Chapter 10: The Lion Kneels

Linnea went up the stairs two at a time with a bleeding palm and her hair coming down.

The palace courtyard was lit by a hundred torches.

Two hundred of Bracken's soldiers stood in rows across it, in black cloaks with the swan on the breast.

Bracken stood in front of them with his hand on the shoulder of their captain, a stocky man in his forties.

Kaelen and her own guard, thirty at most, stood in a line at the palace doors.

Behind them, the eight men of the Nine stood together in the torchlight, silent.

"Majesty," said Bracken. "Step aside. These men have confessed to a plot against your life. The Crown's justice requires their arrest tonight."

"The Council meets at dawn."

"The Council meets when I call it. Captain, take them."

The captain didn't move.

Linnea walked down the steps, alone, and stopped between the two lines.

"Captain," she said. "Who do you serve?"

"The Chancellor commands this garrison, Majesty. I-"

"I'm not asking who commands it."

He swallowed.

She looked down the black rows. "How many of you have kin in Corrow, or Eastmarch, or on the northern roads?"

A ripple went through the soldiers.

Half a dozen hands went up before their captain could glare them down.

"That's where the Blight is. It's been pushed back seven ninths since I was crowned."

"It stopped because the marks and I have been paying for it, with everything we've got."

She held up her bleeding hand so the torches caught it.

"Tonight, the Chancellor wants to arrest the nine marks, and the Stone will go dark. By dawn the frost is at your doors."

She didn't raise her voice, and every man in the courtyard heard her.

"He also sent three men down my chimney last night with a sack large enough to carry me."

"Lies," said Bracken.

"His steward is in my cells, and he has told Kaelen everything."

"Do you want to ask him, Captain? Ask your Chancellor who's paying you."

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