Come for me.
She knew he couldn’t hear her. But she sent the thought anyway, half prayer, half command. The judge lifted a hand, and the murmur in the gallery cut off at once. He said calmly, “I will remind all present here that there is to be no disrespect in this chamber. This is justice, not a spectacle. Anyone found to disrupt proceedings will face punishment.”
The hush was absolute after that.
At least they won’t cheer this time.
He looked down at her, his face composed and deliberately blank.
“Karalynna Hale, you have been tried by the High Council of Vallenna,” he said calmly. “Found guilty of high treason contrary to the Arcanth Accords, the unlawful assistance of a known traitor, the unauthorised possession of sacred relics, and of causing magical harm to our land.”
The judge paused – not cruelly, but with deliberate weight. Kara stared up at him.
“As you were not the one to steal the Shards of the Arcanth,” he said at last, “I considered other sentences. Exile. Life imprisonment.”
For a moment, Kara thought there was a sliver of hope. Maybe–
“But the betrayal of duty runs too deep. You were sworn to uphold this Council’s trust, and instead you aided its greatest enemy. The harm caused cannot be undone, nor the danger to this realm overlooked.”
His face hardened. “It is right and proper that the crime of treason carries one sentence. And so, it is my duty to pass it.”
The world seemed to hold its breath.
“You are hereby sentenced to death by fire. The execution will take place in the Citadel courtyard–”
The courtyard. The stake. Cade’s voice in her mind.
Breathe it in.
Her vision blurred. Her mind was back there, rope tight around her chest, heat on her face–
“–at midday tomorrow.”
Her knees did give this time, her throat closed and she fell, gasping. The guard caught her and gently put her hands back on the plinth, helping her stand upright.
Stand up. Don’t let them see you break.
She forced herself to breathe. But the words had landed – cold, sharp and real.
Fire. Midday. Tomorrow.
She had been right – there was no cheer this time. No gasps or whistles or cries. Only silence. The crowd didn’t dare. They simply stared at her. Hundreds of people staring in judgement, cold and detached. Like she’d already fallen. She had never felt more alone in her life. She searched, desperately, for one person who didn’t want her dead. And her gaze found a familiar face.
Alys.
Her cousin’s hands were clenched tight around the railing, tears streaking down her cheeks. She didn’t look away, didn’t flinch when Kara’s eyes met hers. She shook her head once, fiercely, like she was willing the judge to say something different.
The judge gave a nod towards the guards. “Return her to the cells. Make the necessary preparations.”
Kara didn’t protest. What else was there left to say? She didn’t look back at the Council. Didn’t look at the judge. Alys’s horrified face was lost to the crowd. The words echoed over and over –midday tomorrow, midday tomorrow– until they lost all meaning. But one thing stayed clear.
Sebastian.
Her mind reached for him. No one else. Just him. His face. His voice. The feel of his hand on hers. If these were her last hours – he was what she would carry through them. The only thing she could bear to think of. She let the memory of him wrap around her, to protect her.
The trees broke at the ridge, and there it was.
Vallenna City.
