Page 66 of Tarnished Crown
Another murmur went through the crowd. Could they hear the violence beneath his words as easily as I could?
“Of course,” Ava responded at last, but something in her tone sounded too victorious for my liking. “One more, then, for her to remember this by.”
For the first time, an expression broke through Evander’s distant mask, pure murder overtaking his features.
“N--” he started to protest, but the crack of the whip drowned out his words as my back lit up with renewed agony.
Another scream ripped from my throat. Spots blackened my vision, but I fought to hold on to consciousness. The clinking of chains sounded, and I collapsed into a heap on the frozen ground.
Then Evander was there, one hand on each of my arms, trying to help me stand.
“No.” It was one word. All I could manage.
No,you will not help me.
No,I will not look weak in front of that woman.
Just. No.
A slow breath escaped him. “For once in your storms-blasted life, Rowan, choose your battle wisely.”
Rowan.Had he ever said my name before? My brain was fuzzy, my mind swimming, but I had no recollection of ever having heard the two clipped syllables said quite that way before.
There was an unexpected note of pleading baked into his usual condescension. That, coupled with the fact that I wasn’t entirely sure I could move, is all that had me nodding my head.
The motion of him lifting me to my feet was too much, pulling at the excruciating wounds on my back and churning my insides.
His grip tightened as I tilted forward, and then my world went black.
CHAPTER45
Astrange, high-pitched sound woke me up. Meowing?
Had I fallen asleep in Avani’s room? The palace cats were always seeking her out.
That thought felt wrong somehow, though. Wrong, and strangely painful.
Besides, the pillow didn’t smell like hers. It was smoky and earthy and a little bit sweet, distinctly masculine. I shifted, and agony pulsated across my back.
That’s when I remembered.
Socair.
The whipping.
Someone tipping a vial down my throat, bitter and full of herbs. Fading in and out of consciousness with each fresh wave of white-hot pain while my wounds were cleaned.
Then finally, nothing.
None of that answered the question of where I was, though. I forced my bleary eyes open to find silvery moonlight glinting off unfamiliar dark-paneled walls.
Meow.An orange, fluffy shape pranced across my field of vision.
“Hush,Koshka.” Evander’s voice was wearier than I had ever heard it.
I tilted my head enough to find the man in question sitting at an expansive black desk with a low burning lamp, wiping a hand over his brow. I dug for some of the anger I kept simmering in the back of my mind for him, but it was like I had tapped that well completely dry after the flogging.
Or maybe it was just impossible to be furious with anyone who looked as drained as I felt.