Chapter 17: The Edict of Release

We reached the Council hall as the sky turned gray.

Eight of Aldous's guards stood in front of the carved doors, and behind them I could hear voices, and the scrape of a chair.

Lysander did not slow down.

He walked straight up the steps in a borrowed coat, with Maud on one side of him and me on the other.

"Stand aside," he said.

"The Council is in session, Your Majesty," the captain said. "The Chief of Selection has ordered the doors sealed."

"Captain, do you know who pays you?"

The captain's eyes flicked to me, to the white streak in my hair and the bare brand on my arm.

I had seen those eyes in the arena the day before.

"I saw her shift," the captain said, to nobody in particular.

Then he stepped aside, and the other seven stepped with him.

Lysander put his shoulder to the doors.

They burst inward, and the whole Council turned in their seats.

Twelve councillors sat at the long table, with Aldous at the head, and the stained-glass windows behind them were just catching the light.

Aldous held a black ballot box in his hands.

He was gray in the face, and his rings flashed as he lowered it.

"Your Majesty," he said, "you are not summoned."

"I am the king, Chief of Selection. I do not need to be."

"Then you may watch the law be done." Aldous raised his voice.

"Section nine, the Law of Persons, which you yourself signed. No person under a contract license may hold rank, seat or crown."

"The woman who calls herself Queen carries license four hundred twelve. She is a slave under your law."

"I voided that license in front of the whole arena."

"A king cannot void a license by himself. The Council holds the seal." Aldous smiled.

"It is in the charter, Your Majesty. And the Council has voted."

He turned the box over, and the black stones rattled out onto the table.

"Seven to five. The marriage is annulled and the title of Queen is void."

"The woman will be held at the license office until her owner of record is found."

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