The Courtesy of Kings | ☑ Queenkiller, Kingmaker #2

26.2

But for once Khaisan's failure was due not to any incompetence or indolence on his part. Who was he to call as witness when there were none? Dhvani's guilt could be not suppressed.

'The rajini has left me little to work with,' he admitted through grit teeth. 'It is as you say. Rajini Dhvani has invoked her right for trial without participation—naturally has she declined to be brought forward for questioning. I call only her silver-servant forth.'

Silence filled the room as from one corner of the chamber, Arya was brought marching in, his hands bound in theurgic cuffs. Chains rattled against the floor as he walked, escorted by four soldiers.

The dungeons had not been kind to him. His cheeks had grown more hollow than before. Dark circles ringed his sunken eyes, but there was still a keen bite to them when he faced the dais.

His guards pushed him into his seat before clearing off to the sides.

'State your name and position.' It was Persi who spoke.

'Arya Durajat, a servant of Her Honourable Consort, Rajini Dhvani, of sixteen years.' His voice was even and betrayed no hint of fear or concern.

'You were with your mistress at the time of Rajini Amarin's death?'

'I was.'

'Tell us where you were.'

'We were at the dungeons, maharaj.' No hesitation or equivocations. Did Kiet even detect a hint of pride in his voice? 'In the late rajini's labyrinths, to be precise.'

'You do not deny that you were present during Rajini Amarin's murder?'

'I am a terrakin under the employ of a queen consort, and there were quakes that night concentrated around the consortial estates. Is there any use in my denials of a conclusion so blatantly clear?'

'You brought the tunnels down.' Khaisan took over, finally rising from his seat to step down the dais.

'I did.'

'So you could have been the one responsible for Rajini Amarin's death.'

'Our therapeuts have determined her cause of death to be by multiple stab wounds.' Kiet interrupted, seeing only too clearly where Khaisan intended to go. 'She was dead before the tunnels collapsed.'

'It was dark, as your key witness herself admits. She could easily have mistaken the wielder of the dagger.'

The silver-servant would gladly take blame for Dhvani's crime. Kiet was interested not in platforming his lies. 'Yet you refuse to hear Rajini Chei or her soldiers. The queen consort, a dozen men, and my witness could have not all mistaken the same wielder.'

'Now, wait.' Persi held out a hand, leaned forwards in his seat and addressed the silver-servant. 'Do you claim to have been the one who murdered the rajini?'

'Nobody murdered the rajini.' Arya lifted his chin; more to look upon the dais, but still Kiet saw hubris in the movement. 'Murder implies an unjustified killing.'

Khaisan's eyes actually sparkled. He descended the last step off the dais and approached the man. 'Tell us what you mean by that.'

'Yes, do tell us.' Kiet's hand curled around Isla's arm rest. Any tighter and the wood might break. 'The dead can hardly defend themselves, after all.'

'Your mother was hardly an innocent woman.'

Kiet turned his gaze upon Judhistir. 'My Rama, if any of your wives has quarrel with the other, no matter how severe still the answer is not murder. I've no interest in hearing this man slander my mother's name—and neither should this court. The only exception that matters is if Dhvani had been acting in self-defence, which all signs point is far from the case. It is they who stole into my mother's labyrinths; they who took her tunnels down. It is I—the victim's son—who turned out poisoned and incapable of defending his home.'