A Hint of Frost: Araneae Nation ( Book One) (23 page)

“Ah. The Maven Lourdes has arrived. I see she places some value on her sister’s life.” Elder Jean held no fondness for me. Not since I set his robes on fire when I was six. It had been an accident.
Mostly
it had been, but I understood I had pricked his pride when I had left without seeking this council’s blessing. I’d had no time for formal proceedings when action was required.

I feared there would be a cost for that. I hoped Pascale wasn’t asked to pay the price.

“I apologize for keeping you all waiting.” I nodded to Elder Celso and Elder Darcel, saving a warm smile for Armand and Henri. The six of us comprised the clan council. We three judged by blood while they were appointed by vote—a fair system and capable of overruling me.

Now that I was present, the proceedings could begin. The council members took their seats. Chairs scraped behind me as Pascale and her advocate sat. I couldn’t face her. Not yet. Alone in the center of the room, I stood on weak knees and prepared to conduct my sister’s trial.

Celso inclined his head. “As this matter is near to your heart, to all our hearts, understand if we proceed with caution. We want the truth at any cost, so this child is punished accordingly.”

“Elder Celso, if it pleases the council, before Pascale’s examination begins, new evidence has been brought to light.” Armand gestured toward the door where I’d entered, and Bram strode down the aisle, casting me a wink as he passed. “Bram agreed to testify as a Theridiidae privy to his maven’s secret plans and as an Araneidae loyalist. His evidence is incontrovertible.”

My pulse skittered with delirious hope. Bram had proof? He was able to clear our sister? This must have been the reason behind my brothers’ pretrial meeting.

Ruddy crimson suffused Jean’s cheeks. “You would call a traitor to stand witness?”

“I would.” Armand gestured Bram forward. “Show him your letter.”

At that, I relaxed. Better for us that Bram had written proof since his word was for sale.

Bram approached Jean and passed a scrap of folded parchment to the grasping elder. For a moment, Jean stared as if weighing what he’d read and trying to find fault with it. Apparently unable to do so, he passed the letter with a flourish to Celso and Darcel to read.

“How did you come to possess such a letter?” Jean demanded.

“It was mine to deliver from Maven Colleen to her son Kellen. I did so outside of Beltania.” He shrugged. “With Kellen dead, it seemed Pascale had more need of it than he did at that point. I searched his body for the letter. That’s how I came to possess it prior to arrival in your fair city.”

“You knew what it said then?” Celso held the letter and eyed the fine print.

“Yes.” Bram’s tone remained cocksure. “I was there when my maven penned it. It was I who hid Kellen among the males I stationed in Erania. I knew Colleen’s matchmaking venture wasn’t as altruistic as she would have me believe. When she sent me to escort Kellen home, she anticipated Lourdes would be nearby. I was instructed to bargain with Lourdes if I could.” His eyes met mine. “Or kill her if I couldn’t.” He set his jaw. “I won’t lie. I would have killed her if I…” He swore. “My reasons are my own. I brought the letter. That’s your proof. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He turned on his heel. Heading toward the door, he called, “I’ve got to see a male about an annuity.”

“Wait a minute,” Jean blustered. “Wait a bloody red minute.” But Bram was gone.

While my palms itched to steal the letter and learn its contents, I understood its details would be kept private until I’d coaxed the truth from Pascale. It was easier if I didn’t know the answers to give them to her.

“Is the council ready?” I waited for their nods. “Let us begin.”

I took a breath and prayed for guidance. I’d known her direct examination would fall to me, and I was as prepared as I could be. The council faded into silence. “Pascale of the Araneidae, you have been charged with conspiracy to murder Reine and Ennis, our once maven and paladin, and our parents.” I wished for Rhys’s steady presence as I asked the question I dreaded hearing answered. “Before this clan council, what say you?”

The young male at her elbow stood and smoothed a hand down his shirtfront. “Maven Lourdes, as your sister’s advocate, I would like a moment to confer with my—”

Her soft voice carried. “I am guilty.”

The world lurched beneath my feet.
Guilty
. I had expected her to say as much, but I found I was unprepared to hear the finality of the statement. Pain shed my propriety. “How could you?”

