Chapter 6: A Gift Is a Bribe

I carried the box into the hall at dawn court, with both arms, and set it on the floor in front of the throne.

Casimir was already smiling.

"The Witness has accepted a gift," he said to the benches. "The wager is mine."

"Has she?" I said.

I lifted the lid and read the letter aloud, all of it, from the clinic's blue letterhead to the sum.

"Clause Six," I said. "No gift shall be given to the Witness."

"It says given, not taken. A lord who gives one has broken the Treaty whether I keep it or not."

"But she opened the box," Casimir said.

"I'm a Witness. I open things. I haven't put a coin in my pocket or a pen to that letter."

In her front row, the Regent folded her hands.

"A gift is taken when it is kept," she said slowly. "The Witness has not kept it."

I gave her a nod, and I didn't trust it.

"Hob, would you carry this back to the Master of the Hounds?"

"And write to the clinic that the payment goes back to him, because I'm not the patient."

"With pleasure, miss."

"The court fines Casimir Marrow a month of the Hounds' meat for breaking Clause Six," said Emrys. "His wager stands, and so does the Witness."

Casimir's face went the colour of a boiled egg.

I walked out through the hall with my head high, and I held it until I reached the first turning in the corridor.

Then I put my back against the wall and shut my eyes.

"Nia."

Emrys had followed me out.

"She needs it," I said. "My mum. She can't climb the stairs."

"It's four grand a month for a private nurse until the NHS gets to her."

"I'd have taken that money if you weren't there."

"I know."

"I'd have taken it, Emrys, and I'd have hated myself."

"You didn't."

"Only because I had somewhere to stand."

He stepped close and held out his hand.

"Come with me," he said. "I want to show you where I stand."

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