Crown of Shadows (Court of Midnight and Deception #1) - K. M. Shea Page 0,114

Chrysanthe opened and closed her mouth twice before she managed to speak. “I did not kill Queen Leila.”

“No,” Chase agreed. “You only attempted; you didn’t succeed.”

Lady Chrysanthe frowned, and a bit of her fire returned. “I never—” She was unable to speak, proving she’d been about to speak a lie.

I knew she plotted against me. She never hid that. But…I agree with Chase.

My director of security had presented me with his initial findings in the early hours of the morning—apparently the guards had scared Lord Myron into confessing, and he’d spilled the beans that Lady Chrysanthe had mentioned a plan to spike my food and had—in his sight—lingered around the base of the giraffe statue, and then given the bespelled golf ball to the fae who had hit the statue.

But Chase felt we didn’t have quite enough evidence to convict her, and some of the details didn’t match up. I had suggested we hold a public hearing to see if we could uncover the rest of the story through some bits of trickery. Chase had reluctantly agreed.

Let’s see if we can get this to pan out.

“Do you have any questions regarding the cases, Queen Leila?” Skye asked.

The Court was quiet as it waited for me to speak.

“Yes.” I squeezed the edges of the arm rests. “I have a clarification I’d like from Lord Myron.”

Lord Myron stepped out of the crowd and bowed deeply to me. “My heart moves that I might help you, Queen Leila.”

“Yeah, right,” I said with zero belief. Probably moves with anger. “In the submitted report, you say Lady Chrysanthe looked into using an artifact to cast a creature that would chase and attack me if I dared to ride in the Magiford Midsummer Derby.”

“That is right, Queen Leila.”

“I didn’t send it,” Lady Chrysanthe whimpered.

I narrowed my eyes and studied Myron. “And you never joined Chrysanthe in her efforts to kill me?”

Myron held his hand up. “I swear upon my family name that I have never attempted to kill you, Queen Leila.”

“But you were there when Chrysanthe made her attempts.”

“I was present, yes.”

There’s something off about that. How can he make that vow when—or rather if—Chrysanthe really did all of this and he was with her? Shouldn’t he be guilty by association?

I pressed my lips together as I chewed on the idea. Even when Steve rested her head on my lap, I only absently patted her.

“If found guilty, Lady Chrysanthe will be stripped of her title, exiled from the Night Court, and sent to live in the human world,” Skye said. “As will her family.”

Lady Demetria wailed. “How can you punish the family for the sins of the children?” She made a show of dabbing her eyes. “My kin and I had no idea of the viper we harbored in our family! We are not at fault!”

So much for believing she’s innocent.

Lord Myron bowed his head at the pronouncement as I carefully watched him.

I felt something behind me stir in the shadows. A discreet glance, and I saw Twilight peering at me from behind the column. Perched on top of the column—nearly invisible in the darkness of the Night Realm—was Whiskers.

I’m not standing alone. Not anymore.

My gaze flicked from Indigo to Skye to Chase and—yes—even Lord Linus.

We can do this.

I stood up and slowly approached the edge of my platform, Kevin and Steve following behind me as Muffin padded in front of me.

“Lord Myron, am I correct that you heard her express a desire to poison me, and to set a creature to chase after me, but you didn’t see her do anything?”

“Yes, Queen Leila.” Lord Myron bowed again.

“And you saw her around the base of the giraffe statue, but you didn’t actively see her cutting the bolts on the plates in its feet, or doing anything to it?”

“Yes, Queen Leila—though I did see her give the bespelled golf ball to the lord who accidentally hit the statue,” Lord Myron said. “One can only imagine that if she announced her plan to us, her comrades, it was she who followed through with it.”

Ugh. Fae—one can imagine, one would think, blah, blah, blah. They love leaving the important bits out…They love to leave the important bits out? Hmm…

I glanced speculatively at Chrysanthe. “I didn’t do it,” she whispered.

She’s neatly pinned—she can’t say she didn’t want to harm me or try to harm me because she’s been open in her dislike. Myron, though, can claim he didn’t, even though the scheming jerk has been with this the whole time.