Chapter 4
Thanks for the reviews!
My favourite book is shadow kissed, but Last sacrifice is a close second. Frostbite is the least favourite.
Im very excited for this chapter, this court scene is what I first imagined when I started writing this story.
Rose sat in her seat and entered Lissa's mind in order to follow her father.
Lissa came outside to see Abe corner Dimitri and speak to him with fury on his face.
He then spoke to Pavel, his right hand man and bodyguard, who took off on a run to guardian headquarters.
Lissa approached Abe and Dimitri. "What's going on?"
"Rose was with Dimitri during the time of the murder" Abe replied in a hard voice. He turned to Dimitri "We will discuss that matter further once she has been released from this trial."
Dimitri gulped, but kept his mask in place.
Lissa's mind spun. "Oh." She was shocked, a little hopeful for us but very concerned of the potential public backlash. Lissa considered that the fallout was preferable to execution by high treason, but not by much.
"Are you willing to testify to that?" She asked Dimitri, knowing that this could damage both of our reputations as a result.
He looked at her with his guardian mask in place and said "Of course I will".
I stepped out of Lissa's head and looked around the room. Despite how Dimitri felt for me, he would always do what was right, I knew I could count on that.
I could see Adrian looking at me, I felt sick to my stomach knowing what was coming next for him. Tears started to well up in my eyes and I tried to send him a silent apology. Adrian made his way through the crowd to get close to me.
"Little Dhampir" His eyes were full of concern.
"I'm so sorry for what is about to happen, you are going to hate me"
He looked at me in shock when the judge called for attention. We stared at each other, it looked like he was scanning my aura. My heart sank when he seemed to divine the guilt from my aura. He walked out and left the courtroom.
"We call Rose Hathaway to the stand"
I walked up and sat down, I tried to maintain my regular Rose Hathaway confidence while projecting a calm guardian exterior.
"Miss Hathaway, please tell us where you were yesterday" Ms Kane asked again.
"I was visiting Dimitri Belikov in his room" I responded.
"From what time?"
"From after church services to about 7pm the next morning" I replied. I tried to maintain my guardian composure and act like staying in someone's room for 18 hours is completely normal, meanwhile reminding myself that being called a tramp and a blood whore is preferable to execution for treason.
"Midnight church services" Abe asked
"Yes" I replied. I took a sip of water.
"What were you doing for 18 hours?" Ms Kane asked
"Getting reacquainted." I replied shortly. What else was I supposed to say, should I give a blow by blow of everything that we did.
"I'll bet" she muttered loud enough for everyone to hear. Bitch. I clenched my fist and I felt Lissa get angry through the bond.
"Your honour, do you think the prosecution could maintain her professionalism?" Abe maintained a calm relaxed manor, but I could see fire in his eyes.
"Ms Kane, please refrain from personal opinions in this court room". The judge warned.
"I'm sorry your honour, it wont happen again. May I point out that she was in the presence of a recently restored Strigoi, hardly a credible witness." Ms Kane responded.
My father smirked, "We have seven guardians who can confirm accuracy to this statement".
The judge raised her eyebrows "Miss Hathaway you can please step down. I would like to hear from these guardians.
"State your name"
"Dimitri Belikov"
"How do you know Rose Hathaway?"
"I was tasked to find her and Princess Vasilissa Dragomir, We met in Portland when I returned her and Princess Vasilissa to St Vladimir's academy."
"Did you work closely together?" Abe asked, he had a strange look on his face.
"We trained twice a day, Rose needed to catch up from missing training for two years."
"Did you become close". Ms Kane asked.
"We understood each other and took our training as seriously as each other".
"Where was she on the night of the 27th" Abe Asked.
"I ran into Rose after church at 1pm and we continued our conversation in my guardian quarters. She left the following day at 7pm".
"What were you doing all that time?" Ms Kane asked. I was really starting to hate her, they know I wasn't at the palace grounds why is this relevant.
"Getting reacquainted" Dimitri replied in a deadpan voice.
Dimitri gave minimal responses for the prosecution and was stood down. I breathed a sigh of relief, while most people could read between the lines, it was only speculation. This could have been a lot worse…
"Adam Banks, Sir"
"How can you confirm Ms Hathaway's whereabouts?"
"I am part of his protection detail, we stayed by the door while they were inside his room"
"What were they doing all that time?" Ms Kane asked.
I braced myself for the next part and prayed for strigoi to invade this room.
"I opened the door once after I heard a thump, but they were kissing ma'am". The room started to buzz with comments until the judge started to clang the gavel.
"What time did she leave"
"She left at about 7pm the next morning"
OK, so far, all they know is that my former mentor and I were in his room alone, and there was some kissing. That's not too bad. I think he ever tried to maintain our dignity.
