Ah, more people trying to kill the man who hasn't noticed he's her husband. She'll want to put out the usual feelers to get an inside person on the project.

"Do not Speak Any Words without the Approval of Senior Members of your Church," advises Lluïsa from outside the spells, but then she hears Cansellarion start to give a speech.

"Without my own Leave!"

Where are twenty of the most taciturn paladins in the world to escort her out of public, now?

Jonatan would not previously have said that geasing the magistrates to follow the letter of the law was a bad idea but he really does not think holding a public incitement trial only to have the speech declared retroactively legal is getting anyone what they want. The Queen could have simply declared that by her grace she would not be prosecuting Wain, if that's what she wanted, and it wouldn't have left a thousand people unsure whether they were allowed to call of the deaths of their countrymen.

That's... good to know? Maybe the words of the law actually matter? She's still guilty. She actually did her murder and everything, after all. But they were only talking about decrees from the new Crown, and maybe there wasn't a decree about murdering Asmodean priests yet? And apparently that's enough.

...At least she thinks she could say she isn't sure she's guilty in a Zone of Truth, and that's what matters.

...Right, ok, he's going to go make sure the Bailiff unchains Valia and then take her to the steps outside the arena where he can give his speech and she can give hers if it's not incendiary.

(Feliu, get over here and ask Valia about her speech and make sure it's not incendiary)

Well, Llei is caught between the horrible suffocating feeling that apparently it is perfectly fine to call for men's deaths before a crowd of several hundred people, and confused hope that the Select who did so now appears to be doing her level best to keep him in particular from dying of it.

He has no idea what the Queen is playing at here, and that's frankly kind of terrifying.

She stops clapping and gestures for her entourage to gather everything up.

"Message the Lord Marshal if he wants any of my assistance with the crowd. And the Duchess of Chelam if he doesn't."

Lluïsa did imply to Valia some days earlier that she could give a speech on the courthouse steps after her acquittal but this was in fact Mephistophelean trickery and she has now attached herself to Valia to preach about the great virtue of silence!

Justice is done. She absolutely stacked the deck, though, so it barely counts. 

Huh???

”Most interesting…”

Good to see, assuming they don’t just kill the Select overnight and tell everyone she retired to go to Lastwall or something. But what does being declared innocent by a show trial with an openly dominated judge accomplish, that a pardon doesn’t? Was the point to show which nobles would testify which way, or test which nobles would testify? Time to find an ally who knows more of the political situation around here, because at this point Lisandro is just confused.

What????

(Conradí is arguing with a bookmaker about whether they should pay him out for his lions bet — look, there are multiple pamphlets announcing she was eaten by lions! — when they both get the news.)

Iker wades and shoves his way through the crowd, towards where his boss and entourage are seated. If the Iomedaean is going free then there’s probably riots again. If there’s riots again, there’s probably another temple to guard or something. 

"—Count Cansellarion, you must Remove her from the Public at Once—"

"I don't want to cause more trouble," she is telling Lluisa earnestly. "There is very little I want less. I just want to say very straightforwardly that what I said was wrong, and a betrayal of the people I spoke of, and that Iomedae does not want them to go out and kill anyone, absolutely anyone, no matter how Evil they are, and that while it is true that the people are strong and that Hell always feared them they can still serve Hell in carelessness, and did serve Hell on the night of the 3rd. And I wanted to say that - Pezzack burned, but after that it rebuilt, and that there are a many beautiful things being built in Westcrown and the thing a free people should do is help build them, or point out how we're building them wrong, and not burn them down."

Giving floor speeches feels safe again to Thea, especially with the judges clarification that they are private speech.  So that’s good.  She still wants to get her proposal passed to make a clear line in the future, just to prevent anything like Valia’s trial from happening (to herself) in the future.

"Your Eloquent Words would Benefit from the Secret Lawyerly Art of a Lengthy Process of Drafting and Revision," explains Lluïsa. "Count Cansellarion, perhaps an Office, with Scribes—Select Wain, I shall Hire for you the Services of an Optician—"

"I think you're wrong. Or I think you're - caring about a different thing than I care about. People want answers now. They are confused now. My answers for them are not perfect but it will not achieve the thing I care about to go off to an office with lawyers."

"At the least defer all Speech to the Count who seems as Eager as you to Extemporize but seems to me Hardier against Physical Violence."

That is fair. He is also much wiser, and probably just as good at speeches even if she has only actually seen him give kind of tired explanations which aren't the same thing.

Feliu has made it to her! And can overhear the conversation with Luisa! "Hello -" He smiles. "Did you prepare spells today?"

"The axe!" Albert yells at the judge. "You should have given her the fucking axe!"

He sinks to his knees in despair.

"No. Because I, uh, didn't expect this."

"Yes, I know." He smiles at her. "I think the speech would be wise under the circumstances, and likely to work better than Count Cansellarion's because he is a count, though since you did not commit any crimes you should avoid confessing to them."