Page 66 of Muse

“Maybe not, but itisthis way.”

My mother seemed to want to say more. I could almost see her biting her tongue behind her carnation pink lipstick. But she pulled her plush fur coat more tightly around her and stepped out into the wind.

Chapter 39

By the time Soren got home late that afternoon, I had nearly worked myself into a panic. I cleaned up the mess in the kitchen, and then I paced a circle in front of the hearth.

Soren opened the front door, and I froze in place. I was so still, he didn’t even notice me right away. He slipped off his jacket, and then his hand went to the back of his neck – where his hair stood up, same as mine when he was near – and he finally glanced around the room and spotted me.

“Good afternoon, Izzy,” he said with an unreadable expression.

“Good afternoon, Soren,” I replied, clipped and polite, and my hands were clasped in front of my abdomen. “How were your errands?”

“They were fine.” But he wouldn’t look at me as he said it.

“Adora stopped by,” I blurted out, and his head snapped up.

"She did?" He glanced around as if she was hiding somewhere in the room with us. "Are you okay?"

"Yes. She didn't come here for me, not really. At least not to help me. She wanted to gloat about the rumors that you're being brought before the Tribunal."

He licked his lips and kept avoiding my gaze. “It is no rumor. Queen Kriselle has summoned me to appear before the Tribunal.”

I gasped. “You’ve already been charged?

He walked over to a chair and gripped the back of it with his hands, leaning against it while his head sagged. “The arraignment will be in a few days. The official charges will come down then.”

“But you haven’t done anything wrong!” I rushed over to him in a panic, as if my protests could somehow undo what had already been done. “You were only protecting me from Baxley! I’ll tell them how he kept bothering me, and you did what you had to so that we could leave. Neither of us went into the ballroom looking for trouble.”

“I didn’t have to hit himthreetimes," he said quietly. He let go of the chair and took a few steps away, putting more space between us again. "It's not about Baxley. They're unhappy about that, but that's not the crux of the Magik Tribunal's issues with me."

“Then… then what is the issue?” I asked, but my racing heart feared I already knew the truth.

“The Princesses Cosetta and Sylvetta saw us practicing in the ballroom,” he reminded me brusquely.

"But we weren't doing anything," I argued weakly, but the look he cast me was enough to make my skin flush. I could still feel his lips brushing against my neck, his arms wrapped around me, and there was no denying it.

“And she’s not the only one,” Soren went on grimly. “The King of Sudamon saw us kiss during the Ashoralida.”

“That was months ago! Why is he saying something about it now?” I asked.

"I don't know." He gave a glum shake of his head and collapsed back into a chair on the far side of the room. "Maybe because the Tribunal started the inquisition, and others were coming forward."

“Others?” I asked. “We’ve only kissed a few times! How can there be so many witnesses?”

“Most of it is just rumors that my sister heard about. But I am certain of four names: Cosetta, Sylvetta, King Marcel, and Adora.”

“My mother?” I asked, and it hurt even if it wasn’t a surprise.

Then, I took a fortifying breath and strengthened my resolve. I stepped closer to him. "What can we do? You spoke with Serena. Does she have any ideas on how to fight this?"

He shook his head, defeated. “There is no fighting this.”

“But you haven’t hurt anyone, and I’ll speak on your defense,” I insisted.

“The Regula makes it explicitly clear what the boundaries are supposed to be between enchanter and muse.”

"We've abided by them as much as we could," I persisted. "We used restraint and only slipped up a few times."

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