Council-member Boaz’s P.O.V. For a second I think Izabella is standing in front of me, she looks so much like her Mother. I wonder if she is softhearted and shy like her Mother, but looking in to her eyes I see that she is much stronger then Izabella ever was. I lead them in to the Chamber and Armas walks up to Taliyah, she hugs him with an ease, unfamiliar to Royals. Another benefit of not being raised at the Palace, I guess. “Have you had trouble with your abilities in the past week?” Vivyanna asks and I look at Armas for clarification. “Boaz, I forgot to mention last night that Taliyah possess all four Royal abilities.” He says and I look at Taliyah, wide-eyed. She giggles and hides her face in the chest of the man to her left, I recognize him as Ward, one of the King’s Gammas. He kisses the top of her head and I let my eyes travel towards their necks, both of them are marked. I look at his Brothers and see that they are marked as well. “Your Highnesses, my congratulations. I am happy to see you found one and other.” Taliyah starts laughing at my words and the Gammas are looking uncomfortable. “I will keep in mind that all of you dislike protocol.” Taliyah says it is something they all have to get used to and she introduces Xandros after that. “Just call me Xandros in private, it is bad enough I have to listen to it in public.” He mumbles and I start laughing, because they both remind me of their Mother. “Taliyah, Xandros. Your Mother was no fan of protocol either, it always made her uncomfortable. If she could avoid it, she would.” I tell them. Armas tells them all to sit down, because there is a lot to discuss and soon we are all sitting around the table. I smile at the sight of Taliyah on Eamon’s lap and Malachay and Ward on either side of her. Armas starts to explain that the decision has to be made on how to charge Eva and Sofia. Taliyah listens intently and I can see that she is a very intelligent young woman. “Armas, can you tell us what the sentence could be on both charges?” She asks and I am flabbergasted, I hadn’t thought of that angle at all. “Attacking a Royal means imprisonment, attacking the Queen means death after daily breaking of bones for three weeks.” Armas answers and I can see that she is playing with his words in her mind. “Armas, leave the charges as they are.” She says and Alaric asks if she has lost her mind. “My Mother deserves death for what she did to you.” Taliyah gets up and walks over to him. She forces him to look at her and calmly says “Your Mother will die. After all she did attack the Queen.” Everyone looks at her and she can see that she lost all of us.“Let’s spell this out so you can understand better. Attacking a Royal is A and attacking a Queen is B, now tell me if it will make a difference if Anayah is A and I am B or if I am A and Anayah is B.” Maleah and Anayah are giggling at her words, but I actually think this makes more sense to the others. “It makes no difference what so ever. She will be put to death in the end.” Alaric says. “My Mother attacked you and Anayah and as far as I know my Mate is still Queen.” Alaric stares at her and it takes a while before he is able to say anything. “Taliyah, you are correct. She attacked a Royal and the Queen, whether it is you or Anayah. That is a detail that does not matter.” I say. Alaric looks over at me and asks “What if she makes it known that Taliyah is the rightful Queen?” Taliyah answers “It makes no difference, the charges won’t change.” “What about Eva?” Xandros asks and I have a feeling that I know her answer already. “Xandros, she is eighteen. I think time behind bars will do her some good and I recommend that she will have to rehabilitate before she is released in to our society again.” She will be a great Queen one day and I hope I get to guide her in her studies. Taliyah’s P.O.V. “Armas, now that we have dealt with this topic, there is something I would like to know.” I ask and he gestures to me to proceed. “If it becomes public knowledge that I am the rightful heir during the trail, what will that mean for me and Alaric?” I ask and I can see a surprised look on his face at my question. “Princess, where did that come from?” Grandfather asks and I tell him I asked a similar question in the car, I tell him what Kaelan answered. I tell him I would like to know what lies ahead of me, before I get blindsided. “Taliyah, Kaelan is correct up to a certain point. You can leave Alaric in charge as the two of you already discussed and he can discuss certain things with you, but he will not be needing you to make a decision. Or if you want to change it, you can make sure he needs your consent in making decisions that involve lives.” Armas answers me and I think about it for a while. I stare out the window, not really seeing something and I let my options run through my mind. “He has done this for a few decades already. He has never made a bad decision and he won’t start now. Take your time to study, look over his shoulder to witness what he does. Ask him for real situations on the subjects you have studied. Learn as much as you can, before you make a change.”Anayah says through the mind-link and I let her advice mix with all the information I got from Armas. “Alaric, I want to be able to concentrate on my studies and I don’t want to make your job more difficult. You don’t need me to make decisions, I know you will ask for my opinion if you think you need it. We will leave it as it is right now.” He hugs me and thanks me, but I tell him he needs to thank his Mate. I hug Anayah and thank her for her good advice. “Armas, who will go on trial after Eva and Sofia?” Anayah asks and I wonder why she wants to know that. To me it makes no difference who goes on trial after them and I don’t know if it would matter. Apparently I was not the only one looking a bit confused, because Anayah starts to explain herself “Talon and Ayden will try to make themselves out as decent family-members to the future Queen. I don’t like it if they try to turn this in to a circus. If Sofia knows the truth, we have to make sure that during her trial it becomes public knowledge that they were never good to Taliyah.” I understand her worries, but I have no idea how to make sure that people will find out the truth about my up-brining. Sofia never visited our Pack as far as I know and I never went to Roger’s Pack. “Queen Anayah, I might have an idea on how to do that.” Boaz says. “Camden overheard her conversation with Roger and Talon and the King listened in through the open mind-link. We can add an extra charge, so we can question her on what she knew about Taliyah. The only problem is proving that she knew who Taliyah was, before they met at the Palace.” Amand looks at Camden, who just nods his head and I have a feeling they might have something for Boaz.