It was what my father had told me, too. That they called the ancients when the kings couldn’t agree. We were here because of Caleb and I remembered what my father told me, but I couldn’t help not liking him. We were here because he refused to agree with King Helmut on this matter.
I looked around, and I found many eyes on me. It made me feel uncomfortable, and I shifted in my chair.
“They only stare because they see their beloved king, Elena.”
I nodded.
“We are here today to decide on the fate of Jako Lemuir and Tanya Le Frey,” the first judge, with the white in his robe, began the hearing.
“It’s now Aganon,” the judge in the middle corrected him. Mom got remarried?
“My mom’s here too,” I whispered to King Helmut.
“Your mother’s dragon. They tracked her down.”
My heart pounded as the judge spoke.
Dad entered, wearing a robe with copper woven in the black. He sat on one chair in the middle. He found my gaze and winked.
A blonde woman wearing a black and green robe plopped in the chair next to him. It was her, the woman from my picture. She glared at the five on the podium and crossed her arms.
“We are here to discuss the role you two played in the Malone’s deaths,” the first judge said.
“We didn’t play any role in their deaths, you idiot,” Tanya snarled.
“Tanya,” Dad hissed.
“We had a mission to get the princess to safety as none of your bloody Moon-Bolts could see who was going to betray them.”
“So you claim,” the first judge spoke in a sterner tone.
My heart pounded. A cold and dark ambience hung in the air and it turned my gut. I didn’t like this feeling at all. “What is this?” I whispered to King Helmut.
“Where’s your proof?” the judge in the middle asked.
“I am the queen’s dragon. No matter how much you try to erase that fact. We are the first dent. I demand some respect.”
What is a dent?
“Was the queen’s dragon? And there is no proof you were her dent,” the first judge said.
Tanya laughed and shook her head.
“You lost that privilege when you left her side almost sixteen years ago,” the first one carried on.
“You don’t have to remind me when—”
“And left her to die. She is no longer with us, and we are here to find out what part you played in the assassination of the Malone royal bloodline. So you better readjust that anger inside of you and start speaking the truth.”
“The truth, what truth, your truth? You condemn us the minute we fly through those walls.”
She was feisty.
“Tanya, you went into hiding,” the first one sneered.
“Because I dealt many times with you next to Catherine’s side. I know what is brewing in those evil little minds of yours.” She pointed at all five of them. “You condemn everything that makes little sense to you.”
“Why would Catherine keep something like a child a secret?” Caleb stood up behind us, and Helmut sighed. His jaw muscles pumped as his nostrils flared.