The male’s head snapped toward her, his mouth opening on what was no doubt a reprimand, but she waved him into silence. “It’s all right, Tristan, I can speak for myself.” She gestured he should take his seat, and he did so with reluctance, settling on the edge as though primed to spring to her defense if such action was warranted.

“I was a fool,” Pascale said, “and my foolishness cost our parents their lives. I’ll tell you whatever you wish to know and accept the punishment determined by you, a council of my peers.”

I paced. “Evidence suggests that our mother was poisoned by Theridiidae venom.”

“It wasn’t Theridiidae venom.” She frowned. “Not all of it was.”

“What do you mean?”

“Kellen was one of Father’s guards during his hunts. They weren’t close, but they were close enough Kellen realized Father was sneaking from the nest to hunt more and more often. He went alone, which was highly unusual.” She looked to me. “Normally, you would be with him.”

I didn’t correct her, and I hadn’t known he’d been venturing out by himself.

“Kellen said news from Siciia had upset Father. He had become obsessed with perfecting a new poison.” She picked at her fingernails. “His personal guards knew, and they trailed along his midnight hunts.”

I went still. Siciia was farther south than Beltania. “Did he say what the news was?”

“No.” She frowned. “Only that the Araneidae must be prepared when the time came. He kept the details to himself, but Kellen was worried because a messenger they sent to Siciia vanished.”

Did this mean Father had known of the yellow death? Had he seen the likes of the wing held by the Salticidae? What of the creature Rhys killed? Perhaps he knew none of those things, but had worried, as I did, that another clan was using the plague as their cover for a staged coup.

If he’d known any of those things, why hadn’t he told me?

There had been no time
.

Still, something had stirred the Theridiidae into action, and the yellow death was a likely cause. If it was sweeping through their clan’s lands, wiping out their herd animals as well as their archers, loss of trained soldiers meant their maven would need more warriors at the ready. She would have needed the ones she lent to us, and if her clan’s ability to work was hampered, and they ran short on food, I knew our gold would have appealed to her. Her mistake was in killing my parents. Once, our aid was hers for asking. Now, I would let her clan suffer the follies of their maven and hope a wiser clan head gained control. Until then, even her son’s death was a poor consolation for our losses.

I shoved those worries aside and focused on my task. “What about the poison?”

“Kellen had an idea,” she began. “He said Father was wasting time when the answer was right in front of him. He explained his plan and I…approached Father on his behalf.” Her shoulders hunched. “Father was furious. I thought he was being stubborn, that if you’d suggested it…he’d have listened to you.”

I closed my eyes, and they struggled to reopen. “What did you do?”

“Against Father’s wishes, Kellen mixed his venom with a sample from Ulrich.” Her voice muffled as she wiped her face. “The result caused death within hours rather than days.”

“Ulrich wouldn’t have given a sample.” Despite his docile nature, his clan, the Ctenidae, produced the most potent venom of any Araneaeans. Since his bite always proved fatal, Father had ordered his poison glands milked daily as a condition of him living among our clan with his Araneidae wife. Let alone teaching the children. He would never risk her, or them, by donating.

“I don’t know that he did.” Her shoulder lifted. “His milked venom must go somewhere.”

Pascale wouldn’t have known about how Ulrich, along with all our clansmen in similar situations, had his venom collected and discarded into a cistern carved from the side of Mount Ereac. The solid stone vat was lined to prevent the toxic mixture from seeping into the ground and our water supply. Some guards took part in the disposal process, and Kellen must have been one of them.

“Assuming Kellen’s intentions were honorable, how can you explain the results?”

“I never meant this to happen.” She squeezed her fists as if enough pressure would convince me. “I caught Father in the stables the following morning after we’d spoken. You two were going hunting, so when I said I had something to show him, he said I should do it quickly.”

Her haunted gaze sliced through me. “Kellen said if Father saw the poison in action, he’d see the benefits outweighed the risks. So he prepped a dart and wrapped it in leather to avoid any accidents, but there was one.” Her jaw trembled. “Mother came looking for you. She knew about the hunt and she assumed you’d be with Father.” Her voice strained. “I had set the bundle on a table while we prepped the ursus.”