"Next Witness: Dean Portman"
"Please state your name"
"Dean Portman, Sir"
"Where do you live?"
"Next door to Mr Belikov"
"Where you at home that night" Abe asked
"Unfortunately" He replied
"Why is that?" Ms Kane asked. She looked like a shark, ready to attack.
"I had just come off shift and tried to go to sleep, but my neighbour kept me awake. There were a lot of noises, for the whole night"
"What kind of noises? Ms Kane asked.
"Things like 'Comrade', Roza', 'Oh yes', 'harder' and a lot of moaning and thumping. I did not get a wink of sleep that night."
Oh Crap
"Next Witness: Charlie Conway"
"Please state your name"
"Charlie Conway, Ma'am."
"Is there any way that Miss Hathaway could have left Mr Belikov's room without his guard's knowledge?" Abe asked.
"No Sir, He has a shitty little room in Guardian housing with no windows and only one entry. 5 guardians were posted at the door and the walls are paper thin. Once those two got started, they let us know that they were in that room for hours. I'm honestly impressed with their stamina." Guardian Conway said with a grin, looking at Dimitri.
I sank a little further into my seat, I could see Dimitri standing against the wall with his impassive mask on, staring straight ahead. She could feel lissa in her head, her heart sank as she could hear the crowd talking saying things like "The Ivashkov boy", "Mentor", "Bloodwhore" and "Dhampir slut". This was going to affect both of us.
Her father stayed cool as her lawyer, but under the desk I saw his fists clench tightly.
"Your honour, Ms Hathaway has established that she was in guardian housing, with a witness during the time of the murder" Abe tried to redirect. "She was not present at the scene of the crime".
The defence attorney started to get nasty. "I'm a little concerned that her alibi is a sex marathon with her former mentor Dimitri Belikov." This really got the crowd talking and I wanted to punch that bitch in the face.
"They are two consenting adults who have a right to a personal life." Abe quipped.
"How long have they been in a relationship?" The lawyer asked.
"Your Honour, The length or extent of their relationship is not relevant to the case, we have 7 credible witnesses who can place both of them in his apartment at the time of the murder."
"Sustained, I'm Inclined to agree with Mr Mazur we are straying from the relevance of the case, It is the prosecution's role to prove a case that Guardian Hathaway killed the queen. If your team did its due diligence, you would know that she had multiple witnesses to prove that she was not near the queen at the time of the murder".
I was back in the witness stand
"Next exhibit," said Iris. There was smug triumph all over her face. Whatever was coming up, she thought it was gold.
But actually, it was silver. A silver stake.
"So help me, she had a silver stake in a clear plastic container. It gleamed in the incandescent lighting-except for its tip. That was dark. With blood.
"This is the stake used to kill the queen," declared Iris. "Miss Hathaway's stake."
Abe actually laughed. "Oh, come on. Guardians are issued stakes all the time. They have an enormous, identical supply." Iris ignored him and looked at me. "Where is your stake right now?"
I frowned. "In my room."
She turned and glanced out over the crowd. "Guardian Stone?" A tall dhampir with a bushy black moustache rose from the crowd.
"Yes?"
"You conducted the search of Miss Hathaway's room and belongings, correct?"
I gaped in outrage. "You searched my-"
A sharp look from Abe silenced me.
"Correct," said the guardian.
"And did you find any silver stakes?" asked Iris.
"No."
She turned back to us, still smug, but Abe seemed to find this new information even more ridiculous than the last batch. "That proves nothing. She could have lost the stake without realizing it."
"Lost it in the queen's heart?"
"Miss Kane, this is the last time," warned the judge.
"My apologies, Your Honor," said Iris smoothly. She turned to me.
"Miss Hathaway, is there anything special about your stake? Anything that would distinguish it from others?"
"Y-yes."
"Can you describe that?"
"I swallowed. I had a bad feeling about this. "It has a pattern etched near the top. A kind of geometric design." Guardians had engraving done sometimes. I'd found this stake in Siberia and kept it. Well, actually, Dimitri had sent it to me after it had come loose from his chest.
Iris walked over to the Council and held out the container so that each of them could examine it. Returning to me, she gave me my turn. "Is this your pattern? Your stake?"
I stared. It was indeed. My mouth opened, ready to say yes, but then I caught Abe's eye. Clearly, he couldn't talk directly to me, but he sent a lot of messages in that gaze. The biggest one was to be careful, be sly. What would a slippery person like Abe do?
"It . . . it looks similar to the design on mine," I said at last. "But I can't say for sure if it's the exact same one." Abe's smile told me I'd answered correctly.
