The Veil (30 page)

“Please be seated,” he said. His voice was so deep and
reverberating I jumped slightly before hastily lowering myself into my chair. The others at my table, and at my accusers’ table, took their seats with a great deal more grace.

Luc took my hand underneath the table as the Inquisitors continued to pass papers back and forth and whisper quietly amongst themselves. I had nothing to do but stare up at them.

There were two men and one woman on the left side of the high councilor and two women and one man to his right, but I had a hard time tearing my eyes away from the high councilor himself—the man who, more than anyone else in the room, now controlled my fate. But even if that had not been the case, I think I still would’ve stared at him—he had a truly startling tangle of vividly white hair that looked like it hadn’t been combed in decades. He looked about Gran’s age, and I suddenly wondered if he was the one who had become high councilor instead of my blood grandmother, or if there had been others in between.

The high councilor looked up suddenly, and our eyes locked. I tried, but I couldn’t look away until he blinked and turned his attention to Luc’s father. “Ah, Renard Stratton,” he did not speak so much as rumble, “I rather thought we might you seeing you this morning.”

“Hardly surprising, Esteemed High Councilor,” Mr. Stratton answered with a slight nod of his head. “Given that Ms. Prescott’s summons, as well as your subsequent communication, were both delivered to
my
house.”

The high councilor’s eyes shifted over to me. “And I assume, Mr. Stratton, you are prepared to certify that the individual directly to your left is, indeed, Addison Rose Prescott, daughter of Margaret Stirling and Thomas Prescott, granddaughter of Rosabel Stirling?”

Mr. Stratton looked over at me. He was silent for so long I started to wonder whether this was the first time he had actually considered that question.

Maybe it was all a mistake
, an excited little voice inside my head began to whisper.
Maybe I’m not really
—

“I am prepared to so certify, High Councilor,” Mr. Stratton answered, and the small flicker of hope inside of me was quickly doused.

The high councilor made a note on one of the pieces of paper in front of him. “And the young man with her?” he continued, not looking up. I could see why he’d phrased it that way; our intertwined hands were underneath the table and out of sight, but Luc had moved his chair very close to mine and was very clearly
with me
. I wasn’t sure whether it made me feel comforted or terrified that Luc was almost certainly going to share in whatever harm befell me today.

“My son, Lucas Stratton,” Luc’s father answered. “He is Ms. Prescott’s Guardian.”

There was a flurry of whispers from the Inquisitors on either side of the high councilor. The white-haired man himself merely stared down at the two of us; his gaze lingered on the tabletop in front of me, directly above where Luc held my hand securely in his.

“I see,” the high councilor said, then abruptly turned to look at the table where the Others sat. “Mr. Mallory, Mr. Tighe, I assume you’re prepared to bring forth your accusations?”

“We are more than ready, Esteemed High Councilor,” Damon Mallory answered.

The high councilor did not return the smile but simply nodded and said, “Proceed.”

Oran Tighe leapt up eagerly from his chair, as quickly as if something sharp had poked him in the bottom. Once he found himself on his feet, however, he shifted uncomfortably, seemingly unsure of what exactly he was supposed to do.

Beside him, Damon Mallory rose from his chair with an unnerving grace that went a shade beyond even Luc’s fluid movements. I hadn’t noticed the unique way that he moved the night before—it was almost like he was boneless, or like his limbs
were suspended in some way none of the rest of us could see. I almost could have believed he was floating in a vat of invisible liquid, if it hadn’t been for his voice, which carried easily throughout the room. Damon Mallory did not have the same booming cadence as the high councilor, but I knew even the guards in the very back of the room would have no trouble hearing him.

“Esteemed High Councilor, honorable representatives of the Council, there is a simple matter before you today. Almost eighteen years ago, a terrible crime was committed—I know I don’t have to remind anyone here how the consequences of that one thoughtless, rebellious action shook the Annorasi world to its very core. Indeed, it fell to this very Council to restore order in the aftermath of that most unfortunate disruption.

