Ferria's jaw tightened, but she didn't respond.
"You chose to work with him," Briar continued, her hands fisting in her lap. "You chose to lie to me to give me the means and the motive to find Malus and release him. You knew I was desperate… ignorant. You told me yourself that if you could have freed Eliam without me, you would have left me there. You made choice after choice, and now you want to act like you had no control over any of it?"
"I was trying to survive," Ferria said, her voice rising slightly. "Trying to protect myself in an impossible situation."
"Survive?" Briar's voice cracked. "You have no idea what surviving is."
"I freed Eliam," Ferria repeated, desperate now to prove herself against the weight of the crimes she’d committed. "I got him out. That means—"
"It means you have a sense of self-preservation," Eliam said, his voice cold enough to freeze. "It means you realized Malus wouldn't need you anymore once he had what he wanted. It doesn't absolve you of anything."
Halian shifted in his seat, his distress obvious. "She's still my sister," he said quietly, though the words sounded like they cost him. "Whatever she's done, she's family."
"Family who committed treason against this court," Arion said, his tone gentler when addressing Halian but no less firm. "She aided in the torture and imprisonment of a sovereign lord. She manipulated and endangered others to serve her own interests."
"Kill her," Eliam said flatly. "She's earned that much."
"No!" Halian stood abruptly. "Exile her. Lock her away. But not death. Please."
Arion's expression suggested he was calculating political equations Briar couldn't fully grasp. The Star Court's relationship with the Forest Court, the delicate balance of power between courts, the message any judgment would send.
"She's a member of the Star Court," Arion said finally. "Technically, she falls under my jurisdiction, and killing her without proper trial would create complications we don't need right now."
"Then hold the trial," Eliam said, voice calm though Briar could feel the tension radiating off of him in waves.. "Find her guilty. Execute her."
"We don't have time for a full court trial," Arion countered. "Not with everything else we're facing."
"So she walks free?" The edge in Eliam's voice could have cut stone.
"No." Arion's gaze returned to Ferria. "She'll be imprisoned. Held in secure chambers under guard until this situation with Malus is resolved. After that, we'll decide her ultimate fate."
"You're imprisoning me?" Ferria's carefully neutral expression cracked slightly. "For how long?"
"As long as necessary," Arion said. "Be grateful Halian loves you enough to plead for your life, because I'm inclined to agree with Eliam's assessment."
He gestured to the guards. "Take her to the lower chambers. No visitors, no communication with anyone outside. If she tries to use magic, you have permission to bind her completely."
The guards moved to escort Ferria out. She went without resistance, but as she passed Briar, she finally met her eyes. What Briar saw there wasn't remorse or apology. It was calculation, a promise that this wasn't over.
Then she was gone, the door closing behind her with a soft click that felt too quiet for the magnitude of what had just happened.
The room breathed out collectively.
"One problem addressed," Arion said, returning to the head of the table. "Now for the harder ones."
Chapter twenty-two
The silence after Ferria's departure felt heavier somehow, weighted with all the problems they still had to solve. Briar watched Arion return to his position at the head of the table, his expression settling into something grimmer than before.
"The second matter," he said, his gaze moving to Briar, "is the bargain that binds you to Malus."
The autumn marks at her throat seemed to rustle in response to being mentioned, copper leaves chiming softly against her skin. She resisted the urge to touch them, to feel how deeply they'd rooted themselves into her flesh.
"I don't understand how he can claim her," Arion said, frustration threading through his voice. "The bargain was with you, Eliam. How does overthrowing you give him rights to it?"
"The wording," Eliam said, his voice flat. "When Briar made the bargain, it wasn't with me specifically. It was with 'the Forest King.'" He paused, letting that sink in. "Words matter in fae law. The bargain doesn't care who I am. It cares about the title. Malus holds the title now, so the bargain is his."
"That can't be right," Sian said, her voice carrying more hope than certainty. "Surely there's some clause, some way to—"
