He takes my hands in his and leans down to press his lips to mine.
“It’s a misunderstanding,” he says. “We’ll go together. We’ll sort it out.”
I pull on a dress and push my hair back. In the mirror above the basin, I see a woman who looks afraid. I lift my chin and walk out with Korr.
The guard leads us through the Highhalls corridor to the lift, down one level, and into the Corehalls. I’ve never been inside the council chamber. He stops at a pair of tall doors carved with geometric patterns and pushes them open.
The room is vast. The ceiling climbs so high it disappears into shadow, pale gray stone veined with runs of quartz that catch the light from iron fixtures along the walls. Everything about the space is designed to press down on whoever stands in the center of it. At the far end, a dais rises two steps above the main floor, and on the dais sits a long table of dark polished stone with five high-backed chairs behind it.
The Council of Five is seated. A human man occupies the center chair, middle-aged, with a trimmed beard and hands folded on the table. Two female golems sit to his left, two male golems to his right. All five of them watch us enter with curious expressions.
There are officials along the walls, guards posted at the doors, and two figures standing to the side of the dais.
My legs buckle under me, and I hold onto Korr’s arm to stay upright.
Bran’s parents are here. How? I don’t… I can’t process this…
They’re here, inside the council chamber in Steinheim, inside this mountain, in the last place on Alia Terra where they should’ve known to look for me.
My ex-father-in-law stands with his arms crossed over his chest. His jaw is set, and he’s looking at me with disdain so familiar it makes me flinch. His gaze drops to my earrings, then moves to the diamond necklace around my neck, and the numerous bracelets and rings that adorn my wrists and fingers. His expression curdles. In Tessana, I couldn’t afford a copper ring. Now I’m dripping with diamonds my new husband gifts me every day, and I can see how much he hates me for it.
My ex-mother-in-law points at me and shrieks.
“That’s her! The woman who poisoned our son!”
One of the male golems on the council raises a hand. Her voice cuts off, though she keeps pointing, her arm shaking.
“Approach,” the human councilman says.
Korr walks forward, and I follow him because his arm around my waist is the only thing keeping me on my feet. The room tilts and my vision narrows. I am doing my best not to faint. I thought I was rid of these awful people, but they’ve found me, and just the sight of them brings back all the abuse I endured. I thought I was healed. I thought Korr, with his love and kindness, had cleansed my body and mind of the things these people and their son had done to me, but it seems I’ve been a fool. The second they’re back in my life, in my space, I feel myself become the victim they made me.
“These two individuals have traveled to Steinheim to bring accusations before this council,” one of the female golems says. “They claim that you, Sorina Veld, now Thaldren, murdered their son, your former husband, by poison. They further allege that you killed several other men in the city of Tessana using the same method.” She pauses. “What do you have to say?”
I can’t speak. I open my mouth, but nothing comes out. It’s like my mind has been wiped clean. I look at Bran’s father, and he stares back with open contempt. I look at his wife, shaking with grief and fury, this woman who took her son’s side every time, who saw my bruises and never once asked where they came from and if I was okay.
“I didn’t…” That’s all I manage.
Korr steps forward. He moves between me and the council, and his body blocks everything out. If I want to see the council or the two people accusing me, I have to peer out from behind him. I don’t.
“My wife would never do such a thing,” he says. “These people are liars. I can see they’re in pain over the loss of their son, and I won’t dismiss that. But grief is not a license to accuse an innocent woman of murder.”
The council listens to him. They know him. This is Korr Thaldren, whose father died in the mine. His family has given much to the citadel, and the citadel will support him.
“I take full responsibility for my wife,” he says. “She did not harm anyone. She was the one who was harmed.”
He turns toward Bran’s parents. The mother is crying now, her hand lowered. The father hasn’t moved.
“Sorina told me what your son did to her,” Korr says. “He was violent. He hurt her the entire time they were married.”
He points at the father.
“And you hurt her. I saw the bruises you left on her body.”
My stomach drops. He believes every word he’s saying. He’s standing in front of the governing council of Steinheim and declaring my innocence with a certainty that doesn’t waver. I didn’t even tell him that much about my past. Only that I was married before, that my husband died, and the bruises he saw had been inflicted by my ex’s father. Korr didn’t push for moreinformation, and he’s not questioning me even now, when two people have traveled half the world to find me and accuse me.
He turns back to the parents, and the sound that comes out of him is low and animal, a growl that makes the guards at the door shift their weight.
“Leave Steinheim,” he says. “Don’t ever set foot inside this mountain again. If you do, I’ll make sure you pay for what your son did to my wife.”
