I snap. “Look, King Eogan obviously allowed me to come, so I will take it up with him. Now let me back in there.”
“Believe me, we took it up with him,” Sir Gowon’s elderly voice says, slipping out from a door nearby us.
He steps forward and the soldiers fall silent. I’m surprised there’s not smoke wisping from his nose for how obviously he’s fuming. He looks at the Faelen guard closest me. “Your girl here needs to understand that most of the Assembly in there see her as a threat and an affront. Yes, our king has allowed her to be here, but if she wants to stay alive, she’ll need to behave like the rest of your delegates. What she did in there is not acceptable, and if she repeats it again I will personally see her punished.”
My guard frowns. “We understand perfectly, sir. It won’t happen again.”
“But the delegates are in danger. I have to—”
“The delegates are safe, and I suggest you do your part to see they stay that way,” Sir Gowon snarls at me. “Which, right now, means refraining from flouting our tradition or aggravating our Assembly further while you’re here.”
I try to jerk free. “And perhaps your guards should refrain from aggravating me.”
The large Bron soldier who searched me earlier leans down until he’s level with my face. He looks angrier than seems warranted, as if I’ve provoked him personally.
Sir Gowon slides his hand between us. “That’s enough. The king wants her left unharmed.” He looks at me fully now with those cold eyes. “But that doesn’t mean you’ll be spared watching the harm you’ve caused.”
He snaps his fingers and two other soldiers grab my arms as he turns to my Faelen guards. “She’ll watch the boy’s punishment. You’re welcome to attend with her, which I’m certain you’ll insist on anyway.”
Without waiting for their reply, he steps toward the room he emerged from and through which the sound of lashing is suddenly emitting. My stomach plunges.
Sir Gowon pushes it open, enters, and is followed by my Faelen soldiers. The large guard shoves my back and I stumble into a small, brightly lit barren room where Kel is kneeling in the center of the stark floor with his shirt off.
The edge of a thick metal whip is sliding off his shoulders, wielded by a tall, callous-looking Bron. And even with Kel’s head down and eyes shut, I can see tears dripping off his cheeks. There’s no blood or broken skin but the bruises and welts appearing suggest the damage underneath might be worse than if there were.
“Stop!” I spring forward but the large guard stalls me with a hand to my chest.
“You want to make it worse?” he growls, but his furious expression is shaded with shame. All of their expressions are, in fact—aside from Sir Gowon’s.
The whip comes down again, bringing unbidden tears from my eyes. No! The lashing pulls no sound from him, and he sags forward even farther.
And I suddenly realize why he’s not screaming.
CHAPTER 17
THE BOY’S PASSED OUT.
Sir Gowon wipes his sweaty brow with a kerchief. “That’s enough. Any more and he won’t survive.” He turns from the soldier inflicting Kel’s punishment and I swear his face has gone a bit gray.
“But sir—”
“I said that’s enough,” Sir Gowon barks.
“You’ve nearly killed him!” I curl my hand into a fist to call down the whole of a storm upon all of their blasted heads. When nothing happens I reach for one of my knives.
The large guard grabs my hand before I can yank the blade free.
“I think you mean you’ve nearly killed him,” Sir Gowon spits out. “Just by your being here. Clearly your influence has infected his reasoning.” He wipes his brow again and steps closer, his gaze narrowing. “I’ve no idea why you’ve come here, but seeing as King Ezeoha is the only reason you were allowed into Bron in the first place, let alone alive, I will respect that. Likewise I’ll ask you to respect our people and customs from now on or stay confined to your room and risk punishment. Is that clear?”
The big guard snorts. “If she so much as pulls out another dagger or rumbles the clouds above us, she won’t need a punishment. I will personally take her head off.”
Sir Gowon is glaring at me, but his words seem addressed to us both. “His Majesty has given an order, and the fact that he’s assigned the guards here to keep you alive means they will follow it. And the fact that he swears to me personally you are in no way a threat, means we are responsible to honor that trust even if we do not hold it ourselves.”
Gowon nods at the rest of the surrounding soldiers. “See her to her room.”
“But the boy.” I press toward Kel, who’s still passed out on the floor.
“That boy is not your concern. You should merely be grateful I am overseeing his punishment rather than another. The penalty for what he did back there is death. At least I have allowed him to live.”
I think I might throw up. I wipe my eyes.