by K. A. Linde
“Before we disperse,” Cyrene said quickly, “I want to thank each of you so much for all that you did. We’re preparing a funeral for the dead from all the armies tomorrow once the graves have been dug. Followed by a feast to celebrate victory. I hope that you’ll stay long enough for that.”
Cyrene turned to her new court as the rest of the crowd disappeared. “Unfortunately, we have one matter of business before we can begin to discuss rules and regulations and where we go from here.”
Gwynora raised her eyebrow. “What’s that?”
Avoca frowned down at her arm, which was in a sling. “I think I know.”
You left it for the court, soul sister? Sarielle asked.
“Uh, should we all know?” Aubron asked in confusion.
“I have Kael Dremylon secured in my tent.”
Gwynora fumed. “You what?”
“And we have to put him on trial tomorrow before we can celebrate the end of this war.”
The next morning, the court reconvened in front of the portal with Kael Dremylon before them. He was looking better than he had two days earlier when Vera healed his shoulder. But he still looked a wreck compared to any other time Cyrene had ever seen him.
She hadn’t provided him with more than a basin or two of water to clean with. And, though Dean had found new clothes for him, they didn’t fit in the way his royal garbs always had. His dark hair was swept back, and his blue-gray eyes looked sunken. A man walking to his death. Not the quick-witted charmer that she had always known.
She had to tamp down the shared affection that they had. She had to be impartial for this. That was the only way that this court would succeed.
Word had gotten round somehow, and crowds had formed. She suspected more people were here to watch the trial because they believed they would also witness an execution. Just like Brigette had wanted. And, if that was what the court decided, then that was law.
She’d have to have the stomach for it.
“Thank you for coming today,” she said to the watching crowd. “The new Doma court has assembled here today for a trial against King Kael Dremylon of Byern on charges of murder.”
Boos and jeers were thrown at Kael. But he couldn’t see them. Instead, he kept his head held high and his eyes steadily fixed on Cyrene’s face.
“Aubron, please step forward and list his crimes,” Cyrene said.
Aubron paced a step closer to Kael and retrieved a letter from his pocket. The night before, they had spent a good deal of time putting together all the information they needed for their first trial. For war crimes against Byern, Eleysia, Aurum, and so many more. They’d been careful not to discuss sentencing. That time would come later. When decisions would be made.
Aubron cleared his throat. “King Kael Dremylon is charged with the deaths of his brother, King Edric Dremylon of Byern, King Creighton Iolair of Aurum, his sister, Queen Jesalyn Dremylon Iolair of Aurum, Affiliate Jardana, High Orden Eren, and the lives of the people of the island of Eleysia. Additionally, he is charged with corroboration to murder the king and queen of Eleysia through his agent, Maelia Dallmer, willingly cooperating with the dark goddess of destruction, Malysa, using blood magic, forcibly converting others to blood magic, and”—Aubron looked up at the last one and blushed—“adultery with his brother’s wife.”
The last one really just added insult to injury. But Kael didn’t even blink at the accusations. He had to have known what was coming. That they would lay it all out before everyone.
“Thank you, Aubron,” Cyrene said, and he stepped back into the line of the court. Her eyes fell on Kael, and the bastard had the audacity to smirk at her. “What do you have to say for yourself?”
But the crowd just roared with disapproval. No one wanted to hear what he had to say. No one cared why he’d done what he had done. They just wanted to see him killed.
“Reaper! Reaper! Reaper!” a chant went up as everyone turned their thumbs down to indicate death.
Cyrene held her hands up. “Silence! Quiet now. This is not how we are going to do things. We will have a fair trial, and if you cannot control yourself, then you will be escorted from the proceedings.”
Finally, after a few of her generals got in the rowdiest people’s faces, the area quieted down enough so that Kael could speak.
“I am sure that many here are expecting me to denounce these accusations. But I cannot,” Kael said simply. “I did everything that you suggested. But I did not do them willingly, and I deeply regret my actions.”
