Chapter 38
Elara’s POV
The prisoner had been brought before me at dawn, shackled and filthy, his face a map of bruises and old scars. He sat on a rough stool in the small antechamber outside the council room, eyes darting like a trapped animal’s. Lucien stood to the side, shadowed and unreadable, while captains and a few trusted guards lined the walls, their hands never far from their weapons.
I had asked to see him myself.
There had been arguments. “It will inflame him,” General Roderic warned. “You should not—”
“He’s a scum of Kael’s,” Captain Torren snapped, “no use to anyone but the gallows.”
Lucien had cut them off with a look. “She asked,” he said simply. “She will face him.” There was no debate after that. His tone carried the kind of finality that turned a discussion into a c
