Chapter 6: Poison In The High Chamber

"Quiet down, Branick," I said, my voice carrying clearly across the silent room. "We are here to audit your execution records."

Chief Advisor Branick sneered, stepping down from the raised stone dais with his fat fingers twitching over his velvet robes. He tried to hide the sudden tremble in his chin, but his small dark eyes kept darting back toward the three bleeding assassins tied up on the marble floor behind me.

"You have no authority here, girl!" Branick shouted, his raspy voice ringing off the vaulted ceiling. "This is the sacred High Chamber of the Citadel elders! You are an unbonded female, an exile from Silver Moon, and a guest who has overstayed her welcome! Guards, remove this woman from the floor at once!"

Not a single guard moved an inch. Commander Vane stood right behind me with his hand resting on the pommel of his massive broadsword.

Beside him, King Cassian leaned back against the central stone pillar, his broad arms crossed over his chest. Cassian didn't say a single word.

He just watched the room with cold, amber eyes that made the fifty elders in the gallery sweat through their heavy silks. "I said quiet down, Branick," I repeated, my tone as flat and cold as a frozen pond.

"The only person leaving this room today in chains is you." "Preposterous!" Elder Garren stood up from his wooden pew in the third tier, waving his ivory cane in the air.

"Lady Sienna, you cannot make wild accusations against the Chief Advisor! He has served this council for twenty years!" "He has been stealing from you for twenty years," I corrected, unrolling the leather document scroll right onto the central stone table in front of the bench.

"And he didn't work alone. He worked with Jaxon's father to sell off this pack's legacy." A collective murmur rippled through the rising tiers of pews.

The elders leaned forward, peering over the railings to stare at the black leather ribbon and the ancient blood red seal stamping the parchment. "What is that document?" Elder Garren asked, his angry voice suddenly dropping into a quiet, suspicious whisper.

"This is the original murder warrant signed twenty years ago," I said, pointing my finger straight at the faded red blood seal. "It shows that Chief Advisor Branick co signed the execution order for my mother, Archduchess Elena. They claimed she died of blood fever. But this document proves she was executed in secret because she refused to sign over her ancestral iron mines."

Branick's face drained of all color, turning as white as a bleached bone. "That paper is a fake! She forged it! She used dark magic in the sub levels to create false evidence!"

"Is that why you sent three hired assassins into the underground vault at midnight to burn it?" I asked, turning around to kick the nearest bound assassin in the ribs.

The masked man let out a painful groan, spitting dark blood across the white marble floor. "He paid us..." the assassin wheezed, his muffled voice echoing through the silent room.

"Branick paid us fifty silver coins... to kill the girl and burn the lead chest..." "Lies! All lies!" Branick shrieked, backing away toward the rear exit doors.

"Guards, protect me! She is using mind tricks on these men!" "Nobody is leaving this chamber, Branick," Cassian said softly from the pillar.

His deep, gravelly voice cut through the noise like an iron blade. "My men locked the outer iron gates ten minutes ago. You are trapped in here with us."

I took three slow steps toward Branick, pulling out a second parchment map from my leather belt pouch. "The murder warrant is only half of your crime, Branick," I said, unfolding the map so the elders could see the bright red ink lines drawn across the northern border.

"Look closely at this territory map. Three years ago, Branick secretly signed over the entire western ridge of the Silver Moon iron mines to foreign rogue warlords." Gasps erupted from every corner of the gallery.

Elders stood up from their seats, shouting in outrage as they realized their own wealth was being drained. "He sold our border lands?!" Elder Garren roared, pointing his cane straight at Branick's throat.

"Those mines supply our winter armories! Is this true, Branick?!" "He used the gold to build Jaxon's private army," I explained, turning to face the angry crowd of elders.

"He sold out your security, your trade routes, and your children's future just to buy his way into Jaxon's court. He isn't an advisor. He is a traitor who sold your land to the highest bidder." Branick reached the heavy wooden exit doors, frantically rattling the brass handles, but the heavy iron bolt on the outside didn't give an inch.

Sweat poured down his neck, soaking his velvet collar as he turned back to face the hostile room. "You can't prove any of this!" Branick stammered, his eyes rolling back in sheer terror.

"The High Council law requires three noble witnesses to strip an advisor's rank! You have no noble witnesses, Sienna! You are nobody!" "I am the direct blood heir to the High Throne," I said, stepping right up to him and holding out my bare hand.

I reached down to my belt and drew my silver ceremonial blade. With one clean motion, I cut a line across my palm and let three thick drops of royal blood fall directly onto the central bench stone.

The ancient marble beneath our feet suddenly hummed with power, glowing with a bright, blinding silver light that lit up every corner of the High Chamber. The royal blood seal on the floor recognized my lineage instantly, pulsing in rhythm with my heartbeat.

The elders gasped in absolute shock, dropping to their knees one by one in the pews. They knew what that silver light meant.

Only true imperial blood could activate the ancient stone of the High Bench. "I don't need three witnesses, Branick," I whispered, leaning in so close he could smell the silver on my blade.

"I am the law in this chamber now." Branick fell backward against the locked doors, his knees giving out as he slid down onto the cold stone floor.

He looked up at me with wide, terrified eyes, gasping for air like a fish thrown onto dry land. "Mercy..." Branick squeaked, clutching his chest with both hands.

"Lady Sienna... please... I only followed orders from Jaxon's father... mercy..." "I don't give mercy to rats," I said, raising my silver blade high above his neck.

Cassian stepped forward, his eyes flashing with dark satisfaction as the corrupt advisor shook in absolute dread. The entire assembly gasped, drawing back in sudden terror.

Before my steel could strike his flesh, Branick reached into his sleeve, pulled out a small glass vial filled with black liquid, and threw it straight at my eyes.