A Land Of Fire (Book 12) by Morgan Rice

disappeared and placed a weapon in your hands.”
    “It was not a mystery man,” Alistair
insisted. “It was Bowyer. I saw with my own eyes. He killed Erec.”
    Dauphine grimaced.
    “Bowyer showed us the scroll that you
penned to him. You pleaded for his hand in marriage and planned to kill Erec
and marry him instead. You are a sick woman. Was not having my brother and
having the Queenship enough for you?”
    Dauphine handed Alistair the scroll, and
Alistair’s heart sank as she read:
     
    Once Erec is
dead, we shall spend our lives together.
     
    “But that is not my hand!” Alistair
protested. “The scroll is forged!”
    “Yes, I’m sure it is,” Dauphine said.
“I’m sure you have a convenient explanation for everything.”
    “I penned no such scroll!” Alistair
insisted. “Don’t you hear yourselves? This makes no sense. Why would I murder
Erec? I love him with all my soul. We were nearly wed.”
    “And thank the heavens you were not,”
Dauphine said.
    “You must believe me!” Alistair
insisted, turning to Erec’s mother. “Bowyer tried to kill Erec. He wants the
kingship. I want nothing of being Queen. I never have.”
    “Don’t you worry,” Dauphine said. “You
shall never be. In fact, you shall not even live. We here on the Southern Isles
serve justice quickly. Tomorrow, you shall be executed.”
    Alistair shook her head, realizing they
could not be reasoned with. She sighed, her heart heavy.
    “Is that why you’ve come?” she asked
weakly. “To tell me that?”
    Dauphine sneered back in the silence,
and Alistair could feel the hatred in her gaze.
    “No,” Dauphine finally replied, after a
long, heavy silence. “It was to pronounce your sentence to you, and to take one
long last look at your face before you are sent to hell. You will be made to
suffer, the same way our brother was made to suffer.”
    Suddenly, Dauphine reddened, lunged
forward, reached out her fingernails, and grabbed Alistair’s hair. It happened
so quickly, Alistair had no time to react. Dauphine let out a guttural scream
as she scratched Alistair’s face. Alistair raised her hands to block herself,
as others stepped forward to pull Dauphine off.
    “Let go of me!” Dauphine yelled. “I want
to kill her now!”
    “Justice will be served tomorrow,” Strom
said.
    “Lead her out of here,” Erec’s mother
commanded.
    Guards stepped forward and yanked
Dauphine from the room as she kicked and screamed in protest. Strom joined
them, and soon the room was completely empty except for Alistair and Erec’s
mother. She stopped at the door, slowly turned, and faced Alistair. Alistair
searched her face for any trace left of kindness and compassion.
    “Please, you must believe me,” Alistair
said earnestly. “I don’t care what the others think of me. But I do care about
you. You were kind to me from the moment you met me. You know how much I love
your son. You know I could never have done this.”
    Erec’s mother examined her, and as her
eyes watered, she seemed to vacillate.
    “That is why you stayed behind, isn’t
it?” Alistair pressed. “That is why you’ve lingered. Because you want to
believe me. Because you know I am right.”
    After a long silence, his mother finally
nodded. As if coming to a decision, she took several steps toward her. Alistair
could see that Erec’s mother really did believe her, and she was elated.
    His mother rushed forward and embraced
her, and Alistair hugged her back and cried over her shoulder. Erec’s mother
cried, too, and finally, she stepped back.
    “You must listen to me,” Alistair said
urgently. “I care not for what happens to me, or what others think of me. But
Erec—I must get to him. Now . He is dying. I’ve only partially healed
him, and I need to finish. If I do not, he will die.”
    His mother looked her up and down, as if
finally realizing she was speaking the truth.
    “After all that’s happened,” she said,
“all you care about is my son. I can see now