Elemental Thief Part I : Child of Calamity

Trial

Tisaso was sick of the badgering, whining, and manoeuvring by the Peers; she was sick of listening to the more inane details being picked apart, as if a technicality could explain treason and make it justifiable.

She knew what they were doing; the Peers knew that the Queen, or the Princess, had the authority to sit judgement herself, and they were doing their best to be as heard as they could be before that judgement could happen. They were testing the waters, trying to find common ground and understanding of where they and their allegiances were sitting after such a drastic change of circumstances in so short a time.

But after a day and a half of it, and after watching Lord Corvin stand there in front of them for the morning, getting caught in lies and continue to dodge questions and offer ambiguities as he tried to maintain a cocky form of innocence; after seeing him stand there, unbowed, expecting to walk away from it all, when he hadn't really denied or defended himself, she was sick of the man, sick of looking at him and treating him with a half-sort of respect.

She wanted this game to be over and done with, and she could tell by the looks of frustration and annoyance around the table that she wasn't the only one reaching the end of their rope with this subject.

"Enough of this." Duke Feno said finally, growling and pulling the room into silence, apparently as sick of things as she was. "Lord Corvin, are these documents yours? Were these your plans?"

Corvin paused visibly, giving Duke Feno a long, hard look, before curling one lip up in a sneer. "I sought to cushion and protect Clairval from the coming storm, from the inevitable fate. I may have chosen to do things in ways unpalatable with weaker, more naïve people, but this attack is coming, and I intended to come out on the winning side. And if Clairval's Regency accepts me as the one to do so, so will Clairval."

Tisaso frowned at his words, seeing the looks of shock on so many people's faces, watching to see who recovered, and in which way. The majority of the Peers reacted in anger, in brutal expressions of betrayal, but Tisaso noted too few who began to nod in agreement, Lord Riven and the Viscount among them, though when they caught her watching them, they stilled and went pale.

"You do not deny these claims?" Princess Akina said finally, watching the man who fashioned himself her equal, her replacement, her controller. "You do not deny your intent to seize control of Clairval, through force, lies or murder, your intent to wage civil war on over half our Peers, and your intent to open Clairval to the invasion of a hostile empire?"

Corvin shook his head, grinning at her. "No. I do not deny that you need me to run this country, and to remove the weaker stock from our Peerage, to put Clairval on the right side, the winning side, of alliances. Of what powers are going to matter when the time comes to it."

"You would have killed the Queen. And possibly Princess Akina." Valencia said slowly, her expression showing that she trusted this turn of events about as much as Tisaso did. "These charges carry the sentence of death."

Lord Corvin smirked slowly, offering a shrug as he spread his hands. "Ah, yes. Well, if I die, the Queen does. And let us be honest, this evidence is damning, and my fate has already been decided in all your minds. But I have a back-up plan, to protect me from your short mindedness. Our Regency requires me to stay alive, or she will continue to get sick and she will die. She is sick, and I am the only person who can provide her with the antidote. Which I'm assuming she needs, seeing as how she isn't here, and probably has done a little much of anything lately. Our friends that are coming have given me some very interesting gifts, ones that Clairval is not prepared for."

"You're threatening the Queen?" Tisaso growled as half the table stood up, grumbling and yelling threats or statements of disbelief.

She stood more slowly, reining in her anger as she regarded the man in front of her, facing him down with a calm demeanour that seemed to temper his expression of superiority. This wasn't surprising. She had suspected he had another card up his sleeve based on his flippant attitude, though the angle of his attack was unexpected.

Corvin shrugged nonchalantly. "I'm advising you of your predicament. Ask your mother, yourself Princess. She knows about it. We had a very similar conversation around the time her husband died. She knows how much she needs me around. And none of your royal healers have been able to do anything about it." He laughed as two of the Royal Guard grabbed him upon Akina's raised hand. "You need to decide if your desire for vengeance will supersede your duty to your Regent. All of you. I will continue to provide her Regency what she needs to live, as long as I'm alive and comfortable, along with some other concessions that I will discuss with the Queen once she agrees to my terms."

"Get him out of here." Tisaso said to the Guard, pausing until Corvin was dragged out of the room, laughing, before she looked around the table with a gaze fierce enough to cause most of the Peers to begin to sit down upon looking her way.

The room settled slowly, though there were more than a few expressions of fury that were exchanged by allies and enemies alike. Shared anger and promised revenge over something none of them had considered possible from their own ranks.

"I need to go speak with her Regency about this." Akina murmured, causing the rest of them to stand and bow as she rose. She paused only to incline her head at their ceremony before she turned and left the room.

"This doesn't leave the room." Valencia said sharply into the silence that had remained, as the Peers were looking back and forth at one another. "If anyone outside of here knows about this, I will hunt down where they got their information from and they will be charged with treason. The world doesn't need to know everything that is happening in Clairval."

"A break would be a good idea." Duke Feno murmured as he inclined his head to show his acceptance of the harsh order. "Until the Princess, or her Regency reconvenes the Council, we still have a lot more to do, even without considering what we just learned. We need to start preparing our considerations for an upcoming war, as well as working on the rest of the items we were prepared for prior to arriving here."

Tisaso let out a careful breath and nodded in agreement, speaking formally to the group. "This Council meeting is adjourned until further notice."

She could do that, so could Val, but she saw the hesitation on a few faces, before Feno nodded his acceptance again, offering a respectful half bow and turned to leave himself. His actions pulled the rest of the Council into the acceptance that these two women were the chief representatives and advisors to the Regency.

Tisaso looked across the table to Val, who gave her a tired but worried look, before they stood as one and walked toward their offices to continue working on their duties as the two protectors of Clairval and their regent.