22. Chapter 22
Chapter twenty-two
The council chambers were not what I had been expecting. I had imagined dark and gloomy cells and stuffy rooms.
Instead, an airy cavern like a temple greeted me. Bright white stonework wrapped around cool grey pillars, arches and alcoves punctuated every space. Tall ceilings and elegant stone carvings completed the ornate chambers.
I was escorted to a rotunda with a circular dais in the centre. Murmurs filled the room at my presence before I took to the stage when prompted.
The entire room had been designed like a work of art.
The marbled flooring was in alternating concentric circles of black and white, each slab cut to the shape of feathers.
Every wall was inlaid with gold veining, and twelve arches spanned the upper level.
The glass dome above was impressively beautiful, but the heat of the sun boring down on me with its eye was nearly unbearable.
The periwinkle blue dress I wore was a mistake.
Its many layers and long sleeves were now causing me to boil inside it.
A council member sat in each of the arched frames on the upper level. I felt like an insect under scrutiny here. No doubt that was the design of the dais placement. I recognised only Councillor Carron from the night we’d arrived. And Celeste, of course.
I had expected an interrogation of sorts. But the questions were modest. Boring almost. What sort of council was reluctant to pry? They asked my name. Where I was staying.
Eventually, a female with neat red hair pinned in a toothed clip behind her head leaned in. “And why are you here today?” She had said her name was Councillor Morgana Morningstar.
There was an eerie silence as her question hung in the rotunda, the curved walls seeming to hold her words in their stone.
Why was I here? For a moment, it occurred to me that this council was here to hear my testimony. They cared about what I would say. What my answer was.
And Kaed’s future really was in my hands. This wasn’t about whether or not they wanted to believe he acted to kill those men to save me or not. This was about whether or not I told everyone here that Kaed had done something they could use against him.
Or not.
I could have just said he kidnapped me and kept me against my will. It would destroy any chance he had of fighting the charges. So much rested with this one question.
With my answer.
And if I told them the truth, I would be free to go whenever I wanted to. I wouldn’t have to wait to escape from him when I felt the time was right.
My palms sweaty, I looked around the room and felt the weight of twelve pairs of eyes on me. Some fae, some human, all of them expectant.
I had a vague awareness that there were people here who would only be too delighted to hear that Kaed was, in fact, rotten to the core. There was a wolfishness to their stares. While others, Celeste at least, tried to convey her plea for compassion.
I wasn’t sure I saw what Denora did. Or Audrie or Celeste.
But I gave my answer regardless, turning to each council member as I spoke.
“I am here because I owe him my life.” It was the truth.
Kaed had now saved me not once but twice.
The burden of that thought soured my blood until it chugged inside of me.
The woman who’d asked the question gestured a hand in the air and flicked her fingers.
“Very well, you may release the Prince of Hayden.” Her eyes fell to me.
“But as the future Crown, you might advise your prince to restrain his darker impulses.” With a heavy gaze, she stood and smoothed the folds of her skirts.
My mouth wanted to hang open, but I clamped it shut. Had I misheard her?
A prince. Kaed?
Ushers arrived to escort me but I couldn’t move. My ears rang, shuttering out sense.
Just as Councillor Morningstar had turned to leave her alcove, another councillor rose. He was human and short in stature.
“Councillor Varris? Have you something to add?” Celeste peered from her alcove.
He snapped his teeth in a grin. “The prince may be released, but he will remain under city arrest. No Crown of the North will act without recompense.” He practically spat the words through his crooked teeth.
The council members shifted and murmured a little but didn’t say anything further.
Prince.
The undertow of my thoughts whipped me out into their current. Kaed was a prince? The Crown was his father? The last Crown of the Four Corners.
I felt rocked like a wave had just crashed over me. But I managed to steady my features as the ushers moved closer to me to escort me from the room, but I failed to move at their outstretched arms that beckoned me to step off the dais.
No one said anything else as I collected myself and tried to move. My legs felt like trunks trying to plant roots in the marble beneath me.
Was that it? They were just letting him go? Well, under city arrest, I supposed.
A human boy, only just emerging into his teens, appeared from an alcove. His hand lay flat with a dark key resting in it.
The young man led me from the chambers. I didn’t spare a backwards glance at the twelve council members.
I was a little shocked that there had been nothing further than that.
The boy handed me the key once we reached an unmarked door. Its arched frame mimicked the style of every other feature in the building.
“Do I just go in?”
But he had already disappeared to some other part of the council buildings.
The instant I opened the door, the stagnant air hit me.
Dead. Heavy. As though I had to beg the air to fill my lungs.
And yet, I didn’t suffocate. There was no lack of breathability, just an unpleasant feeling of entreating the air to fill you that came with each breath.
A curved and dim corridor opened up onto another rotunda. Much like the one I’d just come from, its walls were smooth stone without alcoves, its glass dome overhead clear and gleaming.
In the centre was not a dais.
But a cage.