THE SILENCED VOICE

Elaris's POV

The secure room is sealed within an hour after Averic allows the unconscious attendant to be moved.

He tells me to wait in the corridor while healers gather around the fallen woman.

The first healer confirms that her breathing is still steady.

The next examines the woman's eyes, then her pulse, then the wolf essence at the base of her neck.

The third ransacks the room in search of an answer as to how the sedative got into her bloodstream in the first place.

There is no wound.

No shattered bottle.

Nothing overturned.

The soldiers who stood watch said no one passed through.

Averic chooses to question them individually rather than allow them to bolster one another's statements.

'Did you leave your post?'

'No, Alpha.'

'Did anyone ask to be permitted entry?'

'No.'

'Did you see a servant arrive with medicine?'

'No.'

Averic would be reassured by their agreement.

The fact that my stomach has chosen this moment to knot itself into tight, hard masses of discomfort is not.

Someone managed to reach the witness without attracting the guards' attention.

Averic orders the entire private wing secured.

Extra warriors are placed at all entrances.

Servants are halted before they can enter the corridor where the attendant lies.

The healer who tends her is ordered to remain in the room unless given specific permission to leave.

It is not until the cordon is in place that Averic returns to the conference room.

His features are grim enough that I might have guessed the news before he spoke.

Averic goes directly to the table, unfolding yet another broken clasp to reveal the fourth such find from the sealed case.

He makes no attempt to explain its presence.

It is unnecessary.

I have studied enough of the tiny metal fastenings to understand what they signify: messages, admonitions, threats.

I study the latest one for a long moment before asking the question foremost in my mind.

'Can she still speak?'

Averic's silence is almost as chilling as if the woman were already dead.

If anything, the stillness of his expression is more foreboding.

My fingers curl against the tabletop.

'She isn't dead.'

'Then why is she silent? Because she can't speak?'

The whisper of air as I release it is almost too light to hear.

'No.'

'Is she waking?'

'No.'

I glance at the fastening, then back to Averic's face.

'They wait until she names Virelle.'

The healer's gaze meets mine.

'It doesn't look to me as if she went through all that work to keep herself from telling anyone what she did, just so the council could hear her confirm what Virelle already claimed happened.'

'It couldn't wait for the morning? Until she'd recovered consciousness?'

'No.'

Averic's gaze is level with mine when he replies.

'I assume she has enough strength to finish telling the council what she needs to say - and then they plan to take her to an unnatural sleep.'

'There's another reason,' I suggest.

'Did she name Virelle at all?'

His mouth thins.

'At just the point that we were all preparing to take the statement before the council."

A chill snakes down my spine.

They don't need to end her life. Only take this from her.

I know the implications of that thought, but cannot stop myself from voicing the other possibility.

'Was she already under the influence of whatever drug they gave her?'

'Not enough to keep her asleep - but she can't wake, either.'

A different sense of unease tightens in my throat.

Averic looks up as the healers file into the room.

The chief healer is carrying the tiny vial that contained the liquid used to identify the poison.

'She received a calming draft,' he reports.

'A draught powerful enough to keep an adult wolf in a nearly comatose state for many hours.'

'So she could survive long enough for us to get before the council? Into the morning?'

'Possibly. Depending on how her body reacts to it.'

I should relax, knowing that a potion of lesser strength than the one that killed Maevra would not be enough to kill the woman before her turn to speak.

I do not.

'Did they give her medicine from the private wing?' Averic is asking.

The healer's voice tightens slightly.

'It is standard practice to administer a mild form when distress proves difficult to relieve.'

I turn to look at Averic.

'How many are authorized to give that medicine?'

'Not many,' the healer replies.

He proceeds to name them: the night healers, the senior attendant, Harwin, certain palace physicians, and anyone else with the authority to provide care to Maevra or those confined within the private wing.

The list is not long, but long enough for me to wish to investigate each one.

Averic orders the remaining supply of the medication secured.

'No one is to take any of it without my written authorization.'

The healer bows and turns to go.

It is only as he reaches the door that I realize the implication of what he has just said.

Averic begins his inquiries with no announcement to the household at large.

No one is to hear of it before he is satisfied that the killer has been identified.

Two junior guards swear that they saw no one enter the corridor where the incident occurred.

One claims to have heard footsteps farther down the hall, but thought nothing of it because the healer usually wandered the corridors at this hour.

The night healer is the one who actually finds the medicine waiting when she arrives to tend the patient.

She is distinctly unpleased when Averic asks if anyone requested the potion.

