Chapter 8: The Honor With a Price

Caspian Wren crossed the records gallery with the charter already open in his hands.

He set it in Alex's palms without a word.

Alex looked down at the first page.

Restoration of Pack Standing, In Full, Upon Public Statement.

Caspian was offering to hand back everything the tribunal had taken from him.

Alex knew what the second page would cost before he turned it.

He turned it anyway.

'Read the statement,' Caspian said.

'You want me to say it in my own voice.'

'Yes.'

'In the room where they convicted me.'

'Yes.'

Alex read it out loud.

'The exile was lawful. The evidence was properly certified. The tribunal acted in good faith.'

His voice did not shake on a single word.

Caspian's jaw worked once and then stopped moving.

Alex held the charter open so the gallery light fell flat across the page.

He had wanted this paper for longer than he would ever admit out loud.

He had wanted it in the worst weeks, when he could not keep food down and the bond pulled at him like something with teeth.

He turned to the appendix.

He ran his thumb down the signature block and read the date aloud.

'You signed the exile order on the eleventh.'

Caspian went very still.

'The forensic report was filed on the nineteenth,' Alex said.

Caspian did not answer, because there was no answer that fit.

Eight days sat between those two dates, and everyone in the room could count them.

'You signed before the evidence existed,' Alex said.

'I signed what my council put in front of me.'

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