Page 50 of Fragile Oath

This time, I didn’t bother to suppress my sigh, my fingers coming up to massage my temples. That was a bald-faced lie. If anything, Galina and I had been swaying things in our – in my favor.

“MacArthur, how could you possibly have authority on a vote which had not yet taken place?” Laird Jameson asked with a trace of exasperation.

“Perhaps with the same divine knowledge that led him to moving up the vote, against all precedent,” Mamá suggested drily.

Titters sounded from all around, and MacArthur’s cheeks reddened.

“The man was killed with his own sword — a vindictive and cowardly act, if I have ever heard of one,” he sputtered. “That he was poisoned and defenseless, is only further indication that someone close to him did this. Someone with a vendetta who also had direct access to his rooms and his food.”

Poisoned… Well, that was news to me, though not altogether surprising. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder why both?

“Or,” I offered, my voice echoing off the domed ceiling and spacious room, “perhaps it was two people who tried to murder him on the same evening. He had certainly amassed plenty of enemies, outside of myself.”

“This is not a joke—” old MacArthur began before I cut him off.

“No,” I said flatly, forcing him to meet my eye. “Me being stupid enough to kill my cousin with his own sword in my own castle is a joke, and a tired one at that.”

Several Assembly members argued back and forth about the logistics and likelihood of my guilt, far too many of them falling back on the fact that I had seemingly fled the scene of the crime, shutting down the magistrate’s questions when he was investigating the murder.

I exchanged a look with Mamà. This was going nowhere.

“As I said, there were extenuating circumstances,” I began, but MacBay’s voice cut me off.

“There always are with your family,” he said evenly. The room quieted at the sound of his voice, allowing him a much more obvious stage to speak from. “Isn’t that what caused such animosity with your cousin to begin with? The extenuating circumstances by which you acquired an estate that should have been his birthright?”

I glared at him, careful not to allow a single emotion to slip past my features. That was a gross oversimplification, one that ignored all of the reasons I had a legitimate right to Lithlinglau, including the will written by my mother’s bastard of a first husband, himself.

“Were there also extenuating circumstances when you and Princess Rowan were caught breaking our own king’s laws like common thieves?” Laird Wilson added before I could voice any of that.

“Not to mention how the family rose to power to begin with,” Laird Stewart said.

“Perhaps we would not have such trouble with rebels if the royal family could instill its people with any sort of confidence. Even the heir to the throne flouted law and tradition both when she married a commoner.”

Uncle Logan cut in sharply. “Thatwas a law that was in need of change.”

I fought to keep my own features under control. Mac had been a singularly decent person, outside of being my best friend and the love of Avani’s life. He was not a stars-damned weapon to be wielded in a political argument against our family, least of all her.

“But you cannot argue that the timing was self-serving,” MacBay countered quietly.

“I will remind you that we are not here to try the entire royal family for our perceived sins,” Uncle Finn said, his tone far calmer than Uncle Logan’s had been.

MacBay met his eyes solidly before looking at the rest of the Assembly, squaring his shoulders like he was bracing himself for something.

“Perhaps we should be.” His words sliced through the air like a freshly sharpened blade.

My lips parted. Belatedly, I realized we should have been prepared for this. On some level, we had been.

Just not from MacBay.

“The monarchy cannot refuse to abide by the very laws they enforce,” he said, almost like he was reasoning with us to understand.

“And what of loyalty, Camdyn?” Uncle Finn asked. “Is anyone abiding by that?”

Laird MacBay’s eyes tightened, and he shook his head. “My first loyalty is to our people, where yours should have been.”

The air shifted with the change of allegiances, the weight of MacBay’s accusations suspended in the air above us. The world was tilting on its axis, and the future of my family hung precariously in the balance.

“The real question is whether or not the monarchy is loyal to us in turn. If the royal family cannot be bothered to hold itself accountable, then I question whether there are stronger changes that need to be made.” His statement fell like the executioner’s ax.

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