But the elven king tilted his head, his attention piercing. “You may,” he said in a voice like sparkling ice. “We arelistening.”
“Thank you.” Ismiled.
I had never been a good daughter of the Boudiccate. I would never, ever follow in my mother’s politicalfootsteps.
But I knew how to memorize and recite a spell, word-for-word, without a single shift ofintonation.
“I agreed,” I said clearly to the whole gathered group, “to protect the elves’ pets by discovering the one who cast this unnatural storm, whether the perpetrator was human ornot.”
“And?” Ihlmere snapped. “Have you brought him to this gathering? Or do you officially declare forfeit to menow?”
“No, I didn’t bring him,” I said, and kept my gaze on the king. “Youdid, YourMajesty.”
A hiss of sucked-in breaths sounded from bothgroups.
Lady Cosgrave’s face was bone-white. The elves, glittering and undefeatable, were glaring at meen masse,the magic that they carried within them building like a second storm and thickening the air all around us withmenace.
But as I watched, one corner of the king’s mouth unmistakably curved upwards. “Indeed?” he said coolly. “Do explain. Toallof us, if youplease.”
“Humans lie, and we all know it!” Lord Ihlmere started forward, shining with fury. “You cannot trust any human to tell the truth,or—”
“But you can trust an elf-lord, can’t you?” Jonathan said behind me. His voice came out as easily as if he were engaging in intellectual debate, and when I looked back, I found him in a relaxed pose, his arms crossed and head tilted with scholarly interest. “Isn’t it true, my lords, that you neverlie?”
“Never,” snapped the elf-lord on Lord Ihlmere’s left, his eyes narrowing. “Any such abomination would be identified immediately by every other member in this group. We canallattest to the truth in each other’swords.”
“Well, then,” Amy said, from the inner semicircle. “Why don’t you tell us, Cassandra,exactlywhat Lord Ihlmere said to you? And he may tell us all whether you’re repeating his wordscorrectly.”
“Of course.” I bowed respectfully to the group around me. “Lord Ihlmere,” I said to the gathered elves and humans, “claimed that the laws in his kingdom utterly prohibit any such atrocity of nature as this spelled storm—and that it is your kingdom, not our nation, that is most harmed by it, as it has injured your pets and ruined your hunts. Therefore,” I finished, “he pointed out, as I recall, thatany observer with a shred of logicwould tell us that one of our own magicians must be the ones directing all ofit.”
“Well?” The king turned his clear, cold gaze upon his elf-lord. “Is the human lying? Yes orno?”
Ihlmere’s words sounded as if they’d been ground out through his sharp-edged jaw. “No,” he said harshly. “Which is whyany elf lord in this group, unlike a human magician, would never cast such reckless magic as anexperiment!”
“As an experiment? I don’t think so.” I tilted my head. “But in order to break our treaty...and perhaps win yourself full power,too?”
For the first time, the group of elves broke formation. Heads turned. Booted feetshifted.
Suddenly, there was a space between Lord Ihlmere and hisfellows.
“I expect there’s been a great deal of unhappiness in the elven court,” said Miss Fennell knowledgeably, from her space in the outer semicircle. “Based onmyreading, I would guess that a good deal of blame has probably been cast about in this past se’nnight. Perhaps a few questions might even have been raised about the fitness of a ruler who wouldn’t step up to defend his realm when mere humans were causing suchdisruptions?”
“And our own disruptions,” Lady Cosgrave added sharply, “were all to the detriment of this particular ceremony. This sudden storm, so carefully timed, made it nearly impossible for all of our intended attendees to gather...as I recallyounoting, Lord Ihlmere, in your unexpected visit to us lastweek.”
More elves stepped away from LordIhlmere.
One of them shook his head in open shock. “Without ourhunts...”
“I cannot believe any of you would listen to human slander!” Lord Ihlmere spat. “You know they care nothing for the truth. Youknow—”
“Iknow how good you are at twisting it.” I took another inexorable step forward. “You chose your words very carefully last week, didn’t you? You said thatany observerwould tell us that a human magician must be behind it all. But you aren’t just any observer, are you? You’re the architect behind itall.”
“Youdid this?” demanded the single elf-lord who still stood beside Lord Ihlmere. His pale face was gaunt with horror as he stared at his fellow lord. “Youhurt our pets until their cries haunted all of our dreams? Youdisrupted our hunts? Youknow—!”
“You have no proof!” Lord Ihlmere snarled. “None beyond the words of this demented monstrosity of a human female, whose bones reek of a magic she should never have been allowed to share! She doesn’t even deserve to stand here among us,or—”
“I shallnottake her word as proof.” The elven king stepped forward with every other elf suddenly behind him, a flanking army of glittering and unmistakable power. “I shall takeyourword before this assembled company, LordIhlmere.
“Highest and oldest among our advisors. Most mighty and most proud, across the centuries.” His gaze flicked across the elf-lord’s enraged expression, and his narrow lips twisted. “You will answer us all and in one word only.Didyou summon this enchanted storm, breaking the ancient laws of our realm and putting every one of our company in mortalperil?”
