Chapter 6: The River Hall

The River Alpha's hall stood on stilts over a wide brown river, and its gates were already open.

That told me they were waiting for us.

Garrick walked half a step behind me with his hand on his knife.

Two hundred River wolves lined the walls, and none of them spoke as we passed.

A huge screen hung at the far end of the hall, the kind they used for pack broadcasts.

Under it sat the River Alpha on a chair carved like a boat, a smooth, handsome man of forty with a gold chain across his chest.

Dorian stood at his left.

My uncle Percival stood at his right, with his rimless glasses polished and his hands folded.

My uncle did not look at me.

"Daughter of Osric," the River Alpha said pleasantly. "You are welcome to the River, in a manner of speaking."

"I have come to sit the Test."

"So I hear. It is a pity you are a murderer."

A low sound went around the walls.

"I killed no one," I said.

"Then let us watch together."

He lifted a hand, and the screen woke.

It showed the Moonhall from a high corner, at the moment my father raised his glass.

The camera did not show Dorian walking up beside me.

It did not show Dorian's hand on his holster or the gun leaving it.

It showed my father turn toward me, and me with the gun in my hand.

It showed the shot.

It showed my father falling.

I stared at the screen.

It was a clean lie, cut so neatly that for one breath I almost believed it myself.

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