Before deciding, ask Corinne what she wants

Corinne looks up at you, her eyes filled with tears. "Do not send me back to that place," she begs. "Please, I cannot go back! They said they meant no cruelty, but they were cruel to me. For days and weeks on end, I was **** to live in silence and solitude... you don't know what it's like to become so lonely that you commit sin just to make them see you! And then, they said the Devil lived within me, they bound me to the altar and screamed prayers in a tongue I could not understand, over and over, trying to drive the evil out... I could not sleep, because when they grew tired others would come and take their place, and when I begged them to stop... I begged them to stop, but they wouldn't, they wouldn't stop! I hated them for it, I wanted to let the Devil in deeper so that he would punish them for me! And when I left, when I escaped... I stole from them, food and coin and jewels, and a horse. I hurt the ones who tried to stop me. I... I may have killed someone, I don't know, I didn't look back!" She covers her face and sobs, and Trina and Sanjay exchange uncomfortable glances. Sir Magnus looks as though he would rather be standing in a fire than in this room.

"Corinne, I had no idea you were treated this way," you say to her. "But I should have known; I should have dispatched someone to the convent to ensure that you fared well. Instead, I trusted the letters they sent me, perhaps because they told me what I wanted to hear. Please understand, there is much about being a King which I have had to learn through failure. I deeply regret that through my choices, you were made to suffer. If you were treated with cruelty at the convent where you were sent before, then I promise I will not send you back there. But, you cannot remain in Elyssia either. If I could reach out my hand and cure you of the sickness which drives you to take such **** actions, I would do so; but that is beyond my power, and that of anyone else here. What, then, would you have me do?"

Corinne sniffles, and looks away at the floor, but says nothing.

"That was not an idle question, Corinne. I really would like to know what you think I should do."

She looks up, surprised. "You want me to advise you?"

"Perhaps I was too hasty in my decision last time," you say to her. "I wanted only to find a way to leave the headsman's axe where it is, rusting upon the wall - it has still never been used, and if I have my way it never will be. Once a means to spare your life was presented to me, I seized upon it without considering further. But I have been King for a little longer now, and I would like to think I am a wiser man than I once was. Despite all that has happened, and all you have done, I do want you to be happy and enjoy a good life. I cannot give you what you want most, for I simply do not love you in that way. And, I must be as honest with you as I can at this time: I do not believe that making you Queen would be in the best interests of Elyssia."

She almost smiles at that remark.

"Be that as it may, I would hear your words now. If you could choose your fate, knowing that you must leave Elyssia and never return, what would it be? What do you want that I can grant you?"

"I... I don't know!" she almost screams - Magnus stands ready to restrain her, but she does not lash out, wrapping her arms around herself and huddling into a ball. "I don't want to be this way, Xavier! I feel... so much rage, so much confusion! Maybe it's true... maybe a devil does live within me, urging me to do terrible things which I do not even think to question. Nothing I have ever done has seemed wrong when I have done it, but afterward I am sickened my own deeds!" She looks up at you, tears streaming over her face. "More than once, I have stood on a stool and placed my head into a noose, tightened the knot against my neck, and then teetered on the edge willing myself to step off... I don't know what stops me from taking that step, because truly, I cannot bear to live like this!"

"There may be a way," Trina says softly.

Corinne's face goes from anguished to enraged in a heartbeat, and she leaps up to strike out at Trina - but Magnus is able to stop her with only one hand on her shoulder, and Trina does not even need to flinch backward.

"I want nothing from you, she-demon!" Corinne spits.

Trina turns to you. "Sire, I have also sought to suppress my emotions, to learn how to keep my own desires in check, and in so doing I have benefitted from the wisdom of Master Sanjay. His people have ways of meditation which help one to keep control, to deal with inner turmoil and find peace. Perhaps Corinne can learn these ways."

"She cannot stay here to learn them, Trina."