“Until now, only some of us suspected the dark events of those days were not yet at an end, that the criminals who inflicted such unrest upon our world had left behind something tangible, something deadly we would one day have to contend with. I speak, of course, of the accused who sits before you, Addison Rose Prescott. The only child of Margaret Stirling and the human, Thomas Prescott.

“Born amidst rumor and scandal, hidden so she might not further her parents’ shame, Ms. Prescott was, until recently, the stuff of speculation and whispers for the majority of our world. Only a very few, those who had been handpicked by her disgraced family, knew the truth . . . that she was being kept hidden in the human world. Her protectors guarded their secret most carefully, neither knowing nor, perhaps, caring what unknown horrors this half blood, this abomination might unleash upon the world.”

Damon Mallory paused and glanced over at me; for the first time, I could see that his eyes were the sharpest, palest blue I had ever seen. They held such hatred I could not help but shudder at the sudden chill, even with Luc’s warm hand in mine. I had never dreamed someone could even think such horrible thoughts about me, to say nothing of speaking them aloud.

And even as his eyes did their best to burn right through mine, Damon Mallory’s voice softened to an almost apologetic whisper. He turned back to the high councilor, his face suddenly a mask of self-reproach. “I can not speak ill of her protectors, High Councilor, without confessing my own role in Ms. Prescott’s remarkable disappearance. Although I took no active part in concealing her, I freely admit to you I first became aware of her hiding place, and her identity among the humans, shortly after she disappeared from England.”

I shot a glance with Luc, who shrugged and mouthed, “lies.”

“I could have informed this Council of her whereabouts at any time over the past eleven years,” Damon Mallory admitted. “But I chose not to. I must now beg your forgiveness for this. In defense of my actions, I can only plead with you to understand I had not the heart to bring this innocent girl into your presence before today. I told myself that this child, abomination though she may be, could not be held responsible for her parents’ actions. There was a chance, I thought, that she would be content to remain among the humans. What possible threat could a young girl be? I wondered. I promised myself that so long as she remained innocent of our world, I would not burden this honorable Council with the unthinkable task of ending such a bright young life.”

“More like he didn’t have an excuse to bring you here until now,” Luc whispered in my ear, his voice full of disgust.

I looked up at the Inquisitors. Were they buying any of this?

Damon Mallory, who had paused in his speech as though overcome with emotion, sounded so sincerely remorseful I very nearly believed him myself—nearly, but not quite. I had, after all, just seen his eyes. I knew as long as I lived, I would never forget the naked hatred in them.

Luc cleared his throat and threw a contemptuous glance at Damon Mallory. I could feel the effort it was taking for him to keep himself from leaping over the table and attacking my accuser,
right there, in front of his father and the Inquisitors.

I patted his arm, the most encouraging thing I could think to do at the moment. If I could suffer through Damon Mallory’s words, so could Luc.

“Alas,” Damon Mallory finally went on, with such seeming reluctance that I wanted to hit the table, “I can no longer deceive myself with the excuse of Ms. Prescott’s ignorance. There can be no doubt she has gained the ability to see our world. Whether this ability came to her unbidden or was encouraged and nurtured by her protectors, I cannot say. I only know it does not matter. Law Thirty-Seven sets the penalty for any human who learns of the existence of the Annorasi world, without prejudice as to how such knowledge was acquired or how brief his or her glimpse into our world may be. This wise law is one of our oldest and most revered, and today it is my unhappy duty to see that it is upheld. I beg of this Council to rule today as our law requires it to. I am confident this esteemed body will do its duty.”

He sat down just as gracefully as he had stood. Oran Tighe sat down as well, a smug smile on his face.

The high councilor turned to Luc’s father. “Do you have a response, Mr. Stratton?”

“I certainly do.” Mr. Stratton stood and walked between our table and the raised platform where the Council sat. He began to pace back and forth. Only when every last one of the silent red-hooded heads of the Council followed his every movement did he begin to speak. “A ‘simple matter,’ my colleague called the situation before you today. I know you are not fooled by this. Only the presence of a single Inquisitor is required to hand down a sentence, so why would a seven-Inquisitor panel, one that includes the high councilor himself, need to convene for something as simple and straightforward as the application of a law so universally known that it is recited by our school children?”

