Fine.”
Faster than Durant could move, Ferron stepped forward and snapped the neck of the youngest prisoner. A boy of ten or twelve. The crack was audible all the way up to where Helena watched in horror.
The mother screamed, lunging forward and catching her son as Ferron let go of him. Then Ferron had his hands around her neck and snapped it, too.
The whole family was dead within a minute, bodies left sprawled across the floor, still linked by their chains.
It happened so fast, everyone in the ballroom was left standing in shock, unable to process that it was already over. Helena could scarcely believe it. It didn’t seem real that something like that could happen without warning. Five people.
Ferron hadn’t even used resonance or a weapon, just his bare hands.
He straightened, adjusting his cuffs with the flick of his wrist. “Executions are required to be clean now, Durant. His Eminence has been quite clear on that point. I hope you weren’t expecting to break the law here on my property and in front of our illustrious governor and a dozen journalists.”
Ferron patted Durant on the shoulder, his expression impassive, as if it were nothing that he’d done. He raised two fingers, signalling, and several servants hurried through the dazed crowd to drag the bodies away. Durant stood looking like a child whose toy had been stolen.
The silence was broken by hushed voices as the crowd woke from their stupor. The music began falteringly, and after some slight hesitation, the party resumed.
In a few minutes, it was as if the deaths had been forgotten.
Helena almost left, not wanting to witness what might happen next, but equally afraid to miss something important. She’d been cut off from everything for so long.
The party did not end until dawn, although the numbers dwindled as those who had work the next day were forced to excuse themselves. Eventually only the most affluent remained. Helena tried to notice everything she could, to identify as many faces as possible. She looked for signs of tension or familiarity. Trying to construct a sense of the social hierarchy that existed.
From overhead, unable to hear words, it was easy to notice the ways people lied to one another. She just watched their bodies move, observing the contradictions between their expressions and their subconscious gestures, slowly picking out who among the guests were the Undying. There was a kind of fearfulness they tended to evoke after even short conversations.
Ferron also watched the room, only conversing when approached. He did not mingle, and he never sought anyone out. The entire room seemingly oriented itself around him instead.
It grew readily apparent which people in attendance knew him to be the High Reeve and who were unaware. There was a reverence and delicacy in how certain people approached, while some of the liches who spoke to him seemed overtly resentful. Atreus did not appear to be there at all, assuming he was still in Crowther’s body.
Ferron smiled smiles that never reached his eyes, engaging in endless small talk as if he were a benevolent ruler. To Helena, unable to make out his words and simply watching him from a distance, he looked completely bored.
Morning light was streaming through the windows when the last guests finally began to leave.
Helena turned to make her way back to her room and nearly jumped out of her skin. One of the servants was standing silently beside the steps, watching her. She was an older servant, one of Helena’s most regular minders. Not a housekeeper but something senior. Helena had been so absorbed by the party, she hadn’t even noticed when the necrothrall had come.
Halfway to her room, they paused at the sound of an angry voice.
“Still?” It was a man speaking.
“It’s not like it’s something I can just do on my own,” Aurelia’s sharp voice retorted.
“The only reason you exist is to give the Ferrons an heir. If they cast you aside, do you think anyone else would ever take you?”
“There’s nothing else I can do! I’ve tried everything.”
“Get him drunk. Drug him if you must, or find someone else to put a child in your womb. I will not let you bring our family to ruin.”
“He can’t get drunk!” Aurelia snapped. “Do you think I haven’t tried? I’ve gone to every shop, used every drug and perfume, and nothing ever works. If I get pregnant, he’ll know it’s not his.”
“Useless girl. I should have kept your sisters instead of you.”
There was no response to that.
