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The king winced visibly in response to whatever she’d said, and then slowly nodded. But from Gia’s scowl, the queen’s intervention hadn’t provided any last-minute rescue.
“Delphine, many character witnesses have spoken on your behalf.” The king’s eyes traveled from Amara to Hayes and then back to his wife, making me wonder what private words had been exchanged between parents and son before Nik’s departure. “Bearing this in mind, as well as your testimony today, I cannot in good conscience order your execution. While I would prefer the skill you possess be wiped from existence, that is too high a price to pay.”
My whole body slumped with relief. It was good news after all. Except then he continued talking.
“However, regardless of your intentions, I cannot place my kingdom at risk. Therefore, you will be kept in a guarded location and forbidden from any future physical contact.”
“Forever?” I asked, not quite grasping what he was suggesting.
He nodded ponderously.
“You will bar her from all physical contact with anyone? Ever?” Amara asked, her tone growing thunderous. “So she is not to be murdered but merely imprisoned for life and barred from using her ability?”
A shudder ran through me. I hadn’t even considered that such an imprisonment would mean I could never work as a healer again. Could I spend my life locked in a cage, alone and unable to help no matter how great the need around me? What sort of life would that be?
I had hoped this audience wouldn’t require any drastic action after all, but while my life might have been spared, I couldn’t accept the future the king demanded. Which meant I couldn’t hesitate.
Launching into movement, I leaped onto the dais and reached the king in a single bound. Before he realized what was happening, I had one hand wrapped around his throat. My touch was gentle, but everyone in the room knew what I could do with the lightest of touches.
“Don’t move!” I cried. “You know I only need a second!”
King Marius had gone stone still beneath my hand, although his eyes jumped from Drake to Augusta. He had gone without formal guards for such a sensitive meeting, but he had done so knowing the strongest mages in the kingdom were at his side.
But when Drake moved, it wasn’t to come to the king’s aide. With two steps, he placed himself toe to toe with the Master of Plants. I had fought at Nik’s side often enough to know what destruction could be wreaked by a plants master, but she had yet to make any move—no doubt taken by surprise and unsure of the danger I posed to the king.
“Drake,” she said in a low, warning tone, but he didn’t move.
Amara and Hayes stepped up beside him, the three of them forming a wall with their backs toward the dais. In front of them, blocked from approaching the throne were Augusta, Colton, and Anka. The king’s eyes flicked to his daughter, but she shook her head sadly as she, Renley, and Airlie slowly retreated from the dais, leaving the king and queen alone with me.
“Sorry, Father,” she said. “But what you’re doing is wrong, and you know it. I can’t stand with you on this.”
“Gia!” the queen hissed. “Your father!”
But Gia just kept shaking her head with a mournful look.
I held my breath, willing my hand not to shake as I kept it in place.
The king met Airlie’s eyes next. “We accepted you and made you a princess, and you repay us with treason?”
She remained silent, her face a careful mask.
The king turned his head toward me, speaking through gritted teeth. “I offered you your life.”
“If you can call that a life,” I replied, trying to sound scornful.
Augusta peered around Drake’s crossed arms. “All you’re doing is proving us right, girl.”
“Perhaps,” I said. “But I don’t have much to lose at this point.”
“And what do you hope to gain if you kill the king?” Colton asked. “If it’s a swift death you’re after—”
I laughed, the unexpected sound rendering him silent. “If I didn’t want to live, I wouldn’t be risking this now. But King Marius doesn’t have to die. No one does.”
“Of course not,” Queen Celestine said, a strain in her lilting voice. “If you step away from the king we can talk further, and I’m sure we can—”
“Oh no,” I said, shamelessly interrupting her. It had taken every bit of my determination to come this far, but it would all be for nothing if I couldn’t brazen it out. “If we’re all going to walk away from this alive, it’s because Colton will save the king.”
I met the eyes of the Master of Healing. “It’s up to you to protect your king.”
