“Please, your Highness, we can explain!” Yorbus babbled. He and Gonadal where pale with fright.
Gonadal didn’t try to talk—he suddenly jumped up from the marble bench and started running for the exit.
“Catch him!” the Emperor roared! “Hold them both!”
Gonadal was stopped and, in short order, the two palace guards were being held by the Court guards, who waited to hear the Emperor’s sentence.
“A hundred thousand lifetimes of hard labor is too good for the two of you,” his Highness growled, glaring at the two of them. “No—don’t beg for your lives.” He raised a hand when Yorbus started whimpering. “I don’t give a damn if the Empress beguiled you—the two of you still killed my beloved Empress the Fourth—the only female I ever truly loved!”
Yorbus was blubbering at this point and Gonadal was sagging between the guards, looking pale and weak.
“Magistrate, we have not had a public execution here on Ma’shorka Centra in over a century,” the Emperor said, looking at Magistrate Harsher, who was still perched tensely on his marble stool. “We say that it is barbaric—that we are above such things and hard labor and prison are better punishments. But this crime was also brutal and barbaric. Therefore, these two miscreants shall be beheaded in the public square in front of the High Court tomorrow at exactly noon!”
“Yes, your Majesty—of course!” Magistrate Harsher gasped.
“And Selena Bates, your Majesty?” Valen asked, speaking up for the first time since he had stopped the vid of the Empress and her “favorite guards.”
“Selena Bates?” The Emperor frowned, as though he couldn’t remember who she was. Well, Selena didn’t blame him. He had been slightly distracted by seeing his third wife cheating on him and plotting to murder his fourth wife while saying he had a little dick and having a three-way with two other guys.
“My client—the one who played so beautifully at your gala,” Valen reminded him, pointing to Selena.
“Oh, her!” The Emperor looked at her briefly. “She is free to go, of course!” He glanced at Magistrate Harsher, who nodded eagerly.
“I declare this defendant innocent!” he exclaimed and blew a hasty blast on his silver bugle.
“Very good.” The Emperor took a deep breath and seemed to settle himself. “Enough of this fol-de-rol,” he announced, frowning. “We shall return to our palace with our two remaining Empresses.” He glared at the courtroom at large. “And no one in this courtroom who has seen the evidence of the third Empress’s treachery shall ever breathe a word of it on pain of death!”
Nobody seemed to know what to say about that, so the courtroom was silent as he climbed back into his throne-chair and his attendants—straining mightily to lift him—picked it up again. Then the whole royal procession left as suddenly as they had arrived, leaving only a breathless silence behind.
75
Jess was the first to break the silence.
“Oh my God,” she murmured, grabbing both Selena’s hands in hers. “Did you hear that? Innocent! You’re innocent! I mean, of course you are,” she went on. “But you’ve been declared innocent by the Court! That means you’re free to go!”
Selena could hardly believe it herself. She threw her arms around her best friend’s neck and sobbed with tears of joy and relief. Free to go—were any words ever sweeter? She didn’t think so!
“Come on!” Jess exclaimed. “Let’s get out of this awful place!”
She grabbed Selena by the hand and dragged her out of the courtroom and into the sunlight outside.
Even though she’d only been incarcerated for a single day and night, Selena felt as though she’d been shut away for years. She had been so certain that she was going to prison—that she was going to be raped and killed and die horribly! Having the horror reversed so quickly was almost overwhelming.
As Jess pulled her towards the High Court steps, she stumbled and started to fall.
“Oh, no!” Jess stared to say, turning to try and stop Selena’s fall.
But before she could even get the words out of her mouth, a strong pair of arms caught Selena and swooped her into the air.
“Oh!” she gasped, feeling dizzy. She was surprised when she saw it was Valen holding her, but even more surprising was the tender look on his usually stern features.
“Be careful, little one,” he rumbled. “I didn’t keep you from prison just to watch you break your neck falling down the High Court steps!”
“Valen?” She bit her lip, not sure what to say. “You…you came for me,” she said at last, which was a ridiculously obvious statement, but she couldn’t seem to help it. Looking into those piercing blue eyes just seemed to short-circuit her brain.
“Of course I came,” he said, frowning. “How could I not?”
“After the way we parted in the spaceport, I wasn’t sure you would,” Selena confessed softly.
His frown deepened.
“Of course you would think that—I never gave you any reason to think otherwise,” he said roughly. “I’ve been such a fool, little one. Can you ever forgive me?”