* * *

Clarence was sitting on the table in the interview room, which brought him up to eye level with Alyssa. She slumped in the chair opposite, glowering back at him from behind curtains of long curly hair. As the king walked into the room he caught the end of her sentence—she was saying, “There’s just me. Nobody else”—then she broke off. Both Clarence and Alyssa turned to look at the king.

Briefly the king saw an eager light in the young woman’s eyes. He was worried she might try to kill him. But then he realized her hands were tied behind her back.

Clarence hopped off the table, trotted toward the king, and said, “What are you doing in here?”

“Are you—?” Alyssa began, but Clarence cut her off.

“Shut up,” Clarence said without looking back at her. “I must speak to you outside, Your Highness.” He ushered the king back through the door and told him to close it.

“What’s up with you?” said the king.

“She’s a very dangerous woman who wants you dead,” said Clarence.

“What?”

“She planned the attack on you—Ward was just a stooge. You shouldn’t go anywhere near her.”

“But . . . she’s got no weapons and her hands are tied behind her back—”

“It’s not worth the risk—stay away.”

“Okay.” The king felt shaken: he’d just convinced himself the attack was nothing to worry about. “But why?”

“She’s set up a network of agents to plot the overthrow of your rule. She’s confessed to everything. She burned down the newspaper offices.”

“Bloody hell,” said the king. He felt even angrier about that than the assault.

“She’s given us other names but it’s clear there are people she’s still protecting—I told you this wasn’t a coincidence.”

The king consciously steadied his breathing. “What are we going to do?”

“Strong action now can stop this in its tracks. The statute books do specify the sentence for treason—it hasn’t been used in a very long time, but this seems a clear-cut case . . .”

“Alright, what is it?”

Clarence turned and nodded to a member of the bureau staff who stood unobtrusively nearby holding a book of law. Most of the city’s laws related to planning and safety and evidently this volume, which dealt with acts of violence and sedition, had rarely been consulted—the edges of its pages were clean. The staffer opened the book, walked over to the king, and indicated a regulation.

The king peered over and read it. His eyebrows shot up. “That’s brutal.”

“It is what the law says—in fact you made this law.”

“Really? I don’t remember that at all.”

“It was quite some time ago.”

This sort of thing wasn’t unknown—the king made a lot of offhand comments in the heat of anger or annoyance, and his attendants did sometimes take them as policy and have them enshrined in law. “Okay then,” he said. “I guess we need to make an example of her.”

“Exactly—and we should make it an open event so anyone can come.”