from our lands. It will be the greatest victory our people have ever seen," The King shouted.
"That is not the truth," I said defiantly. "The truth is that you are the one killing innocents and you're killing Fae for simply existing. Whether it's Fae killing human or human killing Fae, it's wrong. You're wrong and the Fae are wrong. But you won't see that." I turned and glared at where Tyr stood by, smiling at me. "Not so long as you have a traitor in your Court."
There was a moment of silence that drifted over the crowd at my words, and a few even hesitantly looked at each other as if they weren't sure how to react. Finally, the King stepped forward and brought his hand down in a sweeping gesture. "Enough!" he called. "It's time."
Hands landed on my shoulders and I was forced to my knees. It wasn't going to be a hanging after all, I realized as my eyes widened when a man stopped before me and set a stained block of wood before me. It was to be a beheading. My gaze jerked up and met Tyr's. His smile widened and he waved. Then, as if he didn’t even care to stay, he turned and walked away.
Orion, Roan, and Sorrell's faces all danced in front of my eyes as the hands pushed me over the block of wood, my chin resting in the notch that had been carved out.
Just as the King raised his hand once more to signal the executioner, the ground rumbled beneath us. My chin was jarred as it smacked into the side of the block of wood. I lifted my head and when no one forced me back down, I realized something much larger had happened. The Earth was shaking. It went on for several long minutes and I felt the collective shock and breath that everyone in the crowd held. They were waiting for it to stop, I realized.
Instead, the shaking got worse. There were several gasps and before I understood what was happening, screams split the air. Several members of the crowd moved back, falling as they tried to get away. I turned, noting that my guards were all fixated on the tower above us as long tendrils of cracks began to form from the ground up.
This was my chance! I pushed to my feet, the manacles around my wrists clanging, and then just as black smoke began to pour out of the tower and a great explosion wracked its frame, I leapt to my hopeful freedom—off the platform and into the crowd.
Chapter Twelve
Orion
The capital of Amnestia was a bustling place, and in the early morning hours, when children should have been just waking and marketplaces should have been preparing to open for the day, there was, instead, a lingering sense of excitement. A curiousness to the crowd as they ambled over the cobblestoned streets to the opened doors of the castle courtyard.
My brothers and I mingled in with the humans, casting magic over ourselves to keep our slightly otherworldly looks hidden. The slightly pointed ears. The vibrant hair colors. The sense of strangeness we exuded to these people. As much as we could disguise our looks, we could not hide our dispositions.
Anger. Concern. Fear. It hovered over each of us—that heavy sense of dread.
"Alright," Roan said, quietly turning away from me as he and Sorrell slipped further into the amassing crowd as more and more people came from the city to witness the event that would take place this sunrise.
An execution.
"It's time," Roan continued. "Go."
I nodded and, without another word, I called upon my magic—the very same I had been born with. The darkness of midnight. The ability to seep into the shadows and find the isolating darkness that dwelled within the corners. It was everywhere at all times because without darkness—without me—there could be no light.
Shooting forward between people gliding through the open gates, I wove through the lines—bypassing the guards. There was a reason we had waited so long to do this. Not only would the defenses of the castle be down as they prepared for the execution this morning, but it was an old human custom to invite onlookers to watch as the King killed a criminal. Only this time, it wasn't a criminal. It was Cress, my Cress.
When I glanced at small children, some barely old enough to toddle next to their parents as they entered through the gates, I felt a sickness pour into my