“My most sacred duty is to protect my people, especially those who cannot protect themselves.”
Her voice held steel. I hung my head.
“I’m not angry at you, Sir Valen. I’m angry at Bonitus—and at myself for never noticing his crimes.”
My mouth opened and closed as I struggled for the right words to reassure her, but they escaped my grasp.
“Now,” she said. “The question is what to do about you.”
I sat up straighter, holding my head high. “I’m prepared for imprisonment or death, Your Majesty. I don’t regret what I did.”
Perhaps I should have. Was there something wrong with me that I didn’t? I regretted that it had been necessary, but not that I’d taken his life.
Queen Verena stood. “The Crown generally frowns upon its subjects killing one another. I cannot deny the mitigating circumstances in your case, but neither is it clear self-defense. You planned this. You executed the murder almost flawlessly.”
I tried to breathe steadily, but it was hard. My chest ached, a tightness constricting each breath. The queen looked me over, and I wondered what she saw: the beads of sweat prickling my forehead despite the cool air of the chamber, my hands still clenched tightly in my lap, the undeserved emblem of my knighthood on my surcoat. Or maybe she saw deeper, to the unrepentant killer inside.
“It would be a waste to execute you.”
Her words did little to soothe the frantic hammering of my heart. My stomach churned, a nauseous twist of anxiety battling with a fragile, hesitant hope.
“Your penance will be to serve me,” she said. “And the sentence is for life.”
I glanced at her bodyguards to see if they had any answers.
“Your Majesty? I already...”
“Not just as my knight,” she said, a sad smile crinkling her eyes. “As my spy.”
Chapter 44
Valen
The palace gates loomed before us like the maw of some great beast, their silver-wrought bars gleaming in the starlight. My manacles clinked with each step, and guards surrounded me on all sides—a full escort for a condemned man. Captain Teiom walked beside me, the Selenian Jewel pulsing its cursed blue light from where she held it like a trophy.
I scanned the courtyard, searching for any chance of escape, any weakness in their formation. Nothing. Just walls too smooth to climb and too many weapons pointed in my direction. My chest felt hollow, scraped clean of hope.
I’d failed my queen. I wouldn’t betray her, wouldn’t utter a word about why I’d stolen the jewel, but that didn’t matter. The jewel would go straight back to Regula, and while she may lose face for letting it get stolen, the swift recovery would minimizethe scandal. It wouldn’t discourage her fanatical supporters in the slightest.
Worse, I’d lost Emmeline—driven her away with my coldness, with the blood on my hands, with everything I’d become in service to the Crown.
Perhaps execution would be a mercy. Better than rotting in the palace dungeons for the rest of my life, knowing I’d destroyed everything that mattered.
The barracks erupted in a pillar of flame.
Holy hell.
The roar shattered the night, sending tongues of fire reaching toward the stars. Guards shouted and scattered as burning debris rained down around us. I bolted instinctively, but the nearest guard tackled me to the ground before I’d taken three steps.
“Stay down!” he barked, pressing his weight against my back.
Steel sang as weapons cleared sheaths all around us. Some guards were already moving toward the flames, but others looked ready to bolt. The air filled with smoke and ash, thick enough to make my eyes water.
“Form up!” Captain Teiom’s voice cut through the chaos. “Secure the prisoner! Teams one and three to the barracks—everyone else maintain positions!”
At least the barracks were empty. With the Selenian Jewel stolen, Captain Teiom would have roused every person under her command. But what—?
Then I heard it: the thunder of wings cutting through smoke and flame.