"Of course you can't," Iris said, as though she'd expected no better. She handed off the container to one of the court clerks. "But now that the Council has seen that the design matches her description and is almost like her stake, I would like to point out that testing has revealed"-she held up more papers, victory all over her face-"that her fingerprints are on it." There, it was. The big score. The "hard evidence."
"Any other fingerprints?" asked the judge.
"No, Your Honour. Just hers."
"That means nothing," said Abe with a shrug. I had a feeling that if I stood and suddenly confessed to the murder, he would still claim it was dubious evidence. "Someone steals her stake and wears gloves. Her fingerprints would be on it because it's hers."
"That's getting kind of convoluted, don't you think?" asked Iris.
"The evidence is still full of holes," he protested. "We have placed her in the guardian accomodations for an extensive period with several witnesses. During that time, the killer had ample time to enter her room and take her stake."
"Well," mused Iris, "those would be questions best explored in trial, but considering Miss Hathaway's extensive record of breaking into and out of places, as well as the countless other disciplinary marks she has, I don't doubt she could have found any number of ways to get inside."
"There are 7 guardians and Mr Belikov who can attest that she was no where near the murder. She would have to get out of a room with only one exit, with no windows. Then she would have to find access to the palace which she doesn't have as a new guardian. You have no proof," said Abe. "No theory."
"We don't need it," said Iris. "Not at this point. We have more than enough to go to trial, don't we? I mean, we haven't even gotten to the part where countless witnesses heard Miss Hathaway tell the queen she'd regret establishing the recent guardian law. I can find the transcript if you like-not to mention reports of other 'expressive' commentary Miss Hathaway made in public."
"Many people were upset with the age law,"
A memory came back to me, of standing outside with Daniella while I ranted-with others watching-about how the queen couldn't buy me off with an assignment. Not a good decision on my part. Neither was busting in on the Death Watch or complaining about the queen being worth protecting when Lissa had been captured. I'd given Iris a lot of material.
"Oh yes," Iris continued. "We also have accounts of the queen declaring her extreme disapproval of Miss Hathaway's involvement with Adrian Ivashkov, particularly when the two ran off to elope."
I opened my mouth at that, but Abe silenced me. "There are countless other records of Her Majesty and Miss Hathaway sparring in public. Would you like me to find those papers too, or are we able to vote on a trial now?"
"Again why it is so likely that someone stole her stake and perpetrated a murder while she was in guardian housing."Abe responded. "Your honour, there is no basis for trial and the prosecution would have known this if they had conducted a proper investigation. This is frankly embarrassing to have this hearing in the first place. We have established that Miss Hathaway was not at the palace at the time of the murder. The only thing that the prosecution has proved is that the murderer has tried to frame Ms Hathaway".
"Thank you Ms Hathaway. You may take your seat now while the Council votes." The judge said. Abe and I returned to our bench.
The judge asked the Council to vote on whether they believed there was enough evidence to make me a viable suspect and send me to trial. They did. two hands went up. Just like that, it was over and I was free. Through the bond, I felt Lissa's relief.
Abe and I started to leave, I could see my friends looking relived, Tasha looked upset. I caught eyes with Dimitri, my eyes always finding him in a room. His face betrayed nothing, but there was something in his eyes… something intense and intimidating. It reminded me of when he pulled Jessie off my in the deserted common room. The protective fierceness he had from before.
A brushing of my hand distracted me from him. Abe and I had started to exit, but the aisle ahead of us was packed with people, bringing us to a halt. The touch against my hand was a small piece of paper shoved between my fingers. Glancing over, I saw Ambrose was sitting near the aisle, staring straight ahead. I wanted to ask what was going on, but some instinct kept me silent. Seeing as the line still wasn't moving, I hastily opened the paper, keeping it out of Abe's sight.
The paper was tiny, its elegant cursive almost impossible to read.
Rose,
If you're reading this, then something terrible has happened. You probably hate me, and I don't blame you. I can only ask that you trust that what I did with the age decree was better for your people than what others had planned. There are some Moroi who want to force all dhampirs into service, whether they want it or not, by using compulsion. The age decree has slowed that faction down.
However, I write to you with a secret you must put right, and it is a secret you must share with as few as possible. Vasilisa needs her spot on the Council, and it can be done. She is not the last Dragomir. Another lives, the illegitimate child of Eric Dragomir. I know nothing else, but if you can find this son or daughter, you will give Vasilisa the power she deserves. No matter your faults and dangerous temperament, you are the only one I feel can take on this task. Waste no time in fulfilling it.
- Tatiana Ivashkov
I stared at the piece of paper, its writing swirling before me, but its message burning into my mind. She is not the last Dragomir. Another lives.
Till next time.
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Where do you think things will go from here?
I threw in some 90's easter eggs, let me know if you caught it.