“Seriously, Everett? You’re not going to tell me what’s going on?” I cried out.
Everett flexed his hands, adjusting his leather gloves. “It won’t be long now. They’ve just about finished setting the rack up.”
I looked over in the direction Everett was facing. Several royal guardians were walking about the stunning ruby platform I hadseen the day we had arrived at the Citrine Court. Two guardians wearing thick hide gloves were now adjusting silver hexagon chains attached to the poles that sat on opposite sides of the platform. I recognized them immediately as similar to the cold iron chains that I’d found Forrest bound in. The uneasy feeling I had experienced earlier deepened as I began to piece together what was happening around me.
“What is that for?” The words came out shakily, barely above a whisper.
“Who.” Another frustrating single-word response from the guardian.
“No. I said,whatis that for?”
Everett turned suddenly, leaning down so we were at eye level with one another. “And I said who, as in ‘who it is for.’” He stood back up, the taut, angry expression remaining on his face.
“They’re going to put someone in that. Why?” Before I could question the irritated guardian any further, loud horns trumpeted at the arrival of the royal family—King Julian, Queen Oriana, and trailing behind, Prince Sterling.
The crowd quieted as King Julian made his way up onto the platform. Queen Oriana and Prince Sterling remained together at the bottom, watching as the king began to speak.
“Thank you all for gathering here this morning. Today I have invited a special guest to join us and witness first-hand the resilience of the Citrine Court. Aurelia, my dear, would you please come and stand in front here? I would not want you to miss any of this.”
Beside me, Everett stiffened. He turned his head slightly in my direction, nodding for me to proceed. Placing his hand on my back, he escorted me just slightly back from the base of the ruby platform, stopping in front of the king.
“Many years ago, the Obsidian Court headed a war, doing its best to pit the entirety of the Crystal Isle against the Citrine Court.It saw our power and our ability to coexist with humans and was threatened by it. It attacked us relentlessly, enslaved our human comrades, and cursed our people. Despite all that, we stayed true to who we were and ultimately won. All these years later, we are still reeling from the unimaginable harm the Obsidian Court has inflicted upon our court. Even worse is that after everything we have been through, there are those living among us, fae and human, who would choose to support the oppressive Obsidian Court over the strength and piety of the Citrine Court.”
Several loud boos emanated from the crowd behind me.
“Dark monsters are walking among us, and we must be dutiful in shining our astute light of righteousness upon them, for we will not truly be able to live safely in peace until the realm is rid of every last one of them.”
Looking around me, I could see only a sea of young and old sneering at the mention of the Obsidian Court, except for one fae. She appeared to be roughly forty years old, but it was anyone’s guess how old she actually was. Her eyes were swollen and red from crying. Despite being obviously upset, no one around her seemed overly sympathetic toward her. She was clutching something that looked like a blanket to her chest. Her pain was so palpable. Watching her struggle to maintain her composure almost unsettled my own.
“Guardians. Bring out the boy.” The icy order from the king broke me from my observation of the sad fae woman.
I whipped my head back in the direction of the king just in time to see a fae boy escorted to the platform by two enormous royal guardians. I stared in disbelief as the guardians marched the child, who could be no older than thirteen, up to the platform, his wrists bound in cuffs. His face was familiar, but I couldn’t quite place where I had seen it before. Where could I possibly know this child from? Then it dawned on me: the wretched fae woman clutching the blanket—she had to be his mother.
I turned to Everett and whispered, “What is going to happen to that boy?”
Everett stared straight ahead, his face a mask of unmoving stone. “He’s being tried for practising dark arcana,” he replied bluntly. His fists clenched, his soft leather gloves creaking.
I stared blankly at Everett, trying to make sense of what he was saying. I got closer to the guardian. “You mean they’re going to discipline a child publicly for using dark arcana?”
Everett’s face softened as he stared at the ground. “No. He’s going to be executed for being an Obsidian Court sympathizer.”
My eyes felt like they were going to bulge out of my head after the words left Everett’s mouth. “Do you know what he did? He’s a child. What could a child possibly do to deserve that?”
Everett quickly placed his hand over my mouth to silence me. “If you’d shut up and listen, you’d find out.”
I jerked his hand away from my face. “You don’t need to be an asshole. I’m just asking a question,” I hissed back.
Everett pointed two fingers toward his eyes and then gestured toward the platform just as the guardians were securing the boy’s wrists in the cold iron chains that hung from the ruby platform. The boy immediately cried out in pain as the guardians wrapped the chains around his arms several times. Tears flowed down the boy’s face as he cried out, “It was only a joke! I didn’t do it, I swear!”
The fae woman I had seen earlier bolted toward the platform. She made it up only one step in the king’s direction before three royal guardians subdued her roughly on the ground.
“Please, Your Majesty!” the fae woman cried out. “I beg of you. Please do not do this. He is only a boy who plays stupid jokes. Please do not take him from me. He is all I have!”
“You’re about to see what Citrine Court justice really looks like.” The biting tone to Everett’s words did not go unnoticed by me. Whatever was about to happen, he was clearly not a fan of it either.
The king walked toward the edge of the platform, placing his hand on the hilt of the sword at his side. “The young boy before you is being tried for the following crimes: possessing dark arcana, use of forbidden dark arcana, placing a curse on another fae…” The king held a long pause, then made sure to look the mother in the eye when he said the next words. “And treason—for his work as an Obsidian Court spy.” He made his way back over to the writhing boy in chains. “How do you plead to these charges?”
The boy broke down and cried, “I’ve already told you everything. I didn’t curse anyone. It was just a joke! I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt!”
