Map of Ember and Moonlight

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

With the executioner stepping forward, Lyv saw red. It was quick-lived, but she took down three guardsmen with her.

In an instant, their necks snapped as Lyv twisted their heads to the side in quick succession. As Gideon took care of the two holding him, she surged forward toward her mother.

But other guardsmen were already there, grabbing for both of them.

Gods above, did she want her magic. She could feel it inside her, even with the iron cuff still locked around her wrist. She wanted to be able to turn them all to ash, including her mother.

She screamed in outrage and not in horror. Baring her teeth, she spat at her mother's feet. "You will never win as long as I am alive."

"I would look around you, darling. I already have and you are alive. Just as you will stay. I need you, remember?" The queen patted her cheek and turned her attention to Gideon. "Why should I not get rid of you as well?"

Gideon, who's chains had been tightened, laughed humorlessly. "I don't believe my princess would like that very much."

"Your princess," she repeated with a snort, and then waved her hand. "Bring him back to the dungeons with my husband."

The panic flooded through Lyv as they started dragging Gideon away. His eyes never left hers, though, and he mouthed a promise that he would find her. That was when her eyes lifted to the guardsman at the door, recognizing him as the glamoured Jai. There was no doubt in her mind that he would get his friend out just as he did her father. At least, she hoped.

Lyv looked back at her mother after the doors to the throne room closed once more.

"Do not think I am going to keep you in those dungeons as well," the queen told her. "You already know what you are to do." She turned to address the crowd. "Your princess has had her assignment for weeks now, but it is going to have to wait for a few more months, though. Maybe even a year. Why?"

She turned back to Lyv with a smile. "I wouldn't be so mean, sending you over to seduce Prince Jai so soon after taking away your lovers. You have to have time to grieve, right?"

At her words, the guardsmen were shoving Amory to his knees again, this time facing her.

"Trust me, my love," her mother said, twirling a piece of Lyv's hair around her fingers. "This will only help you to succeed. My mother and father did the same thing to the one I was in love with. And it worked wonders!"

Lyv tried not to see the panic on his face when they held him down, his chest paralleled with the floor. He tried to fight it. He yelled, yanking against the hands that held him, but he was still weak after being drugged, beaten, and his magic stifled.

He finally stopped fighting when the executioner that final step toward him.

"He wasn't exactly a Dalcaine spy, but a tailor wasn't who they wanted me to be with. I was to be a queen."

Amory looked up, met her eyes. His own turned distant, like he finally accepted what was about to happen. This time, Lyv's scream was in anguish as tears started rolling down her cheeks.

"Please!" she begged. "Please, don't do this to him!"

Her mother smiled, reaching forward to give her a hug. Lyv stared at Amory over her shoulder as she said, "I let you keep one of them, but not both."

And her mother continued to hold her, her hand brushing over the back of her head.

Amory was still. A hush spread through the crowd as they watched, silent tears falling.

The sword lifted.

And Lyv's heart stopped as it swung down, landing the severing blow of a head from a body.