Out of the Shadow at Last novel · Chapter 18 of 24
Chapter 18: Mother Falls
I went down to the Fair hall in my nightgown with Ivar's coat over it.
Posy ran beside me, and Ivar came behind with his knife.
The hall was lit with every lamp in Northgate, and it was full.
Two hundred wolves in blankets and furs stood shoulder to shoulder, and Mother stood on the dais in front of them in her grey cloak.
She was weeping.
She did it beautifully, with her hands pressed flat against her chest.
"I only wanted to protect my children," she was saying. "Corbin bullied me into every word I ever spoke. And she..."
She saw me, and stopped, and pointed.
"There. She brought them to your gates. Ask her why the Court knew the Seal's name."
A low muttering ran through the hall.
It was the same sound as the courtyard on the day of the cloak, and I knew it very well.
They were deciding what to believe.
I walked down the middle of the hall until I stood below the dais.
"Mother," I said.
"Don't speak to me, you ungrateful girl!"
"I want to ask you one thing," I said. "In front of everyone."
"I won't answer."
"You don't have to. Posy will."
Posy came up the steps behind me.
She was holding a flat tin the size of her palm, and the lid shook against her fingers.
Mother's face changed.
The tears stopped, and the softness went out of it.
"Posy," she said.
"I found it in your travelling chest," Posy said, and her voice was small and clear. "I went to sit with you, and you fell asleep, and I wanted a blanket."
"Give me that."
"It says chamomile on the lid. You've kept it since I was a girl."
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