Bend Her novel · Chapter 21 of 24

Chapter 21: The Crown's Fall

The council sat on the third morning, and they sat without the king.

I was summoned to the great hall at nine.

Ansel walked in beside me.

He wore a plain coat with the sleeves rolled.

His horns were bare, as they had been in the Hollow.

The lords parted for us.

None of them looked away.

Aldous sat on a plain chair at the foot of the dais.

The throne above him stood empty.

He had taken off the crown.

It lay in his lap.

"Princess Linnet," said the eldest lord, a gaunt man with a white beard.

He folded his hands.

"The council has heard the envoy, the guards and eleven witnesses to the sigil. We will hear you."

"I have nothing to add," I said.

"Then we will pass judgment."

He unrolled a sheet.

"King Aldous Carrick, you knew of the burning of Ashfield and hid it for twelve years."

Aldous did not move.

"You permitted the sealing of a child's memory. You sold your sister to a foreign house to buy a treaty."

He lowered the sheet.

"The council removes from you all power to seal, to sentence and to command troops."

Aldous nodded slowly.

"You remain king in name until the council chooses another," said the lord.

He looked at me.

"The crown goes to the princess, if she will take it."

I looked at the crown in my brother's lap.

"No," I said.

The hall stirred.

"The council has spoken..."

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