Villages like the ones Syndra was visiting, afflicted by the same wasting illness as my brother.
He nodded. “The other soldiers laughed. They told me the commander wouldn’t want to see a filthy thief. It wasbeneathhim. I argued against their plan, but my words fell on deaf ears. They were bigger than me, and there were three of them and only one of me.”
My heart thundered in my chest. “What happened?”
“They took the thief from the baker, assuring him they would take care of it.” Sebastian’s hand formed a fist, and he banged it into the ground. His voice was hard as he said, “The refugee was dead within the hour. The soldiers killed him, and then, painted in his blood, they went to find the new widow. For a different kind of ‘fun’, they said.”
Disgust dripped from his voice.
I shuddered. “Oh, my gods.” In Ipotha, we had laws. Prisons. Judges and court systems. The Council of Lords often implemented various punishments that did not involve time spent in jail. This was… not that. “That seems—”
“Horrible.” Sebastian laughed, but there was no humor in it. “They called themselves soldiers, but they were really just criminals wearing the queen’s sigil. I didn’t go with them to find the widow. I wouldn’t… they wanted to…”
“I know,” I whispered. Putting my hand on his, I laced our fingers together. “I know you would never do that, Sebastian.”
His wings sagged. “They went off to find her and I went to my commanding officer. As soon as I found him, I told him everything. Instead of finding the others and stopping them, he told me to strip.”
I gasped. “What?”
Staring straight ahead, Sebastian nodded. “He told me the thief got what he deserved. Then, I was informed that I needed to learn a valuable lesson. In Her Majesty’s army, we were a team. He felt like I turned against my fellow soldiers by telling him about the unauthorized execution. I can remember his tone of voice even to this day. ‘Death comes in many forms, Sebastian.’ It wasn’t for me, a lowly recruit, to question my superiors. Unity and loyalty were the two most valuable things in the army.”
My back stiffened, and my heart pounded in my chest. I dared a glance at the male beside me. His back was straight, his shoulders tense, and I could make out every line of his wings.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” I whispered.
Sebastian turned towards me, and I flinched at the haunted look in his eyes. “You need to know what happened.”
“Not if—”
He shook his head. “Let me tell you, Luna.”
I fell silent as horror grew within me. Every single part of me wanted to turn and run away, but I couldn’t.
This was Sebastian’s life. His story. He was choosing to tell it to me, and I would listen, even if it made me sick.
“I did what he asked,” Sebastian said in a monotone voice. “I stripped, and the commander forced me to kneel, tying my hands to a pole in the middle of the square. The moon was rising, and though it hadn’t yet snowed, winter was in the air. The nights were so cold, frost covered the ground in the mornings. My breath misted the air every time I exhaled, and all around me, the others wore clothes suitable for the weather.
“They left me there, naked and kneeling on the cobblestones, while they gathered the entire camp. Every single person, including the soldiers who had murdered the thief, was made to watch. Punishment in the army isn’t for individuals. It’s done to instill fear. And apparently, everyone needed to learn a lesson. Most of all, me.”
Bile rose in my throat.
Speaking as though he were in a trance, Sebastian’s voice lowered. “The first lash wasn’t too bad. Being in the cold air had numbed me, and I barely felt it as it landed across my back. I thought… I thought I could handle it.” He groaned, his eyes flashing with the pain of past memories. “I was wrong.”
My heart twisted as I pictured this strong male beside me being treated in such a horrifying fashion.
“The commander whipped me until my back was nothing more than slivers of broken skin and blood. I lost count of how many times that woven leather landed on my back. By the time unconsciousness was pulling at me, my blood painted the cobblestones. Pure agony like the fire of a thousand suns ran through my body until finally, I fell into the darkness.”
He drew in a shaky breath. My heart thudded in my chest, but I didn’t interrupt him.
“When I woke a short while later, I could barely move. The crowd had dispersed and the temperature was falling. It must have caused my blood to thicken because I was still alive. I was… weak.” Sebastian shuddered. “I had never been that weak before in my entire life.”
A lump formed in my throat, and I leaned against the vampire prince. “I can imagine,” I whispered.
His thumb traced the mark of our Binding on my wrist, those black and red lines tying us together.
A minute went by. Then two. Ten.
It felt like I was in a bad dream and no matter what I did, I couldn’t wake up. I was stuck here, waiting for the horrible ending.