Chapter Twenty-Eight
JOON
Violet doesn’t argue when I summon the fae road as we ride toward the palace in the early morning. Imugi drapes themselves over my shoulders, while the other demon has insisted on Violet holding them in her arms.
It is well into midmorning by the time we make it back. Mingi and Iseul wait on horseback just beyond the gated entrance to the capital, riding out to meet us the moment they spot us.
Mingi hands me a pouch holding my crown. I put it on, but the weight of it feels strange. I have worn it less and less over the recent weeks, and now it no longer feels like mine.
“You will have to go straight to the Central Court. The king and the council are waiting.”
Iseul opens her arms to the demon. They leap across to her. She catches them, hiding them in the folds of her cloak as we near the gate.
“What happened?”
“I am not sure. No one has spoken a word about it. I don’t even think most of the council knows,” Mingi admits.
“There were whispers of you presenting her to the court earlier,” Iseul interjects. “I thought it was strange because neither of you mentioned it, and you’d already left.”
“We think it’s a ruse… However, we haven’t figured out who is behind it or what they are trying to accomplish,” Mingi finishes.
When we reach the entrance to the Central Court, I dismount, then turn and take Violet by the waist, lifting her down without thought.
“Wait here,” I order Mingi and Iseul.
“Be careful,” Iseul says.
I take Violet’s hand and lead her forward. She glances at me, entwining our fingers. Her honey-brown eyes fill with apprehension, but she squeezes my hand as if to offer me comfort. I return the gesture.
A sinking feeling settles in my stomach. I have always had enemies, yet this is more than stirring up rumors and creating unrest among the people. We are walking in blind to the accumulation of a devious plot coming to fruition.
The entrance to the building is dark, with few lanterns lit at the far end. The moment we are both inside, the door slams shut behind us, and more lights flare to life.
Violet is ripped from my grasp as several guards seize her by the arms, restraining her as if she were a dangerous criminal.
Her eyes go wide with fear.
I summon my power, knowing it shines in my eyes like a threat as I round on the King’s Guard. “What do you think you are doing?”
If they are fazed, none show any sign of it.
A woman steps forward. The silver dragon feather dangling from her hat marks her as the chief guard. “His Majesty and the council are waiting for you, Your Highness. We are to ready Lady Hawthorn before bringing her in.”
Not even I can go directly against the king’s orders.
I scowl. “Very well.”
I must don the mantle of the heartless prince they expect. The one they have always known. Cold. Wicked. Murderous.
It is a role that no longer comes naturally as it once did—one I no longer wish to play.
She has changed me more than I realized.
I leave her in their custody as if doing so is the easiest thing in the world to do.
Servants scatter out of my way as I stride through the halls. I don’t even slow as I approach the throne room. With a look, a man scrambles to open the door in time.
Officials and nobles line both sides of the center aisle. All heads turn as I enter, but I pay them no heed. My full attention is on my uncle, the interim king.
He sits back on the throne with his legs crossed and his hands resting atop his knees.
“What is the meaning of this?” I demand.
The king straightens at my tone, planting both feet on the floor. “I am relieved to see you have returned at last, Nephew.”
“Why has my wife been arrested?”
He moves with exaggerated slowness. Entirely too relaxed.
“I intended to surprise you both by presenting her to the court last night when you returned from your little joy ride.” Disdain fills the last two words.
“However, something has been brought to my attention that cannot go unaddressed.” The king gestures to the throne beside him.
“It seems we are to have a trial instead.”
For the moment, he is no longer my uncle but King Sameun.
The game is in full motion—there is no stopping it now. All I can do is play along.
I climb the steps and take my place, settling into the uncomfortable throne.
The king motions to the guard standing right inside the door, who signals to the others waiting outside.
There’s a commotion of rough voices and the clink of metal. A guard drags Violet in by chains, leading her to the foot of the dais where I stood a moment ago.
“Kneel,” he snarls, kicking the back of her legs.
Her knees hit the floor with a hard crack. Though I do not allow myself to react, I take careful note of his face, burning his visage into my memory.
“Minister Ilseong, you may begin,” my uncle says.
