She Was Supposed to Stay Broken, So I Let Her Think She Had novel · Chapter 32 of 40

Chapter 32: The Answer Eln Could Not Give

I turn from Maren to Eln. 'Who in this room has authority to make her answers count as sworn testimony?'

The clerk's pen hovers over the unfinished statement. Maren sits before the panel, the grey shawl folded over her knees, while Kael holds the locket where she can see its setting. Through the open window, leaf-smoke drifts in from the market road.

Eln's mouth opens. Her answer does not come.

A low amber shimmer blooms around her head. Beneath the room's silence, her thought reaches me in a second voice: If I answer for the panel, I bind it to the answer.

I file it away. I will not give her a name, an office, or a rule she can accept without owning.

Eln looks toward Cass. Cass does not touch the prepared statement. The clerks wait for the presiding head to tell them what the record will say.

'You have asked the question,' Eln says. 'The answer depends upon what the panel is authorized to receive.'

'You summoned Maren to swear to the entry,' I say. 'She declined the oath. She offered to answer questions without it.'

'I know the distinction.'

'Can those answers confirm the entry?'

The clerks glance at one another. The petitioner nearest the door shifts in her chair, its legs scraping against the floor. No one speaks for Eln.

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