Cyrene breathed a silent sigh of relief. Despite his appearance, he sounded just as he always had. And that smooth speech settled the crowd.
“As you may or may not be aware of, I was under the evil goddess’s influence since I was a child. My father gave me her black book, and I was pulled into her thrall. Everything I have done since then has been under her guidance. I could no more stop the pull than fly. But Cyrene…the Domina Cyrene,” he corrected smoothly, intimately speaking her name, “she saw that there was more to me. She saw that I was not all that Malysa had made me. I was ordered to kill both my wife, Queen Elea, and my child, Princess Alessia, but I couldn’t do it. I hated sending them away, but I wouldn’t let harm come to them. And the Domina knew then and there that there was still goodness in me.”
Cyrene kept her face blank, even as he spoke directly into her heart. His words a lull just for her.
“She purged the blood magic, and from then on, I did all that I could to fight Malysa. I stood at the Domina’s side as she took on the evil goddess. I killed her second-in-command, Merrick, and went head-to-head with the woman who had enslaved me. If that doesn’t prove that I have changed and that I have changed sides, that I want to do better and live a clean life, then I do not know what will convince you,” he said honestly.
Once they got the crowd to quiet down again, Cyrene nodded. “I can corroborate that the king did help me fight off Malysa. That he wanted nothing but to end her reign. In the end, he turned sides. But he couldn’t have done that before I purged the blood magic, which I have done for all those who were still infected.” Cyrene turned to her court. “Do you have any further questions?”
Gwynora narrowed her eyes. “How do we know that you changed sides because you want to do good rather than just to save your skin?”
Kael met her hardened gaze. “I suppose you don’t. But I could have run at any time, and I didn’t.”
“Is your soul fractured still from the blood magic?” Avoca inquired.
“I don’t know,” Kael admitted. “I know that the blood magic sucks from my soul. I also know that Cyrene’s light saved me from completely fragmenting into nothing. If I’d gone completely over the edge, there would have been no coming back.”
That’s not entirely an answer, Sarielle cut in. We should look into your spirit and see if you are of sane mind.
“I have already done so,” Cyrene interjected. “He is fully intact mentally. As for his soul, I don’t believe he would be here right now if he didn’t still have it.”
Of degrees though. What would a person be like with half of a soul?
No one had an answer for that. This was unprecedented territory.
“Half of a soul is better than Malysa’s influence,” Kael said.
Aubron had remained quiet until then. “Did you order the destruction of Fen?”
Cyrene winced. She didn’t know who had destroyed Aubron’s home. She didn’t want to know if Kael had been involved in the ruination of her utopia.
Kael looked puzzled. “What is Fen?”
“It is…was a small village on the northern border of Byern. North of Levin.”
“It was destroyed in the war?” Kael asked, clearly confused about how this was connected.
“Yes, burned to ash,” Aubron said hollowly.
“I know most of my territory, but I have never heard of the village of Fen. Many of the smaller villages go beyond the royal perception. They live their own lives, and we leave them alone.
I am sorry to hear it was destroyed, but I had nothing to do with it.”
Cyrene looked into his eyes, waited for the spark of deception. But he truly didn’t even know that Fen had existed. He didn’t know that Kaliana and Alessia had been hiding there.
Aubron nodded as if satisfied. He glanced at Cyrene and mouthed, Malysa.
She tipped her head at him in acknowledgment. It had to have been.
“Any other questions?” Cyrene asked.
The rest of her court shook their heads. Thankfully, the crowd remained silent. Everyone was hanging on with bated breath to see what would happen.
“Then we will vote on whether Kael is guilty or innocent. Each court member will get one vote. If you believe him to be guilty, please put forth your preferred sentencing. I will give you a few minutes to deliberate, and then we will begin.”
