I stepped into a room that I had rarely been in before—the palace court chamber. I cast back to my memories and vaguely recalled a trial or two from my time before the exile. Only the nobility were tried in this room, as lesser Fae were issued punishment without opportunity for defense or argument.
The judge, whom I recognized as the senior Fae on the Queen"s Council, sat behind a bench of white birch. His face had gone from youthful to ageless, and gray tinged the temples of his otherwise dark brown hair. I guessed that the judge’s bench in the dark Fae castle—if they even had a courtroom—was made of ebony. The intricate marble pattern of the floor imitated the swirls of sunlight through clear shallow water, and the benches and barriers were of golden or other light-colored wood.
It wou
