House of Shadows (Royal Houses 2)

“I had many members followed and discovered that Master Lorian had been meeting with some suspicious people. I had no evidence that he had done anything untoward, so I did not bring my concerns before the council. Then, an accusation came forward that Lorian had been selling illegal magical artifacts. The same ones that were connected to Basem Nix. We took this accusation seriously and had his home and study searched under a warrant from the presiding officer. We found illegal artifacts hidden in his study and home along with correspondence with the House of Shadows, detailing the sale of crates of them over the last year. Artifacts that many of us saw firsthand on the battlefield in Lethbridge.

Helly took a deep breath. “Thus, the evidence asserts that Master Lorian murdered Basem Nix in Society custody to hide his involvement in his illegal possession and trafficking of weapons to conspire with our enemy. An act such as this is treason, and I call for the council to determine the appropriate punishment for his actions.”

She nodded her head at the presiding officer and returned to her seat.

“You have heard the accusation. You may speak for yourself, Lorian, unless you have hired counsel to speak in your place,” Zoh said, already dropping the title Lorian had earned all those years ago.

Lorian had no counsel. He looked steely-eyed at his peers, tilting his chin up and not backing down an ounce. “This is a wonderful tale,” he said, clapping his hands slowly. “The clues all line up, leading you to believe that I must have done precisely what the honorable Mistress Hellina has said. Except that the facts are a fiction and this trial is a farce. I have never owned or sold an illegal artifact. In fact, if you remember correctly, I was the one who introduced the legislation for which artifacts needed to be taken off of the streets. I have no idea what you found in my study or in my home, but they did not belong to me. Nor have I ever communicated with the House of Shadows. I wouldn’t even know how to reach them or until the wall fell, where their home was.”

“You did argue on behalf of negotiations with the House of Shadows though,” Helly added. “You were the only one who wanted to speak with them.”

“Is it wrong to want to keep the killing to a minimum? Yes, I come from Venatrix, a war tribe, but I do not enjoy death and destruction, especially not at the scale of which we saw at the Battle of Lethbridge. I would keep that from happening if I could. I would always argue for an open dialogue before war.” He swept his arm aside, as if he could clear his name as easily.

“You have similar sympathies as the House of Shadows,” Helly countered. “You have cut down all legislation related to humans and half-Fae. You had one of our now-veteran soldiers kicked out of the training program due to your dislike of her heritage. You blamed the riot on the protestors because of who they were. These are all sympathies that were outlined in the letters we read from the House of Shadows, a Fae tribe known for their barbaric treatment of humans and half-Fae.”

“I am not the only person in this room who wants to see Fae continue to be elevated above all else. I certainly am not the only one who sees these protests as outlandish ways to incite violence in our city. And I would only ever kick someone out for their failures, which were well-documented. My sympathies aside, I would never commit treason or help a group I went to war with. That is absurd.”

Round and round it went. Several of the other council members got involved in the cross-examination, but it all seemed to point in one direction. At one point, Alura swayed uneasily as she jumped to her feet to defend her father. She was cut down and threatened with dismissal.

And while it all happened, Kerrigan watched Lorian. She had observed the man for the last year. She knew his wrath. All the ways that he hated her. All the ways that he twisted his words. But here, he seemed… sincere.

It made no sense. Because all of the accusations that had been put forth laid Lorian bare. He had obviouslydone it. Had he deluded himself so much into believing that his actions were justified? Had he twisted it all up so much that he thought himself in the right?

Kerrigan had always believed herself a good judge of character. She had hated Lorian as long as he had detested her. She saw him for who and what he was. But here, he was not pleading for his life. He was not begging. He didn’t look twitchy or even worried. He was certain that the council would believe him.