Underworld Omnibus by Greg Cox

Author:Greg Cox
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

CASTLE CORVINUS

Courtiers and Death Dealers crowded the throne room as Viktor sat in judgment on the accused lycan. The Elder spotted a scattering of lycan servants present as well, busying themselves at their diverse tasks while slyly eavesdropping on the fate of their wretched sister.

Duplicitous vermin! Viktor thought, seated on his ebony throne. A dark burgundy robe enfolded him, like the wings of a slumbering bat. I should have had them all exterminated weeks ago, no matter what the Council advised.

A bedraggled female lycan crouched on the floor before him. Silver-alloy manacles clamped down on her wrists and ankles. Greasy yellow hair fell across her face, obscuring her features. A coarse woolen kirtle hung in tatters upon her emaciated frame. Scars, welts, and bruises showed through the ragged garment, testifying to the thoroughness of Soren’s interrogation. She sobbed and muttered to herself, as though driven half mad by her ordeal.

Viktor felt no sympathy for her. “Well?” he demanded of Soren. “What did you learn from this lycan slut?”

The dour overseer stood behind his prisoner, his beloved whips draped over his shoulders. “This animal, known to her bestial comrades as Grushenka, denied any knowledge of your daughter’s… indiscretions. But when put to the question, she confessed to passing notes from the princess to a certain lycan, making possible their assignations.”

Viktor winced inwardly to hear his daughter’s shame spoken of openly in his own court, but there had been from the beginning no possibility of concealing the scandal, not when Sonja’s crimes had demanded the lawful execution of a princess of the blood. Such a momentous event could not be papered over by any transparent tissue of lies. He could only hope that time would someday wipe away all record of his dear Sonja’s disgrace.

Would that my own memories could be expunged as well!

“Forgive me, Elder!” the manacled wretch cried out hysterically, apparently aware of her jeopardy despite her addled wits. “I knew not what the letters meant. I meant only to obey my mistress, as was proper!”

Viktor ignored the lycan’s fruitless rantings. He could barely bring himself to look upon the filthy wench, knowing that the ignorant animal had contributed to his daughter’s demise.

If only I had Lucian in chains in her place!

“She is to be shown no mercy,” he decreed. “Make an example of her. I want her drawn and quartered in the courtyard this very night.” A crescent moon guaranteed there would be no encore of Lucian’s galling escape. “See to it that her fellow servants are made to witness her punishment, so that they may see for themselves the dire consequences of such treachery.”

“Nooo!” the condemned bitch keened in alarm, until Soren knocked her senseless with the back of his hand. Excited murmurs arose from the assembled courtiers and their ladies, titillated by the notion of the gory spectacle ahead. Viktor could not remember the last time a lycan had been put to death in such a public and elaborate manner.

Perhaps that is where our error lies, he speculated.

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