Page 57

A hand clapped on my shoulder. Gunter offered a grin. “Let the clan have the honor of disposing of a traitor. It will be done.”

A subtle way, no mistake, for my boyhood friend to urge me not to spill more Draven blood.

The council was silent for a long while.

Yanson cleared his throat. “This council was never meant to be made up of traitors. We vowed to always serve the best interests of our folk and follow our queen’s word. May Asmund meet the gods in humility for his error.” After a few murmurs of prayers from other councilmen, Yanson went on. “As Asmund mentioned, concern for Jorvandal taking back the melder is a legitimate issue. I suggest she is proffered freedom to move about the palace grounds but not to leave the borders of the royal land.”

I ground my teeth together. This had been expected. The refusal to allow Lyra to leave the walls was a nuisance but one we’d need to find a way around should we ever find whatever was hidden over the Night Ledges.

“I agree with Yanson,” said Kaysar, the twins’ father. “She’ll be protected here with her clan.”

A vein pulsed in my uncle’s neck when he spun on the queen. “You accept this bond, Bet? You trust it?”

Coils of darkness wrapped around Lyra on instinct, ready to pull her away should the queen falter on her own vow.

Elisabet considered Virki’s protestations for a moment. “I am never one to speak against a bond, but I can see the úlfur is discontent. So we must make our next moves with the majority word. Agreed?”

A few mumbled words of acceptance rolled down the table. Virki’s face was a shade of red like a setting sun.

“What does that mean?” Lyra whispered.

They will vote. I gestured the words briskly, jaw set. We knew this would happen.

“If they vote our bond is forbidden…” She looked to me. “I’ll fight if you will.”

Unbothered if any of the council saw, I pressed her knuckles to my lips and tucked her against my side.

“From witnesses, we know the prince and the melder fashioned a bond long ago,” the queen said. “Even with our…efforts to dissolve the connection, it was restored again. A feat believed to be impossible.

“The melder made Berserkirs for the Jorvans, a crime to our clan. Then again, she stood against them, without their knowledge, and aided the deledan soul in a scheme to find the Wanderer’s bones at the risk of her own life. Those are the truths we know. Speak your thoughts on these truths only. I will hear you now.”

My chest felt too tight to even take a breath as one by one the council cast votes. Virki and Sampson gave resounding votes against us, but so did four others. I memorized them all, marking their features, embedding the taste of their souls to my own cruelty.

Next, Yanson sighed, attention on the table. “We are a strong clan. We do not fight for glory or prestige. We fight for our folk, for our love.” With a clap to the edge of the table, Yanson looked me in the eye. “I stood against the soul rending a dozen full seasons ago and was overruled. Once again, I stand with you, my prince. And you, My Lady Lyra.”

Lyra’s cheeks filled with a splotchy red, but she gave a jerky nod. Five more after Yanson.

Six stood against us. Six stood with us.

The final word belonged to the queen. Elisabet smoothed her hands down her gown and looked to me. “I have nothing to say, save for who am I to stand in the way of fate?”

Virki’s fist clenched over the table. “Elisabet—”

She held up a hand, silencing him again. “My son has taken a wife. And she is now of Dravenmoor.”

Those who stood with the queen and Yanson pounded fists over their chest. Those who had been overruled overturned their drinking horns, spilling out the ale or wine onto the floorboards. Nearly as one, they placed the horns on their sides, then pressed fists to their chests much the same.

A symbol of being overruled, but accepting the word of the clan.

All except Virki.

My uncle rounded the table to my mother’s side. I shoved Lyra behind me, but Virki stopped his pursuit ten paces away.

He jabbed a finger at my mother. “This will do nothing but put our people at risk. Lives were lost to see to it melding craft never infected Dravenmoor again.”

“I’m wholly aware of those who died, Virki.” The queen lifted her chin in a touch of defiance. “The woman is part of my household now, and she will be afforded the titles, the protection, and the respect proffered to this house.”

It took a moment, but Virki sniffed and nodded. “Very well. As you see to your house, I am within my rights to see to mine. I demand my wife’s daughter be returned to my household.”