“How dare you,” he growled. “How dare you.”

They seemed to be the only words he could manage to speak.

Then he released me and took a step away, vibrating with his rage. “If it will make you happy, I will kill him today,” he said. “But if what he claims is true, if he is a creation of Dis, you should know that I will suffer.”

I studied him, his face red, the veins in his neck and forehead popping.

“What are you saying?”

“You seem to forget I was created by Dis,” he said. “I am not completely free to do as I please without consequences. I do not want one of those consequences to be you.”

I studied him and then narrowed my eyes. “How much control does she have over you?”

His chest rose and fell heavily, and I knew he did not wish to say, but after a heavy pause, he spoke. “More and more each day.”

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

He said nothing. He had not wanted to admit this—he saw it as a weakness.

“How do we free you?” I asked, my voice a whisper, as if I could hide it from Dis.

He looked away, swallowing hard, and ignored my question. “Come, it’s time for Solaris’s punishment.”

***

Adrian escorted me to the dungeons, into a chamber furnished with torture devices and weapons. I studied each, curious. There was a box lined with spikes, a triangular beam supported by two columns, a rack with straps for the wrists and ankles. Then there were smaller tools—a collar of spikes, metal bridles, and various sharp scissor-like instruments.

“Did these belong to Dragos?” I asked.

“No,” Adrian said, though he did not elaborate.

When I turned to him, he was placing an iron rod into the fire.

“What is that?” I asked.

“A cauterizing iron,” Adrian said.

“Are we cutting something off?” I asked.

“You are,” he said.

“What am I cutting off?”

Before Adrian could answer, we were joined by Daroc and Sorin. They walked with Solaris between them, one gripping each of his arms, and they forced him to his knees in front of a round, flat piece of stone.

I expected him to look far angrier, but there was a resignation within his gaze. He stared up at us, waiting.

“You have used your power blindly,” Adrian said. “You came into my kingdom and offered aid, but you inspired a witch hunt that nearly killed my wife, my cousin, and resulted in the death of a young girl. You used resurrection to present as a savior to a man who should have stayed dead. Now his entire family, and those who were brave enough to try to stop him, are dead.”

As Adrian spoke, Solaris’s head lowered in shame. Once again, I found myself surprised by his reaction. I had expected him to fight, to be defiant in the face of his punishment.