Deny Me, Dragon King novel · Chapter 21 of 24
Chapter 21: The Court of Embers
At midnight the Hearth Court filled with lords in torn-up sleep and bad temper.
They stood on the stone steps ring above ring, as they had the night of the Blood Trial.
This time nobody sneered.
Posy lay on a pallet at the pit's rim, wrapped in Odo's blanket with Biscuit pressed against her cheek.
The healer knelt beside her.
The Oracle sat in her chair at the edge of the steps, with the gray-robed girl holding her shawl.
Lord Crane stood alone at the top row, with his arms folded.
Torren waited at the center of the pit's rim, in his shirt, with his side bound under it.
And Hesper Quillon walked out of the dark in white, carrying a silver taper.
She moved.
"The Court of Embers is called by the denied woman," she said. "I light the fire, as the law requires."
"It will judge the claimer's heart."
"And once the fire is lit, no hand may touch the one who lit it."
She said that last part to Torren.
I stepped to the rim beside him.
The pit smelled wrong.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of Deny Me, Dragon King are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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