'The request wasn't mine to accept.'

'Then who wrote the order for you to prepare it?'

'I didn't look.'

'Where was the written order?'

'It was on the medicine desk.'

Now Averic is leaning forward, his posture taut with growing awareness.

'You don't know whose handwriting it was?'

'No.'

'And the paper it was written on - was it from the medicine desk?'

'Yes.'

Again, I feel the tightening in my chest at the implication.

Averic is watching the healer carefully as he asks, 'May I see the written order?'

The man produces it, and Averic examines the script.

It is neither Harwin's nor his own.

It is far too brief to be positively identified.

Averic saves the note as evidence.

At no point does any of the three men and one woman examined admit to having any knowledge of what took place.

Once the three questioned have left the room, I turn to Averic.

'Can the written statement still be used before the council?'

He does not reply immediately.

When he finally answers, it is with a shake of his head.

'It can be presented, but it will not carry the same weight.'

'The woman named Virelle.'

'Yes, she did.'

'She told us what happened.'

'Yes, she did.'

'Isn't that enough?'

His gaze is level with mine.

'Not if she needs permission from the council before she can stand and speak.'

I nod absently, watching the seal on the evidence case.

Inside it is the woman's statement, the clasps, the medical notes, the vial of poison, and the last thing I am aware of before night falls is that the woman who has named Virelle as responsible for Maevra's poisoning lies somewhere behind another locked door still unconscious, despite her words being known to half the palace.

'Averic, the council will tell her she was frightened,' I say.

'They will say she was coerced into accusing my sister. They'll demand to know why the statement was taken before the council could hear it directly from her.'

He studies me silently for a long moment before replying, 'You're right. I have already anticipated that argument.'

I know what he means when he says that because he is looking directly at me.

'And if she wakes before the hearing?'

'Then everything changes.'

Night settles heavily over the palace.

I can hear the shift of guards along the corridor outside my private chambers every few hours.

At last he informs me of the delay to the proceedings.

'The hearing will not be postponed.'

'What about Sennik?'

'I've already received word from him personally,' Averic replies. 'They consider the repeated attacks, accusations and confinement of my sister to be an increasing disturbance in the household. Further postponement would be seen as an attempt to manipulate the proceedings deliberately.'

'They wanted her presence in the council chamber,' I say with a bitter smile.

'Yes, they did,' says Averic, 'but they wanted one of her accusers present at the proceedings as well.'

The woman who claimed to have seen Virelle with Maevra, the one who was so eager to accuse her, is currently suffering from memory loss, thanks to another's attempt to ensure no one hears her version of the events with the Alpha's child involved.

And the person who has ensured Sennik and myself will have only one patient to attend at this particular audience will likely spend the next day being questioned more thoroughly than if it were a matter of royal succession.

'You should have let me sleep,' I murmur in exhausion.

Averic moves a chair closer.

'Then I will stay out of your way.'

I accept his offer of a place to sit.

'What will you do if she never wakes before the hearing?' I ask him.

'Walk into that chamber knowing the council will try to make her silence represent the facts as they should have been.'

'I don't want you there, either.'

His expression is gentle as he replies, 'You won't have a choice in the matter.'

When he leaves me, Neryss is allowed to visit briefly - albeit under guard.

She does not carry a tray, or any medicine or personal items with her.

That consideration alone should be enough to prove that the woman is considered even more of a liability than I am.

'What is happening outside?' I ask her.

She pauses just inside the doorway as the warriors outside shift their positions.

'Virelle has been speaking to everyone who will listen.'

'Meaning everyone?'

'Meaning you.'

Of course she would be.

Neryss explains that Virelle has spent the evening in the great hall convincing several sympathetic visitors that the attendant was her supporter.

She keeps one hand pressed against her stomach and speaks as if concerned about the welfare of the child she claims to carry.

'She says the attendant was intimidated by your faction,' Neryss goes on, 'and desperate people do desperate things when they fear the loss of what they believe they deserve.'

It is an obvious attempt at an appeal to me, but she continues nonetheless.

She tells me that Virelle swore several visiting women that she prays the Alpha will not condemn an innocent mother for the sake of palace politics.

I have folded the edge of my sleeve into creases deep enough to draw blood when I first heard those words.

'She's attacking me through Sennik,' I mutter.

'Yes, she is.'

"And people are listening to her?" I ask.

Neryss does not answer right away, as if she is regretting the choice she made in coming to speak with me.

'Of course they are,' says the warrior finally. 'It doesn't take proof to convince people of what they want to believe.'

