I had already answered this question countless times. Frustration bled into my words when I clipped out, “Father Garius avoided highways and villages. We were not seen. And as to your question of leaving without being noticed, I was only nine at the time and nobody tried to stop us. I remember that we did not see a soul as we moved through the castle. It was as if the entire staff had disappeared. Or maybe they’d discovered my family’s bodies by then and were overcome with shock. I prefer to believe the latter.”
Her mouth pressed into a frown. “And you say that Taelon Treskinat simply took the crown off your father’s head? That brings another question as to why someone would go to all this trouble to kill the royal family but leave the Crown of Nine on the floor? Covered in blood.” She looked up and down the line of council members, accentuating her point with a single raised eyebrow. “Wouldn’t the whole point of murdering your father be to take the crown and assume control of the realm?”
Her icy gaze returned to mine. My heart thudded painfully at the cruel words. It still took my breath away to picture them on the floor, bloody, lifeless. “I cannot speculate on the murderer’s intentions.” My voice was barely above a whisper. Several council members had to lean closer to hear me. “As I have said before, at the time I was only a child. I knew nothing more than that my family had been stolen from me. Even now, after all these years left to wonder why or how or what I could have done differently, I still do not have an answer. I have as many questions as you.”
The corner of her mouth lifted in victory. I realized the Queen of Blackthorne did not care who I said I was. She did not want me to win this trial. I could only vaguely remember meeting her as a child and there was not much to the memory other than her standoffishness. But this woman, today, hated me.
“One last question,” she announced. We had been here for hours. My feet were weary, and my back felt stuck with a hundred pins. But Ravanna’s kohl had not smudged nor had her red lips faded. She looked as perfect as she had the moment I first saw her. “You say you were so concerned about your family, your dead parents and siblings. But you left with a stranger only seconds after finding their throats slit? That doesn’t seem like the behavior of a grieving child. That seems more like the contingency plan of the guilty party.”
My mouth dropped open. “Are you suggesting that I killed my family?”
That subtle smile she could not hide lifted the other corner of her mouth. “I am merely suggesting that your behavior seems suspicious. Not only did you flee the scene, but you stayed away for eight years. We have been searching the realm high and low for that crown and you had it stashed away with mute monks in the most backward kingdom in the realm. Only now do you return, when you know the council was deciding to fashion a new crown. Only now do you show up, when we were set to vote on a new bloodline for the Seat of Power. You knew before you ever left your precious monastery that your time was running out. If you had arrived even three months later, your plans to steal the throne and the Seat of Power would have been too late.”
The room faltered in front of me. My vision swam. “No,” I whispered. Then with more confidence I declared, “No! I didn’t know. How could I have known? It is only a coincidence I arrived when I did. I swear to you, I had no knowledge of your plans to fashion a new Crown of Nine or to redirect the bloodline.”
The council murmured to each other until Hugo cut through the chatter with his booming voice. “Our plans for the Crown of Nine were meant to be kept absolutely secret.” He glared at his fellow monarchs. “We signed an oath in blood, if you’ll remember. If this child discovered the truth prior to arriving in Elysia, someone on this council is responsible.”
The sovereigns fell silent, not one of them willing to own up to the suggested offense. Ravanna settled back in her chair. I watched as she shared a sly look with my uncle before they both went back to ignoring each other.
Tyrn addressed the room, “It is time to call our character witnesses. Bring those who have been summoned forward.” A line of people began to form behind me. It was clear that I was to move, but I did not know where. Tyrn’s cold gaze fell to mine, “You may step to the side as the testimonies against you begin.”
Crenshaw snapped his fingers on the left side of the room. I reluctantly moved to stand next to him.
Over the next hour witnesses were called to recall what they remembered about me and if my testimony aligned with their memory. Most of them agreed that they couldn’t tell after all this time, but several of them pointed out huge discrepancies from what I looked like as a child and what I looked like now.
My old nanny announced that my hair had been lighter as a child and my curls more contained. She suggested that a royal would have retained the most beautiful qualities about her while growing out of the more unattractive ones to fit in with royal society.
As offended as I was for my hair, I couldn’t believe anyone would take her seriously. Royals did not make up the most beautiful people in the land. Nor could a person choose which physical attributes to grow out of and which would remain. But apparently her testimony appealed to the monarchs’ ego because several of them nodded along.
After a while, Tyrn motioned toward Hugo, the last of the sovereigns to call their witness. “Soravale, who do you call to stand before us?”
Hugo sat up straighter and gazed out at the room full of people. “Brahm the Mighty, Brahm Havish, the former first general to King Fredrix Allisand.”
Tyrn jumped to his feet, outrage twisting his face and forcing his shoulders to heave with the effort to breathe. “He has been banned from this palace, nay from Elysia! He is not allowed anywhere near this throne room! Guards! Find Brahm Havish and have him thrown in jail where he belongs!” He turned to his council, “I should have done this years ago! He is a traitor! An anarchist! Guards!”
The guards rushed to restrain a tall, thick man near the back of the room. He was older than Hugo, but not by much. His white hair was closely cropped and the groomed white beard that covered half his face did little to hide the hardness of his mien.
Brahmthe Mightysuited him.
Hugo jumped to his feet and raised his voice to compete with Tyrn, “He is allowed at Conandra! The rules state that we can call anyone that can offer pertinent testimony. He was there the day the Allisands were murdered. He saw their bodies. He investigated the entire ordeal. If anyone knows anything about what happened that day, it is Brahm Havish.”
“I will not allow it,” Tyrn declared.
“It is not up to you, Your Majesty,” Hugo retorted. “In Conandra we vote as a unified council. The rest of the members have a right to their opinion.”
“Fine,” Tyrn relented after a heavy silence, his voice thick with threat. “Let them vote. We will see how they choose to proceed.”
“I’ll begin,” Hugo declared. “Aye for Brahm Havish to testify.”
Next to Hugo was Sasha Sennoa, the king from Tenovia. “Aye. Let him speak.”
I had no idea what Brahm would bring to the council, but I remembered him loyal to my father. He would have done anything for the Allisands. And for Elysia. Knowing that he had been banned made his testimony seem even more appealing. If my uncle hated him, then Brahm was one of my new favorites.
“Aye,” Devonish Katansa of Kasha boomed. “I want to hear what he has to say.”
Maksim Zolotov from Barstus snarled, “Nay.”
As did Tyrn, and then Ravanna from Blackthorne.
