CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The Trial of Lies
LUCIAN
Malrec understood timing.
While we treated Elias’s poisoning, he moved against Seraphine.
Councilor Voss was found dead in his private chamber just before dawn, throat cut with a Moonmarked crescent blade. Witnesses claimed they had seen Seraphine enter the palace hours earlier.
The witnesses were convincing.
The blade was hers.
I knew because I had confiscated it the night she tried to kill me.
Only four people knew where it was stored.
One was me.
One was Darius.
One was the armory master.
The fourth was Malrec.
By noon, every bell in the capital rang for a public trial.
“We don’t go,” Darius said.
We stood in the safehouse while rain turned to snow outside.
“If we refuse, they convict her without us.”
“They’ll convict her with us.”
Seraphine fastened her knives. “Then I should at least hear how creative they’ve become.”
“No,” I said.
She looked at me.
“No?”
“You are not walking into a tribunal controlled by Malrec.”
“Lucian.”
“They intend to arrest you.”
“They already intend to execute me tomorrow because the moon likes paperwork.”
“That is not funny.”
“It was a little funny.”
I stepped closer. “Sera.”
Her expression softened, then sharpened again. “If we run, Malrec wins every frightened citizen who still thinks the law is sacred. We need the capital to see the evidence.”
“We don’t have the original Edict yet.”
“We have his laboratory records.”
Elowen, who had joined us after escaping the palace, lifted a leather case. “And I will testify.”
Her throat still showed bruises from her father’s hand.
I hated the plan.
Which was often a sign it was politically necessary.
The tribunal square held ten thousand people.
Malrec had returned publicly that morning, claiming he had been abducted and tortured by “the corrupted king’s agents.” He stood on the tribunal steps without so much as a torn sleeve.
The liar could at least have committed to the performance.
Seraphine walked beside me through the crowd.
Royal guards loyal to Severin surrounded us but did not dare move while Darius’s men followed at our backs.
Two armies pretending to be an escort.
Lord Severin sat on the temporary regent’s chair.
My cousin looked ill.
Good.
Malrec lifted his hands.
“Lucian Veyr, you stand accused of abandoning sacred law under the influence of forbidden blood.”
I climbed the steps.
“I stand.”
The crowd quieted.
“Seraphine Vale stands accused of murdering Councilor Voss and conspiring with the rebel Raven.”
“She did conspire with the Raven,” I said.
Seraphine turned toward me sharply.
Murmurs spread.
I continued, “She conspired to prevent him from attacking this palace. She then helped rescue Princess Nyra after Malrec’s agents attacked them both.”
Malrec’s face remained calm.
“Claims without proof.”
Elowen stepped forward.
“I am proof.”
A shock moved through the crowd.
Malrec looked at his daughter.
For the first time that day, his composure cracked.
Elowen held up the ledgers from the hidden laboratory.
“My father conducted unlawful experiments with moonrot, wolfsbane, and sacred myrrh. He recorded trials at Blackwater and other border villages. He altered temple records and concealed the original Edict.”
Malrec’s voice became soft. “My child, grief has confused you.”
“No.”
“You were attacked by rebels.”
“You put your hand around my throat.”
The crowd erupted.
Severin stood. “Enough. The records must be authenticated.”
“Gladly,” Elowen said.
Malrec smiled.
That smile warned me a heartbeat too late.
The leather case in Elowen’s hands ignited.
Blue fire raced over the pages.
She dropped it with a cry.
Darius kicked the burning ledgers off the platform.
Within seconds, years of evidence became black ash.
Malrec lifted his palms. “Forbidden magic.”
Seraphine stared at the fire.
I smelled it.
Blue myrrh.
The pages had been treated in advance.
He had known we took them.
A guard captain approached the tribunal steps carrying a bloodstained cloak.
“We searched Lady Vale’s rooms as ordered. This was found beneath her bed.”
Voss’s signet ring fell from the folds.
Seraphine laughed in disbelief.
Malrec turned to the crowd. “How much proof must sacred law provide before we obey?”
The answer came as chanting.
Sever her.
Sever her.
The sound spread across the square.
My wolf rose with a violence that made my vision narrow.
Seraphine’s hand touched mine.
“Don’t,” she whispered.
I knew what she meant.
Do not shift.
Do not give them the monster they expect.
I forced my claws back.
Malrec watched me.
He wanted loss of control.
He would not have it.
Severin’s face had gone gray. “Under emergency authority, Seraphine Vale will be confined in the Blood Tower until the final Severance at tomorrow’s moonrise.”
“No,” I said.
My cousin swallowed. “Lucian—”
“You do not have authority to imprison a protected defendant without a vote of the full council.”
Malrec produced a parchment.
“Eleven of fifteen signatures.”
Including three men I knew would never have signed voluntarily.
Too many guards moved at once.
Darius reached for his sword.
Seraphine squeezed my hand hard.
“Not here.”
I looked at the crowd.
Children. Merchants. Workers. Wolves who had been told their world would end if I chose the woman beside me.
Bloodshed now would turn the lie into truth.
I hated her for being right.
I hated myself more for letting guards put chains on her wrists.
She walked away without bowing her head.
At the bottom of the steps, she looked back once.
The bond carried no fear.
Only certainty.
Find the truth.
I would.
Then I would return for her.
And this time, I would not ask the law for permission.