Pascale’s hands covered her face as if she could block out the memory. “Mother must have seen the bundle and picked it up. Father was forever bringing her trinkets after a good hunt, so she must have assumed…” Sobs curled her shoulders. “She unrolled the leather and the dart hit her palm. It pierced her skin.” Tears slicked her face. “Her gasp was the first we noticed her.”

“It was an accident.” I wondered if the others heard my relief. “What about antivenin?”

“Don’t you think we tried?” Her words lacked heat. “Neither his venom nor Ulrich’s counteracted Kellen’s creation. There wasn’t enough commonality. There was no antidote, and when Father sent Kellen for help from his maven, she turned on Father.” Now fire burned in her. “She saw a golden opportunity to seize what Father had refused to grant her—absolute control over the Araneidae.” Her tears were absent now. “When Kellen returned, he…he was not the male I knew. It was then he told me of his true identity. He told me—” She shook her head. “I believed I would be hanged for my part in this. He gave me the choice of leaving with him and I took it.”

I stopped pacing and faced her. “Knowing Kellen had turned traitor, you fled with him rather than face the consequences of your actions.” I understood her fear, I did, but her lack of faith stung. “You were the perfect bargaining chip to present his maven after her coup failed.”

“I didn’t learn of his plans—
their
plans—to rule through me until we’d left Erania.”

Peering at her tearstained face, I ached with gratitude she was alive, but forgiveness and trust were burnt bridges that spanned miles between us. “You should have trusted me to protect you.”

She sounded younger than her years when she spoke. “I’m sorry I lacked the courage to tell you what I’d done. It’s no excuse, but I was blinded by fear and love. Kellen convinced me…” Her voice steadied. To our brothers, she said, “I stabbed Kellen in his black heart for what he did, what I let him do.”

“We know,” Henri said gently. “We assigned no blame in that incident. You protected Lourdes, your maven and sister. His death is the fault of his mother and maven, who sent him.”

Exhaling hard, she gave us a shaky nod. Straightening her shoulders, she added, “If my death is the price this council deems fair for my part in these crimes, I will face it without fear.”

Armand was slower to speak. “You were a pawn in a game well played, but even pawns are responsible for the movements they make, no matter how strong the hand that guides them.”

Pascale nodded silent agreement, and her willingness to accept punishment heartened me. It bespoke of true remorse. For all that I’d hoped she would be innocent, there was a coldness in her I’d glimpsed as she sat atop that varanus. I might have lied to myself at the time to shore up my courage in our conquest, but I wasn’t sure I would bet lives on her total guiltlessness when it had appeared she had weighed her options before siding with us, much the same way Bram had.

“An interesting tale to be sure.” Jean leaned forward. “The fact remains she was an accessory to your parents’ murder and she chose to flee rather than confide her crimes.”

Celso frowned at him. “She was reckless, but she showed no malicious intent.”

“We gathered here to determine whether or not she conspired against her parents. I find that she did not.” Darcel spoke for the first time. “She must be punished, but her blood will not heal the wounds Kellen inflicted upon her family or our clan. I say she is innocent of the charge.”

“Agreed.” Henri held Pascale’s gaze.

“I agree with Elder Celso’s observations as well.” Armand glanced at me, waiting.

“I also agree with Elder Celso’s findings.” Still I feared what came next. “What is her proposed punishment?”

“I have not agreed to any such thing.” Jean scowled. “You invite ruin by accepting a traitor back into the fold. She may be less guilty than her lover, but who can say she wasn’t his equal? He isn’t here to defend himself.” He stabbed the air in my direction. “She’s proven she is susceptible to enticement. Or perhaps worse, she’s proven she is capable of a most delicate type of persuasion. What if the next male who shares her bed suffers those same delusions of grandeur?”

“You can’t try and convict her based on what may happen in the future.” Celso clucked with mirth. “If that were possible, I could credit all sorts of future pot-stirrings to you.” He waved a finger. “I will refrain out of the fear it will give you an idea you might not have had yet.”

“Gracious elders.” I brought their attention back to the problem. “If there is no contest to her guilt, and we’re in agreement she should be punished, what do you suggest as her penance?”

Jean’s eyes glinted maliciously. “Two years of indentured service to one of our allied clans.” He let that settle. “If you agree to such a fitting punishment, then my vote is yours and her neck is safe.”