Ari and the shadow knight

The Political Net

The Political Net

The Great Hall was loud and suffocating.

Hundreds of court lords and noble ladies sat along long wooden tables. High above us giant banners of black and silver hung from the ceiling arches. Every eye in the room turned to watch me as I walked toward the high dais.

Cassian walked right at my shoulder. His hand never left his sword pommel.

"Do not look at their eyes," Cassian murmured under his breath. "Look at their hands."

I kept my chin up. I looked at the council lords sitting near the front. Lord Ethan held a goblet with white knuckles. Baroness Alice was tapping her sharp fingernails against the wood. They all looked at me like I was a thief sitting on a pile of gold.

Duke Varn stood at the top of the stone steps. He held up his hands to quiet the crowd.

"My lords and ladies!" Varn shouted across the hall. "I present to you Lady Arianna of House Lowen! The true blood of the realm!"

A quiet murmur rippled through the crowd. No one clapped.

Lord Ethan stood up from his chair. His face was red with anger.

"She is a street thief from the Lower Ward!" Lord Ethan yelled. "The previous three heirs died under mysterious circumstances! Now Duke Varn drags a street girl out of the gutters to take the crown!"

"I brought her here to save our kingdom Lord Ethan!" Varn replied in a booming voice. "She is the last of the royal blood line!"

Varn looked down at me with a warm and protective smile. He made it look like he was defending a helpless child from a room of angry wolves.

Duke Varn walked down the steps and stood beside my chair. He placed a heavy ringed hand on the back of my seat.

"Lord Ethan wishes to delay the coronation," Varn said loudly to the room. "He claims the palace is too dangerous for young Arianna."

"The palace is dangerous!" Baroness Alice called out. "Prince Julien caught a sudden fever! Lord Thomas fell in a carriage crash! Lady Clara fell from the tower! Why should we trust this girl will survive?"

The room broke into loud arguments. Lords began shouting at one another across the tables.

Duke Varn leaned down close to my ear.

"You see how they tear at you?" Varn whispered in a soft fatherly voice. "They do not want a Lowen on the throne. They want the power for themselves."

I looked up into Varn's calm blue eyes. He looked gentle.

"They sound afraid," I said quietly.

"They are afraid of change," Varn agreed with a light nod. "Lord Ethan was the one who managed the royal carriage stables when Lord Thomas died. Baroness Alice was in the North Tower the night Lady Clara fell."

My pulse spiked in my chest. Varn was pointing fingers directly at the council members.

"Are you saying they killed the other heirs?" I whispered.

"I am saying you cannot trust a single person in this room child," Varn murmured. He squeezed my shoulder gently. "Except for me. I am the only one fighting to keep you alive."

It was a perfect net. He was making me feel totally isolated so he would be my only sanctuary.

I looked toward the side of the dais. Cassian stood in the dark shadow of a marble pillar. His amber eyes were fixed entirely on Duke Varn's hand resting on my shoulder.

Cassian did not say a word. But his fingers tightened around his sword hilt until his knuckles turned white.

"I will think on your words Duke Varn," I said loudly enough for the nearest lords to hear.

Varn smiled and stepped back. "That is all I ask My Lady. The Regency Council will handle these angry lords."

He bowed low and walked back toward his grand seat at the head table.

The council meeting dragged on for two more exhausting hours. Lords argued about taxes and grain shipments while I sat quietly on my high chair. I kept my posture stiff and my face blank.

When the assembly finally ended Cassian escorted me back down the long corridor toward my private chambers. The halls were dark and quiet now.

"He played them like a fiddle," I said as we walked.

"Varn built that whole argument," Cassian said coldly. "He made Lord Ethan shout so he could step in as your protector."

"He told me Lord Ethan and Baroness Alice were behind the deaths of the other heirs," I said.

Cassian stopped walking in the middle of the empty hall. He turned to face me.

"Varn wants you paranoid Arianna," Cassian warned. "He wants you to look at every lord as an enemy so you run straight into his arms."

"I know," I said. "He thinks because I came from the Lower Ward I am foolish."

I reached beneath my red velvet skirts and touched the hilt of my hidden short blade.

"He thinks I need his shield," I said softly, looking up into Cassian's eyes. "He doesn't realize I brought my own blade."

For the first time all day Cassian's hard face relaxed. A genuine ghost of a smile appeared on his lips.

"Good," Cassian said softly. He unlocked my chamber door and held it open for me. "Because the real fight hasn't even started yet.”