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King Marius, Queen Celestine, Drake, and Augusta all turned to Colton. Colton was staring at me, but I couldn’t read anything in his expression.
After a prolonged moment, he repeated the question.
“There is no possible way for you to mesmerize someone in any way without touching them?”
“That is correct,” I said, holding his gaze steadily.
He looked at the king and nodded slowly. The king looked from him to Anka, who also nodded. Everyone in the room relaxed in response, even me a little.
“Well, then…” King Marius sat back in his throne and regarded me, his face weary and eyes sad. “The princess is right, and you should be allowed a voice in your defense. I apologize for not granting you an audience before now.”
Part of me wanted to stammer out that it was fine, awed by my surroundings and company, but another part wanted to rage and scream abuse at his treatment of me thus far. I settled for a stiff nod.
“You were taught this skill by Grey, who is now deceased,” the king said, waiting at the end of the sentence for my confirmation.
“That is correct,” I said. “I saw him die myself and confirmed it with my ability.”
Colton nodded again.
“To your knowledge, the only other ones who knew this skill were Grey’s family, and all of them are now deceased as well?”
I hesitated, and the group around the dais tensed.
“As far as I’m aware, the Constantines never taught anyone outside their family the skill. However, not all the Constantines are dead. One of the grandsons had an elements affinity, and he remains alive. There is also a daughter-in-law who is a healer, but she was never fully accepted into the family and never taught to mesmerize.”
Colton nodded a third time, and the king relaxed again. A hint of approval entered King Marius’s eyes which I could only attribute to my detailed and specific responses. Apparently I was reassuring him with my openness and careful replies.
But his expression almost immediately grew heavier, his shoulders sinking. My heart sank with them. I had held onto the hope that my words could convince him, but it didn’t look promising.
“Have you ever voluntarily planted a lie in another’s mind?” he asked, and my heart dropped even further.
“Yes,” I said reluctantly. “I mesmerized one of the Constantines at Grey’s instruction. I didn’t want to, but I felt I needed to allay his suspicions.”
The king and queen exchanged a look, and I rushed to keep talking.
“But I regret having done so greatly. It seemed like a relatively harmless lie at the time, but it ended up having devastating consequences. I have sworn that I will never mesmerize again, no matter the circumstances.”
“That is an admirable resolution,” Augusta said. “But it is one thing to say so when everything is calm and another to hold firm to our intentions through the storm.”
Amara shifted closer to me. “Delphine may still be an apprentice, but she has already weathered several storms and faced death more than once.”
“Even to save myself, I will not mesmerize again,” I said. “I have faced that situation already, and I believe I could face it again if necessary.”
The king looked at Colton with a raised eyebrow and again received a nod. I breathed out, feeling hopeful for the first time, but the king’s next words dashed the brief emotion.
“Even so…By your own admission, you have mesmerized before and accept some level of culpability in the deaths which followed.”
Hayes stepped forward. “It is a credit to Delphine’s sense of responsibility that she claims any guilt at all. The true responsibility for the Constantines’ deaths rests at their own feet. They created Grey and set themselves on the path to destruction without any assistance from Delphine.”
Colton gave Hayes a hard look, but Hayes continued talking.
“I must also remind you that what happened on the island happened beyond Tartora’s borders and is out of our jurisdiction. We are not here today to assign guilt for those murders. If anyone is to seek justice on that account, it must be the islanders themselves. And on the island, Delphine was a protector, not a criminal. If we are discussing the island, we would do better to focus on the benefits of securing an alliance as quickly as possible before one of the other kingdoms beats us to it. And Delphine would be an asset in any such negotiations.”
“We have already sent word to Master Clay to begin alliance negotiations,” King Marius said. “But as much as we would value such a connection, the safety of our people must be our first priority.”
I braced myself, waiting for what I knew would come next. As we had feared, no arguments could prevent the king viewing me as a danger. Seeing his kingdom nearly plunged into famine had clearly had a profound effect.
But before he could speak again, Queen Celestine leaned over and whispered something to him. I couldn’t catch the words, but her eyes were on me, and I could have sworn I saw her lips form Nik’s name.
