The Princess of Ash novel · Chapter 22 of 24
Chapter 22: The Council Vote
The full Council sat in the hall of black stone at noon, forty seats in a horseshoe.
The Ember Speaker stood in the middle with his iron staff.
Auren walked in on his own feet, grey at the mouth, with his hand on my shoulder.
Nobody there had expected him to walk.
"The sovereign took a human to wife," said the Speaker, in his dry hatchet voice.
"The Council allowed it, because the flame appeared to approve.
"Since then a poisoned cup, a poisoned flagon and a king at our gate.
"Now the sovereign lies half dead from Carrow's arrows, shot for her sake."
"For her sake," Auren said, quietly, "because I flew after a boy."
"Because you flew after a woman.
"The throne cannot be led by a man who is led."
A growl went round the horseshoe, not all of it hostile.
I counted the ones who were not looking at the Speaker.
A dozen of forty.
"I move that the Cinder Throne be declared vacant," said the Speaker.
"I move that the human be sent back to her father, as ash."
Auren took the iron ring from his finger.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of The Princess of Ash are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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