“Not… not true,” Val protested brokenly, his head sagging against the wall, blood dripping down his abdomen where his wounds had opened.
Ballanor chuckled darkly, still watching the courtiers and nobles that filled the hall. “Come now, Lanval, tell us what she promised you so that we can punish the woman who brought you so low. Help me to give her the justice that she deserves.”
He turned back and smirked at Val. “Tell us how you worked together to murder your king, and we’ll make sure that your deaths are quick. Or so help me, your execution will take days.”
Val turned his head away in silence.
Ballanor watched him, arms folded, tapping his foot.
And then he smiled again. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Lanval. I met with my council this morning and tried the northern whore for treason. We found her guilty.” He shook his head in a mockery of disappointment. “All these weeks of pain, and we didn’t need your confession after all.”
“No!” Alanna’s voice shuddered as she turned wide eyes toward the king. “How can you try me in my absence? You have no right! There is no evidence—”
Ballanor shrugged, interrupting her. “It’s done. The arrows were Verturian. And you survived. Only one person could have told them where the meeting was, and that was clearly you. Everyone agrees.”
“That’s not evidence!” Alanna’s voice rose in desperation. “I demand—”
The king turned on her, cutting her off with a malicious laugh. “You don’t make demands.” He turned to the men flanking her. “Guards, take the queen—”
Val lifted his head, stopping the king with one rough word. “Wait.” It was only slightly louder than a whisper.
Ballanor folded his arms, eyebrows raised. “What now?”
Val ignored the king and looked directly at the queen instead, his battered face grim but resolute. He had a strange look of acceptance, peace almost, as if he had finally reached an impossible decision.
Nim saw Alanna take a deep breath and roll her shoulders back, but before the queen could say anything, Val was speaking, looking out over the crowd.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered in his grating, broken voice.
It sounded as if he was apologizing to the crowd, but Nim saw that his eyes rested, just for a moment, directly on the queen.
Val turned to Ballanor, the weeks of his torture etched heavily across his face. He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them to gaze out at the crowd. “I confess. I did it. I wanted to be king. You were supposed to be there, to die alongside Geraint. I thought, when you were gone, she would turn to me for comfort….” The sentence seemed to have exhausted him, but he swallowed and continued, his voice almost too faint to hear. “But you must believe me, there is no reason for me to lie when I tell you, Queen Alanna had nothing to do with it.”
“Hmm.” The king sighed loudly. “You sound so very sincere, I almost do want to believe you. But someone had to contact the Verturians. Someone that they would trust. We have enough evidence to convict her, no matter what you say.”
Val was sagging heavily against his chains, and Nim wondered whether he was going to pass out, but his rasping voice was resolute. “Queen Alanna did nothing wrong. No matter what you do to me, I’ll keep telling you the same thing. She. Is. Innocent.”
“She is a traitor!” Ballanor said loudly, his voice rising with annoyance. “Why not just be done with this tiresome game and admit the truth—she’ll hang now, whatever you say.”
The words seemed to suck the last remaining fight out of Val. Beside her, Tristan’s scales flashed around his throat and up the sides of his face.
Her eyes prickled with hot tears of despair and rage. There was nothing anyone could do for either of them. Not against a king that convicted his subjects in their absence, without a Justice.
“No.” Keely’s melodic voice was grim with determination as she climbed to her feet, shaking her head. “No.”
The whole court focused on her as she continued. “I did it.”
She turned and looked at Alanna as she finished, “Val ismylover. We planned it together. The queen never had anything to do with it.”
Whispers and shocked conversations broke out across the room as Keely stood, trembling but defiant.
This changed everything. Ballanor couldn’t find Alanna guilty after two public confessions exonerating her. If he went ahead with her execution, he would massively undermine his own rule while guaranteeing swift and violent reprisals from Verturia. And by the mottled red climbing his neck, he knew it.
“No!” Alanna’s voice was too high, hysterical almost. “Please, no.” The queen tried desperately to step toward her maid, but her guards held her firm.
Keely stood resolute. She lifted her chin, her voicing firming. “It was me. I hated this kingdom, and I hated this court. I’ve detested every minute of the time I’ve spent here.” By the look of loathing she gave Ballanor as she spoke, Nim could easily believe that this, at the very least, was true.
And so could everyone else.
