Then her attention returned to us. “I was not expecting you, and I must admit that I am truly surprised. There is not much that surprises me anymore.” Her hard gaze landed on me. “You have friends in very low places, King Traevon.”
I smiled—and my fangs showed. “However low they may have fallen, I will take my friends over you, and yours, any day.”
She snorted. “Charming, as usual. But I suppose you are here after your child, are you not?”
Nodding the best I could lying down, I stated, “I am.” I struggled to sit up, the magic in the shackles hindering the bones in my body, making them Fae fucking creak. “I wish to see her.”
“Oh…you will.” Mamue smirked. “I have decided to be lenient right now. While your love for her is rather disgusting, I am not without a heart. If she is to be punished for her deeds, you should know the outcome.”
My shoulders went rigid. “Have you contacted the king and queen?”
“No.” She shook her head, her antlers high on her head—and I couldn’t tell if she was honest or not. “We must deal with our first issue, and know if King Athon and Princess Trixie encouraged the witch in the theft of the artifacts. If they did, they will be punished accordingly before they are handed over to the king and queen for their other crimes.”
“Are they well now?” I questioned quietly.
“They’re sleeping peacefully and have been doing so the entire time they have been here,” Mamue answered respectfully. “Although, I will warn you that Princess Trixie’s appearance has greatly changed since you last saw her.” Her wide, large eyes hardened on my gaze. “After the trial, you will be handed over for your own crime. You shouldnothave crossed into Fairy.”
I nodded solemnly, keeping my features deferential. “I understand.”
* * *
The roomwe were herded to—after a horde of pixies woke my soul mate—was the largest I had witnessed yet here. It was circular in form with the wooden walls painted white, making it look even larger. Benches lined the middle of the room, every seat filled with woodland sprite guardians, all here for the excitement, their eyes animated, their antlers waving in the air as they leaned and talked eagerly to the person next to them. The unnatural silence of the Ancient Archive was filled now with their lively voices bouncing off the walls.
My companions and I were kept at the back.
We stood side by side and didn’t speak while the same six guardians as before stood at attention near us, watching us closely.
I swallowed on a dry throat as my daughter and the shifter king were carried into the room. Trixie wore a white, plain wide sleeping gown with long sleeves that covered her from her neck to her ankle, and the King of Shifters had been changed into similar fashion with white sleep pants—and nothing more. As they lay them on a large altar next to each other, my daughter’s belly was revealed, rounded so large it looked as if she could give birth at any moment.
Minnie whimpered softly beside me, raising her shackled hands and covering her mouth, with hot tears building in her eyes.
Mamue stepped behind the altar—and the crowd went quiet. Running her attention over her audience, she lifted her chin high and called loudly through the room, “We are here today to see if these two children of the realm have enacted a crime against our sacred Ancient Archive. If they are found guilty, they must pay for their deeds the same as any true-blooded Fae.” She swept her hand grandly to the right. “Our diviner will find the truth.”
My eyes caught on a child dressed the same way as King Athon and my daughter, but where the shifter king only wore white pants, this young child had a white robe over his bare chest. His youthful features appeared to be all of seven-years-old, but his straight, blood-red hair fell down his thin back to his bare feet.
And his eyes.
His eyes were missing, black pits as if they never were. The Fae turned his head like he could see as he walked toward the altar, breezing over the floor like a cloud. There was nothing normal about his gait. He stopped next to Mamue and peered at the crowd.
The diviner’s voice boomed like thunder, “Two drops of blood is owed.”I jolted in place as his voice rocked into me—the Fae wasold—before he removed a red blade sheathed under his robe. “Then the truth shall be given.”
The Fae nicked their thumbs and wiped the blood together on his blade. He touched the edge to his tongue and live energy filled the circular room, raising the red hair on my head into the air, barely being held down by my crown. The diviner’s head rocked back, and he stared blindly at the ceiling, his mouth moving in a literal blur—but no sound was emitting from his throat.
Thunder suddenlyboomedinside the room, shaking the wooden floor beneath me and almost knocking me off my feet.
I breathed heavily and looked at the Fae.
In the vibrating silence, the diviner’s youthful face smiled, like he was genuinely pleased with himself, and he stated, “Not guilty. They did not assist in stealing the artifacts.”
Air rushed out of my lungs in relief.
That was one problem handled.
Then the diviner opened his mouth again and boomed, “Guilty. They have lain together.”His black pitted eyes looked right at me. “Guilty. The offspring in her womb is his.”He smiled once more, and didn’t look away from me. “Guilty. It was premeditated.”
The motherfuckerlaughed.
Then…he calmly started to walk away.
