Grudgingly, with a hard look for Sebourne and Celieria's too-proud queen, Rain followed Dorian into a small adjoining antechamber.

"There are witnesses," Dorian informed them as soon as the door closed; "dozens of them, all who claim the child was an innocent bystander.”

"That boy was no innocent," Rain replied. "He joined Ellysetta and me in a game of Stones for the express purpose of stabbing her.”

"He could have killed her, Dorian," Marissya added, "and would have if Rain had not been there to stop the blood loss.”

Dorian eyed both of them. "I have to ask … is there any possibility Ser vel Jelani made a mistake? Could he have slain the wrong child by accident?”

"Nei," Rain said without hesitation. "Bel is the most experienced warrior in the Fading Lands. He would not have been so careless. But even so, he didn't kill the boy. Kieran tells me someone else wove death on the child the moment he was trapped—to keep him from revealing who hired him, no doubt.”

The Celierian king rubbed a hand over his face and sighed wearily. "I have no wish to prosecute Ser vel Jelani, but Sebourne and several others who are already concerned about the recent dahl'reisen murders see this as yet more proof of Fey magic run amok. Sebourne is demanding a full-blown inquiry and trial, and he's got four of the Twenty agreeing with him.”

Rain's eyes narrowed. "If someone means harm to Ellysetta, stripping Bel from her cha'kor could be part of a plan to make her more vulnerable to attack. I cannot allow you to endanger her that way.”

"And I've just explained why I cannot simply pardon Ser vel Jelani out of hand.”

"Then don't." Rain swept an arm towards Marissya. "We have a Truthspeaker. Have Bel swear a Fey oath, under shei'dalin touch, that he did not kill this boy."

"You want us to trust her?" Lord Sebourne cried when Dorian announced his intentions. "Your Majesty, this is an outrage. How could we possibly trust the Fey Truthspeaker to tell us the truth if the man is guilty? She's one of them!”

Rain grabbed Dax before the man pulled steel in the council chamber to defend his truemate's honor. What had the world come to that a Great Lord of Celieria would cast doubt on the integrity of Marissya v'En Solande?

"Do not push us too far, mortal," Rain warned. "Were Queen Annoura attacked on foreign soil, this Council would howl for war. The Fey have not done so. But be warned, we will not meekly accept insult atop an already grievous injury.”

King Dorian cleared his throat, the sound drawing all eyes to him. "Lord Sebourne's holdings have suffered considerable loss of life in the recent dahl'reisen raids. Those losses have obviously affected his normally sound judgment.”

"Your Majesty!" Sebourne protested.

Dorian didn't spare a glance for the angry border lord but kept his gaze firmly fixed on Rain. "Of course, the Lady Marissya's honesty stands above reproach. She has served with honor and integrity on every Supreme Council we have convened for the past thousand years. No clear-thinking lord of Celieria would cast her centuries of service in doubt.”

Now he did level a steady, steely-eyed look on Sebourne and held it until the nobleman subsided and sat down.

"We are grateful for her gracious counsel and her service, and we hold her in the highest regard," Dorian continued, allowing his gaze to sweep the council chamber, making eye contact with each lord of the Twenty. "The witnesses are being brought to the palace. As soon as they arrive, we will hear their testimony and that of Ser vel Jelani, and we will accept the Lady Marissya's Truthspeaking to determine Ser vel Jelani's guilt or innocence."

Ravel vel Arras, leader of Ellie's secondary quintet, and the rest of her Fey guard hustled Ellie through the city streets towards her family home. More than once they encountered small mobs of people who watched them with accusatory glares. Ellie couldn't understand it. She could practically feel the fear and loathing emanating from them in waves.

Scraps of paper littered the roads like fallen leaves, and on several street corners, shabby pamphleteers' boys shouted, "Fey murders unarmed Celierian child!" and handed out their leaflets as fast as their little fists could collect coin. Pamphleteers were always quick to print and disseminate their "news," but this was fast even for them. They must have run straight from the scene of Bel's confrontation with her young attacker to their presses.

Ellie bent to pick up one of the abandoned sheets and gasped at the awful, hate-filled accusations printed in lurid detail and presented as fact. Innocent Child Burned Alive by Savage Fey, the headline screamed. The text below was worse. Reading the vile words actually made her stomach clench and her chest feel tight, as if a cold, heavy weight were pressing against her heart. The headache that had savaged her yesterday began to throb anew.

"Ravel," she murmured in concern, handing him the sheet. He scanned the paper with grim eyes, then crumpled it and threw it in the gutter. "Do not worry, Feyreisa. These accusations are groundless. Rain will not let Bel come to harm."

For a full bell, Rain sat grimly silent in Dorian's council chamber as witness after witness testified they'd seen Bel burn a helpless, unarmed Celierian boy to death. Afterwards, only years of hard-won discipline kept Rain's face expressionless as he listened to Lord Sebourne and several of his fellow pompous noble windbags howl about the Fey's blatant disregard for Celierian lives. As if a single one of them would not have seen the boy hanged for pinching a dinner roll from their supper tables.