Cyrene swallowed as the silence stretched. She didn’t know what the outcome would be. Whether or not Kael had convinced anyone. Or if his charges were too severe. And, worst of all, she didn’t even know how she would vote. What she could possibly sentence him to. How she could decide when he was still staring at her with those big blue-gray eyes. As if he knew every churning thought.
Too quickly, time passed, and her court was ready.
Gwynora stepped forward first. “I vote that King Kael Dremylon is found guilty on all charges. I recommend that he be put to death at noon by sword.”
Cyrene swallowed as the crowd cheered their agreement.
Aubron came next. “I vote that King Kael Dremylon is found guilty of all charges. I recommend that he be…sent into exile where no one will ever hear from him again.”
Exile. Cyrene hadn’t expected that. Not from Aubron after all that he had lost.
Sarielle tipped her head up next. I agree with Court Member Gwynora. He is guilty, and he deserves to die by whatever means necessary for the lives he has stolen.
That, however, didn’t surprise Cyrene in the least. Sarielle saw everything in black or white, good or evil. And Kael settled squarely on the evil side.
Avoca took one step toward Kael. She released the sling around her arm and revealed to the entire crowd the blackened stump of her arm and the ombré as it slid up to her shoulder. “Malysa is to blame for what happened to me. She is the real villain in all of this. Before my injury, I would have killed you myself. But now, I see how her darkness creeps into you.” Avoca tilted her head. “Kael is guilty of all charges. He has already admitted as much. But I believe he should be sent away into exile. To lament what he has done but no longer rule over anyone or anything. A king of nothing is a fitting punishment.”
And so the final decision came to Cyrene. As it always did. Two for death. Two for exile. She was the tiebreaker.
She looked at Kael. At the man she had saved. And the man who had hurt her over and over again. And the man she had kissed so passionately a year ago as he drowned in her. He was a duality. Death and life.
She raised her hand once more. “I vote exile.”
The crowd roared its disapproval.
“In three days’ time, Kael Dremylon, you will be sent away to a place of our choosing. You will never again be able to return to Byern. Your titles, lands, and all wealth are hereby stripped from you. If we hear of your plotting against us, exile will be forfeited, and you will be killed.”
Kael smiled and nodded his head at her. As if he had known all along.
And then, through the shouts of disapproval, Cyrene heard the sobs coming from the center in the back. She looked to find Elea in tears before she ran away from the proceedings. Cyrene’s heart burst for her…but there was no other option. This was as much as she could do for her sister, the former queen of Byern.
76
The New Beginning
Cyrene stood before the newly erected gravesite.
Soldiers had been working relentlessly to dig enough graves to bury all the fallen soldiers. Cyrene had spent a few hours with Ahlvie and Dean doing the same. Together, they had laid Orden into his plot late last night. And had a separate one for Rhea even though Cyrene was unsure if they would ever find her body.
Now, she listened to a holy official intone over all the buried dead. Soldiers wept openly for their fallen comrades. Soft sobs were commonplace here. But Cyrene didn’t shed a tear. She didn’t have any more tears for what had happened. Just a general feeling of despair when she thought about all that they had lost to get here.
The court had confiscated the royal treasury, which had thankfully been found within the rubble of the castle. With that, they’d been able to pay soldiers and begin plans to build the academy and a place for the new court. Not to mention, cover the clearing of the capital city and pay for the celebratory party she was hosting that night and all the other expenses that kept adding up.
She’d temporarily put Rita in charge of the treasury. She was better with all the math of it and figuring out how to haggle prices and who to dispense to. Cyrene had to delegate, or she would go mad.
But, as she stood before Orden’s and Rhea’s burial plots, she thought of none of that. None of the preparations that were still underway. Or how she still hadn’t spoken to Elea after the sentencing. Or how, after the party, everyone would be leaving.
Right then, she was lost in the moment.
Lost to her friends.
She never would have made it to where she was without them. Not even close.
And she mourned them. Grieved for their lives cut too short.
Orden, who had always wanted to protect his homeland of Aurum, even while he had been working to help bring magic back. So much work, and he’d never had a drop of magic in him. He’d died to defend it all.
