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“He’s defied Mother Miriam’s good name!”
“We’re telling the truth!” I insisted.
“You’re lying!” Cody accused, before grabbing me by the hair and forcing me to look straight forward. “You’ll admit what you’ve done, or your girlfriend will die.”
Every spike on the chair might as well have impaled me right then, because the crowd parted, and I finally saw Nadine again. They held her down as she screamed and struggled against them. Several people brought forth large rocks and placed them across her limbs to hold her down. Nadine cried out as the heavy rocks pressed down on her.
It was an old torture technique sometimes used in the execution of witches. We’d learned about it in Miriamic History—a technique known as pressing. With enough weight, Nadine would die a slow, painful death.
I’d never known the coven to use it against their own. It was a horrible, excruciating way to go, and it was meant to be Nadine’s torture as much as mine. More painful than a thousand spikes, and more deeply aching than a searing fire, was to watch the woman I loved slowly perish. I shifted in the chair, as if I could break out of the shackles by pure will and run to her—but the spikes only pierced harder. They were heating up quickly, and the metal burned my skin.
“Confess to your lies!” people shouted.
“We can’t do this to our own people!” someone yelled. I was surprised to see it was Samantha Stone. She’d always seemed so terrified to stand up to anybody. Now she was demanding the crowd stand down.
She wasn’t the only one who opposed the torture. Coven members looked on in uncertainty, discomfort clear on their faces.
But I also saw fear, and though they didn’t want this to happen, they didn’t step in to stop it, either. They knew if they tried, they’d be next.
I spotted Gregory nearby. He tugged the end of his sleeve over the star marked on his wrist. It was the sign of Miriam’s Chosen. I thought I witnessed regret in his eyes underneath the indecision.
The fire beneath me grew hotter, and the heat permeated my clothing and seared my skin. My body moved involuntarily as the heat became too much to bear. The small movements forced the spikes deeper into my flesh.
The mob placed more and more rocks onto Nadine’s limbs, until she couldn’t struggle anymore. James placed a heavy rock on her chest, and I swore all the air left my own lungs as I was forced to watch Nadine struggle for breath.
“Confess, Curse Maker,” he growled.
Tears leaked from Nadine’s eyes as she tried to fight against the pain. She rasped, “I won’t.”
James’s nostrils flared, and murderous intent entered his eyes. He grabbed one of the rocks and lifted it above his head.
“No!” I screamed. The shackles pinched against my limbs as I leaned forward, and the searing spikes pierced deeper, but the physical pain was nothing compared to the horrifying scene before me. James was going to smash her face in.
Someone caught his wrist, and for a moment I was relieved, until I realized it was Cody. “I want to hear her say it,” he demanded.
“Yeah!” Several others agreed, cheering for Nadine’s confession. The priestesses stood nearby, watching on, but not intervening. Lilian and Margaret looked pleased, like they were happy to let the coven do the dirty work for them.
James hesitated. He looked down at Nadine, then growled, “Then we will. Get them to the river!”
The mob surrounded Nadine and me again, until I couldn’t see her anymore. They released me from the shackles around my wrists and ankles. My skin was raw with burns and bled from endless wounds, but I felt a sense of reprieve as several people yanked me out of the hot iron chair.
The coven dragged Nadine and me around the side of the courthouse and down a hill. I could barely make sense of what was going on, because there were so many people surrounding me.
I didn’t see the water until I was already in it. The icy chill of the river felt good on my burns, but it was anything but soothing. I heard Nadine scream, and then all sound was gone as someone shoved me downward.
I inhaled a breath, but water burned my nostrils. I tried to stand upright, but someone held my head under water.
I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t fight back.
Someone grabbed my hair and yanked my head out of the water. I gulped a greedy breath and caught sight of Nadine gasping from several feet away. She was drenched from head to toe, and her skin was mottled with bruises. She looked like she was in so much pain.
“Confess!” someone screamed from above me. I recognized the voice and realized it was Leroy who had me by the hair.
Someone else grabbed my jaw and forced my head backward. He leaned down to snarl, “Tell us the truth, or I’ll drown you myself.”
It was Ryan.
James smacked Nadine on the side of the head, while Cody threatened to dunk her under again. She winced, but she didn’t speak.
