Chapter 31
Cade stood in the middle of a concreted parade ground, a blood-splattered sword in his hands, with hundreds of stone-faced Tr’lirians lined up in rows facing him. Killian stood on his left, while Chris had his arms wrapped around Rebecca on the right. Tear streaks were visible on Rebecca’s cheeks as she sheltered in Chris’s embrace.
Twelve men kneeled on the ground directly in front of Cade, one of them with blood pouring from gashes on his bare back where his wings had recently been cut away. His white wings, now splattered in blood, lay discarded on the ground between him and Cade. The men on either side of him still had their wings, but they were patchy, with more feathers falling out to drift lazily to the ground even as I watched.
I held back a cry when I saw their faces
