Page 36 of Alpha's Magic

“Leo’s not lying,” Asher said, getting angry. But he had hesitated just the slightest bit. Was he beginning to doubt my story?

“And you know that how, exactly?”

“Lex used his magic on him to make sure what he was telling us was the truth.”

“Perhaps that was only the truth he knew or believed,” Harrison said. “Where are his witnesses?”

“I’m telling the truth!” I shouted at him. “Rozamond was a dark witch, and she killed my father.”

“Impossible!” Harrison shouted, getting to his feet to pace up and down behind his desk. “Rozamond had her faults, I’ll admit, but she was no dark witch. She hated magic.”

“Or so she claimed,” I said. “Do you have any proof?”

His face changed and he looked suddenly furious, like he wanted to run through me, so Lex quickly spoke up.

“Harrison, listen to us. Asher and I examined Leo to see if he was telling us the truth, and he absolutely is.”

“Again, it’s just the truth as he knows it,” Harrison corrected. “He may believe it’s so, but there has to be some other explanation.”

“What other explanation?” I cried. “I saw the woman with my own eyes.”

“No,” he said firmly. “I don’t believe it, and she’s no longer here to defend herself or offer explanations. I have to do that for her. I owe it to her and it’s my duty.” He gave each of us a long look. “I’ll look into this statement about who Leo’s father was. If Leo is truly the rightful heir, then he should put forth his claim to the Sudfarman council. But all this talk against Rozamond must come to a stop now, today. It won’t strengthen your claim—too much time has passed, and there aren’t any witnesses to this so-called murder, are there?”

“Only the servants. Most of them managed to get away that day.”

“Do you know where they are?”

“No.”

“Well, then…”

I could feel my face burning, and I didn’t dare look over at Asher. I was afraid of what I might say to his precious king if I kept sitting there.

“May I be excused?”

The king stopped his pacing and stared at me. “What?”

“I’d like to be excused. I’m not feeling well.”

After a moment, he gave me a stony-faced nod. “Go then. We’ll talk more about this later, Asher.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Asher said and rose to his feet. He was rarely so formal with his friend, so I knew he wasn’t happy that I wasn’t believed. Or maybe he wasn’t happy with me. He held out a hand to me, and I rose to my feet and took it. We made it almost to the door when I pulled away and turned to face the king.

“Your Majesty, I know this has been extremely difficult for you. But you should ask yourself how it came to be that you were married to Rozamond in the first place. Were you not once engaged to marry Lady Matildan?”

“What?”

“Weren’t you previously engaged? Until Rozamond came along?” I was glad I’d spent the morning gossiping with Rory about all this, because now it seemed like it might pay off. “Were you so desperately in love with her you couldn’t resist her? Was it love at first sight? Was her intellect beyond compare? Did you think she was the most beautiful princess in all the land or the most winsome and charming?” I made a little face. “Not that I ever heard of.”

It was horribly rude to say so and presumptuous of me, to say the least, and I half expected him to bite my head off or tell his guards to take me to the tower at once. But he stared at me for a long time and then I saw his lips turn down.

“Perhaps you’re right. But I admired my wife in other ways. She had great strength.”

I nodded. “Asher told me it was for the rights to keep the trading routes clear all the way to the Sudfarman coast.”

“Yes, something like that.”

“Was that important enough that you were willing to overlook the rest then?” I raised one eyebrow. “Interesting.” I turned and took Asher’s arm again and we started to sail out of the room.

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