My Darkening Ember

Chapter Eighty

"If you had any love or respect for Emrys you would stop this now,"  I warned him, knowing if he did this, used my father like this, there would be no turning back.

"It is because I love him, that I have to." He said and it was the first time I truly believed him.

"I have known since the day he died, that Emrys did not perish by disease. He was poisoned!" Aleron paused to allow for the crowd to gasp in shock and disbelief, "By black rose pollen." He added and the mumbling grew even more. Some cried, holding their hands over their mouths.

"It's a secret I thought only I possessed." He lowered his head in fake concern, "But by the gods' cruelty, his daughter came to know this too. How remains a mystery. But she has known, and that is why she is not on our side. Eleonora believes one of us, in this very room, betrayed our king. Isn't that right?" He spun, waiting for my answer but I was baffled.

The revelation of my father's murder had taken my tongue, but only for a moment.

"I didn't know." I exhaled my cries, exhausted. "I didn't know," I repeated in shock.

I saw a moment of pain, a second of pure agony in Aleron's eyes. But as quickly as it had shown it was gone by his next words, "You suspected the council. You wanted them to pay. Wanted me to pay for Emry's death." Tears, almost invisible tears appeared in his eyes. Tears of anger and grief.

"It's not true." I cried again, shaking. The guards' grip became a support to stand rather than a restraint.

"Then why was this found in your room." Aleron had dug into a pocket over his chest. 

He had pulled out a small black pouch with golden threads. My mouth dropped.

In his hand, he held the small pouch given to me by the town's doctor. The one I had tried to empty into my mouth.

"You put it in our wine, hoping we would choke on it before anyone could suspect a thing. Had it not been for my trusted second switching the cups, I would have perished." Suddenly all eyes were on Elijah, still standing behind the poor guy he had seemingly been keeping an eye on all night.

"Seeing you drink from the same cup, taste the same wine as your late taster, and not suffer the same as he did, I knew. I knew you were no longer human." He approached, and I tried to struggle before he was in front of me. His hand grabbed my chin, holding my face still.

I saw Xander trying in vain to stand but his legs were too weak to bear him.

Aleron extended the hand with the gun and I watched as another guard took it, placing a knife in its stead.

"I knew he had poisoned you. Unpurified the purest of you." Aleron whispered in a gentle voice.

I tried to remain brave. Even if my stomach still ached from the punch and my head hurt from all he had said, I refused to break away. If he was going to kill me, he would remember my eyes. How terrified they looked, and I would hope it would haunt him forever.

He lifted the knife to my face, letting the tip of it slide under my mask. I felt the moment its sharp edge called for my blood and it started dripping down my face.

In one quick move, the knife tore my mask off, making me whine from the pain travelling across my cheek. The blood raced down.

"Elora!" Xander's voice called for me but his eyes were on Aleron.

"You see her blood, black as the night," He spoke over the loud gasps that had erupted around the room. They were all watching me with wide eyes.

"You let her go. Touch her one more time and to hell with the gods, I will shred you to pieces." Xander roared over them all. It went quiet immediately.