Page 142 of The Kingdom's Reckoning
Myra needed to rectify this. She needed to fix this.Now.
She tried to force out an explanation—that Kallie wasn’t the one at fault, that Domitius was. But she couldn’t. The words wouldn’t come.
Judge Lockwood’s gaze dipped down her as if he could sense her internal panic. Amusement tickled her nose.
Who was this man, and how was he able to pull the answers from her?
There could be only one plausible explanation. Yet, as Myra stared at him with horror, there was nothing she could do about it. She was trapped, ensnared by his gift, and there was no breaking free from it.
"Is it true that she planned to manipulate the king?"
"Yes."
"Was she successful in manipulating him while she was here?"
Rian shouted over the gag.
The answer was stuck in her throat, and her eyes widened. She couldn’t say yes or no. The answer was more complex than that. His power didn’t work if the answer wasn’t clear. There was still hope.
Sebastian shifted, and Judge Lockwood cleared his throat.
"Did Kalisandre manipulate the king while she was in the castle?" the judge asked again, rephrasing the question.
"Yes," she squeaked out, the thin string of hope vanishing as quickly as it came.
"Did you and King Rian sneak into the castle yesterday intending to reinstate Rian, even if it required force?"
"Yes."
Judge Lockwood glanced at Sebastian, who gave the judge a curt nod. The muscles in Lockwood’s jaw popped when he looked back at Myra, his stare intensifying. "Is it true that the king was performing tests on animals and humans alike?"
"Yes." Terror flooded her countenance. It was a lie, though. She shouldn’t have been able to?—
Myra gasped. Lockwood had not specifiedwhichking.
A guard restored her gag. As the judge stepped back, bowing to Sebastian, whatever spell he had put on her drained from her body like a fresh puncture in a bucket of water.
Her gaze snapped to Rian, who looked at her with horror and betrayal. She screamed around the gag, trying to explain that the judge had tricked her. But it was no use. The rod was lodged so far back that she nearly choked when she spoke.
The guard dragged her back to her seat.
Sebastian stepped toward the edge of the platform. "As the witness stated, yesterday King Rian snuck into the castle with the handmaiden and the captain of the King’s Guard. Someone who is innocent of these crimes would never feel the need to infiltrate his own castle, yet here he stands today."
Rian shook against the restraints, his anger overpowering him. But all it did was paint him as the man Sebastian wanted him to be: a power-hungry, vengeful king.
Myra had to do something. She had to help. If Rian carried on this way, he would only make matters worse.
So, even though she viewed it as a betrayal, Myra reached out. With the last dredge of power she had, she coaxed Rian’s senses with a tender touch, sedating his anger and rage.
When Rian calmed down, Sebastian glanced at her, a ghost of a satisfied smirk on his face.
Guilt twisted in her stomach, but she didn’t regret her choice, not this time. She only regretted not having realized Sebastian’s game sooner.
Sebastian addressed the crowd. "This is only a portion of my brother’s wrongdoings, though. Rian has misused his power and the sacred knowledge Frenzia holds in order to build an army that would thwart any who spoke out against him. He has mutilated their bodies and minds. He has transformed innocent animals and turned them into wild beasts. Some of you may have heard rumblings of the ongoing attacks in Vaneria. For the safety of the kingdom, we have restrained many of them. We have done our best to undo my brother’s work, taming the men he has already stripped of their humanity." Sebastian shook his head as if overcome with remorse and sorrow. "But we are afraid some of it cannot be undone."
It was lies. All lies.
Myra reached out to the crowd to persuade them to change their minds. The moment she did, two guards threw open the doors in the back of the room. Warning sounds filled her ears. Bax and a few other guards stumbled backward an inch in shock, yet Myra couldn’t get herself to look. Every muscle in her body refused to move.
