“And did you force him, coerce him, or trick him in any way into giving you that mark?” the young man asked.
“No.” I held his gaze, understanding now that he must have truth magic. It was a powerful magic to have, and very rare.
He kept his purple-eyed gaze steady on me. “Did you haveanythingto do with his death?”
“No,” I said, holding his gaze.
The young man sighed and nodded before peering at the others. “She speaks the truth.”
“Cassian, this is outrageous!” the lead Watcher said. “Ask her what Regalis said, ask her why he gaveher the mark. Was he drunk? Did someone pay him? Is this some plot?”
For a split second, I saw fear flash across the blond man, Cassian’s, face, then just as quickly it was gone.
Cassian peered at me. “Did the man who gave you that mark speak to you? Did he say anything about why he would give the most prestigious magical honor in our world to a dirty Dreg rat?”
His words were nasty, but his tone was not. It was like he was trying to be mean but couldn’t.
I risked everything then, trying to read his facial cues, which were telling me not to say the truth now. They were telling me to lie.
“No. He didn’t say a word.” I lied.
Cassian’s nostrils flared slightly. “Truth,” he told the men. “We will never know what my brother was thinking when he did this, but the fact remains she has a legal right to the trial.”
The Watchers began to argue then, and that’s when I saw her.
Out of the corner of my eye, a streak of red: Corvessa Solvaris, magistrate of all of Aerlyn. I’d never seen her up this close, only waving from a balcony on Flag Day. She was much prettier in person. Not a day over forty years old, with long chocolate-brown hair, red-painted lips, and a tight red dress. A golden capewas draped over her shoulders and dragged behind her as she walked.
My gaze flew to the prominent Solvaris heir mark on her chest: a sunburst inside of her triangle magic user mark.
She gave me a pinched smile, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “What’s going on out here—” Her gaze fell to the mark on my chest, and the temperature dropped thirty degrees.
Literally.
They called her the ice queen; she had control over the weather. I heard she could light a man on fire with her mind or freeze her enemies where they stood. I always thought it was a lie. Until now.
“Why is she wearingthat?” she snarled as her gaze fell to my chest.
The younger man, Cassian, threw his hand out my way, and suddenly my ears felt muffled. The Watchers, the magistrate, and Cassian got into a heated conversation, with me only being able to attempt to read lips. All sound had been blocked from reaching my ears.
Sewer rat, magic, trial, no way in Hades. It seemed like the magistrate didn’t want me to enter the trial, but Cassian was saying…mark, cause rebellion, will die in the first week…
The Watchers still seemed to be implicating me in the murder of the Draven heir, Regalis.
She was there. Sponsor mark. Murder.
My ears popped, and then I could suddenly hear.
“—and you questioned her?” the magistrate asked Cassian, a murderous gleam in her eye.
“Of course I did. She had nothing to do with my brother’s murder. She’s innocent, or I would have killed her right where she stands,” he stated, and a chill went down my spine.
“She’s hardly innocent, Cassian. She clearly broke into the city last night. I can throw her in the mines for such an infraction.” The magistrate moved towards me, and I wondered if I was supposed to be hearing this or not. It seemed likely not.
Cassian’s hand snaked out and grasped her upper arm lightly.
“With all due respect, you cannot throw her into the mines.”
The magistrate laughed, a barking tone. “She’s a rat with a mark on her chest. I can, and I will. Remove this?—”
