Crown of Hidden Scales novel · Chapter 6 of 24

Chapter 6: Market Day at Brannock

I walked into Brannock square in Bronwyn's second-best gown, with my sleeves rolled to the elbow and the crown on my head.

I wanted them to see it.

A hundred villagers stood packed against the market stalls, white-faced, in dead silence.

On the gallows platform by the well, an old mill hand stood with a rope round his neck.

His lips were moving in prayer.

Prince Edric sat on a camp chair at the foot of the steps.

Eleven soldiers stood behind him, and he held a cup of wine in his good hand.

He had his silver-green paint on again, fresh, to the wrists.

He saw me and set down the cup.

"There she is," he said loudly. "The traitor who ate at my table."

Nobody cheered.

"Cut him down, Edric," I said.

My voice carried across the whole square, and I let it.

"This man has done nothing. I'm the one you want. I've come."

"You came because I hanged an old fool," said Edric. "Which means it works."

"Yes, I came because of him. Because I'd rather walk here myself than let you hang a village one man at a time."

He laughed, and it was a poor imitation of his father's laugh.

"Seize her," he told his captain. "And her friend the hangman, wherever he's lurking."

"He's behind me," I said.

Rhain stepped out of the crowd twenty paces back, his gloves on, and a soldier crossed himself.

None of Edric's men moved.

The crown on my head had begun to glow, a low bronze light that washed across the faces of the front rows.

"Look at my arms," I said to the villagers.

I held them up, and the scales rose silver-green along both, plate by plate, in the morning sun.

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