"Selyse Bellanessa Ivory, you are on trial for your crimes against the Sidhe." The Fae that delivered the words had a neutral expression, but the Fae in the stands looked as if they smelled something rotten.

"This is what I get for trying to be good," Selyse muttered.

"Your job wasn't to be good," the Wyldfae Queen said. Selyse was the least familiar with her, but she'd heard others refer to her as the Huntress Queen. "Your job was to be neutral. What do you have to say in your defense?"

Selyse had never seen all three queens seated in a row like this before. A mortal would be terrified at the sight of the three staring straight at her, but Selyse was no mortal. It seemed, however, that the Fae had determined to treat her like one.

She'd recovered her voice right after restoring the Tree. Fat lot of good that had done her. The Tree had been saved for not a full hour when the Fae arrived to drag her off to face trial, to face court by all three courts.

"What am I even on trial for?" Selyse demanded.

"Your crimes against the Sidhe," said the Seelie Queen.

Selyse rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes, I know that's what he said. But if you expect me to defend myself, I should know what I'm being accused of."

Her mother stood up in the stands. Selyse hadn't seen her amongst the crowd of a hundred other Fae, but it wasn't a surprise. Of course her mother would be here. Her mother wouldn't be able to resist an opportunity to berate Selyse.

"You killed the guardian," she said.

Before her mother could continue, Selyse interrupted. "I was told to heal the tree, at whatever cost. The guardian was in my way. If I hadn't killed it, the tree would still be dying, or dead by now."

Her mother acted as if Selyse hadn't spoken. "You healed the tree, but in doing so, you changed the world."

"As you did by birthing me," Selyse muttered.

Her mother went on without a pause, but Selyse thought she could make out a faint flush on her mother's cheeks. "You created a new law of nature in that no sentient creature can harm another sentient creature not of their own species."

"So?" Selyse crossed her arms. "Now the demons and vampires and everything else can't hurt the Fae. You should be thanking me."

"Thanking you?" The voice of the Queen of Air and Darkness was colder than the hearts of those under her rule. "Because of you, we cannot harm humans. What should we do to entertain ourselves from now on? And even more importantly, if we cannot hurt humans, we cannot change them. How do you purpose we maintain our population?"

"Well." Selyse folded her hands in front of her. "When a male Fae and a female Fae love each other very much..."

"Enough!" The Unseelie Queen's voice crackled like thunder. Selyse had the distinct feeling that even if she got off free, she wouldn't be welcomed in the Unseelie court.

"I ask you again," the Wyldfae Queen said, "What do you have to say in your defense?"

Selyse swallowed. She wasn't entirely sure how the Fae Queens intended to punish her, but the few memories she had of past Fae punishments doled out to unfortunate others weren't anything Selyse would like to experience. All snarky comments aside, she had to seriously defend herself.

"You say my actions weren't neutral," she said slowly. "That's the claim against me. If I could prove they were neutral, I'd be free to go?"

"If you convinced us, then yes," the Wyldfae Queen said.

"Okay," Selyse said, but inside she felt sick.

She was out of practice. She'd charmed her way out of countless troublesome situations before, but that was before she'd lost her voice. She hadn't used her voice to get out of anything in...weeks? A month? More?

"Selyse Bellanessa Ivory," a queen barked. Selyse looked up and saw the Wyldfae Queen's sharp gaze pointed at her. "We're waiting."

Selyse took a deep breath. She could do this. She had fought the fearsome Cat Sith, sheltered in a settlement of hostile humans, saved a human village, killed the guardian of the tree, and saved the tree. If she could do all that, persuading a few Fae to let her go should be easy.

She could do it. She could do anything.

"Neutrality is all about balance," she said. "My actions at the tree didn't upset the balance. It restored it."

Around the room, there were no gazes with the slightest amount of sympathy. Her mother was amongst the coldest of them all. Somehow that gave her a slight pang, but she didn't let it stop her. Her mother could be as careless as she wanted. Selyse didn't need her approval.

"How do you propose you did that?" asked the Unseelie Queen.

Selyse lifted her chin into the air, allowing her hair to tumble around her face. She knew her hair was beautiful, even in the face of a lack of proper treatment. (The Fae hadn't even allowed her to wash her hair after her arrest. That, more than anything else, was true cruelty.)

"The act of killing is something clearly defined as part of the Evil side of life. It used to be something Fae did regularly to humans and other creatures. Vampires did it. Demons did it. Everyone killed. Everyone harmed. Where is the balance in that? There wasn't any. They killed. And now they can't. And that's neutrality for you."

Her words were rather simple, but in a moment like this, she thought simple was best. Any longer and she might do something embarrassing, like have her voice tremble or crack in front of everyone.

"Neutrality," the Wyldfae Queen repeated.

"Is that all you wish to say on the matter?" The Unseelie Queen asked.

Selyse bowed her head. "Yes, Your Grace-s." She held her breath.

"Innocent," the Seelie Queen said.

"Guilty," the Unseelie Queen said.

The Wyldfae Queen hesitated, but then smiled. "The irony is not lost on me, I must say. That I must cast the deciding vote, swinging our verdict to perfectly neutral to one side or the other. If I refrained to cast my vote, the neutrality would not be changed. But sometimes neutrality must be changed to preserve itself, which is what I believe this young Fae has done. I vote not guilty."

Selyse released the air in her lungs. The Unseelie Queen noticed her relieved exhale, and a sly smile crept around her face

"Don't be so relieved yet," she said. "I believe there is another issue at hand."

Selyse froze. They couldn't be talking about...

"The Fae secrets must be kept at all costs. When one dalliances with a human, the understanding is that the human must be kept in the dark at all times. Selyse Bellanessa Ivory has broken this understanding."

"I had to," Selyse protested. "I was wounded. I needed him to help me."

"You should have helped yourself." Selyse wished she could tell the Unseelie Queen to help herself do a very unladylike thing. "You allowed the human male Jaxon Waverly to know you to be a Fae, and allowed him a knowledge into what prohibits Fae from their ability to fly."

"I-"

The Unseelie Queen didn't let her finish. "Do you deny it?"

She couldn't, now. The Unseelie Queen had trapped her into admitting it already in an attempt to defend herself. She could try to deny it, but the Queen would surely use her previous words against her.

With a sinking heart, Selyse lowered her head. "No."

The Unseelie Queen looked smug. She glanced from queen to queen. "The punishment, in that breech of the law, is clear."

"Yes," agreed the Wyldfae Queen.

"It is," murmured the Seelie Queen.

Selyse's stomach squirmed as if it had been invaded by a swarm of insects. "What's the punishment?" She asked, her voice faint.

"Humanity," the Wyldfae Queen said. Her voice was full of pity.

A girl stumbled onto the territory of the human settlement for the second time in as many months. Her hair was disheveled, her skin caked with dirt, but anyone could recognize her as the girl that had come to them not so long before.

The difference was subtle. There was something missing from her now, something distinctly taken away. Jaxon had the oddest feeling that something was fundamentally changed about Selyse, something irreversible.

"Selyse?" He narrowed his eyes. "Are you...human?"

She made a ghost of a half smile, both impossibly different from and exactly the same as the one Jaxon remembered. "It's a long story, Jaxon."

"I've got time."

"Can I- can I freshen up first? It's been so long since I've had a good rest." She sounded wistful.

Jaxon hesitated. He could read the disappointment in her gaze. Her head started to turn away. Before he could change his mind, he extended his hand.

For just a second, her ghost smile became real. She took his hand.