Page 36 of He Who Ignites The Flame
“I do not ask that he go free, but that we grant him mercy for a grave accident.”
Atticus rubbed his jaw. “It would be a shame to lose such talent. Perhaps some mercy would be kind. Maybe he can be rehabilitated and be of use to The Order one day.”
The Kyrios of House Aíma arched a brow at her. “Truly, you would beg mercy for a male who could do such a thing to his own flesh and blood?”
“I beg mercy for a young male who has lost everything in a moment of misplaced anger,” she said, and I couldn’t fathom what their plan could possibly be. “Enough life has been lost.”
The Kyrios looked amongst each other, some leaning in to whisper with one another.
“You have a kind heart,” Hestis said, rising from his seat, and the room went silent. “We have come to an agreement, then?” He looked between the Kyrios, who all nodded their heads. “Barrett Stratos. As you have been cooperative to this point and admitted to your crimes, you shall not be sentenced to death but shall live out the remainder of your life in the dungeons.”
I screamed against my sealed lips. This couldn’t be happening.
Hestis looked down at me with disgust. “May you contemplate the lives you took.”
Lucia’s eyes searched mine, something more real than I had seen in so long lingering within them.
I wasn’t sure why, but I finally allowed the wall to crack. “Jissena tricked me.”
12
BARRETT
“Jissena was the one who testified on your behalf,” Lucia said, her eyes drifting from mine, as if recounting the records of my trial.
“On my behalf,” I scoffed. “The bitch lied to me, tricked me into signing away my right to speak during my trial, and then she threw me to the fucking wolves.”
Lucia’s lips parted, but she didn’t speak.
Good. Maybe that’ll shut you up.I rolled my neck before returning to cleaning my freshly sharpened blade, working the oil into the metal.
“Forgive me for not falling at your feet,” I said bitterly, hating how quickly I wanted to rebuild the wall to shut her out once again. “Jissena was the last person I trusted to tell my side, and it cost me everything.”
“I’m so sorry,” Lucia muttered, and I couldn’t stomach the pity.
It didn’t matter; there was nothing she could do, nothing any of them could do. “If someone wants me dead, it would be Atticus and Jissena. I’m the only one alive who knows of their involvement.Wouldn’t make sense that they would wait this long when they had the chance to have me executed during the trial.”
Lucia’s brows furrowed. “They were involved?”
I nodded, pain slicing through my chest as Vesa’s and Calliope’s faces flashed across my thoughts. “He…”
She waited for me to speak, but I couldn’t bring myself to, couldn’t dive deeper into the memory. Every time the thoughts of that night resurfaced, the pain was too much to bear. I wanted to find the fucker, to burn him from the inside out. “I don’t know how he’d get clearance to access the Archivallia to modify files, though. Aren’t Kyrios the only ones allowed access?”
“He would have access,” she said, eyes widening a fraction, as if everything suddenly made sense. “As Kyrios of House Stoicheion, he would have access to the entirety of the Archivallia, even the restricted sections.”
The world stilled, and metal clinked against rock as my dagger fell from my hand. “What?”
“You didn’t know?” she asked.
“How the fuck would I know?” I growled, shooting to my feet. “As soon as the trial was finished, I was locked up in the dungeons.”
“He was named Kyrios a few months after your trial. Surely you got news.”
I stormed closer to her. “Have you ever been locked up in the dungeons,Your Majesty?”
She flinched at the words but stood her ground, lifting her chin to meet my gaze, and I hated how the act made me respect her more. “No, but?—”
“We don’t exactly get news in the dungeons,” I said, lowering my face to hers, the flame writhing within me. “We get whispers of rumors from time to time if we’re lucky, but other than that we are closed off from the world. We don’t exist to those enjoying their freedom in the sunshine. We are left to rot, to be forgotten.”
