I Swore to Kill the Prince I Guard novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: The Hearing
They brought the Chancellor into Bell Court at noon the next day, in a plain grey gown with iron on his wrists.
He had been given no chair.
He stood in the middle of the flagstones where Evander had stood, and he looked, if anything, younger.
Perhaps it was only that he had stopped holding a face.
Florian sat on the regent's dais with the Lord Marshal at his side.
He wore black with a high white collar, and his spectacles caught the weak sun.
He had not slept, and his voice did not shake.
"Basil Thorngate," he said.
"You are charged with forging the Crown's seal and with the murder of seventeen at Rask Hold.
"You are charged with poisoning the King and with the attempted murder of the heir.
"You may speak."
"Thank you, Your Highness," said Basil.
He bowed, and the courtesy of it made a few of the old lords flinch.
"I will not insult the Court by denying what it has seen on its own benches.
"I would like only to explain."
He turned his head slowly.
Evander stood at the foot of the dais with Piers at his elbow.
Basil found him.
"Aldric Rask," said Basil softly, "was an honest man."
Evander had not expected his father's name.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–12 of I Swore to Kill the Prince I Guard are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
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