Iris wasn’t sure where things had gone so awry in her life. Searching the universe for Arthur Ward had been annoying at times, but it was also some of the most fun she’d ever had, visiting different planets and cultures across the cosmos and developing her magic. Finally meeting the man who’d filled her visions for so long had certainly been an interesting experience, and she still cringed every time she remembered how weird she’d acted. Iris sighed. She’d just had to go and fall for the damn fool. That had never been a part of her plans, though in hindsight, she hadn’t had much of a plan when she’d run away from her father's palace all those years ago. She didn’t know when it had happened, or why, but for some strange reason or another, Arthur had stubbornly taken root in her heart.And today, she was going to attend the trial that would decide whether he would live or die. On paper, it was Solana Elantris who was being questioned for breaking the rules of the Origin Hunt and murdering Arthur Ward. Anyone important knew why they were truly meeting, though. An Ender's presence had been sensed on the day of his assassination, and the aura signature didn’t match the elder water dragon lord who’d woken up from his centuries-long nap. Iris wasn’t sure how many people had figured out that her boyfriend was still alive, but The Stone of a Thousand Stories had started failing far earlier than expected. Now, however, she knew who was responsible. Lady Melania, the Bloodied Butcherer of Kenasis. Just thinking of the woman was enough to get her dizzy with rage.The nobles' less-than-legal operations were an open secret amongst the upper echelons of power. It was just that those illegal experiments proved too useful in the war against corruption for anyone to do anything about it. That changed today. Still, Iris couldn’t stop the rising sense of helplessness growing in his chest. Sure, (...)