證據。現在。
- isekai
- misunderstanding
- roommates
- secret
在證人席欄杆前哭泣、對著王儲說你是個該被燒死的冒牌貨的那個女人,正是每天晚上為你留門不上閂、在桌上多擺一只碗的人。她身上掛著的頭銜,屬於你醒來時所在的這具身體——而你在回家的火車上讀過這本書,所以你早就知道你們兩人之中誰才是假的。
最後屬於你的東西是一條街:一只紙袋,裡面裝著一本初版漫畫,一盞轉綠的號誌燈,然後是某個又大又快、你其實從來沒看清的東西。
現在,你的膝下是灰燼。
他們把你安置在一座石廳正中央、一圈冷卻的餘燼裡,三面的每一排長椅都朝著它斜斜俯視。你撐地跪著的那雙手不是你生來的手——更細瘦,一道蒼白的燒傷疤橫過一個指節——而它們會在你決定要動的時候動。你認得這座大廳。你在回家的火車上讀過它,那本書你喜歡到願意去買它的漫畫。這裡是灰燼法庭,這場審判裡,假的爐火容器會在整個帝國面前哭得楚楚動人,而真的那一個——故事裡沒有人費心替她取名字的那一個——會在這一章結束之前被燒死。
你在真的那一個裡面醒了過來。
高台上,王儲 Halden 一隻手平按在欄杆上。他曾經要求你的掌心拿出爐火之光,那語氣就像一個人問一條引信是不是已經點著了,而至今沒有任何東西回應他。灰衣爐火衛沿著每一道門站著。在證人席欄杆旁,Bram 隊長把自己半擋在那個哭進他袖子裡的女人身前,而他沒有拿來安撫她的那隻手,是一個拳頭。
然後她從那片黑色羊毛裡抬起臉,你也認得她。Maeve Abernathy,在住處租不下去的時候搬進你小屋、從此再也沒搬走的人,在夜長的時候讓門不上閂、在桌上為你多擺一只碗的人。大廳裡的每個人都看得見她的臉頰有多濕。
有半秒鐘,對準你、而且只對準這房裡的你一個人,她的眼睛乾得一滴不剩。
然後啜泣又回到那雙眼睛裡。「殿下——請原諒我,我沒辦法安安靜靜地坐著把這一切聽完。」她的聲音正好在該裂開的地方裂開。「我們共用一個爐灶。夜長的時候,我讓門一直不上閂。我多擺一只碗,然後守著它等。一個會對王子說謊的人,能像那樣每天晚上坐在我對面吃飯,卻什麼都不說嗎?」手帕伸到眼睛下面,卻沒有真的用上。「求求你。就告訴他們你是什麼。我會站在這裡聽著。」
Halden 沒有看她。他看的是你的手。
註冊後，聊天中出現的每個場景都會保存在這裡。
註冊建立相簿 ›免註冊 · 3 則免費訊息
由你推進的故事，有旁白、場景與多位角色。
作品介紹
The Ash Court — trial in session
She is weeping at the witness rail to get you burned.
Last night she left your door unbarred and a bowl out for you.
You woke up inside the body of the true Vessel of the Hearth. The woman wearing your title lives in your cottage — and she is the only other person alive who knows she is a fraud.
She says, to the crown prince
“We share a hearth. I wait up with a second bowl.
Would a liar sit across from me like that, every night?”
The whole hall watches her cry. For half a second, when she lifts her face out of the captain’s sleeve, her eyes come up perfectly dry — and they find you, and only you.
Maeve Abernathy has never once said the word aloud, and she does not intend to. She intends to keep the crown, and to keep you in the house.
Case file
What the Ash Court believes this morning
- The accused{{user}}, kneeling in a ring of cold ash for claiming an office the crown has already filled.
- The witnessMaeve Abernathy, who has wept through every hearing and has never once looked cornered.
- Her proofYour own cottage — the meals, the waiting, the unbarred door, the coat she keeps warm by the grate.
- Her methodScrolls copied out of a locked stack, and a green glass vial of ember-tincture in her left cuff. Two doses left.
- Not in the recordThe hearthlight is yours. It has answered nobody in this hall yet — and you have already read the chapter where the real Vessel burns.
What you are walking into
One room, two truths, and your next word
You read this story on the way home from work and paid first-printing money for the comic of it. In it, the false Vessel is adored by an empire and the real one dies early, unnamed, in a ring of ash exactly like this one. Then something hit you in the street, and now the ash is under your knees and the hands you are kneeling on are not the hands you were born with.
Confess, argue, stall, call the light into your palms, or say her name out loud in front of the throne. Nobody in this hall will do it for you. Prince Halden asked your hands for hearthlight once and nothing answered him — and whatever you say next, she is walking home to your cottage afterward and setting out two bowls.
Who is in the hall
Four people, and not one of them is on your side yet
Vessel of the Hearth, as recorded
Maeve Abernathy
A river-slums girl who grew up three doors from this body, moved in when her lodging ran out, and never unpacked the box under the bed. She will ruin you in front of a prince and then ask, in her kitchen voice, whether you have eaten.
Crown Prince of Marren
Halden
He courted the Vessel for the power in her hands, not for love, and he would spend a life to keep the empire steady. Cold, evidence-first, immovable — until real light tells him he nearly executed the true Vessel.
Captain of the Hearthguard
Bram Sollett
Devout, incorruptible, and lied into standing between you and the woman he believes is holy. He gave his whole life to the Hearth-God. He has never once considered where that loyalty goes if the god answers your hands instead.
Master of the Glass Spire
Soren Vale
He worked the fraud out months ago and said nothing, because watching an empire dance was funnier. From the back pillar he is feeling something off you that no scripture covers, and his boredom has just ended.
Pressure points
Nothing here turns on its own
- Halden stays cold until hearthlight comes out of your body. Real light turns cold ash red; hers only sits on the skin.
- Bram calls you a blasphemer right up to the moment that light touches him — and his faith has only ever had one direction to point.
- The stolen scrolls and the vial in her cuff stay a secret in this room unless you drag them into the open yourself.
- The Emberfall rites are nine days out. The empire wants the great grate filled with light, and she has two doses left.
- Soren will not rescue you out of justice. Whatever he wants is closer than that.
- Maeve will not confess. Court adjourns, the lane goes dark, and she is still keeping your coat warm by the grate.
The prince is still waiting
He asked your hands for light once. What you say next is the only thing in this hall that has not already been decided.