The official steps forward, practically preening with arrogance. “This woman is guilty of treason against the crown.”
He turns to Minister Molan. She holds a small wooden box I am all too familiar with. He takes it and presents it for everyone to see.
I already know what is inside before he opens it.
A flawless pearl, identical to my own before the curse shattered it. Without my power to infuse it, the thing sits dull and lifeless on a bed of pale blue silk—an obvious fake to any who lays eyes on it.
And it is mine.
“This was found among her things,” Minister Ilseong says, twisting to allow the room to see before returning to address the king again. “She is accused of deceiving His Highness.”
He looks at me with a challenge in his eye, daring me to call him on the lie. We are both aware that he found it in my room.
If he came to the court, accusing me, without proof—something that would only implicate him in violating my privacy—I would deny it, and none would side with him against the Crown Prince.
So, he is attacking me in the only way he can—through Violet.
If she is found guilty, then she will die right here.
Murmurs erupt throughout the room. Their words and suspicions build on each other. Voices rise, matching their growing outrage.
My uncle lets it go on for longer than necessary before finally motioning for silence.
Only Imugi and Violet knew of its existence. I have not even shared this secret with Mingi or Iseul.
All it would take from me is a few simple words, admitting it is mine, to prove her innocence.
Yet, to do so would spell disaster. To hide something like that is unthinkable.
The pearls are the source of the royal family’s power.
Sacred. This is not a simple copy, but a forgery meant to deceive the people of Arum and even the guardians of the past. They are part of us, not a thing to be kept in a box.
The implications of the Crown Prince in possession of such an object would reveal my secret—that I am cursed and without my pearl.
Violet’s crimes are breaking the old laws, which she has paid for with her bargain to me. Everything she has said and done since then has been to make up for it.
Violet glares at Minister Ilseong as he spews his lies.
She could easily deny it.
The only thing she cannot do is speak of the curse—our bargain would prevent it, but she does not move or attempt to speak in her defense. Yet she does not.
“There is more, Your Majesty,” Minister Ilseong says. He waits for the signal to continue. “She has been seen acting in an unqueenly manner, consorting with servants.”
Demons damn him to the Otherworld. Of course he would learn of the incident in the kitchens.
“Do you honestly expect me to believe that she is plotting against me because she—” I pause, flicking a glance at her. “—is kind to the servants?”
Some of the nobility and other officials chuckle among themselves.
“My pearl and the power within it chose her. Yet you stand here and spout these vile accusations against her, knowing full well that any human, so long as they are willing, may be selected—regardless of their status.” I scoff.
“That woman would turn the people against you—she is not to be trusted! Her every action is an insult to undermine the crown.” Minister Ilseong half-shouts, unable to restrain himself.
“She may not have been born to nobility as the rest of us, but she has proven herself more than worthy of being my wife. The only insult is the presumption that you have taken it upon yourself to decide what I should find insulting.”
“Enough!” King Sameun bellows. “While it is certainly undignified to consort with servants as equals, it is not a crime. Present your evidence of her crime, Minister Ilseong, so we may make a judgment.”
The minister’s face distorts as if he naturally expected my uncle to side with him, no matter what he said, simply because his position grants him the king’s ear.
“I believe she planned to steal His Highness’s real pearl and replace it with the forgery she created.”
Again, murmurs break out all around the room. Growing as they turn to discuss the seriousness of the accusation among themselves.
I adopt an overly relaxed posture, practically lounging back on my throne. But inside, I seethe.
No one points out the numerous weak points in his argument that do not align with how the magic of the pearl works, how nothing he says is evidence, but baseless speculation.
No one speaks in her defense. Because Violet is human.
Could this be the reason Uncle suggested I present her early? To weaken any argument my enemies might cling to.
I am a fool for not heeding his earlier advice.
“She has no access or ability to create such things,” I point out in a mocking tone. “Especially when she has spent so much of her time under careful watch.
“A witch is capable of doing so unnoticed. Even within the palace walls.” Minister Ilseong is relentless.
“She is human.” It’s growing ever more challenging to keep my temper in check.
Ilseong looks to King Sameun again as if expecting a specific response. “If that is so, then she clearly conspired with a witch and brought it with her.”
