Chapter Sixteen #2
“What I now believe to be true is that Callidora bedded one of the faeriken and convinced him over pillow talk to whisk her away to Wind and Wild, where she’d be a go-between for her family and Shadowsoul.
They spy on our kingdom in exchange for wealth and riches.
That’s the only explanation for the millions’ worth of jewels, gold, and treasure discovered upon search of their home. ”
Anger laced his tone, but it wasn’t for the loss of his war wife or child. I’d come to know this monster too well over the last sixteen years to mistake his true feelings. Kirwan was angry... at my mother.
I suspected the minute those jewels arrived, she quit working as a war wife, and dumped Kirwan in the trash where he belonged. He could no longer delude himself into thinking they were in love, when the door kept slamming in his face.
Finding the crest on the treasures gave him his ultimate wish—ensuring that if my mother didn’t belong to him, she belonged to no one.
Meliora swung to me, face stricken.
I had no idea how Kirwan got her included in the charges. I assumed he did so just to cause my mother the ultimate amount of pain before the end. She would’ve known whatever trumped-up bullshit he spun to get a young woman executed, but I couldn’t ask her.
By law—Salman’s law—the accused weren’t allowed to speak in this room, and naturally, the entire trial from start to finish always took place in this very room. Meaning, she couldn’t speak one word in her defense while these uncaring monsters spouted lies and determined her fate.
Salman truly was a vile man.
“Thank you, Lord Dawnbreaker.” The priestess inclined her bare head. “Now, Queen Emiana, what have you to say for these women?”
“I have only the truth, O Holy One, for I dare not speak anything else into Meya’s ears,” I replied.
“There is another explanation for this money, and I shall tell it to you. I sent these treasures to Aya Olene because Callidora wouldn’t accept it for herself.
She wanted my thanks to go to her family, precisely because she cares only for them and her responsibilities. ”
“Your thanks?” Salman questioned.
“Precisely so, Father. You see, the night before my wedding, I was targeted by an assassin who wanted nothing more than to stop the signing of the treaty, and keep Lyrica under the grip of war. It was Callidora who saved my life.”
Salman stiffened, eyes sharpening. “An assassin?” he barked. “How? Who!”
“The how was frightfully simple,” I replied.
“Poison slipped into my evening meal. You can imagine my surprise when a peasant girl burst into my chambers, screaming at me not to eat a morsel. I almost sent for the guards to have her flogged, but then she told me of the awful plot she overheard... while in the home of House Dawnbreaker.”
Kirwan’s head snapped up. “Excuse me? What did you say!?”
I sniffed. “Again my would-be assassin addresses me. You truly have no shame.”
“Would-be assass— That’s preposterous!”
“Silence,” Salman ordered.
“But, my king—”
“Silence!” Salman shoved out in front of him, bearing down on me. “Explain this. Immediately.”
“It is what I’ve said,” I replied, lifting my nose in the air.
“Callidora overheard a plot to kill me, and fulfilled her rightful duty—saving my life. It was me who asked her to come to Wind and Wild with me, not some love-addled faeriken. I did this to protect her in case Dawnbreaker figured out who foiled his plot, and attempted to kill her next.”
“These are lies!” Kirwan roared.
The advisor who spoke up before separated from the pack. “I beg King Salman, Meya, and the priestesses for pardon, but I must say, I find the accusations against Advisor Kirwan highly unlikely. He has served my king faithfully for hundreds of years.”
“Because we’ve been at war for hundreds of years,” I sliced in.
“Callidora and I have had many discussions in the months I’ve been away.
House Dawnbreaker has been the exclusive military miner and seller of coudarian crystals since the war began.
He’s profited tens of millions, but with the treaty in place and the war over, that money goes away.
“Isn’t that correct, Father?”
Salman turned on his advisor. A million emotions warred on his face, but one was clear as day—suspicion. “Yes, my child. You are correct.”
Kirwan advanced on his king, and the soldiers reacted. Swinging their swords away from my family, they leveled them on his chest.
Halting, Kirwan raised his hands, away from his weapons and crystals.
“King Salman, none of this is true. These lies are fabricated by—by—by that worthless brat, Callidora.” Kirwan half-bowed to me, suddenly capable of deference and respect.
