They Hanged My Parents as Traitors, Now the Prince Needs My Heart novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The High Shelf

The archive of Caer Garan lay under the east wing, down thirty steps.

The door had not been opened since the day my parents were hanged.

Dafydd had the key.

"Nobody's asked for the Madoc file in ten years," he said, pushing the door with his shoulder. "I think the Regent's clerks were told to forget where it was."

The room was long and low, with shelves floor to ceiling and a rolling ladder on a brass rail.

The air smelled of dust and cold paper.

Cadoc was already there.

He sat at the long table at the far end with his sleeves rolled and a stack of boxes by his elbow.

He stood up when I came in.

"I've pulled the case boxes," he said. "I'll sit at this end. Dafydd stays at that end. You tell me when you want me to leave."

"I don't want you to leave," I said. "You signed it. You can watch me read it."

He sat down again.

Olwen had been given the guest suite in the east wing the night before.

She had not asked me about my wrist again, and that worried me more than if she had.

I took the first box and started reading.

There was less than I had hoped.

There was the warrant, which I had heard read.

There was a witness list of three names, none I knew.

There was a Council minute two lines long, saying the matter was concluded.

There was no record of a trial.

I looked down at the list.

"There wasn't a hearing," I said.

"There wasn't," said Cadoc quietly.

"They hanged two people with no hearing," I said.

"Aneurin presented a confession."

"Is it in here?"

"It isn't," he said. "I looked this morning."

I put the paper down because my hand was shaking.

Dafydd came down the table with a mug of tea and set it by my elbow.

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