Chapter 38 The false defense
Lila's mouth opened but no words came. She couldn't explain without admitting everything. Without confirming every suspicion they'd ever harbored.
"We've questioned the other riders." The Master of the Hunt spoke for the first time. "Several saw you at the forest edge before the hunt began. You were watching the Queen specifically. Tracking her movements. One witness said you looked tense. Expectant. Like you were waiting for something to happen."
"I was worried about her. That's why I looked tense."
"Or you were waiting to see if your poison would work." Thorne's voice hardened. "Waiting to confirm that the dart you'd arranged would find its mark. That the Queen you'd fought with just hours before would die exactly as planned."
"No." The word came out as a whisper. "No, that's not what happened. I didn't. I would never."
"You had motive." The councilor began counting on his fingers. "You wanted the King. Everyone knows about your attachment to him. You wanted access to Prince Theo, which the Queen restricted. You resented her for having everything you couldn't. And you argued with her the night before she died."
"Arguing doesn't make me a murderer."
"No. But it establishes motive." Thorne stood, his face grave. "Lady Lila, I must ask directly. Did you have any involvement in Queen Celeste's death?"
"No." Lila forced strength into her voice despite her terror. "I loved my sister. Despite everything between us, I loved her. I would never hurt her. Never."
"Then explain this." The investigator stepped forward. "If you were so worried about the Queen's safety. If you cared so deeply about protecting her. Why did you attend a hunt you were explicitly forbidden from attending? Why break that rule unless you had specific reason to be present?"
The question hung in the air. Every councilor watched her, waiting for an answer that made sense. An answer that didn't sound like guilt.
"I told you. I had a bad feeling."
"A bad feeling." Thorne's voice was flat. "You broke direct orders. Risked further punishment. Put yourself in position to witness the Queen's death. All because of a feeling."
"Yes."
"That's not an answer, Lady Lila. That's an excuse." He moved closer, his eyes boring into hers. "Tell me the truth. Why were you really at that hunt? What were you really doing at the forest edge while the Queen rode to her death?"
Lila opened her mouth to answer. To explain. To make them understand she'd been trying to help, not harm.
But she had no answer that wouldn't sound like a confession. No explanation that wouldn't confirm their worst suspicions about her motives and her guilt.
In the silence, she heard her sister's voice from their last argument. Bitter. Accusing. Prophetic.
You want my life. You want my husband. You want everything I have.
And now Celeste was dead, and Lila was alive, and every piece of evidence pointed toward guilt so obvious even she couldn't deny how damning it looked.
The investigation continued through the night. Lila was confined to her chambers under guard while the council questioned witnesses, examined evidence, built their case piece by careful piece. Maya was allowed to stay with her but both women knew the servant was being watched. Every word they spoke would be reported.
Through the mate bond, Lila felt Adrian's presence elsewhere in the palace. Still standing vigil outside the healing chambers where they prepared Celeste's body. Still locked in that terrible stillness that scared her more than rage would have.
She tried reaching through the bond. Tried sending reassurance, love, desperate pleas for him to believe in her innocence. But his walls stayed firmly erected, blocking her out completely.
As dawn broke gray and cold, Iris appeared at the council chamber doors. Her face was drawn with exhaustion and something else. Something that looked like dread.
"The examination is complete." Her voice carried through the suddenly silent chamber. "I have findings the council needs to hear."
They reconvened immediately. Lila was brought from her chambers, still wearing yesterday's bloodstained dress. No one had allowed her to change, to wash, to prepare herself. They wanted her looking guilty. Looking like the blood on her hands was more than metaphorical.
Iris stood before the assembled councilors with the weariness of someone who'd been awake for thirty-six hours straight. Behind her, assistants carried documents, vials, evidence collected during the examination.
"Queen Celeste died instantly from a broken neck sustained in the fall." Iris began with clinical precision. "The injuries are consistent with falling from a horse onto rocks. However." She paused. "There are complications."
"What complications?" Thorne demanded.
"We found traces of sedative herbs in her system. Specifically, moonvine and drowseweed. Both are powerful relaxants that slow reflexes and dull awareness." Iris held up a vial. "The concentration suggests she ingested them approximately two to three hours before her death."
The council erupted in murmurs. Lila's blood went cold.
"Someone drugged the Queen?" A councilor asked what everyone was thinking.
"It appears so. The combination of herbs wouldn't kill her. But they would make her sluggish, unfocused, unable to react quickly in dangerous situations." Iris's expression was grim. "If her horse bolted and she was already impaired, she'd have almost no chance of maintaining control."
"This wasn't just murder." Thorne's voice was hard. "This was calculated. Whoever did this ensured the Queen would be unable to save herself."
"Where did the sedatives come from?" Another councilor demanded. "Who had access?"
"That's what you need to investigate." Iris gestured to her assistants. "But I can tell you how she ingested them. We found residue in her digestive system consistent with herbal tea. Someone added the sedatives to tea the Queen drank that morning."
A servant was brought forward. The woman looked terrified, twisting her apron between shaking hands.
"Tell the council what you told me." Thorne ordered.
"The Queen had tea that morning in her chambers." The servant's voice trembled. "Around dawn. She said she couldn't sleep, wanted something to calm her nerves before the hunt."
"Who prepared the tea?"
"I did, my lord. But." The woman's face crumpled. "The Queen seemed already tired when I brought it. Like she hadn't slept at all. She drank it quickly, said it wasn't helping. Then she got ready for the hunt, but she moved slowly. Took twice as long as usual. I thought she was just nervous."
"Did anyone else enter the Queen's chambers that morning?"
"No, my lord. Just me. And." The servant hesitated. "Lady Lila the night before. But she left before I arrived with the evening tea service."