We The Forlorn (Book #2) (Completed)

20. Hellfire

The Judge paused, and the rage melted from his face like a door closing on his emotions. His hollow face turned in jerks toward Bo, and she swallowed hard as his dark eyes settled on her features.

"What gives you the right to speak, vermin?" he asked, his voice calm and quiet.

Despite his depleted form and wild hair, Bo could finally see how he might have once been a Judge. Someone who had looked down on others and ordered them to fates he thought appropriate for their crimes. There was power in his deep voice. There was authority. His orders were ones meant to be followed.

But Bo wasn't the type to follow anyone's orders.

"I don't need a right to speak," Bo replied. "I'll speak whenever I want to."

"You know nothing of what happens here," the Judge said.

"You kidnap girls and keep them against their will," Bo said. "That's all I need to know."

The Judge laughed, but it was cold and harsh. "These girls are not saints. They're licentious and vulgar. I did nothing wrong in taking them off the streets so that they cannot populate the world even more with uneducated and pathetic masses."

"You're disgusting," Bo replied, but before she had even finished her sentence, the girl had stepped forward.

"You say we deserved it. But what did your son ever do that you would treat him so cruelly? What did he ever do that made him deserve to die tied up in—"

The rage flickered in the Judge's face again. "He was not my son. That creature was no one's, and he did not belong here."

"He was kind and gentle. He was innocent!" the girl said, her voice growing louder with each word. She made to lunge at the Judge, but was too weak. Khan grabbed her before she collapsed.

"Don't speak to me of innocence," the Judge hissed. "You nomads know nothing of innocence. You dance half-naked for crowds. You steal and lie. You're all thieves and beggars. And you, Esme. You tempt me to fall to your level."

He started to walk toward Khan and the girl. Bo maneuvered her gun back between them, but he didn't seem phased by it.

"I did no tempting," the girl said.

"You tempt me to fall. You tempt me to the fires of earth." His words slurred as the rage filled his face again. He reached out and smacked Bo's gun away, and before she could stop him, he lunged forward and snatched the girl from Khan's arms. He gripped her tight and dragged her toward the bonfire which had now spread further into the room.

"Your face tempts alone," he said. One arm locked around the girl's waist, keeping her pinned to his chest. She struggled against him, but he was too strong. He gripped her chin in his other hand, keeping her staring at his face. Bo could see his breathing stirring her black curls, and the way she trembled in fear.

"I'll shoot!" Bo yelled, but the Judge ignored her.

"I will not fall," he said. "I will rid the world from your temptations first. Your evil ways must be eradicated." His eyes flicked from her face to the bonfire just a few feet away from them. He let go of her chin and waist, and grabbed her wrist instead. She gasped, catching her balance right before she fell into the flames. He shook her arm so hard that Bo was afraid it might snap.