Chapter 27: Bella in Chains

The white line in the glass said:

SYSTEM: Reminder! The Bloodline of Desire draws partners toward its bearer. Effects may change when the bearer's duties conclude.

James read it three times, wiped it away with his sleeve, and said nothing to Harry.

"What was it?" Harry asked.

"A hotel notice," James said. "Checkout time."

Harry looked at him for a long moment, and let it go.

Three days later, in the great hall of Emberhall, Matthew and Bella were brought in chains.

The Dean's riders had caught them on the south road with two horses, a sack of silver and one ruined fan.

The hall was full.

The four elders sat on a dais, in grey, green, blue and red.

Behind them, a thousand people stood shoulder to shoulder in the galleries, and none of them were quiet.

James sat on a plain bench below the dais, because he had refused the chair.

Grant stood at his right, Harry at his left, and Felix on the bench beside him with a bag of roasted chestnuts.

"Don't eat in front of the court," James whispered.

"I'm nervous."

"You're eating."

"That's how nervous looks on me."

The herald struck the floor with his staff.

"Matthew Phoenix, clerk of the household. Bella Phoenix, his daughter. You are charged before the four clans."

Matthew lifted his gray head.

The chain of office was gone from his neck, and a red mark showed where it had rubbed him for years.

"I am the lawful elder of the Phoenix line," he said. "I will answer to no one in this room."

"You opened the Reach seal," said the old woman with the braids.

"I opened a vault."

"You loosed a ruin dragon on two thousand children."

"I did not know."

"You were told. By your nephew, to your face, in front of sixteen men."

Matthew's mouth worked, and nothing came out.

Bella stood a step behind him in a plain gray dress, with her hair in a rope down her back.

She looked straight at the elders, and her voice was warm and level.

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