face as she said, “Thank the gods. Please, tell them I’ve done nothing!”
Lord Radcliffe’s face was dispassionate. Then, in a cruel voice, he said, “I give no mercy to traitors.”
Lord Radcliffe changed into an alicorn. He put his head down as he charged forward, hooves pounding against the wooden stage. Lady Iris didn’t even have time to scream before the alicorn embedded its horn into her chest, spearing straight through her heart.
Iris’ head slumped to the side, and her body went limp. She collapsed onstage, dead, as Radcliffe pulled away his horn and the crowd roared with bloodlust. Radcliffe stood tall as his wife’s blood dripped down the point of his horn.
My hand went over my mouth. Lord Radcliffe’s loyalty to Elijah went so far, he was even willing to kill his own mate. The sickening reality that Lady Iris was dead swept upon me, and there was nothing we could do about it. A guard grabbed the prisoner behind Lady Iris, stepping over her body as he shoved the prisoner to his knees in front of the guillotine. The alicorn was weeping as the guard forced his neck over the chopping block.
At this point, some people were trying to escape, mostly families with children. But the guards blocked the way with their swords, preventing the crowd from abandoning the square.
“No one is allowed to leave!” Elijah boomed. “All must see the consequences of betraying their king!”
Ethan clung me to his side and tried to block my eyesight so I didn’t see what happened, but he wasn’t quick enough. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the blade come down, and my ears rang with the swish of the guillotine. There was a harsh thump, and I saw the man’s head come loose from his shoulders and land in a basket below the guillotine, eyes still wide open with shock. His neck spurted blood all over the stage, and his corpse slumped to the side. The guards moved his body out of the way as the next prisoner was dragged to the guillotine. She screamed and screamed, her throat emitting bloody murder until she was finally silenced by the blade as well.
I didn’t see the other deaths— Ethan had forced me into the front of his coat. His hand was on the back of my head, his other arm keeping a firm grip around my middle so I couldn’t move. But I’d seen the first, and I heard all the sounds. I could imagine every death one by one as lives were brought to a cruel end by the guillotine.
Ethan’s body sagged in disbelief, and I was able to sneak another glance. Eli began tossing the heads of the Court into the crowd. Some people screamed, though a couple of college boys ran forward laughing, kicking the heads back and forth to each other like balls, spewing blood all over the streets. A few shifters put the heads on spears and paraded them around, like they were trophies to show off in the spoils of war. Lady Iris’ body was nailed to the backboard of the stage. People laughed and threw things at her corpse, and nobody went to stop them.
The fae were cruel, wicked beings that desired blood. Tonight made me realize why the other supernatural races were so afraid of us. We slaughtered our own without mercy, then toyed with their bodies as if they were our playthings. It nearly made me sick to share their blood, to be a faerie myself.
“Is it over?” Odette whispered, face buried in Theo’s jacket. The other shifters had done the same thing Ethan had, and were refusing to let the other girls watch, save for Alexei— he was on his hands and knees, sobbing as he felt the aftereffects of every person that had died in the square. Kiara was kneeling beside him, rubbing his back and throwing desperate glances at the stage.
“It should be over soon. They’re all dead,” Ethan said, voice haunted. “Eli’s had his entertainment. He’ll begin calming the crowd.”
I hoped such a thing would happen, but it was at this point that Gabby strode forward. The crowd fell silent, and the torment of the dead stopped— Gabby spoke so infrequently, it was practically a treat to be addressed by her. Everyone was wondering what she would say.
Gabby folded her hands in front of her. “I need everyone to listen. The Black Claw plans to attack the city here, tonight.”