I decided not to mention that burst of power I was given from somewhere again, because I just didn’t want to have more questions that I couldn’t answer, which would bring more suspicion down on me. So I remained silent and let the council speak among themselves.
The general consensus was that this did appear to be effective, and following that, there needed to be experimentation done to see where they’d gone wrong in the past.
“She’s slight and was capable of bringing down the warrior without bloodshed.”
“More study of this must be done. It’s effective in the short run, but look. She became immediately incapacitated.”
“Perhaps we can experiment. It might become a weapon of choice if we can increase the lethal force and control for the effects.”
“Of course he’ll be executed, but perhaps first we could experiment on him?”
What? Executed? Is there not going to be a trial? I’d felt the pain the Brausiian was in, the grief and fury over what he’d perceived as being done to him. Would he get no say? Didn’t he deserve his day in court? To defend himself? He wasn’t evil, and he hadn’t succeeded in his attempt. Didn’t he deserve, like, a prison sentence or something?
“Let us reconvene for our final decision during the morning session,” Talon interrupted. “If there are no further questions, let us adjourn.”
Immediately, the representatives began making their way out of the room, a few of them coming over to shake my hand formally and wish me well, which was better than the suspicious sideways glances I’d received earlier.
“We’ll see you later.” Cynthia gave me a quick hug, following behind the last of the representatives. “I promised my mother I’d have lunch with her.”
“All right.”
“You’re okay?” She arched a delicate eyebrow.
“Good, fine.” I pushed a quick smile at her, not letting her see the inner turmoil I was feeling. She left with Nick, who shook hands with Ryder and gave me a measured nod. He seemed to have developed a grudging respect for me and my badassness. Then we were on our own. Ryder’s parents had made their way to the magnificent desk deeper in the room and seemed to be discussing a file.
“If you even consider doing something like that again, I’ll lock you up myself,” Ryder growled quietly, for my ears only. There was a tremor to his muscles, as though he was barely containing his emotions.
“All’s well that ends well,” I snapped, and I pulled my arm out of his grasp.
“What’s your problem?” He scowled, looking thoroughly pissed off.
He was about to have company with that emotion.
Chapter Fifteen
“What the hell was all this about?” I motioned toward the now-empty table.
“It was a briefing. Most of the evidence was captured in images, which is why our public areas are under surveillance.”
“So a person accused never has a chance to speak, if their actions were caught on tape?”
“Exactly. Their actions speak for themselves.”
“So the guy has no chance?” Horror made my voice shake.
“A chance for what?” The look of incredulity on Ryder’s face said it all.
“Are you kidding me? What kind of place is this?” I couldn’t help that my voice hiked. I was aghast. “He doesn’t get a chance to defend himself?”
“What’s the problem?” Talon’s voice reared up from behind his desk.
I paused a moment, my mind debating in the space of seconds whether to say anything, and I knew that even if it meant cutting my own throat, I needed to. This was a man’s life at stake, and I had had a hand in this sentence. “I was told you were a just society, but then you deny someone their day in court? Doesn’t the warrior get the chance to defend himself?”
“Were any of you in the marketplace going to be given a chance to defend yourselves?” Ryder answered. “His bomb was going to level the marketplace. His knife was ready to eviscerate you.”
“But he didn’t actually do anything, and you don’t know that he was going to follow through with it. I felt him! I was in his mind! He wasn’t a monster. He was betrayed. Something horrific happened to him that he believed was caused by your people! Don’t you think that’s worth questioning?”
“He was going to fucking kill you, Taylor! The son of a bitch is lucky he’s in lockup, because given the chance, I’d tear his goddamn heart out. Don’t you dare defend him to me.”
“Ryder, calm yourself,” his mother snapped, her eyes narrowing on him. “There’s no reason to speak this way to Taylor. She is not from here. She doesn’t understand.”
“Who is she to you?” Talon demanded of Ryder while looking at me.
“Not your concern,” Ryder returned tightly, partly, I imagine, because he still hadn’t recovered from seeing me attacked by the large Brausiian warrior in the images, and partly because it was his father who’d asked.
“Everything that happens in Sunan is my concern.” His father raised his voice angrily and stepped out from around his desk to approach. “Haven’t you done enough? When do you start listening to those around you? When do you become accountable?”
“Talon, not now,” Miara warned, following her husband.
“Yes, now! He makes poor choices, and we all suffer for them!”
“We all thought she was lovely. She had us all fooled,” Miara countered. “You can’t hold that against him or you have to hold it against us all.”
Was this an ex-girlfriend they were talking about? And was I now being lumped into the same pile as her? The one labeled Bad Choices? The pain of that pierced my heart with a hot blade. The idea that I wasn’t good enough for Ryder wasn’t a new one to me, but it wasn’t one I thought would have been said to me in an outright manner. The familiar feeling of shame, like I was wearing whore’s clothes in the castle, hung over my head. It made me pale with a sense of disappointment so deep, I thought I’d never climb out of the darkness of it.
“I can blame him for refusing to allow proper punishment. She was found in your office, among your files. She deserved imprisonment!”
“It’s time to let that go, Talon.”
“Not when he continues to act foolishly!”
“Can’t have it both ways, old man,” Ryder said snidely. “Either she’s a hero for saving the day or I shouldn’t have brought her. Which is it?”
“You think to become involved with someone other?” The idea was obviously abhorrent to Talon. My self-esteem was taking a real beating in this conversation. Another wave of hurt splintered quietly through my mind. I winced.
In a menacing voice, Ryder snarled, “I will be done with you.”
Energy suddenly crackled around me. Power surged up through my feet. Adrenaline spiked and I felt myself capable of seeing through the mental barriers around me. I could feel Miara’s anger that I was causing further strife between her husband and son when she had to work so hard to keep peace between them during moments of calm. They were rarely in the same room together anymore, and it broke her heart, a heart that still ached for the empty room in her home that she’d left as it was, filled with Asily’s personal things. Every once in a while, she sat in that room with the delicately embroidered floral bedcover, when her day had been particularly challenging.
Ryder and his father had locked horns. There was anger and sorrow swirling through Talon, but he was refusing to acknowledge it. It was as though he’d made a deal with himself that if he didn’t think about it, it wouldn’t be there. By turning off his heart, he’d not only blocked out his daughter’s death, but the joy of remembering her and of sharing a full life with the rest of his family. He kept his focus on trying to bring his son to heel. In turn, Ryder’s bone-deep resentment radiated from him.