The recess ended too quickly.
By the time the guards ushered us back into the Council Hall, every seat was occupied once more.
I was tired and hungry and eager to get this over with. A terrible migraine hit my head. I swallowed.
Meanwhile the air had changed.
It no longer carried curiosity.
It carried expectation.
Journalists had returned with fresh notebooks. Courtroom artists sharpened their charcoal pencils. Students whispered in hurried clusters before falling silent as the seven councillors entered.
High Chancellor Magnus Blackwood resumed his seat at the centre of the crescent table.
His expression was as unreadable as polished stone.
Jordan caught my eye from across the chamber.
He smiled.
I tried to return it.
I wasn't sure I succeeded.
The silver gavel struck once.
"The hearing shall resume."
The murmurs dissolved.
Magnus looked towards Percy.
"Counsel Network."
Percy rose.
Something about him was different.
It wasn't his posture.
It wasn't his face.
It was his eyes.
The warmth had disappeared from them.
He carried a bundle of yellowed papers in one hand.
Professor Tom's papers.
I frowned.
He had finally read them.
Percy walked slowly into the centre of the chamber.
He stopped.
Looked first at me.
Then at Jordan.
Then...
At the High Chancellor.
"Your Excellencies."
His voice remained calm.
"I entered this chamber today intending to defend one woman."
He glanced briefly towards me.
"I now find myself compelled..."
His fingers tightened around the papers.
"...to defend the truth."
The hall grew still.
Magnus Blackwood did not move.
Percy lifted the folded manuscript.
"During the recess, I examined documents entrusted to me by Professor Viviette Tom."
Several professors exchanged puzzled glances.
"They concern the origins of Article Nine."
For the first time that day...
The Chancellor raised an eyebrow witsfully.
It was so slight I almost thought I had imagined it.
Percy continued.
"These manuscripts contain copies of original records dating back three hundred years."
His thumb unfolded the first page.
"They concern Jean of House Greyfen..."
He turned another page.
"...Furla .."
Another.
"...and the child this Council has declared dead for three centuries."
The silence became suffocating.
Then...
Magnus Blackwood spoke.
"Counsel."
His voice was hurrying "Those documents are irrelevant."
Percy looked up.
"With respect, Your Excellency...they are the most relevant documents ever presented before this Council."
A ripple swept through the gallery.
Magnus remained composed.
"The Council declines to admit them."
Percy's brows knit together.
"On what grounds?"
"They have not been authenticated."
"They can be authenticated."
"They will not." The words landed like iron.
Across the chamber, Seraphine Velos slowly rose to her feet.
"Your Excellency."
Every eye turned towards her.
She spoke with perfect courtesy.
"If Counsel Network wishes to tender documentary evidence, surely the proper course is to examine its authenticity before ruling upon its admissibility."
Magnus looked at her without a flicker
"This matter does not concern you, Counsel Velos."
She did not sit.
"With respect..It concerns the integrity of these proceedings."
The gallery stirred.
I stared at her in disbelief.
She wasn't defending me.
She was defending the law.
Magnus's voice hardened.
"The objection is overruled."
"There has been no objection," Seraphine replied evenly.
"There is now."
A murmur rolled through the spectators.
Percy looked from Seraphine to the Chancellor.
Then something in his expression changed.
Understanding.
Slowly...
Deliberately...
He lowered the papers.
"You know what's in these documents."
The words echoed through the chamber.
Nobody breathed.
Magnus did not answer.
He didn't have to.
Percy's voice became almost a whisper.
"You've seen them before."
Silence.
Heavy.
Absolute.
From somewhere high in the gallery, a student called out,
"What documents?"
Another voice answered,
"Let him read them!"
A third joined.
"What are they hiding?"
The whispers multiplied.
"They're hiding something."
"Read the papers!"
"Let him speak!"
The cry spread through the galleries like fire through dry grass.
"LET HIM SPEAK!"
Peach was the first person I recognized standing.
"Read it!"
Cassidy rose beside her.
"We want the truth!"
Beth climbed to her feet.
"So do we!"
Bloodstone's manager stood.
Then one of Jordan's bandmates.
Then another.
Within seconds, professors, students and journalists alike were on their feet.
"LET HIM SPEAK!"
"LET HIM SPEAK!"
"LET HIM SPEAK!"
I looked across the chamber.
Moira Files stood frozen beside the entrance.
Confusion had swallowed every trace of authority on her face.
Jordan frowned.
His eyes moved from Percy...
...to the papers...
...to the Chancellor.
Even he had no idea what was happening.
Neither did I.
The silver gavel slammed against the table.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
"ORDER!"
Magnus's voice thundered through the hall.
The chanting faltered.
But it did not die.
"LET HIM SPEAK!"
"LET HIM SPEAK!"
The Chancellor rose slowly.
His ancient face had become strangely weary.
When he finally spoke...
His voice was barely above a whisper.
"Some truths..."
He looked directly at Percy.
"...serve only to resurrect wars better left buried."
The chamber fell silent.
Percy smiled.
Not triumphantly.
Sadly.
As though he had just received the answer he'd dreaded most.
He stepped forward, laying one hand upon the ancient manuscript.
Then he met the High Chancellor's eyes.
"Your Excellency..."
His voice carried effortlessly into every corner of the hall.
"Wars are not resurrected by truth."
A pause.
"They are prolonged by lies."
And somewhere deep within the Council Hall...
For the first time in three hundred years...
Silence no longer belonged to the Council. It belonged to the truth waiting to be spoken.