Page 147 of The Alicorn Court
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ethan
Icringed as the dungeon door opened. My hands chained behind my back, and every bit of me ached. The darkness swelled so there was no bit of light, save for the burning torch on the wall.
The two soldiers around me moved forward again, but Elijah’s voice rang out. “Stop. That’s enough.”
The soldiers retreated, and I curled into a ball. My body hurt. I was bleeding from multiple places. The noxite cuffs on my wrists did not allow me to shift, nor allow me to fight back. The soldiers had been beating me since I was caught, kicking and punching at every opportune whim.
They’d left my face unmarred. They wanted to be sure I was recognizable.
Elijah’s shoes appeared before my face. “Had enough?”
I spat on his boots. Elijah stepped back. I’m quite sure he sneered.
“You’re relentlessly stubborn. What means do I have to resort to?”
“You’ll have to kill me.”
Elijah let out an annoyed sound. “Must you be so dramatic, dear cousin?”
I didn’t answer. My clothes were sticky with my own blood.
Elijah prowled around the room. “You have a choice. Give me the crystals. Otherwise, your life is forfeit.”
“This is petty behavior, something I’d expect from you,” I growled.
Elijah snapped his fingers, and the guards began another assault. It was getting to the point I was numb, now. Every punch and kick bounced off my bruised body with no effect. My cousin would have to do better than that.
The soldiers retreated, and Elijah’s look was cold. “I’m tired of this, Ethan. Do you think Iwantto do this to you? We’re family.”
“You care not for me. You only care for yourself.”
“Give me the crystals.”
“No.”
Elijah’s eyebrow twitched. “You leave me no choice. You want a stage for your theatrics? Fine. I’ll give you the grandest stage of all.”
He took a prisoner’s hood and fit it over my head, before he summoned the guards to pick me up. They each took an arm, and my toes dragged behind me on the floor. I was carried upward, through many flights of stairs and out of the belly of the castle.
As we ascended to the top-level, I commented, “You’re getting a real kick out of this, aren’t you?”
Elijah’s voice was cruel. “We warned you what would happen if your mate revealed that video. You’ve dug your grave. Now you can lie in it.”
I heard the roar of the crowd, and the doors to the great balcony opened. I felt the winter wind bluster against me, stinging my cuts as I was dragged before the people. Steward Soloman’s words rang in my ears.
“We have determined that the video was the work of none other than the city’s menace, the Phantom.”
The guards forced me to stand. Elijah’s voice boomed outward for all to hear. “People of Malovia, I promise you that our nation shall receive justice, for we have found the perpetrator of these horrid crimes!”
Elijah yanked the hood off my face. I flinched at the sunlight that shone harshly into my eyes, and the people gasped. It was a tumultuous, wrenching sound that stuttered my heart and made my gut cave in. I saw the expressions of shock, the self-righteous anger, the uncanny fear, and knew I had played my own part in this.
The game was over. I had finally, unequivocally, met my end.
Elijah’s voice was triumphant as he proclaimed, “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the true identity of the Phantom— my own dear cousin, Prince Ethan Nowak of the Arcanea.”