“What evidence do you have that led you to that conclusion?” the king asks.
It is not the response the official was hoping for. I straighten in my seat. Minister Ilseong will continue to talk in circles, falsely accusing her, until he gets what he wants. But I have no intention of allowing it to go that far.
He moves to stand beside her. “Well, that is merely conjecture. However, there is no other explanation for why she possesses a forbidden forgery. That treasonous act alone is enough to warrant her death.” His hand shoots out and yanks her head back by the hair.
A dagger appears in his hand. The metal glints with malice as he brandishes the blade against her throat. “I call for her immediate execution!”
King Sameun is silent for a long moment. I know his answer before he moves to speak. There are laws that even kings and queens are subject to.
“No,” I say calmly, rising to my feet and descending the stairs.
I take my time. Our audience holds its breath, waiting to see what I will say, what I will do. I stalk toward the Minister of Justice.
“I think it was you,” I say. The man sputters, but I don’t give him the opportunity to speak. “Do you believe I haven’t heard the whispered rumors you spread? Or the ways you choose to speak out against me for years?”
“That-that’s—” The look on his face makes it clear he believed I had not been aware of his movements all this time. That I was oblivious to his machinations. Too weak and too stupid to figure it out.
I lean in to whisper so only he can hear, “Did you think I wouldn’t find out how you sent people to murder her in the streets or the demons you lured into the gardens?”
His eyes bulge, and he looks to the king in panic. But my uncle does nothing. It’s more than enough to cement my suspicions.
The recent threats to Violet’s life, and now this farce, were too manufactured and too close together to be coincidental. All of it was his doing. I straighten.
“And now, you plant this abomination among her things, where it happens to be discovered so you can stage this trial as yet another way to undermine me.”
I turn his lie back on him. We can see the truth of it in each other’s eyes.
The silence in the room is heavy.
Now, he knows what it is like to have no one come to his defense.
Minister Ilseong knows he has lost. If he changes his story now, it will only make his guilt that much worse.
I lift a hand to shoulder height, keeping my eyes locked on his.
A jagged crystal of ice forms under my palm.
It flies through the air and finds its mark in the chest of the guard who kicked Violet.
Shouts of alarm fill the room. Ilseong gasps and turns to look.
But my hand is already around his throat, squeezing until he releases Violet.
His weapon drops with a clang against the marble as he grapples uselessly against my grip, trying to pry himself free.
My fingers elongate, turning into razor-sharp talons. The tips press into his skin, slowly piercing. Hot blood seeps from the wounds. I pull his power from it, then send it back into him.
The power of the bargain commanding me to protect her is a weak pull, smothered by my own will.
The quiet crackle begins in his throat, first cutting off any ability to make a sound. It moves into the muscles of his limbs, then his organs. I let the ice form slowly. Painfully. Only when he passes out do I let it consume his lungs and heart, then over his skin until he is encased in ice.
It is not the enchanted ice of the Winter Dragon but of the undeniable death of a traitor.
I release him. His frozen body crashes against the floor with a hard crack.
Violet whimpers and shies away from her would-be murderer. She is pale, and her eyes are wide. I offer her my hand. Slowly, she pries her gaze away from the minister’s body.
For once, I cannot read her expression. Is it for what Ilseong would have done to her or for what I did to him?
I crouch and grip the irons chained around her wrist. With a burst of power, I freeze them and twist, shattering them into a thousand pieces between us.
This time, she takes my hand and rises to her feet, holding her head high.
I turn and stalk halfway up the dais steps before facing the room, pulling Violet along, refusing to let her go.
“I am still your Crown Prince. I am not so easily tricked by words or schemes,” I announce to the room. “I alone will decide her guilt as well as any punishment.”
Violet’s grip on my hand tightens. Her skin is cold to the touch. I can feel the small tremors that vibrate through her.
Her fear infuriates me.
“She is first and foremost my wife, and she is to be treated with the respect of her position. If anyone dares to speak out against her or attempt to harm her in any way, then expect to meet the same fate as Minister Ilseong.”
With that, we make our way down the center aisle. Each official and noble bows deeply as we pass.