He paused his speech, still pacing. Every eye in the room was
riveted on him, including my own. Suddenly, I was very glad I had an experienced trial attorney arguing my case.

“We all know—even Damon Mallory knows—this situation is far from simple. Addison Prescott is not a mere human. If she were, even I would have trouble arguing that she should not be condemned, at least on the face of Law Thirty-Seven. However, Addison Prescott is also not a full-blooded Annorasi—she is half human, so it cannot be said that Law Thirty-Seven has no relevance at all to this matter.

“So what do we do? When, as here, the strict application of a law makes no sense, we must look to that law’s purpose to determine how it should be applied. Law Thirty-Seven was created because those who came before us feared what would happen if the humans became aware of our existence. They determined, as much for the safety of our own society as for the well-being of the human world, that such knowledge on the part of humans must be swiftly dealt with. They decided that the taking of a human life, even an innocent one, was preferable to the parade of horrors that could follow from the spread of that human’s illicit knowledge throughout the human world.

“Addison Prescott has been brought up as a human. She has lived among them and, until quite recently, has shown no Annorasi traits at all. Why then, should she not be treated as a human? What makes her knowledge of our world any less dangerous to us than a pureblood human’s knowledge?”

He paused again.

“You all know the answer. Addison Prescott is half Annorasi. She doesn’t just know of our world, she
sees
it. She is a part of it. And I hear she is learning to fly.” He smiled over at me for a moment, and I couldn’t help but grin back, even though my hands were shaking underneath the table. “In these ways, she is just as much of an Annorasi as you or I. Can we punish her for that? Can we really subject one of our own to a law meant to apply only to
humans? She is one of us. And as a consequence, she has just as much of an interest as any of us in keeping our world a secret—perhaps even more so, given her unique status.

“Addison Rose Prescott is not a threat to our way of life. If you agree with me on this, and I don’t see how you can not, then you must also agree that the application of Law Thirty-Seven would be a grievous injustice here—a black mark on the slate of a Council whose singular purpose has always been to put our greatest ideals into practice.”

Mr. Stratton sat back down, and the Inquisitors all leaned toward the center of their table to confer with the high councilor.

“Now the high councilor will have a chance to ask questions,” Mr. Stratton told me in a whisper. “It shouldn’t take long to get a sense of which way the Inquisitors are leaning.”

“They hate Damon Mallory,” Luc whispered over my shoulder. “I could tell by the looks they gave him.”

“As we have already discussed, the Inquisitors’ like or dislike of Damon Mallory will not be the deciding factor here,” Mr. Stratton cautioned him. “I’ve given them enough to hang a decision on—the question now is whether or not they jump for it.”

As we waited for the Inquisitors to finish their conference, I thought over what Mr. Stratton had said in his opening statement. He hadn’t been nearly as dramatic as Damon Mallory, but his words had been so straightforward and practical that, in some ways, they had even more of a impact.

At least I thought so, and as the high councilor began to ask his questions, he seemed to agree with me.

“Mr. Mallory,” he said, “How do you answer Mr. Stratton’s argument that Ms. Prescott does not present a threat to the Annorasi way of life?”

Damon Mallory rose smoothly to his feet. “As I submitted in my opening statement, Esteemed High Councilor, Law Thirty-Seven does not require an analysis of how
much
knowledge a human possesses,
or whether that knowledge causes any danger. Any knowledge at all, no matter how it is acquired, is assumed to present a danger to the Annorasi world, and thus triggers the penalty under the law.”

“Let me put it to you another way, Mr. Mallory,” the high councilor said, frowning down at him. “The Inquisitors are inclined to agree with Mr. Stratton’s point that, because Ms. Prescott is half Annorasi, it would be unjust to apply Law Thirty-Seven to her the same way we would apply it to a mere Annorasi. Under the circumstances, we feel an analysis of Ms. Prescott’s actual danger to the Annorasi world, if any, is appropriate.”

Mr. Mallory smiled grimly. “If the honorable Inquisitors wish to engage in such an analysis, I am, of course, prepared to assist you. Allow me to bring before you an individual who I believe will shed some light on the danger Ms. Prescott has already brought to the Annorasi world.”