Chapter 23 · Gauntlet on the Iron Slate

Chapter 23: Gauntlet on the Iron Slate

"Trial by combat." My voice cracks off the rafters before my boots even stop moving. "Not your vote, Silas. Mine."

The roll-call hall goes dead quiet. Three hundred wolves who were shuffling toward the exits freeze mid-step. I walk straight up the center aisle with the trial sheet rolled in my fist, past rows of folding chairs, past Kane standing at the foot of the dais with his jaw locked tight.

King Silas doesn't even turn his head. He's got that bored, half-lidded look he wears when he thinks he's already won. "The examiner voided your score an hour ago, girl. There's nothing left to fight for."

"He voided a copy." I plant my feet at the base of the steps. "The original's got my seal pressed into the wax. Yours is a clean forgery and everybody in this room knows it, including the man who drew it up for you."

A murmur rolls through the crowd like wind through dry grass. Silas's eyes finally come to me, flat and cold.

"Watch your mouth."

"Or what? You'll strike my name off another board?" I step up, one riser, then another.