Rhea, who had been the first to discover that Cyrene’s Presenting letter was a prophecy. She’d seen that Cyrene had magic and not balked from it. She’d gone to the ends of the earth to help her. Seen two men she loved die for it. And decided to take her own life to see their dreams realized.
They would go down in history as heroes.
Cyrene would make sure of it.
Too soon, the service ended.
Avoca, Ahlvie, and Dean stayed at her side as the rest of those congregated filed away from the new cemetery. They waited, arm in arm. The last surviving pieces of their once-large unit. And even then…Ahlvie and Avoca would have to return to Eldora. It would just be her and Dean. After all this time on the road, she would finally be in her Byern to try to make things right.
Her heart twanged even though she knew it was the right choice.
Dean pressed a kiss into her hair. “We should go. The party will be starting soon.”
She swallowed and nodded. “You’re right.”
“I’m going to miss them,” Avoca said.
“Me too,” Ahlvie whispered. “Orden was like the father I never had.”
“He always kept us in check,” Cyrene said.
“He always kept you in check,” Avoca said with a raised eyebrow.
And somehow, Cyrene laughed. “He did, didn’t he? Always saw my rash ideas.”
“But he let you do them anyway,” Ahlvie said. “Same for me. I got into a fistfight with the guards once, delivering your message to Edric. Orden just let me do it. But he never got us into trouble.”
“And Rhea was the smartest of us all,” Cyrene whispered.
“I wish I had known her better,” Avoca said. “She would have been another sister, I believe.”
Cyrene nodded. “She would have.”
They all stared at the plots one more time before turning as a unit and walking away. Leaving the dead to their ending so that they could start a new beginning.
Cyrene smoothed down her white Domina dress. It had come out of her pack, wrinkled, but Rita had worked her own kind of magic. Now, it fit her like a glove. It felt like an eternity since Cyrene had had an occasion to wear a pretty dress. But here she was, just a young girl again on the edge of the dance floor with her prince.
“Shall we?” D
ean asked as they stepped into the circle of the Laelish Market.
All of the tents had long been put up, and a pole had been erected at the middle. Musicians had come out of the woodwork. Banquet tables were full of decadent foods and pastries and wine. Children had returned from their sheltered houses with flowers in their hair, bobbing through legs and laughing. Cyrene had done the same as a girl.
But the king and queen had never attended such festivities. Too busy, cloistered in their castle.
And, while people gawked at her, especially the diamond at her throat, and whispers of, “Domina,” trailed her, she felt nothing but love and openness from the people. Her people. The Doma of Byern and beyond.
Dean pulled her into the center of the floor. Their feet slid effortlessly across the cobbled stones. It was nice to use her dancing talents for something other than swordplay. And, at the end, everyone applauded.
Soon, she was swept up in admirers. People who wanted to meet the new ruler of their lands. People who wanted to thank her for ending the reign of terror. People who asked her to kill the Reaper, Kael’s new nickname, once and for all. People who swiftly silenced those voices and brought her wine and cakes and chocolates and a flower crown of her own.
It almost felt real finally.
That it was actually over.
And not just a reprieve before more fighting.
“Is it true?” Cal gushed, running up to her.
She jolted out of her thoughts. “Is what true?”
“Are you really going to teach us magic?”
A group of other young magical users clustered around her. She recognized some of them—Jenstad, Alchia, Isabylle, Manasa, and Nandina. There were more that she had only met briefly. Some who she had never seen at all.
Cyrene smiled. “Oh, so you heard?”
“You’re opening an academy!” Cal gushed. “Will I still be able to use my bow and sword?”
“Of course,” Cyrene told her. “I want it to be a welcoming place. And it isn’t just for magical users. It’s for all children who want to learn. I plan to open three wings in Doma Academy—the Vera School of Magic, the Rhea School of Academics, and the Orden Martial School.”