Luminous

63 - Right of the Bereft

She broke off as she caught sight of movement in the audience—Arinel had stood up. As Dineira stared, confused, she slid off her mask.

Dineira shrieked. She scrambled back, tripped over her cloak and landed on her behind on the flagstones.

"Erina—" She breathed, then shook her head sharply as her senses returned, "—No. Oh no. Oh Freda."

Her hands flew to cover her face. Tears dripped from under her mask. Arinel dragged her leaden feet one in front of the other. She was numb, winded, as if walloped in the middle by a battering ram. Despite her blue Crosset eyes and snowy Icemeet skin, she still resembled Mother.

"You asked Sir Bayne if Arinel takes after her mother." She forced her strangled voice through teeth gritted against grief, "I hope you still remember her face. Because I've never seen it, thanks to you."

Dineira flinched, then fell on her face, cowering at Arinel's feet.

"I didn't mean it. I didn't. I really didn't." She sobbed. Arinel snatched her foot away on instinct when she reached out with trembling hands, "Mercy. Please. Have mercy..."

"Dineira. What have you done?" Diamat's voice, hoarse with disbelief, rang from across the room. He shook his head as Dineira trembled, "You took their work for yourself and murdered them?"

"No!" Dineira screamed, scattering tears as she threw her head from side to side, then pressed her forehead against the flagstones, "Not murder them. I never meant to. Please. Mercy!"

After a piercing wail, Dineira flattened herself to the floor. Arinel's hands were trembling. She dug her fingernails into the fabric of her dress. She might gouge into Dineira's neck otherwise.

"Your testimony will decide your sentence." Lady Jaise's cool voice echoed across the hall. Arinel spun around. Dineira jolted. "Tell us what happened."

Arinel turned back to the whimpering, piteous black puddle before her. Dineira lay trembling as the room waited. At last, she heaved up her head, her nose an inch from the tiles, her voice nasal and whispery,

"Research on anesthesia and surgery are banned. We had to carry out experiments after sundown."

Apart from Dineira's dead voice, the silence in the court was absolute. Arinel calmed her breathing so as not to disturb it.

"We couldn't find test subjects. Erina was pregnant. Dad would never allow me to volunteer. So, that night, Tyberne administered the anesthesia to himself."

"I was in charge of holding the mask—the usual brainless work." Dineira spat, betraying her lingering bitterness, "While Erina recorded Tyberne's condition."

"Our apparatuses were made entirely of glass. Except for the hose connecting the mask to the glass globe holding the anesthesia. Those were parts I designed and molded from Jaise Gum specifically for this experiment."

Arinel raised an impatient eyebrow at that seemingly useless segue.

"Once Tyberne was asleep. I forced the mask on Erina. I was larger than her—she couldn't fight me off—"

A tortured scream from Gretella rent the air—a manifestation of the fire of hatred and grief roaring inside Arinel. Her fists were clenched so hard they had gone numb. Dineira took no heed. Her eyes wide and empty, she continued in that same lifeless manner,

"After she went under, I snatched her notes and the treatise. Cut a leak in the hose for good measure. Then hightailed it onto a wagon headed for home."

"There were no burning fires—Tyberne didn't even dare light the fireplace. All we had was an oil lamp. There wasn't that much sweet oil left in the globe. The room was well ventilated. They should have been awake in a quarter-hour and remember nothing."