Chapter 16: The Trial of the Blood

They took her out of sanctuary at noon.

The old law says a king's child must walk to the trial of the blood on her own feet.

The priests opened the temple doors.

Elspeth came down the steps in a plain grey gown with her hair braided, her hands in iron, and no cane.

Four guards walked behind her.

The crowd in the street parted for her without a sound.

Not one of them looked at her leg, and every one of them looked at her stride.

She did not limp once.

"Look at that," a woman said behind me, too loud. "Ten years she's leaned on that stick."

Elspeth heard it.

She lifted her chin and smiled, and I felt every hair on my arms stand up.

The Moon Court was full to the doors.

Evander took the high seat as the accused, which the law required, with the crown set on the table beside him instead of on his head.

I sat in the witness row in front of the elders, with Brigid at my side and her cut braid pinned up in a scarf.

Elspeth stood alone in the middle of the floor.

"I am Elspeth Dray," she said. "I am the daughter of the High King who reigned before him."

"My mother was a kitchen maid. His father took her to bed and then buried her in an unmarked pit at the Thornwick silver mine."

"Nobody told me where. I found it myself at fourteen."

The elders stirred.

"My brother knew she was there," Elspeth said. "He was twelve. He saw them carry her out. He never said a word."

I looked at Evander.

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