Chapter 26: The Spy in the Court

The accusations hit me like a blow to the heart.

I stood in the center of the great hall, the cold stone walls that had stood for centuries closing in on me. There were hundreds of vampire eyes looking out of the darkness into me, their eyes suspicious, hateful, and something more — hungry.

Whispering hung in the air, venom and cold.

Traitor.

Spy.

She came to kill us.

My fingers trembled at my sides, but I held my chin high, refusing to yield. For all the terror that seared through my stomach, I would not let them witness it.

Kael sat upon the throne above him, his marble-pale face expressionless.

He had not moved.

Had not spoken.

He had not stood to defend me.

Not yet.

Lord Varyn — my cousin, and my most ruthless torturer — wore a conqueror's grin on his face. Silvered locks shone in the light of torches, and his ruby eyes burned with evil glee.

"We have proof," he announced, his voice echoing off the hall. "Letters found hidden in the human's quarters. Letters to the hunters. Conspiring to overthrow the Crown from within."

A wave of outrage rolled through the court.

I had my head wrapped with rage. "I never—"

"Hush!" Varyn struck out, his words whipping around me like a lash. "You will speak to me on your terms, traitor."

I remained silent. I leaned forward toward Kael in despair, trying to get him to hear the truth. To look at me.

But he didn't move, rigid and far away as a rock.

The earth shifted under my feet.

Those letters had been left behind. Someone had murdered me.

And here, in the Court of Monsters, such accusations did not come without a price.

Exile would not be the price. The price would be blood.

Varyn paced me cautiously, hunter to his prey. "What do you have to say, human? What is your defense of your treason?"

My knuckles tightened into my hips. "I am no spy," I told them, my voice firm. "I owe loyalty to no hunters — to none but myself."

The court laughed at me in contempt, their catcalls ringing off the stonewalls.

Caryn leaned in close, his icy breath on the flesh of my cheek. "You teased our Prince, courted and caught him. But that wasn't sufficient for you, was it? You had to destroy what could never be yours to keep it."

My heart was pounding. Tempt him? Like Kael and I'd never shared anything easy or worthwhile. Like I'd not struggled and bled for every inch of it.

I gritted my teeth. "You're lying."

Varyn's grin crawled slowly and deadly. "The evidence disagrees."

Two guards carried out a chest and flung it open at Kael's feet.

Within, parchment pages fluttered — my writing, so expertly forged that it shivered through me.

Things I never said.

Promises I never made.

I forced my eyes back to Kael's, forcing him to look at me — truly see.

His scarlet eyes met mine in the corridor.

And something there shivered apart.

Not faith.

Not faithfulness.

But doubt.

Uncertainty.

Hesitation.

My gut writhed up and bristled.

He doesn't understand.

He hadn't known whether or not he could trust me.

The realization seared a groove across my chest wider than any blade.

"Let her speak for herself," a growl sounded from the back of the room.

Heads were turned. Whispers began.

Lord Fenric— an older vampire, a voice of reason in a court that thrived on blood and chaos.

Varyn's eyes flashed with annoyance, but he bowed his head in mockery of respect. "As you wish, elder."

He glared at me once more, lips curling into a sour smile. "Speak, little traitor. Tell us your lies."

I drew a shuddering breath, marshaling all the pieces of courage left in me.

"I was here unwilling," I began, my voice cutting above the knot in my throat. "I signed your hateful contract. I bled for your Prince. I have obeyed every law, every rule, every hard little fancy of this court without a murmur."

Murmus again — some frightened, some uncomfortable.

"I would have nothing to gain by betraying you," I continued. "No army to rescue me. No pardon. No escape. I have no one out there but you."

The truth stood there, bare and unadorned.

There was a silence.

Then Varyn let out a scornful snort. "Sentimental. But still a lie."

He clicked his fingers, and the guards advanced, hands reaching for me.

Instinct bellowed me to run — but there was no place to run.

I squared my shoulders and stood to them.

I would not beg to die if I were to die.

But a harsh, commanding voice broke the air before they could take me:

"Imposing," Kael said, his gaze never wavering from mine.

Kael rose from his throne.

The court gasped, stilled.

His eyes locked with Varyn's, burning with a sensation that I couldn't put into words.

"You forget yourself, cousin," Kael said, voice as cold as shattered glass. "The price of treason is death. But only when guilt is established."

Varyn's lips parted to protest, but Kael's eyes froze him.

"I will find her guilty," Kael said, voice a whip of command.

He came down the stairs, each one measured, deadly.

When he stood before me, he was inches from me.

The court all breathed relief in unison.

I lay my head back, eyes forward. Would not blink. Would not flinch.

Kael glared at me as if he stalked the answer in my ribcage.

Finally, he turned to the court — not me.

"Take her to the holding chambers," he instructed them. "Held secure. Harm is not to befall her unless I instruct otherwise."

A thousand feelings warred within me — relief, betrayal, rage.

He hadn't saved me. Not really.

He'd only saved my life.

The guards grasped my arms, no longer cruel now, but unyielding.

As they dragged me back, I caught one last glimpse of Kael.

He was already turning away from his throne, his face as unyielding as stone.

And in that moment, I knew something bitter and bitter:

There was no coin of truth here, in this court.

There was only power.

Only survival.

And I had little of both.

To be continued….