That doesn’t mean they won’t.It’s that single thought that stops me from crumbling while I wait and wait and wait, while I pace my tiny box from corner to corner in an effort to keep the guilt at bay.They could come for you at any minute, so you have to be prepared. They are going to come for you, Raya, probably just as soon as they’ve finished dealing with Adriel’s last—
No.I refuse to let my mind go there; I block out the memory entirely, because if I don’t, then all they’ll find when they get here is a broken, blubbering mess, and I can’t allow myself to show weakness. I can’t allow myself to think about Killen, or Ezzo, or whetherthe others managed to get away safe. Because the futurechoseto lead me here and it still needs me to save the fundamental thread. Which means I have to be ready. No matter how long they plan to let me stew in this fucking basement.
By the time the trackers are sent to fetch me, dusk has already come and gone and the shadows have dimmed at the edge, the castle filling with the warm glow of a thousand hex lights. And though my captors don’t tell me where we’re going, it quickly becomes apparent that we’re heading to the court chamber; then once I’m led inside, I finally understand why it took so long for this interrogation to be arranged.
The entire tribunal has been called.
All seven Council elders, here, for me—despite the fact that a Shade was just brutally murdered in their city and that Adriel has threatened to make us all pay.
But it’s not their stern expressions or their willingness to convene that prickles the hairs on my neck, it’s who else they thought to involve in these proceedings, the two Indigos stood beside the judges’ bench, exchanging heated words with Councilman Denata.
My parents.
The very sight of them pales me ashen.
I should have known they’d be here to witness my downfall—or to try and stop it, maybe, depending on how much they’ve been told. When you’re the daughter of the two most celebrated seers in the city, there’s no way for your crimes to go unnoticed. The second the trackers connected me to Ezzo, they’d have been summarily informed.
And summarily enraged.As the trackers shackle me to the dock, my father’s face bruises to match his color.
“Have you lost your minds? Uncuff my daughter at once!” He wastes no time before voicing his indignation, though his tone suggests that he’s less worried aboutmethan about how it looks for me to be dragged into this room in chains.
“Your daughter was caught with a half breed and a dead classmate in her arms, Bastian,” Denata barks in reply. “She will not be released until we ascertain if she played a role in his murder.”
A role in his murder?As much as I should have seen that accusation coming, it still hits me right in the gut.I would never hurt Killen,I want to scream at them, except I can’t because it’s a damn lie. Because I did hurt Killen, over and over again; and I did play a role in his murder, just not in the way the councilman expects.
“That is an absurd accusation, Lars.” But my mother doesn’t know that and so she jumps to my defense. “The Divine Meridian killed that boy; any idiot could see that. Raya was merely out there in search of a friend. The half breed is who you should be questioning—he’s clearly working with that zealot.”
“Nothing is clear, Minerva, that’s why we’re here: to establish how Raya found herself in such terrible company at that church.”
Every eye in the room snaps to me in anticipation, hungry to hear this good reason I must have for consorting with an illegal Shade.
“I—” And I know what I’m supposed to do now. I’m supposed to deny, deny, deny, then apologize, confirm the tale my mother already thought to prepare.I was merely out there in search of a friend.I should tell them I’m sorry for leaving the Academy, for not returning when I was supposed to, for not ceding the business of tracking to the trackers and beating them to the dead Blue.
For being a consummate disappointment.
But the second I’m faced with the councilman’s scrutiny, an anger ignites inside my veins. Because why am I the one chained to this dock when he’s the reason there’s a murderous zealot out there in the first place? When it’s his own son doing the killing?
“I know who the Divine Meridian is.” The words escape before I can stop them, before I can talk myself out of saying them aloud. “His name is Adriel, Councilman, does that sound familiar?” I watch to see his reaction. It’s a gamble—and a pretty big one at that. Even if Denata did disown his son, that was over thirty years ago, and Adriel is not such an uncommon name that he’d necessarily connect the dots.
“Excuse me?” But the way his face pales tells me he does, that everything we’ve uncovered is true.
“He also has an impossible power,” I say, lacing my voice with steel. “I saw it for myself, Councilman—I heard him talk about it. Hecalls himself a void and I’m pretty sure you know what that means. I’m actually pretty sure you’re his—”
“Lars, it’s plain to see that Raya is extremely upset,” my mother cuts in abruptly, as if to save me from my lack of sense. “You’ve been holding her all day; she’s tired and grieving, and I think we can agree that there is no need to keep blaming her for this tragic—”
“The Divine Meridian is your son, isn’t he?” I continue speaking over her. “That’s why his name is Adriel Lars Denata.”
“What nonsense is this?” The councilman booms, even as he chalks whiter. “I have no son.”
“But you did have one, didn’t you? A child born without color?”
“Raya—stop this at once,” my mother hisses, glaring at me with pleading eyes.
But I can’t stop it. Or perhaps I simply don’t want to. Not now that I’m certain I’m right.
“Did you intend for him to end up with the Church or was that just an accident?” So, despite her protests, I keep right on pushing. “Because he believes you left him for dead, Councilman, and all these years, he’s been holding a grudge. You made him hate Shades so much he started killing us. He wants to poison our magic, did you know that? Was abandoning him the reason your wife took her own—”
“Enough!” A flash of Orange rips the air from my lungs. “I will not stand for this brazen slander, Miss Wryvern. To spread such lies in my own chamber—”
