Page 99 of Turncloak

“They were men’s boots, as stated, procured from a boutique cobbler in the north, but there’s nothing to prohibit a female mage from choosing to wear them. However, as Herlan testified, it was a male voice heard healing the patients on the ward.”

“That is all,” Karvas seethed, sitting back down.

Auria was supposed to move along to her final defensive prong, but she couldn’t resist addressing the captain directly. “You’re suggesting that Nissa and I actively fought Saffron Killoran in the common room? This rather contradicts your suggestion that she waited patiently beneath your office window, does it not? Either we were colluding with her or we weren’t. Which is it?”

“Move along, Marriosan,” said Judge Nercan plainly.

But Auria didn’t care about the subtle chastisement. She had sown seeds of reasonable doubt, made it impossible for Karvas to prove anything.

Still, there was one inarguable fact: they had been caught red-handed. They were guilty of many crimes—under great duress, but guilty nonetheless. Time to hammer home said duress.

“When the intruder entered the common room, I was making notes from my night of staking out the Whitewing drophouse. I always utilize my listening bracelet during stakeouts, and was yet to turn it off for the night—or the day, more precisely. As a result, I recorded the entire altercation in the common room.”

Every single mage in the courtroom sat up straighter as Auria tapped the bracelet.

“Tell me where to find the office of Captain Vel Karvas.”

The voice was low and male—undeniably not Saffron Killoran.

“No.”

“You know what the scarlet rot are capable of. What I’m capable of. What happens to people who say no.”

“No.”

Next came Nissa’s entry into the common room, during which time she addressed the intruder as Levan Celadon. This garnered a ripple of murmurs throughout the courtroom.

“Take me to your captain’s office, or Marriosan meets the same fate as her betrothed.”

“No, Nissa. No. I’m ready. I can go now.”

“You are not ready, and you will not go. Not for the sake of a letter.”

“It’s what the letter represents.”

After that came the ferocious sounds of a fight, the whoosh of wind and flames, the cries of pain and anguish. At the time it had seemed to go on forever, but played back it was over in a few minutes. It ended with Levan’s knife against Nissa’s throat, which the court obviously could not see, but it was evident from context, from what the kingpin said next.

“You don’t care enough about your own life to save it. But what about hers?”

Auria ended the recording, and was met with a crypt-like silence.

Karvas blanched white.

Judge Nercan was the first to speak, and when he did, it was with a crisp, quiet tone. “It is your belief that the intruder was the Bloodmoon kingpin?”

“Yes, Your Honor.”

“Other than this recording, do you have any evidence?”

His scent and his scent alone, Auria thought to herself, but as she was preparing to say no, though maybe they could attempt to get eyes on his boots to see if they matched the model from Bethune & Sons, Nissa’s voice burned from the pew behind her.

“A positive facial identification, Your Honor.”

Auria stilled in horror.

That was a lie.

A lie under oath.