Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

WREN

No one would have known Ylena was Elodie's aunt at that moment. No one would have suspected she was any relation at all. She fulfilled a role, a sacred duty, and she did it well. Oh but she was cold and heartless with it. No emotion showed whatsoever as she listed Elodie's crimes.

‘All this I did,' said Elodie, in a voice as clear as a bell. The sound of a host of people drawing in a shocked breath echoed around the chamber, followed by alarmed murmuring.

Wren flinched. She'd expected her to deny it. Something in Ylena's face tightened. Perhaps she had expected that too.

‘But,' Elodie added once the murmuring died down, ‘I never turned away from the light. The Aurum has always been with me and within me. All I have done, I did in its service.'

That was better, wasn't it? It had to be better. Wren tried to breathe.

‘And did you know you were with child when you fled?' Sassone asked, his tone flat and uncaring. ‘Did you deliberately take your heir with you as well?'

Elodie looked at him, her expression disdainful. ‘I was not with child.'

Another shocked murmur ran around the chamber. How many people were in here, Wren wondered, crammed into the shadows, eagerly hanging on every word? And what were they thinking? Roland's face gave nothing away. Neither did Elodie's.

If she hadn't been with child when she left, then who was Wren's father? If it wasn't Roland, then…who?

Wren felt a host of eyes turning on her and she wanted to shrink back. Maryn lifted one hand to her back, a brief gesture of comfort. It held her still, something to cling to.

‘Then who is this daughter you bring back with you?' the earl sneered, pointing at Wren, delighted to have caught Elodie out in an apparent lie.

Except she couldn't lie here in the sight of the Aurum. That was the rule, wasn't it? The light flooding through her wouldn't allow her to lie. That was what they had all said.

So how was this possible? Unless…unless everything Elodie had already said about Wren was a lie. Wren clenched her hands into fists at her sides, her fingernails digging into her palms. Her hair shifted warily against the back of her neck. Something was wrong here. Something was terribly wrong.

When Elodie didn't say anything, bowing her head slightly, Sassone pressed on.

‘Do you deny her now, lady? Or did you take yet another as your lover? Look at her and tell us the truth. Who is she?'

Finn was here somewhere. He had to be. The Ilanthians were gathered at the far end, as far from the Aurum as they could stand, but still here. Wren could see them in their fine clothes so different to those of Asteroth, Leander and Hestia's pale hair bright in the shadows as the light played on it. But she couldn't see Finn. She wished she was with him, that she could reach out for him.

Everyone was looking at her now and she only wished she could hide. If she wasn't Elodie's child, who was she?

Elodie lifted her face again, looked over her shoulder at Wren, and light illuminated her. It flowed through her body, moving beneath her skin, the Aurum reaching out to her and through her, rising in her.

‘She is Wren,' said Elodie in a calm, crisp voice that would not be argued with. It trembled with the truth, and behind her the flames surged higher again. ‘And she is mine, and has been from the day she first drew breath.'

Elodie found her among the maidens and smiled at her, trying to reassure her even now. When Wren made to move towards her, Maryn caught her wrist in a grip like iron, holding her back. Wren was jerked to a halt and turned, confused. The maiden in her white veil had eyes like steel, reflecting that holy light.

‘Not now, pet. Stay here.'

Deep in the flames something flickered, something that sapped a little of the light away. As Wren stepped back, horrified, it vanished. She glanced up at Maryn's grim face and the maiden nodded solemnly.

‘Stay close,' she murmured. ‘Anything could tip the balance.'

Stay back, she meant. Wren stared at the flames in horror, but there was no sign of any other shadows. Nothing at all. She let herself breathe again, just for a moment.

‘Your question, Roland,' said Ylena, as if eager to hurry things along. ‘Ask it.'

He stiffened, and Wren realised he was still staring at her, not at Elodie, his expression dark and unreadable. He cleared his throat, and slowly sheathed the sword once more.

‘I have no questions left to ask,' he said in a low rumble of a voice. Elodie made a dismayed noise as if to interrupt him, or plead with him. ‘Except to know what you intend now, my queen?'

For a moment everyone seemed bewildered. Something hadn't gone according to plan. Roland was meant to take part in this interrogation but he wasn't playing along. Instead, Wren realised, he had asked an entirely different question, one not about the past but about the future.

Elodie drew in a shaking breath and stared at him as if he had somehow betrayed her more profoundly than anyone else.

‘He was meant to ask about what happened in the forest,' Maryn whispered. ‘Not this. This isn't…this isn't fair.'

Not fair? None of this was fair as far as Wren was concerned. But as she watched, Elodie folded her arms across her chest, as if hugging herself. Or perhaps to stop herself reaching out to him.

‘I…I will serve the Aurum for as long as it wants me,' she whispered, and it sounded like her greatest defeat. ‘And if my people will have me I will wear their crown. I will cleave to the light and be its Chosen once more. I made vows. We fight the Nox, with flame and sword.'

The Aurum burst forth, enveloping her and driving those close to her back, all but Roland who would not move. In that light Elodie blazed brightly, bent over slightly, as if she had flinched expecting pain. Slowly she straightened, and Wren knew that even in that blinding light, she was still staring at Roland.

