THE REMOVAL

Elaris's POV

The knock comes at first light.

Not the cautious knock of a healer.

Not Neryss's familiar tap.

Three measured strikes against the chamber door.

When it opens, two council escorts enter first, followed by Lord Sennik's personal aide with the sealed order.

I recognize the seal before seeing the document.

Averic takes it from the aide.

He reads it once.

His face gives nothing away.

The aide waits.

"So it begins immediately?" Averic asks.

"Yes, Alpha."

Averic looks toward the corridor.

The escorts have positioned themselves so that none could mistake one's purpose.

He could challenge them.

He could demand that another hearing took place.

He could create a spectacle that would echo through the palace before breakfast.

Instead, he says, "Give me a few minutes with her."

The aide hesitates.

"Five minutes."

"Ten."

"Five."

Averic accepts.

The escorts remain at the open doorway - there will be no private farewell now.

Even that belongs to the council now.

Averic's voice breaks the silence.

"What are the terms?"

I look toward the doorway again.

“Neutral oversight means council guards.”Yes."

"Until the blood moon?"

"Yes."

"And you no longer control who is permitted into my room?"

His answer comes after a pause, so short one might think he is lying.

"No."

I absorb that.

The most frightening part is not the guards.

It is the transfer of authority.

Up to this point, even if Averic doubted me, this house has always been his territory.

Now, I will be inside his palace yet under no true protection.

"They're isolating me."

Averic doesn't deny it.

"They believe this way neither of us will influence the other before the examination."

"Or it would be to ensure I have nothing beside me when they are to question me."

Averic's expression remains guarded.

"That is a possibility."

I look at him.

"And Virelle?"

"They haven't removed her."

The answer reveals enough.

The council says neutrality but none of us is being separated to keep away from the household we know well.

My first thought is not about myself.

"Has Maevra been told?"

Averic's expression softens slightly.

"No."

"Where is she?"

"She is unconscious."

"Could she be awakened?"

"No."

The answer is given quickly.

"I won't take a chance and waste what little strength she has left simply to tell her that you are being moved."

I look down at my hands.

Maevra had just fought to get us her final words - and now the woman doesn't even know those words have even been taken from the house around her.

"Would she have wanted to know?"

"Yes."

Averic says it quietly.

"But wanting to know and surviving the knowledge are two very different things."

I nod.

He moves closer.

"The healer said her essence is holding."

"That isn't the same thing as improving."

"No, it isn't."

The honesty is harsher than any comfort might have been.

I glance away to the doorway again.

The council escorts are still there.

Watching.

Averic notices.

"So do they."

I find myself close to smiling.

I am about to make such a remark when Averic's voice stops me.

"If only we could give them something interesting to watch."

He almost smiled.

Not a council member.

But someone who belongs to us - and who holds keys that the council does not.

Averic's aide announces that we have been given the time before our five minutes is nearly to see an end.

I am given only minutes to collect my belongings.

Neryss is permitted to enter the room under supervision.

She looks as if she is about to argue but there is no point.

"What can I take?" I ask.

The council aide answers.

"Your personal clothing and things you would need personally."

"Nothing from the private wing?"

"Nothing for the Alpha's family."

The answer is purposeful.

Neryss opens the wardrobe.

She pulls out the plain gown I wore for the hearing - a second dress, a spare shawl.

My hands pause over a small embroidered cloth Maevra once gave me.

The guard shakes his head.

I leave it.

Neryss notices.

Her expression crumps for half a second and she hides that away.

"Medicine?"

" Council healers will provide."

"My notes?"

"No."

"My personal letters?"

"No."

Each answer is a step back into what could have been.

Neryss folds the clothing.

When she hands me the small bundle, she whispers, "I'll keep everything else safe."

I look at her.

"Don't promise what you can't control."

She swallows.

Then nods.

That is the first lesson the council has been teaching me since the dawn.

Promises are pointless when someone holds the keys.

The walk to the guest wing is worse the order itself.

Everyone looks me over, servants pausing in doorways, kitchen workers who had come carrying breakfast trays against the walls.

Young warriors lower their eyes.

None ask where I am going.

None need to.

The council escorts make it clear.

I keep one hand over my stomach.

The child shifts once beneath that.

I continue walking.

At the end of the corridor, I am passing the entrance to the family wing.

I don't turn my head.

I don't want anyone - not even the council escorts - to see what leaving that place does to me.

Virelle is nowhere in this house of sight.

Her absence should ease the journey but it might as well be Virelle herself had chosen to watch this happen.

The service whispers something.

The words are snatched quickly back by someone else.

I catch only two words on the wind.

"Council order."

That is what I've become, it seems.

Not Elaris.

Not Maevra's caretaker.

Not the woman carrying Averic's child - but rather a council order, being moved from one part of the palace to another.

I continue walking.

The guest chamber is comfortable enough to make the confinement appear respectable.

There is a proper bed, a writing table, and a washstand.

Two windows.

Fresh blankets.

Nothing is broken or threatening.

It makes things worse.

The council has not placed me somewhere cruel.

They've placed me somewhere controlled.

There are two council guards inside the room with me.

Two are outside, the latter checking the windows while the former checks the adjoining door.

The council aide explained the rules.

"Meals will be delivered three times daily."

I nod.

"You may request a healer."

I nod again.

"No unsupervised visitors."

"I understand."

"Council observers may enter without notice."

I tighten around the edge of my shawl, my fingers pressing a second tighter.

"And Alpha Averic?"

The aide answers without looking at him.

“One visit per day. Fifteen minutes. Observer present.”

Averic's expression changes.

He says nothing.

The aide continues speaking.

