She lowered her voice, but her menace doubled. “Step aside, Koan, and I’ll ignore the fact that you allowed her to capture my son—”
A flaming streak of lightning rushed along the ceiling, starting from the end of the corridor where the crowd had come from and sparking all the way to the other end of my vision. Lady Carmine’s burning magic shrank into small handfuls of green terror while the crowd’s murmurs disappeared.
The air shifted as people made way for a new elf. The raw power that he dropped as he walked down the hallway identified him long before I saw him—even the shadows fled from his approach.
Aedan, the High King of Hemlit, strode down the hall with all the terrifying majesty I would have expected from someone who owned that title. He finally stopped next to Koan, who dropped into an elegant bow at the waist.
The king nodded to Koan and turned toward Lady Carmine, leaving his back inches from my face. Lady Carmine’s magic blinked out as she clenched her fists and curtsied.
“The public is not welcome in this tower,” the king said. His voice carried on magic like a low growl to everyone in the hall.
“Your Majesty,” Lady Carmine started. She stopped when he tipped his head toward her. I imagined him turning the same steely gaze I’d seen him focus on Koan and Jolter to this woman, and I almost felt sorry for her.
She dipped her head. “Your Majesty, may I explain what happened?”
“Is it necessary to waste my very limited evening time with an explanation of an invasion of my privacy?”
She lifted her gaze. “I believe it is, Your Majesty.”
He lowered his tone even more, though he still projected it with magic through the entire hall. “Then make it brief.”
She curtsied quickly and launched into an explanation. “The fae creature behind you lured my son into her room. We only found him because Jolter brought us news of her crimes. If we hadn’t arrived when we did… I can’t imagine what cruelty she had planned for him.”
A few feet behind her, at the front of the crowd, Jolter raised his eyes to the king and shook his head. Any sympathy I’d had for Lady Carmine evaporated when she added, “I’d like to destroy the fae before she has time to hurt or endanger any of the other children in Sirun.”
“Before anyone getsdestroyed,” the king said dryly, “I’d like Koan to tell us what he knows about the events you described.”
Koan dipped his head again and, with an unusual degree of solemnity, said, “My brother and I were guarding the hall when Jorlan came running through it. We suspected he’d run up here without anyone knowing, and we didn’t want him to get out the door at the top of the tower. But when we tried to pick him up or block him, he screamed and attacked us. We were having a hard time stopping him.”
He dipped his head toward the king. “The fae behind you heard the noise and opened her door. She never set a foot outside the door frame, but she showed Jorlan the lute she’s holding. He sat and played with her and the lute, in theentrance where she’s standing, while Jolter found Lady Carmine. When she arrived, her son dropped the lute and ran to her.”
Koan glanced at the crowd, and thenfocused on the king again. “I was here the whole time. She was more kind and patient with the boy than I would have been.” Koan felt more like Alastor every moment I knew him, but with a deeper knowledge of Sirun. He’d predicted Jorlan’s mother’s response perfectly.
The king nodded at Koan and stepped to the side, exposing me to Lady Carmine again. Her eyes flitted between me and the king, as if wondering exactly what she was allowed to do to me.
But instead of addressing her, the king raised a hand toward me, inviting me out of my room. He kept his hand raised until I stood next to him. He almost rested his hand on my shoulder, but instead dropped it to his side.
Then he turned to the angry elf in front of me. “Lady Carmine, do you have any evidence that she lured your son here with the intent to harm him?”
Lady Carmine lifted her chin at me. “Your Majesty, Jorlan was sitting next to her when we arrived. That’s all the evidence we need—”
Koan cut her off and pointed at me. “She might have saved your son’s life! Have you seen the other side of the door at the end of this corridor?!”
“Koan.” The king’s warning silenced Koan. “Lady Carmine. I will ask you again. Do you have any evidence of your accusations?”
Her eyes tightened. “No more than those I’ve shared already.”
The king’s voice hardened. “Then you owe the fae an apology. You may call her Lady Callista.” I had to hold my jaw closed. He remembered my name? And he just assigned me a noble status? He was impossible to understand. Impossible to predict. Impossible to even read. What was he thinking?
Lady Carmine fisted her dress and clenched her jaw.
“You may apologize publicly,” the king growled, “or you may report to the dungeon for a more appropriate consequence for your disobedience.”
She paled, dropped into a curtsy, and bowed her head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty. I let my emotions affect my actions. It won’t happen again.”
When she stood back up, she faced me. She was not pleased, but it appeared she would take a little humiliation over a beating. “Lady Callista, I apologize for assigning you motives that I do not have proof of.” Her words might have sounded like an apology, but her eyes told a different story. They shot invisible arrows at me that threatened very real ones if I came near her son again.
Regardless of her silent threat, I needed to respond to her spoken apology. “Thank you,” I squeaked out in a much smaller voice than I’d hoped. I swallowed and tried for a little more dignity. “I appreciate that.”
