His expression remained hard, completely unforgiving. The kingsfae behind my guardian looked the same.
They were all working against me. I had no allies. No friends. No family. I hadno oneexcept for the horrific male who had murdered my mother and taken me from her in cold blood.
“And what of him?” I jerked my chin toward my guardian. “He murdered my mother when I was an infant so he could take me as his own. What charges are being brought againsthim?”
My guardian laughed. Actuallylaughed. “Elowen, enough with the hysterics. I never murdered your mother, as you well know. You’re just lucky you’re not in more trouble for lying since you knew the prince was the Dark Raider.”
“I didn’t know that because he’s not.”
The kingsfae grumbled again. “All right, I’ve had enough. Take her and get out,” he said gruffly to my guardian.
“Gladly. I do apologize for her behavior.” Guardian Alleron gripped me again, then hauled me to the processing desk. I tried to fight him, tried to work free of him, but his grip only strengthened, and I knew the only way he would release me was if I used my magic.
But if I did that here and now, they’d arrest me too.
I wanted to fall to the floor. To cry. Wail. Sob. I wanted to do all of those things, but I couldn’t.
My mate was being tried as the Dark Raider. He would likely hang, and if I got arrested and shoved into a jail cell, then I couldn’t do anything to help him.
I had to get myself together and think. Therehadto be a way out of this.
And as the female sitting at the processing desk handed me the parchment form to fill out, the form that I would submit to request freedom from my guardian, it hit me like lightning what I needed to do.
I glanced down at the parchment, at the questions and articles that would ensure my freedom now that I had complete control of my magic, but I knew as I held it, that if the courts found out what I was planning...
No. That didn’t matter. Only Jax’s freedom did.
CHAPTER 19
Guardian Alleron stood rigidly at my side, his very presence like a cloud of malice. My hands shook as I filled out the form.How has this happened? How has my guardian walked free, while Jax remains imprisoned?
I couldn’t comprehend how my mate was being held behind bars while my guardian—the most vile male I’d ever encountered, who’dmurderedmy mother—was being handed my leash once more.
“Don’t forget that line.” The processing employee pointed to a question near the end of the parchment. “Choose an option there, then sign here.”
I did as she said, then handed it back to her.
She folded it precisely and dropped it into a small slot beside her desk. A whoosh of magic sucked it away through a narrow channel that disappeared into the floor. “We’ll be in touch with your court date.”
I clasped my hands tightly in front of me to hide my trembling. “How will I be notified?”
“Via dillemsill, like we do for all notifications.”
My guardian grabbed my elbow again, but I dug my heels into the floor. “And will that dillemsill deliver my court date to me or my guardian?”
“Since you are of legal adult age, you will both be notified.”
I breathed a sigh of relief, and my stiff stance relaxed. My guardian’s fingernails dug into my skin once more, and with a firm wrench, he whisked me from the courts, back outside, then summoned an enchanted carpet.
I stood numbly on the steps, my magic roiling inside me. Tears threatened to fill my eyes as I thought of what Jax was going through at this moment. Our bond burned hotly inside me. He was here. I was sure of that now. Somewhere in this building was my mate, and I was being whisked away.
Pain nearly closed my throat. Being parted from him was like a knife cutting through my very soul, but I vowed to free him, no matter the cost.
The hired enchanted carpet glided to a stop at the bottom of the steps. Automatically, I hurried down the stairs, then stepped dutifully onto it.
“Sit,” Guardian Alleron ordered.
Nostrils flaring, I did as he said while I contemplated my next step and tried to find a waynotto partake in the idea that had struck me at the processing desk. But if Jax was being charged, if the courts had evidence to prove that he was always gone when the Dark Raider’s crimes occurred, and if they had witnesses attesting that the Dark RaiderwasJax...
