The royal man named the Enforcer's duty as fetish.
At that, the guard's smile died and his jaw clenched. "Do you even know what this brat did?"
The man glanced at Zane.
Zane's face was red as the whip was doing good work.
"I don't know. I don't care. My lady wants you to stop, so you will. She does not want to see this first thing in the morning."
My lady?
Zane frowned and with a groan, turned his head.
The Enforcer peeked behind the man as well.
Zane didn't recognise the lady, who was only a girl of his age. But he had an idea of her identity.
The Enforcer though, he knew her and he flinched.
But he quickly shook his eyes away and came to his usual self.
"Hmph. A forgotten Crown. You expect me to listen to her?"
The royal man smiled. "Forgotten, yeah? Then why is it still written all over your face?"
The Enforcer clenched his jaw.
"What are you both here for?"
"Like I said, it has nothing to do with you. Just stop this vulgarity."
The Enforcer tightened the whip around Zane's throat. "What if I don't?"
Zane gasped for breath and the royal man sighed.
His left hand was holding the Enforcer's, and his free right hand went to hold the whip around Zane's throat.
Zane didn't know what the man would do and while near death, he eyed the black gloves of the man.
They were cleaner than Zane's entire face.
"So you won't stop?" The man asked.
The Enforcer shook his head.
The man smiled. "How about…"
DRIP!
"Now?"
The Enforcer's eyes widened.
The onlookers gasped.
Something poured out of the man's right hand, something thick, rotten and green.
And as it dripped, the whip melted and the Enforcer was left with only half of it.
The hard ground found a black mark and smoke coming out of it as the substance from the royal man fell on it.
Zane instantly felt the freedom of a thousand years as he dropped to his knees, coughing. He can finally breathe.
Murmurs spread around as the royal man melted a leather whip of an Enforcer just by a touch.
But the Enforcer, his nose flared.
He threw the half whip and stepped towards the man.
"Do you even know what this scum did? He badmouthed the Haloheart. He called it a brick. He shouted in the presence of his lords. I was showing him his place."
"I think he already saw it. No need to ruin my lady's mood."
The Enforcer gritted his teeth.
"Firs—"
"Sir Sentinel is coming, Kairon. He wouldn't like you not being on your post."
A voice came from the crystal latched on the Enforcer's breast pocket.
The Enforcer heard it and clicked his tongue.
He glanced at Zane and the royal man.
"Lucky bastards."
He then looked behind the royal man, at his lady.
"Traitor scum."
Traitor?
Zane didn't know about that.
The lady behind the royal man had short black hair and she didn't show any reaction at the Enforcer's words. She only gazed at him with empty eyes.
But Zane couldn't find anything for the girl because he knew whom people referred to as my lady, or lord.
Halocrats.
He bit his lip.
More than the whip, getting saved by a Halocrat stung.
The girl might have not shown any reaction but the royal man did clench his fists.
But he did nothing and the Enforcer left the area with his 'dirty' baton.
The royal man took a deep breath and darted his eyes on Zane, still sitting on the floor.
Zane looked left and right, not knowing where to look.
The man stared at the boy and Zane thought he should say something.
So he opened his mouth.
But the man raised his hand.
"No need to thank me. My lady just happened to see you. Some imbecile…" The man looked around with a scowl. "Threw a stone, a pebble at her."
I wasn't thanking you either.
Zane stood up but before he could, he saw something that squeezed his heart.
"Your—" He almost said it.
The man looked at him.
"Yes?"
Zane shook his head.
"Speak." The man insisted.
Zane had no intentions of another scene, so he obliged even if his throat hurt to speak.
"Your… glove. It is ruined."
The black exotic right hand glove of the man was burned. His palm peeked from them.
Now the glove looked like Zane's face.
The man's brows twitched.
"I shouldn't have asked."
Shaking his head, the man turned around and walked towards his lady.
Zane saw him walking away and his eyes then met the short haired halocrat girl.
She also gave him the empty look and Zane gave her even emptier look.
Then he casted his eyes away and stood up.
He patted his pants and everything went back to as it was.
But from the corner of his eyes, he saw someone waving.
He looked there and it was a man from the line of Commoners beside him.
The man had a smile on his face and he showed thumbs up to Zane.
Zane looked around, hoping the man was talking to someone else.
But no, he was showing thumbs up to Zane.
Confusion danced on Zane's face and then the man did something that explained everything.
The man tossed a small stone up and down, a grey pebble on his hand while smiling at Zane.
Zane's brows shot up.
The man nodded.
It was this guy. He threw a stone at a Halocrat? Why?
Zane gulped and averted his eyes away from the rockstar.
On the other hand, the Gutterborns finally breathed in relief and the man in front of Zane turned his head around.
"Are you alright?"
Zane stretched his neck. "Yeah. The usual."
The man smiled. "It will be better when you touch the Haloheart. You will get something even if you call it a brick."
Zane shrugged. No words. His throat had already suffered enough today.
The man didn't mind. He kept talking.
"My name is Herring. I live in Cinder Row. I am a scrap picker. What about you?"
Zane let out a heavy sigh and raised his index finger.
Then he put his finger on his lips.
The universal sign of:
Shut Up.
Which, Herring might accept, but time won't.
Because the line moved and Zane inched closer to the Citadel.