The doors to the throne room open, and I step inside to meet that fate.
Chapter 25
Morgana
Two hundred people turn toward us, the crowd framing the pair of thrones at the head of the room. There’s more than I expected—more than the day I was presented at court—and my heart skips a beat at the sight of them. Oclanna sits in the throne on the left, the oak leaf design curling up either side of her head, while her husband Jocor is in the one beside her.
I haven’t seen her since she became queen. I’m surprised to find she’s wearing the same crown my mother wears in her portrait, the green jewels shining in the light. I wonder if that’s what Queen Elowen looked like holding court. If that’s whatI’lllook like, if I survive this.
Then Oclanna sees who has interrupted her audience.
Her eyes widen for just a second, before freezing, her gaze growing cold as ice. Gone is the facade of the sympathetic aunt who promised to guide me through my new life, gone is the pretense of being a grieving sister. I see her for what she is now: a murderer and a traitor to her own family.
“I’m going to enjoy this,”I say to Leon, despite my nerves.
“Your Majesty, I’ve brought—” Captain Drisha tries to get there before me, but Sophos silences him. In fact, he cuts off all sound from the court for a moment, silencing everyone except myself and the two people seated at the front of the room, so no one can interrupt us. So they have to listen to the conversation between me and the people who conspired to kill my parents.
“Hello, Aunt,” I say, striding down the central aisle, stopping halfway down the room for maximum visibility.
“What is she doing in here?” Jocor rises from his chair, pointing a finger at me. “Arrest her!”
But Captain Drisha’s eyes are on Oclanna, waiting forherorder, and so far, she’s stayed silent.
“For what crime?” I demand, my voice echoing through the room.
Jocor isn’t expecting this. He probably assumed I’d cut straight to trying to attack Oclanna, not ask questions. He looks to his wife for answers.
“To begin with, for the murder of your parents, conspiring with a foreign nation, and for the sin of heresy,” Oclanna says. She’s more collected than her husband.Shemight not have expected this, but she’s prepared.
I search for any sign of discomfort as she lies through her teeth, but perhaps by now she’s repeated these falsehoods about me so many times she almost believes them. She at least genuinely thinks I’m a heretic. Perhaps that’s how she justifies all of this. Now that I’ve been revealed to be an aberration, there’s no reason for any guilt.
“Wrong on all counts, Aunt,” I say. “Firstly?—”
“Silence!” Jocor shouts, looking around at the court. “This is ridiculous. Someonearrest her!”
I catch a flicker of movement to my left. General Becane, the head of the royal armies, is at the edge of the crowd by the aisle. His eyes are on Captain Drisha, and he gives the captain a little shake of his head. He’s telling Drisha not to make any moves yet, to let this play out without interference.
That one, tiny gesture gives me a surge of confidence.
“I’ve come here to prove my innocence,” I almost shout over Jocor’s protests. “If you’re so eager to silence me, it begs the question of what you have to hide.”
“Or it shows that we don’t pander to blasphemers and murderers in this court, Morgana,” Oclanna answers. She shakes her head. “So sad, to think anyone could be drawn in by your deceptions. Even my sister, rest her soul, had no idea the plot you organized against her.”
She’s a good actress, I’ll give her that. I suppose she had to be, to pretend all those years she loved my mother when she wanted her dead.
I feel the eyes of the court on me. There’s fear and anger in too many of those eyes. If we’re going to go any further, I need to buy us some breathing room. The court won’t hear me out unless I play by the rules.
“Claim whatever you want, Aunt, but it won’t change anything. I’m here to challenge you for the throne, as is my right as heir.”
I feel a stab of cruel satisfaction as Oclanna grows a fraction paler. She felt safe with a court full of nobles between us. She didn’t think I’d do something as risky as suggesting a challenge,a one-on-one fight where I won’t have any fearsome allies to protect me—but then she’s not seen me for the better part of a year. She doesn’t know how much I’ve changed.
“Get out,” Oclanna hisses, and I fight to hide my smile as she starts to lose her cool. She looks around at her court, everyone frozen in their place, until her eyes land on a man in red robes in the corner. I can only guess he’s the palace cleric they’ve got to replace Nunias after Tira killed him during Otscold’s purge.
“Anointer Robik, don’t you have anything to say about this heretic invading our court?” she demands.
“Oh…” Sophos has returned sound to the court, and the anointer tugs at his cap nervously, looking like a rabbit caught in a trap as his eyes flicker from Oclanna to Sophos. “I…um…”
When it’s clear the anointer is too confused by the presence of the bearer by my side to know whether to step in, Oclanna makes an aggravated growl and turns to look at General Becane instead. “If you don’t arrest this girl now, Becane, I’ll see you join her in the dungeons.”