"I am not who she needs in any case," Sanjay says. "While I am gratified by my Lady's confidence in me, it would be beyond my skill to teach the ways of Yoga to one such as Corinne. Lady Trina sought only to discipline her mind, not to heal a mind which was unsound. Corinne would need to go to the home of my ancestors; only there could a suitable master be found."

"Hindustan is far away, across the lands of the Arabs," you say. "It is a perilous voyage."

"It has been many years since I have seen the land of my birth," Sanjay says, "and I would be pleased to do so again before this life is spent. By your leave, Sire, I will take her there. We can travel with the Sultan as far as Al-Mansoura, and then make our own way; a letter with his seal should protect us from those who might wish to do us harm. I would be gone for many months, perhaps even a full year, but my eldest daughter is well-trained in the healing arts and can assume my duties. The greatest difficulty I foresee would be to find a Yoga master who is willing to accept a woman as a student, for this is nearly unheard of."

"Suppose the master were offered compensation?" Trina asks.

"Gold and gems are of little value to the Yogi, my Lady. It is their way to shun wealth and material posessions."

"I speak not of gold," Trina says. "I speak of this."

Trina reaches into the pouch at her belt with a bandaged hand, and then places upon the stone table the crystal sphere of Morganne le Fay, where it glistens in the candlelight.

Corinne starts to reach for it, then stops, and looks away in disgust and perhaps embarrassment. "That is a rock," she mutters. "It has no power."

"To be sure, it has no magic," Trina says, "but I have never seen or even heard of so large a gem with such clarity, and so perfectly cut. It matters not whether it was once the seeing-stone of a sorceress; it is priceless nonetheless, and I imagine that even a Yoga master would prize it highly, as a focus for meditation if nothing else."

Sanjay looks at the crystal with awe upon his face. "With this... yes, perhaps we could find a master willing to accept this in exchange for taking Corinne as a student."

Corinne shakes her head. "Why would you want to help me?" she asks Trina. "I wanted you not just dead, but humiliated; it is why I compelled Abdul to claim you as his prize! Mad I may be, but I am not a fool who will follow the path to Hell which you would set me upon!"

You raise an eyebrow slightly, as the last piece of this puzzle finally falls into place: the matter of why Abdul had been involved. And, it is clear now how she bent him to her will. He must have been convinced somehow that Corinne commanded powerful magic, and it was this that he feared so greatly, a power against which his strength and his sword meant nothing. And because he had failed, Corinne had him killed - by another man who she had surely enthralled in the same way. It is just as Duncan has told you: magic holds power only over those who believe it does.

"Do you think I do not know what it is to love without hope of having it returned?" Trina asks. "Do you think I have never felt the same madness which overwhelms you? You believe me a woman with ice in her veins, but I was not always so. We two are not truly so different, Corinne. I know well the devils that torment you, for I have faced them, and fought them. It is a battle without end; but, that does not mean it is one you cannot win."

"And I will stay at your side," Sanjay says to Corinne, "until you are assured that you will not be made to suffer as you did before. The Yogi do not seek to drive out madness with greater madness, by shouting and screaming; their way is to use quiet meditation to find Nirvana, a state of peace and serenity. It will take time; for some, it takes many lifetimes. But every journey begins with a single step, child; and if you are ready, I will take that step with you."

The look upon Corinne's face is curious; it is not quite gratitude, but it is the first time you have seen her look at Trina with anything except hatred. Then she turns her eyes to you, and says, "If this can be done, then it is what I would ask of you... Sire."

"Then, it is the judgement of this court that Corrine shall be exiled from Elyssia, and taken to the land of Hindustan in the company of Master Sanjay, and there may she find the peace which has been long denied her. But Corinne, I must caution you never to return. Twice now I have shown you mercy, but I cannot allow you to threaten the security of this kingdom again. Furthermore, two men now lie dead, because of you. You did not kill them yourself; one of them killed the other, and then that one faced justice at Lady Trina's hands, but the fact remains that they died as a direct result of your actions. If you appear before this court again, I will have **** but to sentence you to execution. Do you understand?"

"I... I do."

"Then, so be it."