The clay of her idea hardened to a firm shell.
“There will be no trial,” Ellina interrupted. Her troop stirred. Farah turned to peer at her.
“Of course not,” Farah agreed. “A human does not get a trial, merely a sentencing. And his sentence is death.”
“His sentence is not for you to decide.”
Her sister stared. “And why is that?”
“His fate belongs to me.”
Venick’s voice was rigid. “Ellina, no, you can’t—”
Farah asked, “His fate belongs to you?”
“He owes me his life,” Ellina explained. “I won his life price. He is mine now to do with what I will.”
“Those are human laws.”
“He is human.”
“We do not honor human life prices.”
“Yet we expect humans to honor our laws?”
“Ellina.” Venick’s voice was strained. She ignored him.
“Yes, Ellina.” Raffan cut in. “What are you doing?”
“Claiming what is mine.”
“Yours?” Raffan’s mask was perfectly mastered, his expression wiped clean. Even his voice, which usually betrayed him, held no inflection. He was trying, Ellina thought, very hard. Which meant he was furious. “His execution is well-deserved. And overdue.”
“I disagree,” Ellina argued. “Venick came to deliver a warning. We have all heard his message. The southerners are uniting. They are building an army. They will come north.”
“Impossible,” Raffan said.
“Is it? We saw how they infiltrated Kenath. We saw the vanished cities.”
“The southerners are weak. They will never unite. And even if they did, to what purpose? Elves do not kill elves. The north and south both abide by those laws. The human is a liar.”
Ellina bit back her retort. She breathed into her words. “He is not aliar. He is an ally. He risked his life to come here. And he can prove himself in elvish. When the queen returns,shewill believe him.”
The audience was abuzz now. There was a shift. A subtle change in the pitch of their whispers. Ellina could practically hear their denial morph into reluctant doubt…and more. Farah eyed them, surely sensing, as Ellina did, how the battle was tipping. Her expression seemed to sour. “But there are rumors,” Farah argued. “It is said that the laws of elvish do not apply to all.”
Ellina’s heart gave a heavy thump. “That is absurd.”
“Still.” Farah drew her hands together. “It does create some doubts. It is true that our language has held us to honesty for thousands of years, but men have been spinning their lies for nearly as long. The human cannot be trusted.” A pause. Gathering ammunition, the draw of a bow, shot through teeth that peeled back and bared. “And ifyoutrust a human, I wonder what that says aboutyou.”
Ellina flexed her hands. Checked herself as she started to reach for her sword. Replied, coolly, “If my trust is to be doubted, that is a matter for the queen to decide. When she returns.”
“I could order his execution,” Farah warned. “I could order it right now.”
“Againstmywishes, which means you would be acting against our mother’s wishes.”
“When the queen is absent,Iam in charge.”
“Ellina.” Venick sounded panicked. He seemed to know enough not to grab her, yet not enough to stay silent. She made the mistake of looking at him then. She saw his horror. “Don’t.”
