Chapter 3

DPOV

After Adrian dropped the bomb about him and Rose not even being in the country when the Queen was murdered, whispers break out among the crowd and I feel a rush of relief. There is actually a good chance now that Rose will be okay, that her name will be cleared. That still leaves the question who did commit the murder and would want to frame her, but somehow that doesn't seem as pressing as long as Rose will be free to live her life.

The judge calls for silence and while Iris Kane is ruffling trough her papers, Mazur continues his conversation with Adrian.
"Lord Ivashkov, just to be absolutely clear on this, you were on a plane at the time of the murder?"
"Yes. I didn't hear about aunt Tatiana dying until after we landed."
"Did you hire a private plane to take you to Istanbul?"
"No we took a commercial flight. First class is surprisingly comfortable though." Adrian grins.
Mazur chuckles. "So I've heard. So you'd say there are plenty of witnesses who can place you and Guardian Hathaway on this flight?"
Adrian actually rolls his eyes at that. "Of course. A 747 tends to have a bit more than 2 passengers as far as I know." I hear some chuckles from the crowd and I see Christian smirking at Adrians comment. No surprise there, leave it to Christian to appreciate some sarcasm, no matter the circumstances.

Kane decides to interrupt at this point. She's not given up the fight completely, but to be honest she does look a little defeated. "Your honor, Lord Ivashkov has a sizeable trustfund. He could easily pay some people to say that they saw them. Not to mention, are we really going to rely on human testimonies in a case of this magnitude?"

Mazur gets back to his desk and picks up some papers. He hands one copy to Kane with a dangerous look, before handing another one to the judge and the rest of the stack to the Council. "Miss Kane, are you actually accusing Lord Ivashkov of bribing a bunch of people to get his girlfriend off the hook for killing his great-aunt, whom everyone knows he loved dearly?
As you can see on this passenger manifest, there were 288 people aboard this flight, including Lord Ivashkov and Guardian Hathaway. On top of that, there were 17 crew members, not to mention the ground staff and other people at the airport who might have seen them. That's a lot of people.
Also, due to terrorist attacks, there is a lot of security at commercial airports. I have had contact with the Alchemists and they have found security-footage of Lord Ivashkov and Guardian Hathaway going trough security and of them boarding the plane. There is also footage of them going trough security in Istanbul after their flight."

I think he shoots Kane another nasty glare before continuing, because she goes pale and sits down without any further comment. For the first time I'm actually glad that Roza has Zmey on her side for this. He might be dangerous and more than willing to call in any favour you owe him, but that's nothing compared to what he can be like when someone gets in his way.

"Your honor, ladies and gentleman of the Council. As miss Kane rightly said earlier, we should go with the simplest explanation of the evidence rather than complicated conspiracies." I actually see Kane sag in her chair at this point in Mazur's speech. If she wasn't trying to get Roza convicted of treason, I might have felt sorry for her.

"I think we can all agree that one person trying to frame Guardian Hathaway for this murder is a lot more likely than her and Lord Ivashkov bribing at least 300 people to give her an alibi. Not to mention them having to hack into federal security systems to put themselves on the passenger manifest and create and plant footage of them being present, as well as getting an Alchemist to back them up on that. I suggest you clear Guardian Hathaway of these charges so she can go back to her job. Meanwhile the guardians and prosecution should focus on finding the actual murderer."

The judge quietly confers with the Council for a few minutes after that, before Princess Szelsky gets up and speaks. "The Council agrees that there is more than enough evidence to clear Guardian Hathaway of these charges, and therefore there is no reason for the case against her to go to trial. She is free to go and may return to her lodgings and job."

Mazur thanks her before walking to Rose with a smile on his face. Eddie is already hugging her with a big smile on his face as well, while Tanner looks relieved. Adrian makes his way over to them and I can see Rose's mother, the Princess, Christian and Mia trying to get there as well. Tasha has stayed in her seat and looks a little shocked. I guess she is really surprised things turned out this well, and really, who isn't?
I barely notice what's going on in the rest of the room, people talking and leaving. All I can focus on is the fact that Rose is free. She won't be tried for murder and treason, and she won't have to live the rest of her life in jail or be executed. She will be okay. Roza will be fine.

When the room is almost empty, I see Rose walking in in my direction with Adrian next to her, an arm over her shoulders. I expect her to be smiling and maybe look at me, but her face is still completely blank and Adrian is quietly talking to her. I shift a little and while Rose seems completely unaware that I'm still standing here, Adrian does meet my eye. I know we're not exactly friends, but I did not expect the hostile look he shoots at me before walking Rose out the door. Her friends rush after her, and behind them Janine Hathaway and Abe Mazur are slowly making their way outside as well. Guardian Hathaway nods at me before leaving, but Mazur stops for a bit and looks me up and down before smiling at me. This would have been reassuring in most people, but Zmey is not giving me a friendly smile. There is a very dangerous glint in his eyes and he is showing just a little bit too much of his fangs. Then he follows the others without saying a word.

Me and my guards are the last to leave the room. I'm quiet while walking back to the guardian dorms across Court. The guard who was standing next to me looks at me a few times and I think he also saw Mazur's evil smile and is wondering what it was about. Me and him both. The rest of my guard hasn't noticed anything amiss. They all seem happy that Rose has been cleared. Apparently a lot of the guardians here at Court have come to know and respect her, and none of them believed she was guilty to begin with.

While they are talking I replay in my mind what just happened in the Courtroom, with Adrian's glare and the way Mazur smiled at me.
I'm not sure what he knows about me or what Rose might have told him, but for some reason I seem to have gotten on his bad side. Of course I have done plenty to hurt Rose when I was Strigoi, so it could be about anything that happened in Russia really.
Somehow though I have the uncomfortable feeling this has little to do with my time as a Strigoi and everything to do with the uncharasteristic way Rose was acting today.