"The council may modify that arrangement at any time."

The last sentence is almost casual.

It is not.

The council can take away my access to Averic at any time they want.

The door closes after the aide leaves.

The lock turns.

I hear what sound it may have made.

In the first time coming to Averic's palace, the key has belonged somewhere else.

Averic's first visitor has permission to see me at a moment's notice.

An observer watches near the window with a writing tablet, the latter not leaving even when he is inside.

Averic remained with them where they instructed him to stand.

There is an invisible boundary between us now.

He didn't move beyond it.

"How is Maevra?" I ask.

"Unchanged."

I exhale.

"The blood moon?"

"Still scheduled."

"And the examination?" I add.

"Still required."

He gives me information, nothing more.

I realize he has deliberately avoided promises.

He could have told me that he would overturn the order.

He could have told me that he would force the council to release me.

He didn't - because he had no clear knowledge.

That honesty was as painful as it was.

"I'm going to challenge them."

He looks toward the observer.

"Not yet." The answer surprises me.

"Why?"

"Because if I challenged the order without enough leverage, they can strengthen the restrictions."

I study him.

"So, you're letting them take me."

"I'm keeping the war from expanding to something bigger than you can survive."

I meet his eyes.

"That sounds just the same."

Averi doesn't argue. The observer makes a note.

The observation continued under the weight of all neither of us is allowed to speak out loud.

The observer turns away from the window when one of the guards calls him over to inspect a seal on the door.

Averic does not move closer.

He also lowers his voice enough for me to know the words belong to me.

"The fourth clasp is still with me." I look up.

"And the confession?"

"Still in my possession." Neither was surrendered.

Relief surged in.

Though this evidence was not enough to guarantee us anything, it was proof that the council had not stolen all weapons from him.

Averic continued quietly.

"I also kept the original documents."

"The medicine records?" I ask.

"The access logs. The dose comparisons. Everything." I study his face.

"Why tell me now?" I repeat.

"Because you need to know what hasn't been lost."

The guard turned back.

Averi straightens.

The moment has ended - but he did not promise that the evidence would save us.

He did not say he had a perfect plan.

He simply told the truth with what he had left in his possession.

Enough in his hands still, and for now, that was enough.

The observer said that the visit had ended.

Averi nodded.

He looked at me a final time - but neither of us reached for the other.

The distance between us was no longer measured by steps.

He left.

A different lock was turned.

I sat on the edge of the narrow bed.

The room was quiet enough for me to hear my own breathing.

I had placed both my hands over my stomach.

The child moved gently under them.

"I'm still here," I whispered.

Not to the guards - not to the council - but to the life in me.

Taking a breath of several seconds, the tension in my chest eased.

Finally, I looked around the room yet again.

There was not a Maevra or Neryss or even familiar healer nearby now.

Only Averic - but he did not come to me and there seemed to be no great incentive.

The doors were heavy and there was no light coming through that would allow me to see into the house either.

The room made perfect sense.

There was nothing here that could easily turn into evidence of anyone's guilt.

Nothing here that could easily be someone's ally.

Nothing here to belong to me and be anything I like.

The rest of the day becomes a collection of controlled observations.

Breakfast comes with two servants I have never heard of - lunch comes with others, and dinner arrived as soon as the sun had set.

Each tray is watched over, each cup is checked, each question I ask met only with variations of "The council will decide."

I requested Neryss but the guard refused.

"As not authorized."

I asked for one of Maevra's healers and was given a "Council healer only".

I ask whether Maevra's condition has changed and receive no answer.

More tiring than anger would be.

I sat near the window and stared into the palace courtyard.

People walked there, the messages moved between buildings.

Life continued - only mine was placed behind a door.

At one point, I heard two guards speaking outside and one of them mentions a second escort assigned to Virelle.

The other said her private healer had arrived before noon but no action was taken.

I remained there - for Virelle had not been isolated and gained another layer of protection.

The difference was impossible to misunderstand.

Though the council decries both women as vulnerable, only Elaris has been removed from the household of the Alpha.

Near evening, I was soon going to hear what they did with me.

Two guards outside my door speak with little thought that I will hear.

"Her healer gets access whenever he asks."

"That's because the council considers her condition sensitive."

"And the other woman?"

A pause.

"Different circumstances."

I step back before either realizes I have been listening in.

Different circumstances.

As it did, I am met to the table.

I sit with my untouched cup in front of me.

The council has not accused me but has changed the rules.

Virelle receives a private healer.

I receive council supervision.

Virelle has protection tied to her pregnancy claim from others.

Mine is treated and treated as something that must be proven.

Virelle remains inside the political structure while I have been moved outside it.

I place my hand over my stomach, the child moves again.

A small but meaningful reminder of none of this changing anything about the true state of affairs.

But truth by itself has never been enough.

It needs someone who will defend it.

I wonder how much longer Averic might be able to do that.

Then footsteps end outside my door, the lock turns.

Looking up, the door opens and Averi enters with a council observer.

The latter does not appear the man I saw yesterday - something had happened to mark him a different man now.

He closes the door behind Averi, waiting as I continue my silent observation.

"Alpha."

"Council Observer."

He finally pays attention to me after the greeting is completed.

His expression was under control but there was something below it I had not seen all day - hope perhaps, or urgency.

"Why are you here again?" I asked.

"The council approved another visit."

" Why?"

There was no immediate answer but his attention moved to theobserver once again before returning to me.

His voice was quieter this time.

"The attendant is awake."

My breath caught in my throat.

For the first time since she was found unconscious, the woman who accused Virelle was capable of speaking.

Averi took one step closer.

"And she asked for you."