“I do not blame you, my lady, for being taken in. Callidora is a troubled child and an accomplished liar. She’d have said anything to indebt you to herself, and beg a carriage ride out of Lyrica. ”
I scoffed. “What am I? A fool? Of course I checked her story before believing a word of it. While the poisoned food is gone and can no longer be used as evidence, there is more proof of sabotage. Proof that was witnessed before the entire court, and before you, Father.”
“What is this proof?” Salman demanded. “Tell me, child.”
My gaze swept the room, expression solemn. “My out-of-control, crazed behavior the day of the wedding. You are my beloved father,” I demurred. “You know me. You know I never would’ve behaved that way unless something horrible was done to me.”
Shocked hisses filled the room. Salman placed his body between me and Kirwan, as if he actually cared a whit about me.
“It’s true,” Salman barked. “I said myself that my Emiana wasn’t herself that day. She never would’ve behaved that way unless her mind was addled by a spell. A spell intended to destroy the marriage before it began, and nullify the treaty.” His lips peeled back from his teeth. “You.”
“No! Someone may have spelled her, but it was not me!”
I shook my head. “You stand under the judgement of Meya, and still you lie. Very well,” I said.
“Since it has come to this, I will provide my final proof. Callidora told me much in our time together, including that Kirwan bragged about slaughtering the village of Lutin, because it was discovered their homes sat on a wealth of crystals. Proof of his insatiable greed.”
I left out that Salman sanctioned that atrocity. That wasn’t something Emiana was supposed to know, nor was it something Salman would ever admit.
“But there’s more. He also—” I hitched a breath, sorrow drawing the corner of my lips down. “Father, I’m sorry to tell you this. But it was Kirwan who hunted your other sons down, and slaughtered them.”
Kirwan’s eyes bugged. “What?!”
“It was all part of his plan to leave you without an heir so that you’d be forced to make the same decision my grandparents did—give your throne to someone not of the bloodline. As your trusted advisor and supposed friend, he knew he would be at the top of your list.”
“Lies, lies, all of it, lies,” Kirwan bellowed.
“How can it be a lie?” I snapped, stepping out from behind a shaking Salman.
“Not even I knew I had half-siblings before Callidora told me what she overheard that fateful day. My father protected the information because he wanted to protect them, but he told you, didn’t he?
” I spun to Salman, hoping against hope my desperate gamble was correct. “Didn’t you, Father?”
Face a mask of shadows, Salman looked at Kirwan... and nodded. “It is so,” he rasped. “I trusted you with the knowledge and location of my only sons, and you killed them.”
“I would never!” Kirwan ran at him and was roughly thrown back.
Not a single word of defense came from behind him. His fellow advisors had distanced themselves as far back as the wall would let them. They looked at him with nothing but betrayal.
“I deny this slander utterly and without reservation,” Kirwan roared, spittle flying. “Not a word she has spoken here today is truth!”
“Very well,” I shouted over him, my voice rising partly due to him, and partly due to the screaming pain of my crushed feet. “If you deny my truth, I ask that you hear my logic.”
“Speak, child,” Salman said. “You will be heard in this place.”
“Then I say this, my final witness.” I moved toward my mother and sister, and Kirwan.
“Kirwan claims my gift for saving my life was actually payment for espionage.
To assume Aya Olene would have information valuable enough for my husband to listen to, you must assume these poor women from the Gutter had an equally valuable source.
“Who else would that source be but their war husband and father, Kirwan Dawnbreaker?”
“No,” Kirwan cried. “That’s not— You’re twisting everything!”
“Am I? Or am I merely being logical? These two could know nothing of worth unless they heard it from you.” I smiled mirthlessly. “Which would make you the spy, would it not? You’re the leak. You are the one sharing information that wasn’t meant to go further than your king’s ears.”
The advisors exchanged looks, murmuring amongst themselves. The expressions as they beheld Kirwan made him lurch back a step.
“But, no,” I said, voice heavy. “You’re not a spy for Wind and Wild, because they are not spies for Wind and Wild.
They had no opportunity to pass information from you to my husband since we married, because I will bet anything Aya Olene has refused you every single day since she received my gifted treasures.
“So, speaking only logically, how could I have been paying her to spy, if she’s refused to have anything to do with the only person worth spying on since she received said payment?”
An oppressive atmosphere smothered the room, but it wasn’t a silent one.
“She’s right.”
“The princess speaks only sense.”
“The real traitor is here, and it’s not these poor women!”
“She’s a liar!” Kirwan bellowed. “None of this is true, you must believe me!”