He turned away. ‘The Aurum has spoken,' he said, and his voice though low seemed to carry to every corner of the chamber, amplified by the Aurum itself. ‘The queen is innocent. All hail Aeryn of Asteroth, our queen that was, and is again.'

Somewhere people started cheering, and from outside they could hear people shouting in delight as his words were relayed through the city.

The light of the Aurum sank back, leaving Elodie a frail and thin woman, standing alone, silhouetted by its glow. Her arms were still clenched tightly around her own body and her head fell back in relief or despair.

‘Wait! We have a charge to lay at the feet of this traitor queen,' said Leander of Ilanthus. He strode forward quickly, pushing his way through the gathering of his own people, with Hestia glaring at him, but it was too late now. Everyone had heard him.

The chamber fell silent, watching this new act, too stunned to react.

Where was Finn? Wren wondered desperately. He was meant to be keeping his half-brother under control along with Hestia. Where were they? What was Leander planning?

‘What charge is this, Crown Prince Leander?' asked Sassone in that horribly formal tone. No shock. No surprise. Had he known this was coming? He smiled and spread his arms wide. ‘You are our honoured guests here. The Aurum will hear all charges and judge them fairly.'

Leander smiled. That horrible, arrogant smile. Wren knew it far too well.

‘We charge her with the murder of her consort, Prince Evander of Sidon.'

Of course they did. Wren finally saw Finn start forward, still deep in the middle of the Ilanthian party and far too late now to intercept his half-brother. But before he got to the open area, Hestia herself stepped forward.

‘Stand back, Prince Leander.' Her voice was all warning. ‘This is not our place nor our agreement. We do not bow to the judgement of the Aurum and never will.'

Leander's voice turned savage. He sounded like an animal in pain. ‘I will not be silenced. Not by you, not by anyone. She killed my uncle. We all know it. She murdered him right here in this chamber. She spilled his blood, the blood of Sidon, poured out his life and summoned the Nox here. She doesn't fight the Nox. She protects her.'

Elodie looked taken aback but Roland was already at her side. She glanced at him and said something. Wren couldn't make out what but it looked like denial. Roland nodded, still wearing that expression of granite, but at least he stood with her, ready to defend her.

The carefully choreographed ritual of judgement seemed to have slid sideways off its time-honoured tracks and no one seemed to know what to do about that. Confused looks passed between the spectators, murmurings and bewilderment.

‘Let him speak,' said Ylena into the silence. Even more shocked mutterings followed this.

‘Lady Ylena,' Hestia was close to begging. ‘Please, there is nothing to?—'

But the old woman held up her hand for silence.

‘I say again, let the boy speak. Let Aeryn answer this charge. You are guests here, Lady Hestia, as you so wisely said. This is our way and in this place all charges must be answered. You may not bow to the Aurum, but we do. And even Ilanthian lies may show us the truth.'

Light and shade, Wren hated her. How could she? How could she do this to Elodie?

Hestia cast Leander a glance which promised something even worse than murder but she stepped back all the same, her hands falling to her sides. Was it Wren's imagination or did Leander almost wilt with relief as she did so?

The steely arrogance was back a moment later and she was far too familiar with that.

‘What is he doing?' she whispered to Maryn.

‘What he does best. Causing all the trouble he can,' Maryn replied. ‘But I think he will pay for it this time. I'll enjoy that enormously. Maybe I should ask Lady Hestia for a front-row seat. Do you think a sister would grant that to a maiden?'

Leander approached Elodie cautiously and when she said and did nothing in response, a cunning smile spread over his features. ‘Queen Aeryn married my uncle with the promise that he would be safe here in Pelias, that he could practise his worship as he would, and that no harm would befall him. She promised him a child, and did nothing to deliver that child.'

He almost glanced at Wren but caught himself.

Wren felt something cold and dark slither up along her spine. She stepped back, reaching beyond the light now, for the corners, for the shadows. She couldn't help herself. He was up to something. Something terrible.

Because that was what Leander did. Was he going to denounce her right here? What would that gain him?

On the far side of the chamber, she saw Finn's head come up, almost as if he sensed her distress and what it might do. He couldn't do anything to stop Leander now. But he sensed that she needed him. She knew that. Suddenly he was moving, leaving the Ilanthians and pushing his way through the crowd.

‘Your uncle took his own life,' said Elodie in a voice tinged with regret. ‘I had no hand in that.' The flames climbed up again, brightening with her truth.

‘So you say. Who else is to know that? And why would he? Why would a prince take his own life? You killed him to summon the Nox here. Everyone knows the blood of our line calls her forth, gives her form.'

Elodie fixed him with a glare. ‘A myth,' she said, but her voice shook a fraction. And she glanced, unwittingly, at Wren. ‘You are distraught, Prince Leander.'

A slow smile spread over Leander's face, a look of triumph, as if he had just sprung a trap.

‘I'll prove it to you. I'll prove it to you all.' His eyes gleamed in the light of the Aurum, the pale grey turning silver in its glow.

From his belt, he drew a gleaming knife which had looked ceremonial with its jewelled hilt and curved blade. It wasn't, Wren realised. It was wickedly sharp.

Leander steeled himself for a moment and then slashed through the pale skin of his unadorned wrist. ‘Come, oh divine darkness and be made whole once again.'