Page 41 of Princess of Thorns and Ruin

He grows somber at that, the sly and mischievous attitude gone for a moment. “That’s an understatement.”

A nasty glare from the Maester silences us.

When we get to the closed audience section of the proceedings, the gallery is emptied, and only the royal and government box attendees are allowed to remain.

Sebastian sighs dramatically as he adjusts his tie. “Here it is. My moment of glory. Take notes, Lil’ Bit.”

He steps out of the royal box and walks to the middle of the red carpet.

The Maester squints at his arrival. “Sebastian Chastain, you’re here on a reprieve of sentence, and you have asked for a chance to plead your case to the king.”

“Yes, thank you for hearing my plea, your grace.” With a slight shift of his shoulders and a tremble of his lips, he no longer looks like the smug, egotistic wildcard he is. No, like someone flipped a switch, Sebastian now presents a perfect picture of atonement.

He falls to one knee in front of my brother. “I am here to ask for your magnanimity, your highness. My wicked tongue led me astray, and for that I was punished by your predecessor. My exile has allowed me to see the errors of my ways, and I apologize, to the crown and the entire court, for my untoward behavior.”

I roll my eyes. No one present could ever fall for that, could they? I guess it doesn’t matter. Sebastian insulted Ludovic, and it pleases everyone here but me to officially welcome him back to the fold.

Victor smirks at the falsely repentant vampire. “Get up, young Chastain. I grant you your pardon, but if you insult the crown again, I will have your tongue.”

Sebastian bows his head in deference and whistles out of the room by the main exit, but not before he throws a wink in my direction.

I shift in my seat when Alec is called to speak on Eleanor’s escape. The royal guard faces the king, the Maester, and his own brother Jasper Beaumont, the new head of the royal guard and his direct superior.

His sunglasses are nowhere to be seen, and his uniform is freshly pressed. The room goes quiet when he opens his mouth to explain the circumstances that led to Ludovic’s death.

I’m sure he’s been questioned a thousand times, but the tribunal is meant to officialize any investigation findings and ensure transparency between the different branches of the government.

“The king ordered us all not to enter his apartments, so by the time I caught a glimpse of the alpha’s scent, he was already out of the king’s wing,” Alec states calmly.

The Maester hikes his glasses up his nose. “Why would the king bar his guards from his rooms? It’s highly unusual.”

“He wanted privacy with his wife, Sir,” Alec answers. The gloom on his face almost spells out what that privacy was for, and though he alluded to nothing with his carefully chosen words, every single person in the audience looks to the ground for a split second.

Jasper opens his mouth on a low hiss. “If an alpha killed our late king, we have to seek retribution on his whole clan.”

Alec shakes his head. “No, it was Eleanor herself that killed him.”

“How do you know?” his brother asks, his fists balled at his sides, clearly pissed to be contradicted.

A hint of a smile plays at the corner of my bodyguard’s mouth, the change fleeting and incomplete, probably unnoticeable to anyone but the people on my side of the aisle.

She told me herself before she escaped.

I hold my breath, and a tremor of excitement runs up my spine. My nails sink into the wooden frame of the royal box, my knuckles white. I’m quite literally hanging onto Alec’s next words.

He points casually at the corner of the room. “The warlocks have confirmed it.”

The king squints at Alec. “You’re mistaken. The warlocks couldn’t come to a consensus about it.”

One of the men wearing a red tunic clears his throat. “Actually, we did confirm it, your highness.”

Victor shoots an icy glance to Jasper Beaumont. “Why wasn’t it in the report?”

“It was a gross oversight, your grace. I’ll figure out what happened,” Jasper answers with an exaggerated, servile whine.

“Please do.”

The Maester continues to question Alec, but my ears buzz, my hands still gripping the ledge of the royal box like I’m holding on for dear life.

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