The crowd’s murmurs crescendo as I walk toward the mayor.
I raise my voice above the din. “Tell them how you let the Drained in to steal those women, just like you compelled them to come for thepeople of Mountain Haven. You deserve to pay for your sins.” The first part is a lie, but the second is true. Beyond that, Rafe is a man made of secrets. Divine know what kind of fucked-up skeletons we’d find in his closet.
Rafe struggles valiantly against my hold, but I’m in too deep and I have too much anger behind me to lose my focus.
“Why?” he asks through gritted teeth.
“You will never touch my wife again.” I nod to the crowd and raise my voice. “Admit it.”
“I let the Drained in,” Rafe shouts. “I thought I was doing the right thing by trading a few lives for the many. I did the same thing ten years ago. The Havenwoods were getting too cozy with the Carrenwells and I wanted to solidify my place in the high houses. I was afraid of my lack of extended family. It was just me and my mother left in our house, and I thought I would be the first one to go when Harrick found a more powerful ally.”
I didn’t tell him to say anything this elaborate. The first part might be a lie, but the second part is definitely true.
The crowd shouts loud condemnation. This betrayal seems almost worse to them than the Carrenwells. At least Harrick never pretended to be kind and friendly toward them, only to feed them to the wolves.
“Keep going. Surely that’s not the end of your sins.”
Rafe is resisting so hard, sweat drips from his brow. Either that or the crushed Stellarium Blossoms we put into the whiskey are hitting him.
“I pretended to be magnanimous by visiting those locked up for resisting the blood tithes so I could stir up the dissent and use Rochelli’s rebellion for my own means,” Rafe says breathlessly.
The angry jeering of the crowd grows even louder.
I want him to keep going, but I don’t want a riot. Worse, Harlow looks deathly pale. I wanted Rafe to admit what he’s done, but now I don’t want her to have to hear him say it.
“Take him away!” someone in the crowd shouts.
I shove Rafe toward Carter and Bryce, who are waiting at the far end of the stage. He stumbles over to them, and they tie his hands behind his back.
I lock eyes with Carter. “You have him?”
I can already feel the pressure of my friend’s magic, and I can tell bythe way Rafe’s steps are getting more labored that he’s only a few minutes from losing his ability to walk. But you can never be too careful with a Polm-blessed prisoner. That’s why I need to be sure Carter can control him before I release my magic.
“I’ve got him,” Carter says. “We’ll hide him in the secret room at the bar until this is over and we can move him more easily.”
I release my hold on the mayor as they drag him away. I turn back and walk across the stage to join Harlow.
“Are you well?” I ask.
She nods, but she won’t meet my eye. Instead, she takes off her black cloak, hands it to me, and steps up onto the stage. The day is still dark, but the sunstone stage lights hit her shimmering dress as she walks to the center of the platform.
The crowd quiets, looking at her with genuine reverence. I can’t blame them. She looks ethereal and every part the Divine being she’s meant to play.
“I am Stellaria, Divine of the Stars, the bringer of darkness,” Harlow says. Her voice is clear and loud. “I have claimed my love once and I reclaim him now. My Deathless has delivered him back to me. Now I will summon a new dawn.”
Drums play from somewhere at the back of the crowd, then a second beat picks up, and another and another, until the pounding is coming from all eight paths that lead to the Blood Well.
That’s the signal. It’s time.
The drumming grows louder and louder as Harlow lifts her arms, until I can feel it in my chest.
Rafe thought he was going to play this part, but that was just a ruse.
Thisis the moment. Rochelli is going to reveal himself on stage in front of all of us as Asher, the Divine of Endings. It’s a bit dramatic, but I suppose it’s not a bad representation of the drastic change the city is about to go through.
The crowd is restless, those with rebel ties looking around for any indication of who their new representative might be, and everyone else waiting for the ceremony to end.
Harlow swoops her hands downward, and the sunstones flare around the square, bathing the crowd in light. The people cheer loudly, andHarlow bows and walks down to join me, but as soon as she reaches me, the crowd noise dies.