Averic returns shortly after midnight and brings two warriors with him, rather than the one I remember accompanying him to the secure wing earlier in the day.

He does not dismiss the two soldiers until the door behind me is closed and sealed.

"You're attending the hearing," I say when I realize what he means.

"You claimed it would be safer for me to remain in the palace."

"It would be," says Averic, "if the council doesn't discuss my sister's condition in your absence.

They're preparing to hear directly from both women."

Virelle will testify as the accused mother, and I -

"Then they will hear my presence there as reason enough to doubt the claim that Virelle is carrying the child."

Averic watches me closely.

"She will not be allowed to refuse.

Neither of you will.

The Alpha has ordered the council to hear both sets of statements, regardless of circumstance.

She wants us to know that if Virelle's allegations are to be proven false by evidence, that proof must come from you.

It can be denied, but not ignored.

I won't allow it to be dismissed as mere hearsay."

"She can claim my support," I remind him.

"So can Virelle," says Averic.

"I won't let them turn you into something for their audiences to argue over."

"Because they'll argue over you, either way," I point out.

"That's not likely to stop them," Averic replies.

"They will assume you're either lying or seeking to protect yourself, and they'll twist everything until it fits what they're already convinced of."

"Then why don't you tell them what they want to hear?" I ask.

"Because if I convince them you're lying, they'll continue looking for the teller of that lie.

They will question you, not me."

They already have begun doing so, though none of Averic's warriors has seen fit to mention it to me.

He tells me the men assigned specifically to me will remain with me at the hearing.

I will not be permitted to move freely, nor will I be separated from the guard detail.

Virelle is in danger because of my insistence.

She will not stand in judgment before the council without me.

None of the council members will take me aside for private statements of any kind concerning my pregnancy.

All examination of my condition will be made while Averic is present, or in a formal proceeding opened to all members.

He needs to be prepared, because they will attempt every method of inquiry the council can devise in order to separate me from Averic.

"What happens to my child if you decide she was born first?" I ask suddenly.

Averic does not hesitate.

"They won't decide that tonight.

You're not asking the right question."

I nod, then ask again, "What happens to my child if Virelle's claim takes precedence?"

Averic's grip on his chair loosens perceptibly.

"The child will not be surrendered to anyone."

There.

That's better.

Now, at least, he is speaking about the boy or girl within my womb in terms of something other than possession and power.

Perhaps - and this is a very private hope of mind - but now he is beginning to treat the child as if it might matter precisely who the father is.

"Will you tell them it belongs to you?" I ask quietly.

"I would rather not, if it can be avoided," says Averic.

"They've already decided it does, whether you admit it or not," I reply.

Something in his expression suggests that he does not disagree.

My fingers curl against my stomach.

Both hands rest there when Averic notices the movement.

No one says a word while we watch the slow shifting beneath my skin.

There is nothing that can be done to prevent the hearing from taking place tomorrow, but Averic has done what he can to prepare me for the ordeal.

In return, I will do what I can to keep the child from harm, within my power.

I should sleep.

Instead I watch the darkness, as if the wall across the room is something I can pierce with a simple gesture.

Averic leaves yet again, and I allow myself perhaps - only perhaps - to doze lightly for a while longer.

He arrives before dawn breaks the horizon, and I wake with the knowledge that the council will soon be asking questions that either of us is prepared to answer.

Averic brings two men in with him this time, but the single parchment he presents to me carries his seal.

The soldiers outside the room turn to leave when he dismisses them.

"You're going to want to see this," says Averic quietly, holding the notice just out of my reach until I sit up to accept it.

The council has taken the hearing out of Averic's hands.

Instead of limiting themselves to inquires regarding the poisoning, the confinement and attempted assault, they have expanded the discussion to include the formal statements of both women regarding the condition of the child they each claim to carry.

When I reach the final line, I close my eyes with a tight press of my lips together.

'The council healers will examine the pregnancy claims under the authority of the council.'

I look up when Averic has finished reading what is written there.

"They're putting the children on trial?"

"Not literally," he says dryly.

"It will feel that way."

He takes the notice from my hands, and I can tell by the tightness in his jaw that the idea of testing the childbearing capabilities of either woman is distasteful to him.

"They aren't only judging the notes," I say softly.

"They're placing the children in the middle of it all."

Averic's fingers brush mine where they curl against the folds of my robe.

"I wish there were some way I could protect them both."

"That is what I am trying to do," I answer, watching the skin tighten over the skin beneath my fingertips.

And something tells me that the question of who will be the parent of the child that lives has not yet begun.