Chapter 20: What Clara Knew

Clara climbed onto the mounting block where the captain had stood.

She was small, and the court was quiet enough that every word reached the back wall.

"I know how this looks," she said. "I know what the pack thinks of me."

"I've hidden things, and I'm sorry for it."

"But I'm the only one here who has come forward, and I'd like to be heard before I'm judged."

"Come forward with what?" I said.

She turned her wet eyes on me.

"I read about the carry in Greyhaven. That's the truth, Ivy. I'm not going to deny it."

A sound ran through the crowd.

"The registers were open to visitors. I found the old rite by chance, and I understood what had been done to you."

"I came home to warn Rafe."

"You came home to warn him," I said.

"I did."

"Then why did you spend ten days on the road giving me honey and asking which night I was burned?"

Her mouth tightened a fraction.

"I was frightened. I didn't know whom to trust."

"You asked me if I'd told the keeper anything yet."

"Ivy, please."

"You put your hand on the exact place where it started. Nobody had shown you where."

"I'd read it in the books!"

"The books don't say where a burn begins on a woman's back."

I said it quite gently.

Clara stared at me.

Then the red-bearded captain spoke from the foot of the block, and he did not raise his voice.

"You were in the barn, Clara."

"I was caught by the smoke."

"Your shawl was dry. The Alpha said so himself in the infirmary. Your hair wasn't singed."

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