“What’s this, tiny flea?” the First Prince demands.
My head is down and my fingers are frozen against my chain.Another giant appears at my side and yanks the chains away. He holds up the two ends to show Prince Keksej.
“Estela,” the First Prince snarls. “What are you doing?”
He steps closer, his whole body coming into view. My eyes go to his whip which drags through the snow and mists like a venomous python coming for me.
“You wish to escape?” he asks.
I don’t answer. When he gets closer, I smell alcohol and my whole body goes numb.
“My father told me to go easy on you after he heard about what happened with my brother, so I gave you options for punishment. You asked to be brought on this journey. Did you not? Answer.”
I squeeze my eyes shut. “I did.”
“That’s right. You did. It had been my hope that you show me how much you honor being a slave to the royal family. There certainly are worse masters. Do you not fear the trolls?”
Terror wraps around me like a frozen claw and immobilizes my body. He laughs when I don’t respond. Hot breath smelling of dried meat and wine lambasts my face. Pain is coming, and I can’t move. “You have no fear of being stolen by the flesh-eaters? I’ll have to find something else to motivate you."
His eyes are cold, like a predator about to pounce on its prey. Sadly, I am no wild animal. The truth is much more pitiful.
“Then come here. Five lashes for disobedience,” he demands.
Mikal sucks in a breath, and my whole body tenses up. My back still hurts from last night, but I know the way my brother sounds when he’s about to make a stupid choice. “It was my idea.”
The prince looks irritated. "Both of you then," his voice booms. “Five for your sister, and fifty for you.”
"No," I breathe, yanking against the my now whole chain leash. The giant holding on to me laughs. I throw myself forward, this time screaming, “No!”
The prince pauses. He is a terrible sight in the mists. "Again?"
I blink back tears as a warrior fixes Mikal’s chain and releases both of us from the cart and hands our leashes to the prince.
No.
Mikal is brave—he barely flinches when the prince wraps the leashes around his arms and pulls hard. I am not so brave and can't help but whimper, already feeling the whip’s lash on my skin.
The First Prince can see my fear and meets my gaze, his yellow eyes blazing. “Stupid, stupid, tiny flea,” he murmurs, twisting the leashes and making me cry out in pain as they cut into my skin. "Trying to escape out here? Where would you go—the ocean or the forests?” He chuckles at the idea. “I am a kind master, and I only punish you when absolutely necessary. Since you seem too mindless to remember where we are, allow me to remind you.”
He pulls me a little closer. Too close. Mikal strains against his leash and starts to shout, only to be cut off with a rope around his neck.
“Trolls steal slaves; they beat them, rape them, and throw their human skeletons to their cursed volcano after they’ve been picked clean by their teeth. You humans breed like rabbits, so we endure a loss of disobedient slaves for troll diamonds.”
He’s told me all of this many times, yet I still want to vomit on his bare feet and claw out his eyes. I fight the tremor in my knees.
“Do you want to be lured by their dark spells and seductive songs? Would you like to meet the Butcher and his Cleaver?” The words have time to land their full effect while he studies my face. It’s the first time I consider I will actually have to face the Enduares. Tears stream down my face as he lifts the whip with the other hand. "Kneel, human bastard,” he directs to Mikal. Then his glowing eyes find me again through the mist. “You alongside him.”
I swallow my agony and fear and take my place next to Mikal. He doesn’t bow his head, but I do. One of the warriors steps forward and yanks the furs up for both me and Mikal, exposing our backs.
Only then do I look up, waiting for the bite of his whip, only for another yank to send a ripple of pain throughout my body. Barely a few paces are separating us when the First Prince’s whip comes down on Mikal's back.
My body slackens as renewed tears threaten to choke me. I am immobile as the whip snaps. Mikal only cries out when the whip slices through another layer of skin. I can do nothing but look on in terror as my brother takes the blows meant for my idiotic stumble.
Once.
Twice.
I lose count as my brother's back is shredded. His blood sprays in the air, some of it splattering on my shoulder and the side of my face. Guilt is the familiar song playing under my skin, making my heart wail while he accepts punishment for my failed plan.