Maddoc watched her closely. "It is to help you see who they are," he said. "You will recognize them."
Ana’s stomach dropped, the sickening feeling creeping into her throat. Hesitantly, she raised the magnifying glass again, and turned the dial.
She gasped at the sight of the faces in front of her. She recognized all of the riders. They were from House Thorneshaw. It was Everard who she'd met at Ryden's house who was talking to the farmer, but the man he was speaking to had been beaten at some point. His mouth was full of blood, his face bruised, and all he could do was watch what was happening with despair. The men who were raping those women and children were married men—they were well respected in court. Thick dark blood ran down the back of the thighs of the young girl on her knees. The younger boy who was being whipped, was screaming. Even though she couldn't hear him, she could tell he was yelling at the top of his lungs. And it was a woman who was whipping him. A woman who had congratulated Ana on her tour only a few days ago. It looked as though she might be laughing.
Ana swung the lens over to the horses, to the men who had not dismounted, and the nausea hit her harder when she realized they were knights—trained knights who belonged to the house and they held weapons, including bows and arrows, presumably to stop the commoners from fighting back.
Ana lowered the magnifying lens. She was going to be sick.
"This land belongs to House Thorneshaw," Maddoc said. "They acquired it legally."
Ana took a halting breath and shook her head, unable to speak, even if she wanted to. It cannot be legal to obtain land in that way; Allandis Law prevented it.
"They obtained it after petitioning the king in court six months ago." Maddoc paused. "During that hearing, he gave the house the right to declare the farmers nameless if they did not uphold the crop schedule. You may have been in attendance."
Ana squeezed her eyes shut, unable to deal with the horror of it. Her father had allowed this to happen? She had to remember if she’d been in court that day, to try to remember his reasoning for it, but she couldn't think right now, people were being abused and destroyed in front of her eyes, and it was agitating her to the point of tears.
"Analisa," Maddoc said. "We came here to intervene. Normally we would have intervened already, but I wanted you to see what would happen. It is the same every time, no matter how many times we try to stop them, or give them chances to stop, all they do is bring more knights to fight us, and sometimes they kill the commoners. So we usually intervene before it gets to this stage. We cannot do nothing." Ana looked at him, searching his eyes. They were fierce, black and soulless. He was going to kill them.
She had been raised to believe that everyone should have a fair chance to defend themselves using Allandis Law. But the court was the one who gave these men the license to behave like this, so they were not acting unlawfully in the eyes of the court, they were not acting illegally. The crime of rape and whipping were still illegal, but it was difficult even for nobles to be punished for those crimes, let alone members of a royal house.
So she said nothing, and Maddoc nodded at his men.
She jumped at the whipping noises from the arrows shooting from the bows of the highcloaks next to her, and the ones who had been crouching on the outer parts of the structure, charged onto the field.
Maddoc turned Ana from the window and pushed her toward a highcloak waiting behind them. “Raine will take you back to Moonvale. I will be back soon.”
Ana was too numb to respond, her mind still trying to grapple with what she had seen. The woman he pushed her toward smiled uneasily as she took Ana's hand and led her out of the structure and back to the horses.
Although Raine was on the small side, she was strong enough to push Ana up onto her horse.
She climbed up behind her and rode back the way they came. Ana's mind whirled trying to make sense of any reason why a royal house would behave that way and do those things to commoners. Why would they rape when they have wives? Why would they inflict so much pain on children? Why would they even seek permission to make commoners nameless on ridiculous demands?
She took a sharp breath. If that was how they made people nameless… Was that what happened to Conrad? And Joe? And Trea’s family? The thought made her shudder and the nausea almost overwhelmed her.
She had never had any reason not to hold the houses in high regard, each of them had their strengths as a house, and each have had a strong and honorable history. All kings held the houses in high regard in terms of their integrity. Her father couldn't have known that this was going to happen.
Her skin crawled at the idea that she’d been in the same room as Everard only a few days ago, discussing giving him her children. She would have sentenced her child to a marriage with a house that had highly corrupt individuals, and it could never have been reversed. Yes, it had to be just these individuals, she finally decided. It wasn’t possible for everyone in House Thorneshaw to behave this way.
And yet, it was unsettling that Maddoc knew it was going to happen. He had been so sure that he arrived early enough to make her watch.
By the time they reached the dense part of the forest, the horror had settled deep in her bones.
The female highcloak took her hand and led her through the bushes and trees and shrubbery, navigating back to the base and Maddoc’s pavilion. Ana let her mind go blank, unwilling to think about it anymore until she was able to make sense of it.
"Maddoc would prefer if you stayed in the pavilion today," the woman said, somewhat nervously. "He will be back just after sundown."
Ana nodded and trudged inside, once again alone with her troublesome thoughts.
Ana debated for the rest of the afternoon whether she should break her silence to speak to Maddoc about this issue. Although she had made her vow in honor of her father and Ryden, she also made a promise that she would not abandon the people—that she would still be Princess Ana, who would uphold everything that the crown stood for—even in this environment. She wanted to know how often this happened, if all the attacks were this bad, what happened to the land after the family was made nameless. Had any royal house member been caught doing what they were doing, had this been reported to the crown? All of these very relevant questions would help her understand how serious the problem was, but even if she asked Maddoc, could she trust what he said? Yes, he had shown her an atrocity that happened in front of her own eyes, but she didn't have any further information and she didn't want to be manipulated again. She said she would take all the steps she could to find information out for herself, and that was what she had to try to do. Besides, how did she know that this would have happened if her father were alive and in power? Maybe it only happened because he was dead.
So, she changed out of her clothing and paced the pavilion, the thoughts revolving in her mind as she resolved that she would try to find out more once she escaped this place, but she would not speak to Maddoc, at least for now.
At sundown, a meal was brought to her by the same guard who led her back to Maddoc's pavilion the day before, and just as she finished it, Maddoc entered.
He looked wild, that darkness in his eyes, splashes of blood over him, and gashes scoring his arms. He strode straight to her and pulled her into a hard kiss, his fingers digging into the back of her head, his mouth claiming hers in that eager and desperate way he always did, and instantly she was alive.